[magellan]

Originally Posted by baystater

Thank for the link megellan. I'm going to use that link with one of our treads on the MA. If that's OK by you.

Sure, by all means. It was put together by Global Insight and National City Bank, and appears every year on CNNMoney's website.

[baystater]

Originally Posted by magellan

Sure, by all means. It was put together by Global Insight and National City Bank, and appears every year on CNNMoney's website.

Thanks Much.

[jimmyleggs]

Not saying bush is to blame for people getting into trouble with their mortgage, but he came on TV yesterday and stated in his stupid way that he did not support the federal government helping people from loosing their homes, Now bush said two years ago that he was responsible for more people now owning their own homes then ever before, now every one wants to distance him from helping in keeping the banks and people from collapsing?
Bush will go down in history as the biggest IDIOT dillhole in history.

Bush just does not give a crap about this country as we know it, he only cares about the haves and havemores.
So keep eating the bush horse droppings and say mmm can I have another road apple.

[Torrid]

Originally Posted by jimmyleggs

Bush will go down in history as the biggest IDIOT dillhole in history.

LOL! I don't give much of a hoot about politics.....I think they ALL lie to get what they want......However, I totally agree with you on this statement.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by jimmyleggs

Not saying bush is to blame for people getting into trouble with their mortgage, but he came on TV yesterday and stated in his stupid way that he did not support the federal government helping people from loosing their homes, Now bush said two years ago that he was responsible for more people now owning their own homes then ever before, now every one wants to distance him from helping in keeping the banks and people from collapsing?
Bush will go down in history as the biggest IDIOT dillhole in history.

Bush just does not give a crap about this country as we know it, he only cares about the haves and havemores.
So keep eating the bush horse droppings and say mmm can I have another road apple.

For a long while I just thought Bush was pretty smart but just got bad advice. Now I wholeheartedly believe he is pretty dumb, and just says what his advisers tell him to say.

However, I do agree that lowering interest rates and artificially propping up a housing market rife with abuse would have been a mistake. But lowering the Fed rate so that that people won't lose their homes? Huh?

[jumpygh]

Originally Posted by jimmyleggs

Not saying bush is to blame for people getting into trouble with their mortgage, but he came on TV yesterday and stated in his stupid way that he did not support the federal government helping people from loosing their homes, Now bush said two years ago that he was responsible for more people now owning their own homes then ever before, now every one wants to distance him from helping in keeping the banks and people from collapsing?
Bush will go down in history as the biggest IDIOT dillhole in history.

Great, so the federal government is going to stop every foreclosure? I can't imagine how costly that would be. No thanks. People shouldn't get a mortgage (or anything else) that they can't afford. You want to put the burden on taxpayers because people with poor credit or finances made mistakes. How about a little personal responsibility.

As for Bush, I think he's about average intelligence for politicians. Politicians tend to be successful for reasons other than intelligence.

[southernlady5464]

People shouldn't get a mortgage (or anything else) that they can't afford. You want to put the burden on taxpayers because people with poor credit or finances made mistakes. How about a little personal responsibility.

EXACTLY!

4 Different Rules of Thumb For How Much House You Can Afford » My Money Blog

By definition, a “rule of thumb” is meant to be a greatly simplified estimate for a complicated matter. So let’s see what happens when I search for “rule of thumb” + “how much house can I afford” on the internet:

Northwest Community Credit Union says 1.5 times your gross annual income:

If you and your spouse have a total income of $50,000 the general rule would be that you shouldn’t borrow more than $75,000 for your home.

CNN Money says 2.5 times:

The rule of thumb here is to aim for a home that costs about two-and-a-half times your gross annual salary.

Washington Mutual Bank suggests anywhere from 3 to 5 times:

As a broad generalization, most people can afford to purchase a house worth about three times their total (gross) annual income, assuming a 20% down payment and a moderate amount of other long-term debts, such as car or student loan payments. With no other debts, you can probably afford a house worth up to four or even five times your annual income.

Hmm… So far, with an annual income of $50,000, I’ve been told I can buy a house for anywhere from $75,000 to $250,000! Instead, I decided to run some numbers for myself using values I think are reasonable with current interest rates.

Figuring My Own Rule of Thumb
Let’s take $50,000 in gross annual income. Let’s spend 30% of that income on housing. This is within most lending ratios including the government’s Fannie Mae. 30% of $50,000/12 = $4167 is $1,250 per month. Housing costs include insurance and taxes, so let’s back out $200. That leaves us with $1,050.

For a 30-year fixed mortgage with a rate of 6.25%, a monthly payment of $1,050 roughly equates to a loan amount of $170,000. If you had a 20% downpayment, that would be a $212,500 total house value. So with these numbers, that’s about 3.4-4.25 times gross annual income. Taking a very rough estimate of this to get a rule o’ thumb, you get 4 times your gross annual income.

In reality, these days it’s really not that hard to find a lender to give you a loan for 5 times your annual income. Theoretically, this means that they think that you can “afford” such an amount. Now you and I just have to decide whether we want to take it!

How many people have OVERSPENT that 3-4 times gross annual income? Plus how many use both incomes when going for a mortgage? What happens when one loses their job? All of a sudden you can't make your mortgage payment.

We bought our house this spring based on ONE income ONLY. And even then we still have a second mortgage right now that we are paying with that income. AND we are managing to do both...it's tight but not impossible. The house we bought 6 years ago that we are still trying to sell was bought with just ONE income on the line.

Yes, we could have afforded much more but we didn't want to be HOUSE POOR. We wanted to be able to save some of our income to put in our retirement. Turns out it was a danged good thing we had...we had a 6 month stretch of NO income and had to use our savings to pay our bills. Liz

[baystater]

If you watched the fed today they dumped about 38 billion on the financial market today to "facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets." To be honest I don't think this is a good idea. As a nation we need a financial kick in the teeth. There is/was to much liquid out there and we need to stop counting on the credit card to save us both as the individual and as a nation. Really we have a negative saving rate, horrible spending habits, and a lot of us in the nation show complete ignorance about how to handle our finances. Maybe we need another Depression to get our heads and a**es in line.
Also sick of hearing that we need to drop rates because there to high. WHAT!!!!! 5.25% is high? I think you better take a look back in recent history. Look at when Pres Carter and Pres Regan was in.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...fective%29.png

OK rant over.

[noone1]

bay you are correct, but this country runs on people consuming goods and paying for them with credit.
Sad to say but it is what makes this country go.
People after the GD would save string, paper anything that they thought they could use.
Now people get ride of something because it is not the correct shade of blue to match their couch.
Yes I remember the credit crunch of the 70s and 80s, I know of one person who nego, a cd for 40 years at 17% and people told her she was nuts, now she is a bit over half way through it and laughing all the way to the bank.
But that time also put michigan on it behind.
I do think Michigan is about as bad if not a bit worse than that time now.
The thing now is things are slipping across the nation this time.
In the 80s there were places like florida and california that did not even have a hickup during these times. I have friends in Tampa and they are heading for NC to find work. Same in Ca. things have slowed.

[jumpygh]

Originally Posted by baystater

If you watched the fed today they dumped about 38 billion on the financial market today to "facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets." To be honest I don't think this is a good idea. As a nation we need a financial kick in the teeth. There is/was to much liquid out there and we need to stop counting on the credit card to save us both as the individual and as a nation. Really we have a negative saving rate, horrible spending habits, and a lot of us in the nation show complete ignorance about how to handle our finances. Maybe we need another Depression to get our heads and a**es in line.
Also sick of hearing that we need to drop rates because there to high. WHAT!!!!! 5.25% is high? I think you better take a look back in recent history. Look at when Pres Carter and Pres Regan was in.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...fective%29.png

OK rant over.

You're hoping for a recession? Wow, that's really sick.

At any rate, I don't think you'll get your wish. And it's laughable to bring up the "D" word. Ha!