Why it's hard to buy a house

[LT72884]

Ok so these are pics of houses in my city. I live about 1.5 miles from these houses. This is the area my cousin lives in.

I have decided that this is why its so hard to buy a house in this part of Utah. the crazy thing is, these are not as big as the ones on top of South mountain.
These houses are only half way up the mountain and there are hundreds of houses this size. Its CRZY. the first three are of a big castle house. i had to take two shots and put them together. the view is awesome from the back.





Notice how all the roofing is coper along with the rain gutters.

Here are some more of random houses up here.



i have more but i think this is enough right now.

I do not know how people can afford these homes. I would hate to clean them. lol

 

[B'sgirl]

By using equity and the bank irresponsibly giving out loans that people cannot realistically pay off. Like the "30 year loan" due in 15 years. Your payments are set for 30 but if you don't pay extra you're screwed.

 

[LT72884]

By using equity and the bank irresponsibly giving out loans that people cannot realistically pay off. Like the "30 year loan" due in 15 years. Your payments are set for 30 but if you don't pay extra you're screwed.

yeah i can totally see that. i just wanna know what these people do for a living to have these homes.

Even if i could afford that, i would still buy a modest house and save the money or use it for family fun stuff. I mean make my money work for me, not me work for my money

 

[Jeekinz]

Alot of people work in NYC from my area. The last town I lived in there was a private helicopter every morning and afternoon going into Manhattan. We call them McMansions. Super gigantic homes that pop up all over the place. There's even new developments that have 7,8,9000 square foor homes. Who cares about the cleaning part, how the heck would you furnish it?

 

[Fisher's Mom]

yeah i can totally see that. i just wanna know what these people do for a living to have these homes.

Even if i could afford that, i would still buy a modest house and save the money or use it for family fun stuff. I mean make my money work for me, not me work for my money

Good for you, LT! Buy less home than you "qualify" for so that your entire life doesn't revolve around making the mortgage payments. How much joy can there be in that?

 

[LT72884]

Good for you, LT! Buy less home than you "qualify" for so that your entire life doesn't revolve around making the mortgage payments. How much joy can there be in that?

Exactly. If you are smart with your money and have a modest house, think of all the other stuff you can do with the left over money. I would be alot happier with more family vacations, family outings, parties and smaller things than having only one big thing to show for all my hard earned money.

the cool thing about my cousin who owns ogio, his son agrees with me. His son is away at school and told his parents not to pay for anything. so he lives in a one bedroom apartment and has no bed, just a mattress on the floor. no tv no nothin. He uses all his hard earned cash from work to pay for tuition and books. Im proud of him because now he knows the value of a dolor.

 

[GB]

A lot of people who have houses that size HAVE been smart with their money. That is why they are able to afford them. What is affordable is relative. I know people with houses that size or bigger. They have not squandered their money. They have spent it wisely and have something to show for it. They have plenty of money left over to take vacations and buy cars and boats and whatever else.

Someone who lives in a third world country in a ramshackle shack would look at some of the modest houses that we live in and think they would never buy a house that size, because what they are used to is so much less and they see our houses and think they are extravagant.

Do not forget that buying a house is an investment. It is not just a purchase. If you buy a nice house (assuming you can afford it) and can hang onto it and then sell it when the market is favorable then your investment will have paid off.

 

[Fisher's Mom]

What a wonderful thing that young persons are being taught early the joys of living debt-free!!! I had to learn the hard way. I'd been married 15 years before we embarked on a debt-free plan. When we finally paid off the house 8 years early last year, I felt completely free. It's the best feeling in the world. And I can promise you if you live like this from the beginning as a couple, you will have a much happier life together! (Most of the discord between husbands and wives seems to center around money and how it's used.)

 

[LT72884]

A lot of people who have houses that size HAVE been smart with their money. That is why they are able to afford them. What is affordable is relative. I know people with houses that size or bigger. They have not squandered their money. They have spent it wisely and have something to show for it. They have plenty of money left over to take vacations and buy cars and boats and whatever else.

Someone who lives in a third world country in a ramshackle shack would look at some of the modest houses that we live in and think they would never buy a house that size, because what they are used to is so much less and they see our houses and think they are extravagant.

Do not forget that buying a house is an investment. It is not just a purchase. If you buy a nice house (assuming you can afford it) and can hang onto it and then sell it when the market is favorable then your investment will have paid off.

oh good point, I was looking at it at my own perspective. I have seen friends spend with out thinking. lol...

Seriously, what ever these people do for a living, im jumping in the same boat. Its gotta be sales/consulting or they own a big business. oh cant forget the lawyers and Dr's

My age has alot to do with it also. Im 23 and not yet married and looking at prices of houses really discourages me. I havent even started life and it already seems impossible

 

[GotGarlic]

GB is right - houses like that are often move-up houses, not starter houses. A starter house is your first one - usually a modest one, like you say, or a fixer-upper that is available at a discount because it needs work. You buy a starter house and hopefully the market improves so in 5-10 years, you can sell it for a nice profit and use the profit to make a large down payment on a larger house. Some people like to do that, others stay in their initial homes.

My parents moved every 2-3 years when I was growing up, and made about $9k each time - a lot of money in the '60s and '70s. My in-laws, on the other hand, stayed in their second home for about 30 years; when they retired, they sold it for a substantial profit.

The houses you're looking at are not starter homes And it's not all that often, I think, that people in their early 20s are in a position to buy a home, especially when they're single. Unless you're a military veteran, you generally need a down payment, 10-20% of the value of the home - especially now.

 

[GB]

oh good point, I was looking at it at my own perspective. I have seen friends spend with out thinking. lol...

Seriously, what ever these people do for a living, im jumping in the same boat. Its gotta be sales/consulting or they own a big business. oh cant forget the lawyers and Dr's

My age has alot to do with it also. Im 23 and not yet married and looking at prices of houses really discourages me. I havent even started life and it already seems impossible

Like GotGarlic said these are not started houses. I bought my first house 4 years ago. We got our starter home. We love it, but there are a lot of things that we settled on so that we could afford it. It is not our dream house, but we love it all the same. buying a house is (most likely) the most expensive purchase you will ever make. It is not easy either. You can do it though. 23 is young these days to own a house. No way I would have ever been able to afford it when i was that age. We used money we got as gifts from our wedding as the down payment on ours. Without that we would have not been able to do it for a much longer time.

 

[PanchoHambre]

IMHO The huge houses are gigantic monuments to consumption. Many are cheaply built consume massive amounts of energy and are way beyond what any family needs no matter how wealthy they are. They are sort of like those monsterous SUVs that are rapidly going out of style. there is just no reason a dentist with 2 kids in suburbian needs to drive a hummer that gets 12mpg. and he also does not need a 4500 sf house with 3 media rooms.

The old money where I grew up lived in surprisingly modest houses... spacious and well built but nothing like today's mc-mansions... they had good cars and quality everything but they maintaned it and did not replace on lease every couple years.... that is how the old money kept its money.

I wont go into lending or financial resposibility beacuse some of these people definitley can affford the McMansions (although many can not)but on a global consumtion level thses houses are disasterous.

They are either built on "greenfields" (formerly undeveloped or agricultural land) or existing servicable homes are demolished and carted off to the landfill to make way. They consume tremendous amounts of petro-chemical based non bio-degradable building materials and generally have finishes and systems that will last no more than a decade.


the profit margin is huge on these which is why you see so little new construction for middle and working class units (like say Levittown)

On this issue I have strong opinion and I do practice what I preach. I live in a formerly abandoned 150+ year old 850sf rowhouse (with 2 other people and a dog) near public tranportation in a redevloping inner city neighborhood. My house is one of only five left on a city block that probably once had at least 20. I am not a hard core environmentalist but I do believe is cities and building communities rather than trophies. If half of the sprawl outside my city had developed responsibly there would be more farms more campsites more hiking trails etc withing reach of the city instead of an endless growing ring of suburbia. It pains me everytime I drive out into the country and see anothe cul-de-sac amidst the farms or I see someone selling pieces of an old german barn on craigslist.

 

[GB]

and he also does not need a 4500 sf house with 3 media rooms.

I do not think it is fair to make that statement. Who are any of us to say what someone else needs?

The person who bought that house worked hard (I am speaking in generalities here. I know this is not always the case) to earn the money they used to buy that house. It is up to them to decide what they want to spend it on. What if they enjoy that house and enjoy having 3 media rooms? Didn't they earn the right to have those things by working hard and earing enough money to pay for them?

Again, it is all perspective. I know people who grew up with 12 people living in one room. Multiple people would share a bed. Those people could just as easily look at you and say that you do not need a multi room house with a bedroom and bed for every person.

 

[*amy*]

It's not hard to buy a home if you have the dough - stable job history, good credit etc. I know you are much in like w that house, but everyone's taste is different. Personally, it does not appeal to me. Looks like a road for trafficc outside the house. Hard to tell. The property isn't set back far enough w enough land around it. Looks like there's still construction going on. I might consider it if it was beachfront property in So Ca - j/k. Even then, not my taste. There are lots of reasons why homes don't sell. But, right now it's a buyers' market. Prices are very low & probably will drop even further. As a homeowner considering selling, this market gives me a stomach ache. Anything I've considered looking at is a short/fast close and/or the bank is foreclosing. If you are serious, sit down with a lender, & don't get in over your head.

 

[B'sgirl]

Sometimes the house payments aren't that much higher than rent payments. Might as well make the money go somewhere useful. What I'm excited about is we calculated our finances a few months ago and if we keep up our current payments we will have the house paid off in a total of 12 years. Wahoo! Then I can go buy one of those castles on the hill! J/K

 

[quicksilver]

When you enlarge your screen and then enlarge
the first photo, you see the massiveness of it all. You never have to leave. But the people inside disconnect. If you scroll down below the photo, the advertiser is 'flowers.com
I guess you need flowers from dying of shock when you get your first mortgage payment.


If you do the same for photo 2, you see the virgin land being destroyed. Such a shame.! No mountain shack or bungalow here.


* * safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand
come and see my shiny palace built upon
the sand. * author ? *

 

[Fisher's Mom]

I think no matter what your thoughts are on types or sizes of houses, virtually every financial counselor agrees that home ownership is key in financial security. Sadly, most folks don't get much counseling beyond that and end up in over their heads. There are record numbers of foreclosures right now and it breaks my heart for those people who are losing their homes.

 

[LT72884]

Oh no way, im not buying a house untill im 27 or 28. I need to build my income. I just spent 15k on a new car. I pay double each month for my payments. Since i still live at home becasue i cant afford school, car, rent and food, i have decided to plan for the future. married when im 25 and then a house when im 28. A modest house for two and however many kids i have by then.

 

[LT72884]

When you enlarge your screen and then enlarge
the first photo, you see the massiveness of it all. You never have to leave. But the people inside disconnect. If you scroll down below the photo, the advertiser is 'flowers.com
I guess you need flowers from dying of shock when you get your first mortgage payment.


If you do the same for photo 2, you see the virgin land being destroyed. Such a shame.! No mountain shack or bungalow here.


* * safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand
come and see my shiny palace built upon
the sand. * author ? *

yeah the mountain itself is massive. the land is getting destroyed. I used to ride my horses up there when i was a kid but not anymore.

 

[GB]

I pay double each month for my payments.

That is a great thing to do! It is an excellent habit to get into. If you can do the same thing when you buy your house then you will be in great shape. Well maybe not double, but anything extra is great. We have always paid more than our mortgage payment each month. It really adds up.