Virginia Beach on FORBES Top 10 Least Family Friendly List (Richmond: foreclosures, rent)

[Hokie]

First classes and chiefs are making around $50,000 to $70,000 with the housing allowances and other allowances, which are non taxable.

I hate to hear them complain. My husband was military. He doesn't know a single ex-Navy man around here that makes near what they made in the military. $50,000 is good money for somebody with a high school diploma and twelve years on a job, and it often goes unappreciated by the military community. He knows former officers making well under $40,000. Everybody just wants to hear about that one in 1,000 that make more outside the service. They tell you in the retirement seminar you can expect to make much less. It's true.

I think it is time we started thinking about the civilian community. They don't get to shop at the commisary like we do, and their high school graduates by and large make half or less what the military makes.

[chesapeakesim]

I agree, I never got why people in the military complain about pay. Sure if you join right out of high school you won't make a lot, but you can work your way up. Like Hokie said, not only do they get their base pay, but also the housing allowance, food allowance, etc. which they don't have to pay taxes on. Plus they get great insurance and benefits, 1/2 pay on retirement with 20 years, cheap prices at the commisary, additional money if they are married or have kids, discounts on everything ranging from free days at Busch Gardens to cheap auto insurance, etc., etc.. I am not trying to argue they don't deserve that, just that as the poster said life in the military can pay very well when compared to civilian life. I know military people that own houses in their early 20s and drive $100K sports cars. I don't know anyone in civilian life that comes close to that. It would be nice to put some focus on the regular civilians and make this area desirable and affordable for us too.

[Erma]

You're right. When I was in, I purchased a home by myself and had a nice car. When I got out, got a great job, and then the taxes kicked in.

[janeannwho]

Don't you think the VA loan and housing allowance is helping to keep the real estate market afloat here? We always had to move and here was always a program to help that work out, so I am grateful for the tax free housing allowances that our servicemen and women ane getting to keep the rest of us from losing our shirts.

[Rita Mordio]

Originally Posted by janeannwho

Don't you think the VA loan and housing allowance is helping to keep the real estate market afloat here? We always had to move and here was always a program to help that work out, so I am grateful for the tax free housing allowances that our servicemen and women ane getting to keep the rest of us from losing our shirts.

The VA Loan and housing allowance is probably also what skyrocketed housing prices (rent and purchase) to the extreme. When I spoke to a mortgage broker, she said that if you take your yearly income and times it by 3, that's about as much house as you can afford.

For Virginia Beach, the average home is $250K
The average family makes $58k

Last I checked $58K x 3 != (does not equal) $250K

Rental Communities also realize how much the military makes with their allowances - so they know how much they can jack up the price of their apartments to make extra money. I mean, seriously. Look at Plaza Apartments. Who in their right minds would pay $800 for 600-square feet in an apartment complex that is downright nasty? No, it's not the military that I have a problem with. It's the reaction from people trying to line their pockets because of our boys-in-blue that hits a nerve.

So, with the Master Jet Base Oceana and all of the pilots, why is the average family easily priced out of the Virginia Beach market?

Again, I'm not ragging on the military - I'm ragging on everybody else. Retired military gets 1/2 of their military paycheck for the rest of their lives. So, after they retire at say... 40, they get 1/2 of what they were making while working a civi job. Businesses realize that they get that retirement money. You know what they do? Lower wages. So, people not retired from the military are going up against Retired Military for the job that now has a lowered wage.

Also, military spouses looking for some extra cash - they, like retired military, are willing to work for the lowered wages as well.

So, there are good and bad points to having such a large military community. In Virginia Beach (and Norfolk, too), the Military bases keep the city afloat. The bases have brought in serious tax dollars, thousands upon thousands of jobs, and (best of all) housing prices haven't sank like an anvil. However, the flip side of that coin is that it has brought super-inflated housing prices and deflated wages.

Having been on both sides of that coin, that is my prospective.

Virginia Beach has taken everything too far and too ostentatious. But alas, I shan't move quite yet. I have great job security that I really don't want to give up.

[Erma]

Actually, I have a beef with the lending agencies. The ones pre-approving for 100% financing! Yea, I made some money selling the house of 20 years, but the young couple who purchased it got that 100% financing. They only lived there 1 year and now the house is on the rental market, looks like **** and probably has devalued due to neglect.

[Rita Mordio]

Originally Posted by Erma

Actually, I have a beef with the lending agencies. The ones pre-approving for 100% financing! Yea, I made some money selling the house of 20 years, but the young couple who purchased it got that 100% financing. They only lived there 1 year and now the house is on the rental market, looks like **** and probably has devalued due to neglect.

Like I said, I am chalking most of our problems to the businesses and individuals (and governments!) who are abusing the military with their predatory and degrading practices. And they commit the abuse for the sheer purpose of lining their filthy pockets.

[Erma]

Originally Posted by Kuharai

Like I said, I am chalking most of our problems to the businesses and individuals (and governments!) who are abusing the military with their predatory and degrading practices. And they commit the abuse for the sheer purpose of lining their filthy pockets.

Amen to that! Also these stimulus packages have me a little concerned.

[janeannwho]

Well the skyrocketing prices have many many hands in them. Folks selling out to cash in on the speculation, people selling mortgages, people not wanting to pay the ridiculously high rents around here, and then having our taxes almost double did not help as well as the readjusted insurance along the coast. I am happy that I did 100 percent financing because now if the market tanks and I give the house back, my own money is not tied up in the specualtors market I had to buy in.

[Erma]

Originally Posted by janeannwho

Well the skyrocketing prices have many many hands in them. Folks selling out to cash in on the speculation, people selling mortgages, people not wanting to pay the ridiculously high rents around here, and then having our taxes almost double did not help as well as the readjusted insurance along the coast. I am happy that I did 100 percent financing because now if the market tanks and I give the house back, my own money is not tied up in the specualtors market I had to buy in.

Not slamming you, but your last sentence about giving the house back and not losing your own money is what alot of the forclosures with fannie mae and freddie mac were all about. This goes all the way to the top. Had the people used their own money to buy homes, instead of the loans being handed to them, they had nothing to lose. Most of those foreclosures were from people who had no business financially, owning a home.
As far as the high rent in this area, I've seen it alot worse in other areas. I find this area much cheaper than northern va.