Most Americans Still Believe in Homeownership, Poll Says

[shark66]

If we want to be like Germany with high end manufacturing, our K-12 edu would have to be junked in favor of hybrid edu/trade schools.

This country's K-12 edu system needs to be junked regardless of whether we want to be like Germany or not...

German education does not rely on hybrid schools, BTW...but on old European "gymnasium" concept where one is taught *real* science and not politically-correct garbage...you get a bit of everything - in depth - and then make your choices depending on your scores and preferences...

Good luck to us all.

[jacko]

aapl has nearly 10,000 corporate employees and their R&D is there as well. 'Designed in California, made in China'. aapl has also hired contractors to help design their stores which are pro jobs. Each country has comparative advantages. If we want to be like Germany with high end manufacturing, our K-12 edu would have to be junked in favor of hybrid edu/trade schools.
Google and others have to do the creative accounting so their profits are not taxed multiple times. Why should firms pay U.S. corp taxes on their oversea profits which have been already taxed in their subsidiary countries?

Apples offshores all the "good" mfg jobs.
Google launders its profits through Ireland and the Netherlands.
California is productive, but megacorps HQ'd there are skilled at keeping the profits elsewhere.
Look at MSFT..it is doing the Skype purchase with overseas funds.
And by the way all the employees are being laid off and their options terminated...they get nothingburger out of the deal.
ND may be doing some things right vs California but sadly as it turns out there is no way to legislate that these companies
keep good jobs in America..their lawyers are too smart.
So is it then true that the only good states to live in are the "extraction" states where something is pulled from the ground?
No particular opinion expressed here, just frustration.

[jacko]

Not necessarily. If you invested your 20 percent down payment in dividend stocks, you would come out ahead. What you also fail to factor in is home maint which adds up.

Even though you supposedly "lost" $38k in value, you still got the benefit of a house to live in for 13 years plus the tax subsidy of being able to deduct your mortgage interest--something that is inherently unfair and "stacks the deck" against those of us who rent our home. For a house that's worth $140k, the cost to rent it would have been about $1200 a month, so for 13 years you would have paid more than $187k and had nothing to show for it other than living there for 13 years. Therefore, by my calculations, you made a profit of about $80k-90k (taking into account taxes, insurance, and upkeep) plus you still have the $102k that you'll get for the house today! So tell me again how you lost money?

[tobee43]

@tobee:

I'm not pi$$ed at you, never was...

As for catleg's address...that's the only address that would match a mortgage of that size...

Now, if he gets new tenants in January of 2013, he might be able to raise their rent some...

Good luck to us all.

yikes not if your in jersey, mortgages are high even on the most modest of homes, really. a DEATH state! the happiest day of my life was leaving it and all there was behind there. however, i do not want to trash anywhere...LOL!!!!

and thanks! needed to make sure you were as perky and wise as always

[shark66]

@tobee:

I'm not pi$$ed at you, never was...

As for catleg's address...that's the only address that would match a mortgage of that size...

Now, if he gets new tenants in January of 2013, he might be able to raise their rent some...

Good luck to us all.

[tobee43]

I always thought you lived in New Jersey...

But now I see that your address must be 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC...

Good luck to us all.

cat as always, has, listed that he lives in nj with nothing hidden. (i know you are still a bit pi**ed at me for my lung cancer answer to Ohiofiler) and it i was indeed a shocker, but i ask you shark, my hopfully friend, is as wise as is, and can understand cat's NOT living in washington in ANY way..

and may peace and love be with you and yours...

[shark66]

My mortgage statement would make you cringe.
2900 monthly payment
745 principal
935 interest
1221 escrow/other (read: taxes and insurance)

I always thought you lived in New Jersey...

But now I see that your address must be 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC...

Good luck to us all.

[bcohen]

As I look back 13 years ago when I bought my home, I saved money for a down payment, used equity I had in my prior home, a stable job and decent credit. These basic fundamentals of a mortgage seemed to have been lost some five years ago. Last November, I put the home on the market due to a job relocation. In May an offer was put on the home....I paid $140k in 1998....in 2011 the offer was $102k. I wasn't expecting to walk away with any money...except maybe the mortgage paid in full! Three CMA's revealed it was a semi-fair offer.........13 years and my home was worth $38k less than I paid for it!

Times are tough and sh1t happens...I'm an adult, sometimes you lose...

Even though you supposedly "lost" $38k in value, you still got the benefit of a house to live in for 13 years plus the tax subsidy of being able to deduct your mortgage interest--something that is inherently unfair and "stacks the deck" against those of us who rent our home. For a house that's worth $140k, the cost to rent it would have been about $1200 a month, so for 13 years you would have paid more than $187k and had nothing to show for it other than living there for 13 years. Therefore, by my calculations, you made a profit of about $80k-90k (taking into account taxes, insurance, and upkeep) plus you still have the $102k that you'll get for the house today! So tell me again how you lost money?

[tobee43]

Agreed. People got way greedy and scalped the prices of home beyond rational levels. The so called experts are saying that house prices have dropped drastically. I just believe that prices were beyond reason to begin with, and they have to drop just to get back to what is considered normal and affordable. The one good thing to come out of the housing boom and bust is that I can't imagine this ever repeating itself in our lifetime. Hopefully now people will reserve their lust for greed to the casinos and the stock market and not the housing market.

i so hope you're right.

we SHOULD learn by our mistakes, one would hope. but on the other hand that GREED, poison has been the foundation and leading motivation behind much of what has been going on in this county.

let's face it, if you wanted it and couldn't afford it, you just charged it, refin'ed your house, or took out a loan. instant gratification is what this society preached daily...via i.e. tv ads making everyone feel as though they should be driving a bmw, or some other luxury car. showing mcmansions, like they are the "norm". brainwashing and no self control because the youth feel that's what everyone else has and the banks made it all obtainable....just sign here!!!

and then...they blamed those that signed on the dotted lines as the "bad" ones...these banksters and "experts" i'm certain are still counting their gold piles while others are just counting their tears and pennies for food.

[Goteki45]

Agreed. People got way greedy and scalped the prices of home beyond rational levels. The so called experts are saying that house prices have dropped drastically. I just believe that prices were beyond reason to begin with, and they have to drop just to get back to what is considered normal and affordable. The one good thing to come out of the housing boom and bust is that I can't imagine this ever repeating itself in our lifetime. Hopefully now people will reserve their lust for greed to the casinos and the stock market and not the housing market.

[tobee43]

Bottom line....politics and greed found a way into America's sacred investment vehicles. Individuals and families from all walks of life could work hard, save money and purchase a home. Over time that investment would grow through sweat equity and a would increase in value "naturally" over time...the good times and bad. Real estate was a safe place for the commoner to build wealth for his family and offer the security and stability that families need.

As I look back 13 years ago when I bought my home, I saved money for a down payment, used equity I had in my prior home, a stable job and decent credit. These basic fundamentals of a mortgage seemed to have been lost some five years ago. Last November, I put the home on the market due to a job relocation. In May an offer was put on the home....I paid $140k in 1998....in 2011 the offer was $102k. I wasn't expecting to walk away with any money...except maybe the mortgage paid in full! Three CMA's revealed it was a semi-fair offer.........13 years and my home was worth $38k less than I paid for it!

Times are tough and sh1t happens...I'm an adult, sometimes you loose......but at the scope of disaster for the housing market is beyond what I could have ever imagined. Politics and greed allowed so many companies to write loans that they knew could never be paid, although they continued.....they had no reason not to. They immediately sold the loans to the government and walked away with billions in fee's and commissions. You probably have noticed that the all the strip mall mortgage companies no longer exist....I wonder why. I have many friends that bought during this time, some of whom are still in the home making payments....some walked because the interest reset or they were stupid and bought 2X what they could afford, in hopes of a better future.

so well stated dspii! really, i hate to see it all in writing, it just makes we so sick.

it's because in our lives most of us, at least have a bit of control. with these situation, there is nothing we can do, say, any single act the one can do, to better their situation except for hold on tight and wait out this historic economical storm, the likes of which no one could have ever predicted; nor ever could expected.

we knew many young people that purchased during that time, and of course they just thought the ride would continue with respect to raising ...not dropping wages, fuel costs staying stable, as opposed to getting so out of control. bogged down by student debt with the hopes of a better future after all that hard work with the hopes of a higher paying job, yet taxes and food costs, well, neither staying the same or getting leveled out, but instead skyrocket out of control. the jobs they do have, have taken away their 401's and now make them pay for their dwindling medical plans....and so on and on...just terrible. many people have had their worlds turned upside down and just will never be able to regain that level of security, either by their jobs, or just their lives in general. we just never know what's waiting for us around that corner!

i know for us that was the way it started with the raise freezes...then we had the perks like..(well NOT really perks because they were included with our hiring terms)...but first the gas card then the car allowance, then the removal of the 401's matching program, then the taking away of any and ALL medical insurance paid by the company, would now have to be our burdens...it really was terrible.

[tobee43]

My mortgage statement would make you cringe.
2900 monthly payment
745 principal
935 interest
1221 escrow/other (read: taxes and insurance)

i know so well cat...that's why we left there! just our taxes if we didn't even have a mortgage would be well over 18k a year....plus the fact of paying the heat and electric there was just enough to make us HAVE to move.

our son pays over 12k in taxes alone, then has HOA fees of over $500 monthly....and that doesn't even include is HUGE mortgage payment. but, then again, our opinion, (mom and dad wise) was they should have never brought such an expensive house for their first house.

now after our downsizing, what we paid just for our oil and electric is what we pay for our entire monthly expenses here. we are so much happier and such less stress. we were truly one of the lucky one's that got out of "there".

[catleg]

My mortgage statement would make you cringe.
2900 monthly payment
745 principal
935 interest
1221 escrow/other (read: taxes and insurance)

[tobee43]

Also, even when you own your home debt-free, it can always be seized from you for non payment of property taxes. So even when you're debt free, you're not. In NJ these are substantial amounts, probably an average 10,000/year/house. So it's like servicing an extra 200k loan you can never pay off.

right you are!!! plus for us just the heating and eclectic bills up there in nj were higher than ALL of our total monthly expenses here in florida! cept food a bit more expensive.

[tobee43]

True Tobee it won't crash as hard in an area that didn't have a bubble.

Farm states such as N. Dakota or Oil rich states have a true productive capacity. The industries and jobs over their are the real deal vs. a California burger flipper also flipping real estate.

The only issue the productive states may have after the bubbles fully burst will be all of the unemployed every where else will head over to these farm states and pick Mellon's and cabbage for spare change just like the Mexicans do now which will drive down wages of the current workers.

In a nutshell the USA must create a productive economy like we had and out law bubble creation or at least let the bubble masters go down with their ships and don't save them.

i agree with in every way...ceptin..this...

Bianca:The only issue the productive states may have after the bubbles fully burst will be all of the unemployed every where else will head over to these farm states and pick Mellon's and cabbage for spare change just like the Mexicans do now which will drive down wages of the current workers.

i know you had this panda toon about all our jobs going to china...i kept it somewhere which i can't locate at the moment. it just made me think about it..

but, nope...we won't even have those jobs, they'll most likely be shipped over seas to the Philippines, China, India...and OR...our government will pay them to fly over and put them all in the vacate housing waiting to be foreclosed on! so us lowly Americans can watch people move into our homes as well as our jobs...wow...don't even like thinking about it!