Cost of housing.

[shmily_dana]

I used to live in Orange County, Ca. My first apartment was $520/month in 1986. It was an ugly apartment, but all I could afford. There was only two washing machines. My car was broken into. There was a several arson fires in the dumpster. There was no hot water for 2 months. There were not enough parking spaces for everyone. The were bugs. My next door neighbor would pee out of his window every Saturday (but not Sunday) morning...

Later I lived in one other apartment building. Much nicer, but I was on a main road. I could hear traffic outside 24/7...($690 in 1990)

I moved to Tucson, AZ. For $520, I had a much bigger apartment then I ever had. Shade trees. It was quiet. There was a pool and a workout room. There was a club house. I had an actual parking space...

In 1994 we bought a house here. $120,000. We just sold it for $160,000. (1432sq ft) (in a nice area). We just bought a 2 story (4br, 2.5bath, 2700sq ft) for $175,000.

I'm glad I moved from CA.

[Dinner]

If I moved out of California then I'd move to the Pacific North West.

[:) Smiley]

Real estate should be more affordable in Iraq too - in case you want to go native (a la Lawrence).

but the cost of insurance and security would be insane.

[Odin]

I just found an apartment in Fargo to live in while I am going ti college. It's a studio apartemnt with rent of $275/month. Heat and CABLE are included.

[Dinner]

Yes, but then I'd have to live in Fargo.

[Dinner]

The same floor plan I'm bidding on only a few blocks away sold for $300,000 in December and was sold 60 days later for $360,000. Back in feburary my dad bid $351,000 on a forclosed example of the same house in this complex, which he won and is now in escrow, but as you can see it is already worth $40,000 more easily.

[PLATO]

Oerdin, there are plent of 100% loans out there without PMI. The interesting thing is that there are secondary market loans available for less cost than conforming loans. Wall Street tends to lag the bond market on secondary securitizations. One of the competitors that gives me a lot of problems id World Savings Bank. They have some really good rates if you push them.

The point is, that your financing is just as important as the home you select. Shop around...there are few businesses right now that are as competitive as mortgage lending.

[monolith94]

I want to live in a stone tower in a rich green field, surrounded by forest.

[Dinner]

He accepted my offer of $395,000! I'm going to put down 3% as a deposit and sign all of the forms before I leave. Happy days.

Plato: What sort of loan package do you recommend? I'm not real keen on a interest only loan but I would like a 5/1 more then an adjustable for obvious reasons.

[MrFun]

congratulations, Oerdin

[GePap]

welcome to the real world of absurd property prices.

The current Average price for an Apartment in NYC is 1 million dollars. Obviously the extra expensive multimillion dollar apartment buildings in Manhattan make it so high.

Now if we could only build 500,000 units of affrodable housing four our masses of poor...but that ain't going to happen.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by DanS
Most homeowners have their own yard.

California must be a great place, but I would evaluate how great it really is versus the cost to live there. There are some really nice places to live in the U.S. at very reasonable cost.

In suburbia Columbus, Ohio where I grew up, $400,000 would buy quite a spread. Even today, after prices have gone up. The economy is doing well too.

Columbus also has too many fat white people that smoke...

[pchang]

Woo Hoo

Oerdin is on his way to home ownership. Now he just needs to rent out to babes he can hit on.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by Oerdin
If I moved out of California then I'd move to the Pacific North West.

the northwest doesnt want you. they hate californians up here. they complain about how we steal their land and raise their costs.

You also have to think about what kind of job you can get up here.

[GePap]

Re: Woo Hoo

Originally posted by pchang
Oerdin is on his way to home ownership. Now he just needs to rent out to babes he can hit on.

Home ownership is one of the biggest finacial burdens of the middle class-people count their homes as an asset, but what kind of asset is it if they keep sinking money into it? The best it can be is leverage on new loans, but that is just added debt.