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IF you buy a $500,000 house
IF you put $150,000 down
IF you finance $350,000
IF you get an interest rate of 3.5%
THEN
You have a payment of $1,573 for the next 30 years.
You will be paying a total of $215,426 in interest + $350,853 principal + $150,000 of downpayment for a total of $716,279 (NOT including property taxes)
Let's assume those are $7,000 per year x 30 years. Another $210,000
For a total of $926,279 forked over for your dream house.
Hope you and your wife enjoy a lifetime of WORK....
Not sure what your point is. You gotta live somewhere, and it's going to cost a lot of money no matter what.
And making the tax system utterly flat. Everyone should pay the same percentage to live in a free country. No breaks for anyone. We ALL get the benefit of living here, we ALL should pay a fixed flat percentage.
I think republicans like yourself are so hung up on ideals and rhetoric that you fail to see the big picture. The reality is, for some people, no matter how hard they work, they will be stuck because of factors beyond their control. My mother is the hardest working person I've ever known-yet she has never made more than 15$/hr. Try raising a family making 15$ an hour and being taxed at 15%.
And making the tax system utterly flat. Everyone should pay the same percentage to live in a free country. No breaks for anyone. We ALL get the benefit of living here, we ALL should pay a fixed flat percentage.
And just how woud you define that "fixed flat percentage" ... are you counting ALL taxes paid as a percentage of income... including sales tax, payroll tax, etc., and not just income tax?
Last time i got it looked at i was told It could probably go for $490-$500,000 with all the work i had done to it. And i work in construction so it didn't cost me a dime for the improvements
And just how woud you define that "fixed flat percentage" ... are you counting ALL taxes paid as a percentage of income... including sales tax, payroll tax, etc., and not just income tax?
it would just be the income tax. the sales tax is from the state or local government. payroll taxes are supposed to support social security and madicare, so that would be on top of the flat income tax.
thats how id see it, i know many people would do away with an income tax and just have a national sales tax instead. to me, thats regressive and reduces spending.
I think republicans like yourself are so hung up on ideals and rhetoric that you fail to see the big picture. The reality is, for some people, no matter how hard they work, they will be stuck because of factors beyond their control. My mother is the hardest working person I've ever known-yet she has never made more than 15$/hr. Try raising a family making 15$ an hour and being taxed at 15%.
I am not a Republican. At all. Republicans and Democrats are interchangeable. Neither has a rational philosophy and both are flagrantly statist-collectivist.
But here is the big picture. Working hard does not entitle someone to avoid their obligations as a citizen while others are forced to pay. I don't care if you clean toilets with your tongue and have no hands, no legs, and a short neck. People still died and are dying for your right to be safe and free. You owe them your 15% or whatever no matter what. I really don't want to hear about how hard you might think you have it. The 19 year old in Afghanistan has it harder, and so does the widow whose husband died putting out a fire for someone neither of them knew. If you make 30 cents a week, 6 of it goes to the people who make the other 24 a possibility.
And here is an even bigger picture. If you are not making enough to have kids in a proper manner, you should not have them. We are humans, not cockroaches. Procreation is a choice. While some things that happen in life can properly be described as "beyond our control", like contracting ALS, we have expanded our identification of this phenomenon to absurdity.
We now consider poverty, unemployment, and old age to be things that fall from the sky and victimize us. Poverty is a personal failing, not improvidence. Unemployment is a personal problem, not an unlucky break. Old age is a certainty, we know it's coming every day we awaken. Planning for its certainty should not be considered a magnificent achievement, it should be a basic life skill. Like breathing.
Buying a $500,000 house with $160,000 in income is a choice. If you don't like being brokish all the time for the next 10 years, make a better choice. What if your wife hates nursing in 5 years and wants out? Do you know that nurses are among the unhappiest people in the universe? The job sucks, there is pressure, politics, and budget cuts, and cranky patients who are often unappreciative or even abusive. Many nurses leave the profession. Under Obamacare, nurse salaries are likely to be cut, cut, cut. If you overextend now and your wife hates the job and can't quit because you guys "need the money", what does that do to your marriage? Keep ALL the possibilities in view, not just the cataclysms. Living well within your means with lots of disposable income coming in keeps you free and in control of your destiny. If you want to cede that freedom to Chase Mortgage, go ahead. You will one day regret it.
And just how woud you define that "fixed flat percentage" ... are you counting ALL taxes paid as a percentage of income... including sales tax, payroll tax, etc., and not just income tax?
Income tax only. We all should pay 14% or whatever it happens to be with no deductions or exemptions or allowances or excuses. Nobody gets out alive. We all live in this bastion of freedom and equanimity. We all should pay for the privilege. If everyone paid, and the 47% were reduced to 0%, the unfair burden on each of us would drop. We need the dead weight to wake up and start doing their part, instead of beotching about the rich people they envy and hate and trying to get them to do more, when they are already doing everything!
Marc excellent post. Hopefully you have given the OP some things to think about. NOBODY needs a $500,000 house at his age. Many unkowns await in the game of life and most people don't even consider them. By the way I agree with you for the most part on a flat tax. When you have 47% of the people in this country paying nothing....that is a recipe for disaster!
The REAL question is why in the he-- the cost of housing in Nj is out of reach for the middle class.
160,000 is upper middle class,esp for one person.
Just imagine someone making 65,000 trying to buy a home in Nj. It won't work.
I can't wait until housing prices come down more than what they are.(hopefully they will)
Op,have you checked out Pa or south Jersey,namely Burlington,Mercer,and Camden counties?
Housing is cheaper,but that's if you want a commute
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