Re: Rising Food Costs

jmcquown wrote:

Nancy Young wrote:
"Pete C." <aux3.DOH.4@xxxxxxxx> wrote

Nancy Young wrote:

I see car leases where they want thousands down. I fail to see why
anyone would consider that. What's the point, buy a car.

Leasing is mostly good for businesses where they need to have a
relatively new vehicle for appearances and being able to simply
return one and pickup the next lease is good.

Of course I was not speaking of business use, that's different.

It wasn't so long ago you were expected to put money down if you
bought a house. No money down! was a joke real estate scam.
Now you see all these people getting 80/20 loans, they don't even
have to pay the closing costs. Gee, can't see how that could go
wrong. Arggh.

Yes, and no. Certainly there has been plenty of mortgage abuse from
all directions. I do strongly disagree with the size of a down
payment bearing any relation to the risk of the mortgage. That may
well have been the case in years past, when renters were actually
able to put food on the table and put aside savings for a down
payment on a house (and with a single income at that).

Today the world is a very different place and many renters are paying
nearly the same amount for rent as a mortgage payment, if they are a
family, dual incomes are required just to pay the rent and put food
on the table, and saving $20k for a mortgage down payment simply
isn't possible.

Simply looking at those renters history of paying the rent each month
will show pretty clearly if they can make the mortgage payment each
month. A requirement of a large down payment only serves to
discriminate against a large segment of the population that is hard
working and could readily pay a reasonable mortgage on a reasonable
house.

If they can't save a few bucks every month toward a house, what the
heck are they going to do when the furnace breaks and the roof leaks.
Lending standards went out the window and look at the mess we have
now, people who can't afford the house they live in.

nancy

That's one reason I rent. I don't have to worry about "do I have the
money?" if something breaks or needs replaced. I don't have to mow the
lawn. Granted, there are some apartment management places that are horrible
about any kind of maintenance. This hasn't been the case where I've lived
for the last 10 years, thank goodness.

They've replaced the central A/C, the dishwasher, garbage disposal and
refrigerator. I had my own fridge when I moved in; they took theirs out and
took $10 a month off my rent. When my fridge finally died they put one of
theirs in but never did add the $10 back.

They replaced the water heater (and the carpet & padding from when it broke
and flooded through to the dining room). Last year they replaced a good
part of the carpet and padding in my bedroom when the outflow drain from the
toilet in the master bath got blocked and water overflowed into the bedroom.
I've never had a problem with my washer & dryer (knock wood) but if they
should break (or a hose burst) I don't anticipate them giving me grief about
it.

They've never hemmed and hawwed about fixing or replacing *anything* and
they do it immediately. I've never gotten more than a $30 a year rent
increase. It's usually more like $20, although when the lease expired last
time it didn't go up a dime. Oh, and my trash can is in a small enclosure
off my patio so I don't have to haul my trash to the curb (or, heaven
forbid!) to a dumpster someplace in the complex.

For me renting (at least in this complex) has been a good deal.

Jill

Sounds like you are in a good place. There certainly are rental places
that are well managed and maintained, but they are generally at the top
end of the rental cost range for an area, and I expect fairly close to
the mortgage cost for a modest home in the area.

Being a homeowner certainly isn't for everyone, and former city rental
dwellers in particular often aren't prepared for the workload of home
ownership like yard maintenance, house painting, and the routine
repairs.

I still stand by my point about the world changing and large down
payments no longer being realistic for a lot of people who legitimately
could afford a mortgage. If the relative difference between the cost of
a mortgage on a modest house and the cost of apartment rental were the
same as 40 or more years ago large down payments might make sense, but
not in 2008 with apartment rental rates on par with mortgage cost for a
modest house.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Rising Food Costs
    ... payment bearing any relation to the risk of the mortgage. ... dual incomes are required just to pay the rent and put food ... They've never hemmed and hawwed about fixing or replacing *anything* and ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: Rising Food Costs
    ... payment bearing any relation to the risk of the mortgage. ... dual incomes are required just to pay the rent and put food ... They've never hemmed and hawwed about fixing or replacing *anything* and ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: First time home buyer
    ... One possibility is 80-10-10 financing. ... and make a 10% down payment, and take a home equity loan equal to 100% ... Your monthly payment will be your regular mortgage payment on the normal ... before buying a house, because a house is much more permanent than an ...
    (misc.consumers.house)
  • Re: Rising Food Costs
    ... and saving $20k for a mortgage down payment simply isn't ... readily pay a reasonable mortgage on a reasonable house. ... They couldn't save money after paying their rent, ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: Meg Munn chunters on...
    ... >>> I pushed some of the money into my company's stock market plan ... >>> You say that you hated paying your landlord's mortgage. ... YOU didn't own that house, ... If you have to pay $1,200 for rent, why not pay ...
    (soc.men)
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