Originally posted by: Jzero
Originally posted by: loki8481
Also think about how absurd your statement sounds....so in that condo of $250k units you are living with the poor? What usually is the case is it's an older building on the outskirts of 'civilization' a run down neighborhood perhaps, but bad not so likely.
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I suspect that he was being superfluous, but at least the first five pages of those results are in the ghetto.
Originally posted by: BD2003
Originally posted by: DJFuji
Originally posted by: BD2003
It really pisses me off when people say "only 75k". How out of touch do you have to be to not be able to live on 75k? You could afford a house on that even in NYC, as long as you aren't foolish with your money.
BD2003, you've obviously never lived in an area like NYC or OC. Take a look at this:
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First off, you'd need an annual salary of somewhere around 150,000+ just to qualify for a modest place like that. As you can see, it's nothing breathtaking. I'd even go so far as to say it's kind of crappy looking to me. Second, you can see that it takes about $3000 a month in mortgage. Remember, that this figure is likely to be MUCH higher since they're probably banking on you putting down 25%. And since most people don't have 160 GRAND just laying around, theyre probably financing more. So you have over 3000 in mortgage alone, not to mention possible HOA, insurance, taxes, upkeep, etc.
Now, let's say you make 75k and SOMEHOW manage to qualify for an average house like this. After taxes and everything else you're bringing home less than 4,000 a month. Now factor in living costs, automobiles, etc., and you're running on a pretty tight budget. You probably won't even be able to afford to fund an IRA at $350 a month with what you have left over.
Now tell me how "easy" it is to live on 75k in places like orange county.
I've lived my entire life in NYC.
You are not going to get a dream house on 75k a year here. I know that.
But more than half this city is living on less than half of that. I know most of it is in the ghetto, but I know a ton of people who make under 75k that managed to afford a condo or house in queens. If youre trying to get a upper east side brownstone, forget it, but a house in queens is not an impossibility. Houses in manhattan dont really exist anyway.
Your problem isnt that you dont make enough money. Its that you just expect more than you can have here. You can survive just fine, but your not going to get 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a pool.
Originally posted by: loki8481
Originally posted by: Jzero
Originally posted by: loki8481
Also think about how absurd your statement sounds....so in that condo of $250k units you are living with the poor? What usually is the case is it's an older building on the outskirts of 'civilization' a run down neighborhood perhaps, but bad not so likely.
Å
I suspect that he was being superfluous, but at least the first five pages of those results are in the ghetto.
Either way, let's bear in mind that NJ is about 150 miles from Cape May to it's norternmost tip and only half that at its widest from east to west.
Some spots are overinflated, but halfway across the state (just 40 miles away), there is nice, affordable housing.
Supermachoman, i'm from orange county as well (born and raised in city of orange), and i don't really think some people understand what it's like to live here.
I don't think they realize that the median housing price in OC is $640,000+. That's the MEDIAN.
You need somewhere around 150k+ income and a sizable down to buy in the lower end of this market without worrying about overextending. I know why the other guy said he "only" makes 75k. Because 75k doesn't mean anything here.
I'd like to purchase a house as soon as possible, but with this market, i'm hoping it will crash and burn so that those of us who aren't CEOs and corporate executives can afford to buy again. A lot of my friends are fresh out of college and are beginning to realize that their 35k annual salary will barely pay the $1600 rent.
Originally posted by: DJFuji
Originally posted by: loki8481
Originally posted by: Jzero
Originally posted by: loki8481
Also think about how absurd your statement sounds....so in that condo of $250k units you are living with the poor? What usually is the case is it's an older building on the outskirts of 'civilization' a run down neighborhood perhaps, but bad not so likely.
Å
I suspect that he was being superfluous, but at least the first five pages of those results are in the ghetto.
Either way, let's bear in mind that NJ is about 150 miles from Cape May to it's norternmost tip and only half that at its widest from east to west.
Some spots are overinflated, but halfway across the state (just 40 miles away), there is nice, affordable housing.
mileage isn't really reflective of commuting time, though... at my pervious job, I lived 10 miles away from the office. it was about an hour commute in each direction (assuming I drove... it was almost two hours if I went by mass transit).
right now, I work 3 miles away, and my commute it only 10 minutes, but that's only because I'm commuting in the middle of the night -- if I had to drive the same route during normal commuting hours, it would be about 30 minutes each way.
If you're in orange county, and you want to buy on 75k, youre moving to riverside and commuting 2 hours to work. Either that or you're living in the ghetto (south central/watts) and are dodging bullets on the way to work. If you get SUPER lucky you might be able to buy a condo in a bad are of Santa Ana or westminster.
But when interest rates go up people are going to be defaulting like crazy out here...
The majority of home buyers are not CEO's or corporate executives or even six digit earners. They are middle class citizens who are overextending themselves through use of zero down payment mortgages or interest only ARM's. I know several people who have bought in the past year and most of them do not make more than I do. The bubble is for the most part being fueled by easy credit and price speculation. Wages are not going up, only peoples' ability to borrow money. And yet even with interest rates at 40 year lows, there are already record numbers of forclosures and bankruptcies. When interest rates rise, lots of people are going to get burned.
The majority of home buyers are not CEO's or corporate executives or even six digit earners. They are middle class citizens who are overextending themselves through use of zero down payment mortgages or interest only ARM's.
Is it really that implausible, that in this one instance, renting just might be a superior alternative to buying?