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I think you are a prime candidate for home ownership...
Last I checked... there are over 600 homes in Detroit Michigan priced at $5,000 or less.
One years rent will buy a home in your State of Michigan free and clear.
???
I have lived an a very rough part of Chicago(cheap housing abounds) anything less than about 60K here will not buy you an house you can live in. There is Property available at very low prices in every market but very often the house is both in a bad location and very damaged such that no one can live there without putting a massive amount into repairs and the repairs needed to make it habitable can be more than the what you could get back in rent. It would be a very bad investment to spend $5,000 on an house here cause it probably needs $15,000 worth or repairs esp. when the person who is buying the house does not likely have the money.
If they have internet service, isn't Magic Jack about thirty dollars a year?
Catch 22, it is cheap but you need to have a internet connection first and getting that can be expensive or iffy(where I live if you pay for rent the land lord control if you will have cable and what cable company it will be).
I have lived an a very rough part of Chicago(cheap housing abounds) anything less than about 60K here will not buy you an house you can live in. There is Property available at very low prices in every market but very often the house is both in a bad location and very damaged such that no one can live there without putting a massive amount into repairs and the repairs needed to make it habitable can be more than the what you could get back in rent. It would be a very bad investment to spend $5,000 on an house here cause it probably needs $15,000 worth or repairs esp. when the person who is buying the house does not likely have the money.
My first home was set for condemnation when I bought it... needed work and was in a poor neighborhood...
You are absolutely correct... over the course of the next 18 months... I spent over 10k in material fixing it up after work and on weekends. My home was 700 square feet on a 25 by 100 inner city lot. It had boarded up windows and a yard strewn with trash... the bathroom was totally rotted to the dirt underneath.
10k bought the materials for a new roof, paint, drywall, new kitchen, new bath, new floor coverings, water heater and wall furnace and a glass for the window in each room.
Kitchen, including appliances at Sears outlet was under 2k. I bought remnants for carpet and lino for next to nothing... the glass for each broken window was less than $15 each... Paint was mismatched and sold for $4 a gallon.
My high school friends that married right after gradation did the same as I did... the house they bought had a hole in the ceiling and the stars were visible at night... I helped him do the roof... he helped me pour cement... anyway, his 2 year old daughter was sad when she couldn't see the stars anymore because Daddy fixed the roof.
We both lived in our homes and we both had utilities... neighborhoods were known for high crime... didn't go out at night... stayed in working on the house and put up bars on the windows for when I was at work.
I still own that home today... neighborhood is much better. My co-worker has been renting it from me for 9 years for $725 a month... this is for a two bedroom house in the SF Bay Area.
Freemarket spends over $5,000 a year in rent and says he can't afford to buy a house in Michigan...
I say there are plenty of houses he can afford and provided links from Realtor.com
My friends with the house with the hole in the roof... both got their degrees and are now teachers in the Oakland School District. They have moved up 4 times before buying their dilapidated forever home in a great neighborhood... both being teachers gives them plenty of time over the summers to get things done without getting in the way of work.
Some of us have to make it on our own and we jumped into home ownership at the bottom rung of the ladder and worked our way up from there...
It can be done if the will is there.
Remember... baby steps first.
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 12-01-2012 at 08:55 PM..
I did say I can see where it gives pause because a person earning 4 times (60k) doesn't realize a fourfold increase in their standard of living over the person making 15k and benefiting from multiple assistance programs.
Please take a deep breath...
A classic example would be two homes side by side, each family has 2 children and they attend the same school.. one family has Section 8 housing and the other is paying rent.
The one with Section 8 will pay no more than approximately 1/3 for shelter and utilities... which in my city equals about $300 a month for the rent portion.
The one renting without assistance is paying $1,500 a month... FIVE times more for the exact same "Equivalent" housing.
So you are absolutely correct... it is not equivalent because one family is paying 5 times more for the same goods and services another is getting for 1/5 the cost... both have the same housing, schools and community... the one on Section 8 is getting a $14,400 a year benefit courtesy of the taxpayers.
Added to that, if the 60k family looses their income... in all probability they will loose the home they rent.
If the 15k family income declines... it has zero impact on the ability to stay in the home... Housing will adjust the family's share downward.
This is how it works and I can easily understand why the 60k family has reason to question it.
No one is demonizing anyone and to say that shows a lack of understanding or perhaps guilt.
I managed a home rented to a women with children on Section 8... she drove a bus part time and made about 20k.
She was offered full time, split shift at 55k a year... it would also mean loosing all her benefits like Section 8, Alameda Alliance Health Care, Discounted Utilities, School Lunch, etc...
Can you guess which option she choose?
She decided the risk was too great to go it alone... she turned down the 55k job so she could be home with her kids after school and keep her housing, medical, etc...
How about a comparison where the person does not have section 8 (most families don't) and lives in a public housing project. Would the person making $60k want to step "up" to that lifestyle? I don't know about your area, but most public housing usually has drug and gang violence issues, not to mention the roaches. Before your former tenant won the section 8 lottery that's very likely what she had to deal with.
Oh,well,I have lived that life,thank you very much.
I grew up with a mom on welfare.
I also was poor up until I finished nursing school,at 22.
I had Medicaid,food stamps,and the dollar a day car insurance.
But I wanted to live a better life,or so I thought it was.
Back then ,I could go to the Doctor at any time without needing a copay.
ER was free(no copays anyway)
Food stamps,well I had food.
I didn't have Section 8 or other housing assistance though. Sometimes we did get assistance with our bills.
The mother making $14,000 with 2 kids in your scenerio,why can't she go back to school?
Why can't she work 2 jobs?
Is she working? If she is part time,why can't she go full time?
How long was your mom on welfare? Did she do any of these things (work 2 jobs or go back to school)? I can't imagine what your life would have been like had these programs not been available since your mom used them instead of doing whatever the alternative was. Maybe you would have starved, become sickly ended up in foster care....
my sister said that she is having trouble paying the bills and she makes 60,000 a year so shes middle class i was wondering about the lower class of like 20 or 30,000 a year how can they afford everything?(mortgage,tv,phone, internet,car bill,gas,insurance,clothes,food,electirc or gas heating air condtion,dental bills, etc.)?
They don't have a mortgage, they rent. They mooch free internet from their neighbor's wi-fi. They have a hand-me-down TV. They take the bus, or buy a used Toyota for $2000 or less (cheap to insure). They buy used clothing, and/or shop 50%-off sales. They go to dental student clinics, or skip dental. They don't go to the doctor unless they have to, and then they use free clinics. They get help from the gas utility, if it has a neighbors-in-need program. They don't eat a lot of meat, they "extend" their meat dishes with potato or cheap noodles. They get food stamps.
Well,I'm telling you I have lived that life,but unlike the person in your scenario,I actually got out,so to speak.
You still didn't answer the question.
Why can't the single Mom go back to school or work a second job to improve her situation?
Also,how to I get my hands on these middle class tax benefits?
Last I read,the child tax credit cutx off at a certain income. Its $75,000.
Not every middle class family owns a home.
And no,if I could help it,I wouldn't switch places with the single mom.
Why? Because all the hard work I did will go down the drain.
The thing for me is,after all the work I did,I still live in the same neighborhood with the single women that earn that amount. So really,our standards of living are the same.
The only thing that will get switched is that I would get to sleep anytime I want.
So really,I would have LESS STRESS than I do now.
Why? Because I know everything will get paid. No more being nervous over an engine breaking down,or my missing a paycheck because of a hurricane(Sandy).
Extra foodstamps because my food went bad.
If being poor is so great, you were pretty stupid to waste your time going to nursing school and working double shifts. The single mom is not going to make the same mistake you did and lose out on her golden parachute of government benefits.
How about a comparison where the person does not have section 8 (most families don't) and lives in a public housing project. Would the person making $60k want to step "up" to that lifestyle? I don't know about your area, but most public housing usually has drug and gang violence issues, not to mention the roaches. Before your former tenant won the section 8 lottery that's very likely what she had to deal with.
Many will forgo Conventional Housing and wait for a Voucher...even if the wait is several years.
Conventional Housing comes in several variations...
There are still a few legacy "Projects" remaining as they are phased out.
Then there is modern Conventional Housing, Senior Housing and Special Needs for those with Disabilities.
My city's Section 8 program currently serves nearly 11,000 low-income families in Oakland.
As to Drug and Gang violence... unfortunately it is all too common in the Bay Area.
My first home was set for condemnation when I bought it... needed work and was in a poor neighborhood...
You are absolutely correct... over the course of the next 18 months... I spent over 10k in material fixing it up after work and on weekends. My home was 700 square feet on a 25 by 100 inner city lot. It had boarded up windows and a yard strewn with trash... the bathroom was totally rotted to the dirt underneath.
10k bought the materials for a new roof, paint, drywall, new kitchen, new bath, new floor coverings, water heater and wall furnace and a glass for the window in each room.
Kitchen, including appliances at Sears outlet was under 2k. I bought remnants for carpet and lino for next to nothing... the glass for each broken window was less than $15 each... Paint was mismatched and sold for $4 a gallon.
My high school friends that married right after gradation did the same as I did... the house they bought had a hole in the ceiling and the stars were visible at night... I helped him do the roof... he helped me pour cement... anyway, his 2 year old daughter was sad when she couldn't see the stars anymore because Daddy fixed the roof.
We both lived in our homes and we both had utilities... neighborhoods were known for high crime... didn't go out at night... stayed in working on the house and put up bars on the windows for when I was at work.
I still own that home today... neighborhood is much better. My co-worker has been renting it from me for 9 years for $725 a month... this is for a two bedroom house in the SF Bay Area.
Freemarket spends over $5,000 a year in rent and says he can't afford to buy a house in Michigan...
I say there are plenty of houses he can afford and provided links from Realtor.com
My friends with the house with the hole in the roof... both got their degrees and are now teachers in the Oakland School District. They have moved up 4 times before buying their dilapidated forever home in a great neighborhood... both being teachers gives them plenty of time over the summers to get things done without getting in the way of work.
Some of us have to make it on our own and we jumped into home ownership at the bottom rung of the ladder and worked our way up from there...
It can be done if the will is there.
Remember... baby steps first.
From the looks of it you have skills in construction, was not disabled, old or too burdened with Childcare (i.e. single parent). Had about $20K cash available (or at least enough to buy the house as no bank will give a loan on such a house). You could inspect the house and determine that it was fixable (no major structural damage as to cause it to collapse) and risk losing your 5k (i.e. investment). You also could pay property tax (where I live it would be about $2k a year on such property). You also could afford to rent a place while you got this house habitable. Those are things that do not apply to most poor people and frankly not many working people. You sound more likely a smart blue collar guy (i.e. Some of them esp. the ones that work in the construction trade tend to buy houses and rent them out…makes a good investment).
I do agree that people really should look at cheaper housing but I don’t think your situation applies to most people. I have live in a rough area and trust me most people on food stamps would have trouble getting 5k up and run into even more trouble should they exceed a certain amount in the bank (loose benefits).
Well for me I do not have the energy or time to go back to school, nor do I know what to go to school to learn. Also having two kids prevents me from working two jobs. Working one is hard enough with the cost of daycare. I can't go to the grocery store by myself let alone finding time to work another job.
I didn't have the energy to go back to school either,but I did it.
To be honest,I don't think many people would actually be in school if they could help it,but because they know it will bring finanacial rewards,they do it.
There is didtance learning,and schools that are internet only.
If you have a husband,it should be even easier for you to attend school.
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