Let's Screw The Homeowner (For A Change!)...

I spend 40$ a week to feed myself, have no internet, no children, no car and make roughly twice the average salary in the U.S. which, adjusted for inflation is less than a full time waitress made in 1970.

I will never be able to afford property in the city I live in, the town or even county I was born in.

20$ here and there makes no difference. That is the problem, young folks have been shut out completely.
Mind you, again (apologies, this isn't a personal vendetta!) re: $20 here and there... It's not just nobody sweats the small stuff any more. Reading the Car Loan ad that pops up here (and you gotta have decent wheels, no?) Borrow £6.5k over 5 years.... Pay back nigh on £11.5k for a car that's probably worth £2k five years down the line.. That's over £9k p*ssed up the wall, but few would question it....
 
Mind you, again (apologies, this isn't a personal vendetta!) re: $20 here and there... It's not just nobody sweats the small stuff any more. Reading the Car Loan ad that pops up here (and you gotta have decent wheels, no?) Borrow £6.5k over 5 years.... Pay back nigh on £11.5k for a car that's probably worth £2k five years down the line.. That's over £9k p*ssed up the wall, but few would question it....

Predatory lending. Don't blame the consumer, blame the institution.

Debt is just another form of societal control. Restrict a person's capital and you cripple their freedom.

Train the public to consume, then control the ability of consumption via predatory lending practices.

Late stage capitalism
 
<Snip>
I will never be able to afford property in the city I live in, the town or even county I was born in.

20$ here and there makes no difference. That is the problem, young folks have been shut out completely.

My wife and I busted our tails to get our girls through college with science degrees, and it has paid off. One is gainfully employed and is currently looking for her second house; the other is finishing up her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree. They are both quite able to support themselves and their future families.

Too many parents opt not to support, encourage and provide guidance to their kids from the time they are young and then through college.

Regards,
~998cc
 
I am a pensioner as is my Wife we went for our quarterly dental check ups last week and were charged a $25 levy each for PPE’s used by staff during our visit .... seemed like a cash grab nothing else ..... we haven’t spent near that on our own PPE’s yet, in the over 4 months we been dealing with the covid here
 
My wife and I busted our tails to get our girls through college with science degrees, and it has paid off. One is gainfully employed and is currently looking for her second house; the other is finishing up her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree. They are both quite able to support themselves and their future families.

Too many parents opt not to support, encourage and provide guidance to their kids from the time they are young and then through college.

Regards,
~998cc

Couldn't agree more. Sounds like a success story to me and good luck to your daughter finishing her degree in this climate.

I can only speak from personal experience, and where I live the average median home price is approaching 700k. Time to move!

P.S. either of those daughters single?
 
I guess it is down to choice. No new car or bikes or decent flat or anything for many years. You just stash the dosh until you have enough to plonk down for the mortgage. No life no holidays. I got my second degree paying for it with cash saved up. After that nearly seven years until I got a steady safe gig. You just do it.
Of course having an old lady who does the same surely doesn't hurt.
 
Yup! Since the 1960's middle class prosperity has hinged on dual income household partnerships AND being frugal.
No new car, buy a used one and learn to maintain it yerself. Eat and drink at home most of the time, who can afford
restaurant and pub prices on a regular basis? Vacation?, go camping at a State Park. Can't afford air fair to Europe
or Cabo or Hawaii and staying in a luxury high rise hotel. Fairy tale princess weddings? Nope, get mom and pop to
spend that $40,000 on a wedding gift as a down payment on a home. Need sunglasses?, Go to the local drug store
instead of buying Maui Jim. Want a dog? Adopt one from the pound instead of paying $2000 for a French Bull Dog.

It's all a matter of choices.
 
Could you all please STOP poking every tender nerve on my body!@ I don't know which nerve to complain about first... but I'll pick Pete's..

I worked on a new house (a teardown/rebuild new) in the neighborhood where my work associate has lived for 27 years. He bought his house for $70,000. The house we worked in was being sold for 1.4 million, and the buyer was 35 years old with two kids, had a big boat and a new truck. The developer told me his parents put down some money to help him afford this nice new house to raise their grandchildren in... The parents put down $500,000. for their 35 year old son and his family...

Those of us who aren't the children of doctors or lawyers, don't have that kind of boost up into the middle class, nor any kind of a net to catch us if we fail when we start our own business. I can't tell you how many times over the years I looked at my bills that were due, the amount of money in my bank accounts, and the amount of money owed to me from contract work and had to scramble to pay all my bills for a given month. My parents never gave me a dime while they were alive, short of funding my college education for a few years until I told them it was not a good path for me.

I rented this "shack" for 10 years because it was what I could afford. I lived from job to job, while also renting a 4,000 sq ft shop and paying a triple net lease the whole time. I usually didn't go home from the shop until 8 or 9pm every day. I took Sundays off to do laundry. I used to say that all the guys who worked for other people were in the bars hitting on the local honey's at 5pm, while I still have a few more hours of work to do, before I went home exhausted... As it turned out many of them were alcoholics, so maybe I didn't miss anything worth fretting over.

Let's Screw The Homeowner (For A Change!)...


If only mom and dad had a spare half million to give me....

Predatory lending. Don't blame the consumer, blame the institution.

Debt is just another form of societal control. Restrict a person's capital and you cripple their freedom.

Train the public to consume, then control the ability of consumption via predatory lending practices.

Late stage capitalism

The fact that you chose to remain in the shithole area where there is no opportunity to buy into some equity is your choice. Sorry there are no corner bistro's in Cowpie, Idaho to tempt you or your peers to abandon your preferred lifestyle and move there. Let's face it, you have to take a chance to get ahead. You're not stupid, you are just like every other young person. You want both ends of the stick. You want to live somewhere awesome and have fun now, and then also own something valuable to have your equity grow at the same time. It has never worked that way. When my parents moved to Rockland county, it was all corn fields and cow pastures. They put down $500 on their house which was sold for a staggering $15,500. in 1958. My Italian relatives from the Bronx used to make fun of my dad saying, "there's nothing out there but cows. What are you going to do out there?"

After 5 years, almost every one of those relatives followed my dad out there...

You're not some senator's son (as the song goes) so nobody is gifting your a half million bucks. Like I said to you years ago, "Get out of there". Now, with the pandemic in progress, people are getting out of there ahead of you, and rural real estate is booming, and so are the prices to buy in. You can't play it safe and stay on the crowded ladder to success and also get in on the big risk/big reward dynamic.

There's lots of places to go where the bureaucrats haven't taxed the normal working Joe's out of existence, but there's no "urban cafe life" to indulge in. But you could raise chickens and start a huge garden. I hear the chicks did that...


Debt is just another form of societal control. Restrict a person's capital and you cripple their freedom.

What nonsense. So you are not free because you don't have access to other people's money?... There's some prime real estate that is available near me in the capital hill area of seattle. I warn you though, it's mostly fixer upper stuff...

Let's Screw The Homeowner (For A Change!)...
 
That I would disagree with... The consumer always has choice.. and personal responsibility...
Back in the mid-80s, the interest rates were what they were. "Predatory" is a relative term; TODAY, those rates WOULD be predatory, when the general market is running in the low single digits.

How credit card companies TODAY, in particular, get away with PREDATORY rates, is beyond me...
 
Could you all please STOP poking every tender nerve on my body!@ I don't know which nerve to complain about first... but I'll pick Pete's..

I worked on a new house (a teardown/rebuild new) in the neighborhood where my work associate has lived for 27 years. He bought his house for $70,000. The house we worked in was being sold for 1.4 million, and the buyer was 35 years old with two kids, had a big boat and a new truck. The developer told me his parents put down some money to help him afford this nice new house to raise their grandchildren in... The parents put down $500,000. for their 35 year old son and his family...

Those of us who aren't the children of doctors or lawyers, don't have that kind of boost up into the middle class, nor any kind of a net to catch us if we fail when we start our own business. I can't tell you how many times over the years I looked at my bills that were due, the amount of money in my bank accounts, and the amount of money owed to me from contract work and had to scramble to pay all my bills for a given month. My parents never gave me a dime while they were alive, short of funding my college education for a few years until I told them it was not a good path for me.

I rented this "shack" for 10 years because it was what I could afford. I lived from job to job, while also renting a 4,000 sq ft shop and paying a triple net lease the whole time. I usually didn't go home from the shop until 8 or 9pm every day. I took Sundays off to do laundry. I used to say that all the guys who worked for other people were in the bars hitting on the local honey's at 5pm, while I still have a few more hours of work to do, before I went home exhausted... As it turned out many of them were alcoholics, so maybe I didn't miss anything worth fretting over.

Let's Screw The Homeowner (For A Change!)...


If only mom and dad had a spare half million to give me....



The fact that you chose to remain in the shithole area where there is no opportunity to buy into some equity is your choice. Sorry there are no corner bistro's in Cowpie, Idaho to tempt you or your peers to abandon your preferred lifestyle and move there. Let's face it, you have to take a chance to get ahead. You're not stupid, you are just like every other young person. You want both ends of the stick. You want to live somewhere awesome and have fun now, and then also own something valuable to have your equity grow at the same time. It has never worked that way. When my parents moved to Rockland county, it was all corn fields and cow pastures. They put down $500 on their house which was sold for a staggering $15,500. in 1958. My Italian relatives from the Bronx used to make fun of my dad saying, "there's nothing out there but cows. What are you going to do out there?"

After 5 years, almost every one of those relatives followed my dad out there...

You're not some senator's son (as the song goes) so nobody is gifting your a half million bucks. Like I said to you years ago, "Get out of there". Now, with the pandemic in progress, people are getting out of there ahead of you, and rural real estate is booming, and so are the prices to buy in. You can't play it safe and stay on the crowded ladder to success and also get in on the big risk/big reward dynamic.

There's lots of places to go where the bureaucrats haven't taxed the normal working Joe's out of existence, but there's no "urban cafe life" to indulge in. But you could raise chickens and start a huge garden. I hear the chicks did that...




What nonsense. So you are not free because you don't have access to other people's money?... There's some prime real estate that is available near me in the capital hill area of seattle. I warn you though, it's mostly fixer upper stuff...

Let's Screw The Homeowner (For A Change!)...

Sigh... I hear you Frank but I think you have misjudged the lifestyle I lead here. Believe it or not there are still working class folks in the area.

Ain't no jobs in Cowpie Idaho.
Family ain't in Cowpie Idaho.
Healthcare ain't in Cowpie Idaho.
No hot momma's in Cowpie Idaho.

Goddamn right I want both sides of the stick. I'm an American!

So, you worked 6 days a week, lived in a shack, didn't get laid and you want me to follow your advice?!!? No thanks friendo haha
 
I worked outside all my life , the last few years for not bad money considering my location , also worked at nights as waiter in a very busy/rough tavern , my wife worked as a teacher .... our first house was 21k, 3 story Victorian in center of town , spent 10yrs bringing it back and up to the days standard , sold it , built a completely new house in popular area on edge of town , paid for in 9 yrs then sold it at 10 yrs , moved back to town into another fixer but circa.1955 real plaster ( no horse hair) etc. , paid cash , then used balance left from sale to fix and add a small porch and full bath on main floor , still no debt. , but we have lived poor most of our 42 yrs together , our 2 kids both have degrees in Fine Arts , we split cost with them , daughter has a small business and works full time in a cafe , my son works as a red seal mechanic in the city ... we a happy family that always look out for each other , no money but no debt and we mostly laugh .... our kids have both asked us how we did it , one word describes it best , relentless ....Keep your eyes on the prize young people ..
 
Lived in shacks too. They were affordable. But they usually had electricity and most had water. None had a WC. All had a log stove. Dirt road in.
Saved money gained privacy.
 
Back in the mid-80s, the interest rates were what they were. "Predatory" is a relative term; TODAY, those rates WOULD be predatory, when the general market is running in the low single digits.

How credit card companies TODAY, in particular, get away with PREDATORY rates, is beyond me...
Credit cards get away with it because a lot of people don't see the bottom line: 'How much do I owe?'
Their only interest (no pun intended) is the top line: 'How much can I borrow?'
 
I worked outside all my life , the last few years for not bad money considering my location , also worked at nights as waiter in a very busy/rough tavern , my wife worked as a teacher .... our first house was 21k, 3 story Victorian in center of town , spent 10yrs bringing it back and up to the days standard , sold it , built a completely new house in popular area on edge of town , paid for in 9 yrs then sold it at 10 yrs , moved back to town into another fixer but circa.1955 real plaster ( no horse hair) etc. , paid cash , then used balance left from sale to fix and add a small porch and full bath on main floor , still no debt. , but we have lived poor most of our 42 yrs together , our 2 kids both have degrees in Fine Arts , we split cost with them , daughter has a small business and works full time in a cafe , my son works as a red seal mechanic in the city ... we a happy family that always look out for each other , no money but no debt and we mostly laugh .... our kids have both asked us how we did it , one word describes it best , relentless ....Keep your eyes on the prize young people ..

You have the Calvin Colidge attitude Craig....


Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
-Calvin Coolidge

“An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.” – Lao Tzu
 
I'm actually heartened by the range of views and experiences here.
I completely agree with Fast Eddie about blanket lockdowns for COVID.
The problem was - it isn't so much of a problem now - is that we did not have the test, trace, isolate process in place at the time. In fact we simply gave up.
We put the problem in the too difficult tray. I also sense the dead hand of Cummings and the Tory party generally in not trusting Local Government Public Health to get involved. They have more recently and evidence - well good old Private Eye - is that they do a better than the private sector!
As 'Boris the Blusterer' has admitted today - and I can be positive that he now 'gets it' - we could have done things better earlier.
I'm turning into a real 'leftie'. I would like to see more workers co-operatives (shades of Meriden) and a more equal society. I'd also look to all the financial engineering that goes on.
How in the UK have we ended up with so much money headed offshore? I'd start with those enobled and beknighted ones (Sir Philip, Sir James, Sir Jim and Lord 4th Viscount - Daily Mail owner) who seem to be based or domiciled overseas having made their fortunes in the increasingly disunited UK. There is a reason that our American cousins know us a Treasure Island. St. Margaret Thatcher is mostly to blame for that.
Also all those dodgy setups where money is loaned from offshore companies at inflated interest rates to reduce tax bills. These structures are used to run our care homes! And they'll soon have the dosh off you that you've made on any property owned to pay for care should you be unlucky enough to need it.
Also how can it be that Dutch, French and German state-owned companies can own parts of our rail and nuclear power infrastructure?
The Chinese are involved in the next Sizewell in the alphabet and who knew they had a consulate in Belfast?
Insidious long term infiltration and dependency is their game. We will finally wake up when they have the funds to send an aircraft carrier or ten into our seas.
We are just too individualistic, greedy and plain stupid as a nation.
Oh boy what I rant!
But all of course just imho.
Andy
 
I'm actually heartened by the range of views and experiences here.
I completely agree with Fast Eddie about blanket lockdowns for COVID.
The problem was - it isn't so much of a problem now - is that we did not have the test, trace, isolate process in place at the time. In fact we simply gave up.
We put the problem in the too difficult tray. I also sense the dead hand of Cummings and the Tory party generally in not trusting Local Government Public Health to get involved. They have more recently and evidence - well good old Private Eye - is that they do a better than the private sector!
As 'Boris the Blusterer' has admitted today - and I can be positive that he now 'gets it' - we could have done things better earlier.
I'm turning into a real 'leftie'. I would like to see more workers co-operatives (shades of Meriden) and a more equal society. I'd also look to all the financial engineering that goes on.
How in the UK have we ended up with so much money headed offshore? I'd start with those enobled and beknighted ones (Sir Philip, Sir James, Sir Jim and Lord 4th Viscount - Daily Mail owner) who seem to be based or domiciled overseas having made their fortunes in the increasingly disunited UK. There is a reason that our American cousins know us a Treasure Island. St. Margaret Thatcher is mostly to blame for that.
Also all those dodgy setups where money is loaned from offshore companies at inflated interest rates to reduce tax bills. These structures are used to run our care homes! And they'll soon have the dosh off you that you've made on any property owned to pay for care should you be unlucky enough to need it.
Also how can it be that Dutch, French and German state-owned companies can own parts of our rail and nuclear power infrastructure?
The Chinese are involved in the next Sizewell in the alphabet and who knew they had a consulate in Belfast?
Insidious long term infiltration and dependency is their game. We will finally wake up when they have the funds to send an aircraft carrier or ten into our seas.
We are just too individualistic, greedy and plain stupid as a nation.
Oh boy what I rant!
But all of course just imho.
Andy
Oh, Andy! Not just you and GB. A whole world of people were duped except the financial elite have known what is coming down all along.
Stand by for the next rounds.
 
A taxpayer revolt is what this country needs BADLY.

Radically chopping government to pre-1950 levels, and ENTIRELY cutting off illegal aliens and able-bodied layabouts would save BILLIONS, if not TRILLIONS every year.

That should also infer that we should get back to a similar tax structure, which i would support as it is more equitable. Eisenhower era tax rates on the highes earners was ~91%, though ther effective tax rates were in the low 40s%. No self-serving SOB-nator will ever vote for that since it is around +15% from current.

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There's some prime real estate that is available near me in the capital hill area of seattle. I warn you though, it's mostly fixer upper stuff...

Let's Screw The Homeowner (For A Change!)...

Hey, in the 80s i used to live two doors down from the cop shop above a carb repair shop.

My first house was a fixer upper just two blocks inside the Seattle city limits from White Center. My second house was in Woodinville. It takes borrowing money to amass your own capital in the combination of a high rate and timely manner.
 
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