Comments on: Good homebuyer! No, bad homebuyer!

By: David Charlap

David Charlap — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:39:42 +0000

Yeah, but the interest is tax deductible. So you the long-term cost of that payment is about 20-30% less than the amount owed.

Compared with rent, where you get none of it back, and a landlord can (and usually does) raise the price every year.

I bought my home about 10 years ago and have 20 years left on my mortgage at 6-3/8%, and I’m quite satisfied with my situation. And if any pundit wants to call me a “profiteer”, I’ll just have to point out all the ways that he’s getting rich off of others – and I guarantee there’s dirt to be dug up on every last one of them.

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:44:45 +0000

Wait until you get your statement and find out that about two bucks actually went to principal…

Robert

By: Meryl Yourish

Meryl Yourish — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:49:55 +0000

You know, upon further reflection (especially after it was pointed out to me twice in the last two days by two different people), I seem to have slid into home ownership just before the door slammed shut on getting a loan.

I sent out my first mortgage payment this week. I’m so excited about that.

Yes, I know it will get less exciting. But it’s my first mortgage payment. Not rent. Mortgage.

And may I say: Woo-hoo!

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:03:49 +0000

The economic situation will get worse before it gets better. We are in serious trouble.

By: Jon Ihle

Jon Ihle — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:15:00 +0000

I’m pretty sure McArdle is talking about people who bought during the boom, not people who bought a couple of months ago. Still, her criticism is weird coming from a free marketeer: people were reacting rationally to the fact that capital appreciation in houses far outstripped the cost of finance. In a situation like that you leverage up, buy low and sell high. It’s just that houses are a lot less liquid than other assets. Whoops! Enjoy your manageable debt, Meryl. You appear to have earned it.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:08:43 +0000

An awful lot more of us could afford our houses if the Government wasn’t taking money to provide housing for people who refuse to work. That huge mountain of National Debt is the direct result of the so-called “War on Poverty” and the chickens are coming home to roost. Robin Hood economics have never worked, People should be able to keep their own money, spend it on their own families, and as the Apostle Paul once said: “If a man not work, let him not eat!”

Don’t get me wrong, I have no objection to a “Safety Net” for people that have worked and need help, but some people have made a “profession” out of living from cradle to grave on other people’s money, and are very good at it. For every dollar of “restributed wealth” collected, between 8 to 12 cents is paid out to so-called “beneficiaries.” The rest is absorbed by the out of control beauracracy, the Nation’s largest employer; Government.

The financial crisis is only the tip of the iceberg. If we don’t end welfare, dump Nationalized Healthcare, Medicare, and fix the gigantic pyramid scheme known as Social Security, our Economy will end up dragging us into the dust-heap of History.

No Nation has ever taxed themselves into prosperity, and it won’t happen now. Until we stop listening to the “Gimme Pigs” and end payments to the worthless, we’re spending money our great grandchildren haven’t even been born to earn yet.

Robert

By: Meryl Yourish

Meryl Yourish — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:43:55 +0000

One of the reasons I bought a home this year is because one of the greedy lenders tried to convince me a year and a half ago that I could buy a home with no money down, a mountain of debt, and without having a guaranteed job.

I declined to buy a home under those circumstances, waited until my contracting job became permanent, and paid down my debt. The result is that I can afford to pay the mortgage and yet still have more than enough money left over to live on.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:22:47 +0000

I kept getting calls and mail with refi now etc and either hung up or shredded them.
My mortgage is one weeks pay which was the rule of thumb years ago and looks like it will be again.

Main thing that gets me is the greed factor of some firms. If “WE” don’t write the paper, someone else will.
YO Big Shots! If you hadn’t, you would still be in business, making payroll and reporting true earnings.