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Old 01-15-2014, 09:14 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,869,884 times
Reputation: 11485

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Quote:
Originally Posted by freemkt View Post
My employer was willing to lend up to $50K to buy a home; he previously did the same with other employees.

No need to lower prices. I''m talking about a 400-sf house here.

Yes, in a country that claims to be based on liberty I do expect zoning to be changed. You want McMansions that's what HOA and deed restrictions are for - not for government .
I really considered buying a small house last year. However there was a small 'problem' with not having enough money for a down payment, closing costs and all the other associated costs of buying a home. The house I wanted was a smallish 2 BD/1BA with decent sized rooms and a huge corner lot. It also already had a concrete pad for large storage shed. It was listed at $49,000 but was in foreclosure and the guy who got it paid $40,000. With all the above expenses covered the monthly payment would have been about $350 mo. and without would've jacked it up to about $500 including insurance, etc.. I could've done it. My mom's 'situation' kept me from doing it though and as each year passes I realize that I'm probably never going to be a homeowner again. I'm at an age where they really don't want to take a chance on me. I expect, except for the age part, you are in the same boat. No down, no closing costs, etc..

I can see your point about if you are already paying the same amount in rent as you would a mortgage payment, why won't they 'let you'? I have thought the same thing at times.

I have to say this though...after reading so many of your posts on CD I really don't understand why you haven't tried to improve on your job/income situation. Even living in the small towns I love, and have always lived in, I've managed to work my way up some. No, I don't make that much an hour now but I do okay with what I get. You always seem to be struggling.
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Old 01-15-2014, 09:18 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,869,884 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gandalara View Post
Over and over and over throughout these forums.

The Declaration says we have a right to pursue happiness, not to the right to be happy.
Change and pursue.
I think if more people strived for 'contentment' they would be 'happy'. lol That's what I try to do anyway and it, pretty much, works.
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Old 01-15-2014, 09:26 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,869,884 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobtn View Post
Unless you get moving, you are looking at getting by on hundreds less every month in retirement.
If I were you, I'd at least get another job to add to your income and your SS earnings, too.
My last ten years in restaurants, making tips, I declared every last penny I made. Because I realized that the less I reported the less my SS was going to be and it was already going to be pretty puny. My co-workers hated me because some of them got audited and/or got income added on their W2's. They wanted to know why ONE employee did so much better than the rest and what were they hiding?? I told them I was the better worker. lol Anyway, I'm glad I did but I still regret taking my SS at age 62 because, had I waited, I'd have got $300 month more. I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't lost my job and panicked.

There were times in my life, especially as a single mom, I worked two, or even three, jobs to make it. Small town, small pay, etc. but I did it. Luckily I had great kids who helped make it possible by helping out at home and just being "great kids".
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Old 01-15-2014, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,869,884 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobtn View Post
I'll be able to retire at a normal age, but I like what I do, so I intend to work longer.
I like what I do too but that doesn't mean I WANT to work. I don't, but I have no options so I'm just glad I like what I do. lol
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Old 01-15-2014, 09:49 AM
 
41,111 posts, read 25,625,847 times
Reputation: 13868
Quote:
Originally Posted by hindsight2020 View Post
Ah the irony....I AM the demographic you describe. You miss the point entirely. I'm certainly not laughing at myself, I'm laughing at the self-righteous within my demographic who dabble excessively in schadenfreude and economic self-righteousness. The difference between them (epitomized by the musings of mathjack) and me is that I recognize that there is a vested interest in ensuring we do not continue sliding into a demographic construct where the preponderance of Americans toil for peanuts as disheartened laborers into infirmity and then the taxes of the increasing few pay for the upkeep of this wave of indigents, pricing the disciplined out of their own goals and plans too, crushing the tax base in aggregate and imploding the Country.

Recognizing that there is a social responsibility towards enabling the less aggressive, less intelligent, less dedicated amongst us to economic opportunity without moral judgement, is in effect in the best interest of preserving ALL of our individual expectations of happiness and prosperity in working life and retirement. Pounding your chest and wincing that 7 out of 10 are a bunch of morally bankrupt nobodies who can't pass a drug test and lack work ethic as a generalization, is not going to help us turn this thing around. I'm not advocating handouts, I'm suggesting our labor policies are jacked up and we need to incentivize private firms to drop more dime on wages and less hoarding. Government's role is to effect that, but big business has the funds to drown labor populist voices, and so here we are, as the despondent keep falling into the safety net while a couple of self-righteous call them lazy. I think we can do better. Labor policy is one angle we could effect change in for the positive.
"Recognizing that there is a social responsibility towards enabling the less aggressive, less intelligent, less dedicated amongst us to economic opportunity without moral judgement. "

And you don't call that judgement. You just called them lazy, stupid, with an attention span of zero then say you don't judge them. lol
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Old 01-15-2014, 11:28 AM
 
Location: NJ
18,665 posts, read 19,918,732 times
Reputation: 7313
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZDesertBrat View Post
My last ten years in restaurants, making tips, I declared every last penny I made. Because I realized that the less I reported the less my SS was going to be and it was already going to be pretty puny. My co-workers hated me because some of them got audited and/or got income added on their W2's. They wanted to know why ONE employee did so much better than the rest and what were they hiding?? I told them I was the better worker. lol Anyway, I'm glad I did but I still regret taking my SS at age 62 because, had I waited, I'd have got $300 month more. I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't lost my job and panicked.

There were times in my life, especially as a single mom, I worked two, or even three, jobs to make it. Small town, small pay, etc. but I did it. Luckily I had great kids who helped make it possible by helping out at home and just being "great kids".
Little publicized fact: (Maybe not good in your case, but hope it helps someone):

SS allows those who collect early to pay it back (the early part), and if they do, they can resubmit for the full SS amount at the appropriate age.
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Old 01-15-2014, 02:02 PM
 
106,073 posts, read 108,054,666 times
Reputation: 79643
if you take ss early you can only pay it back the first year. it used to be you could do it at any point but the gov't shot themselves in the foot with that so they changed it.

you could get a free roth conversion with that deal only not to many realized it.

when you subtracted a couple of years of returned ss it gave many folks a negative income for the year.

typically it wasn't good for anything until someone realized you can apply it to a roth conversion.

you got to re-file at the higher rate and got the roth conversion so they ended it.
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Old 01-15-2014, 02:21 PM
 
18,495 posts, read 15,482,355 times
Reputation: 16163
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZDesertBrat View Post
I really considered buying a small house last year. However there was a small 'problem' with not having enough money for a down payment, closing costs and all the other associated costs of buying a home. The house I wanted was a smallish 2 BD/1BA with decent sized rooms and a huge corner lot. It also already had a concrete pad for large storage shed. It was listed at $49,000 but was in foreclosure and the guy who got it paid $40,000. With all the above expenses covered the monthly payment would have been about $350 mo. and without would've jacked it up to about $500 including insurance, etc.. I could've done it. My mom's 'situation' kept me from doing it though and as each year passes I realize that I'm probably never going to be a homeowner again. I'm at an age where they really don't want to take a chance on me. I expect, except for the age part, you are in the same boat. No down, no closing costs, etc..

I can see your point about if you are already paying the same amount in rent as you would a mortgage payment, why won't they 'let you'? I have thought the same thing at times.

I have to say this though...after reading so many of your posts on CD I really don't understand why you haven't tried to improve on your job/income situation. Even living in the small towns I love, and have always lived in, I've managed to work my way up some. No, I don't make that much an hour now but I do okay with what I get. You always seem to be struggling.
Rent and invest the difference, then eventually you can pay cash (by about the time you would have paid off the mortgage had you been approved now).

You can get there in 15yrs by investing about $175/mo in growth mutual funds starting now.
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Old 01-15-2014, 02:27 PM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,869,884 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncole1 View Post
Rent and invest the difference, then eventually you can pay cash (by about the time you would have paid off the mortgage had you been approved now).

You can get there in 15yrs by investing about $175/mo in growth mutual funds starting now.
Good plan...for somebody. In 15 years I'll 86 and who knows if I'll even still be alive? I've tried getting approved...no dice. And it doesn't matter that I'm paying rent and could easily afford a, not too large, mortgage payment. I've never, in my entire life, ever been evicted, had my utilities cut off or starved to death so I must have done something right.
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Old 01-15-2014, 04:40 PM
 
18,495 posts, read 15,482,355 times
Reputation: 16163
Quote:
Originally Posted by AZDesertBrat View Post
Good plan...for somebody. In 15 years I'll 86 and who knows if I'll even still be alive? I've tried getting approved...no dice. And it doesn't matter that I'm paying rent and could easily afford a, not too large, mortgage payment. I've never, in my entire life, ever been evicted, had my utilities cut off or starved to death so I must have done something right.
So the problem is not just the lenders, you should accept some of the blame too...you 'defaulted' on your 'mortgage' (rent and invest the difference) for all those years you were renting. For the time you owned, you should have rolled the equity upon sale into the same investment portfolio.

Just as defaulting on the mortgage gets you out of a home, so does failing to invest the difference and making it to retirement without enough money to simply buy a house without needing a loan.

The debt you defaulted on is a debt you owed to yourself.
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