Posted on 11/19/2011 10:55:44 AM PST by radioone
They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by.
snip
She has one BlackBerry and two cars (both Buicks from the 1990s), and a $230,000 house that she, her husband and two daughters will move into next week.
Combined, she and her husband, a janitor, make about $51,000 a year, more than 200 percent of the official poverty line. But they lose about a fifth to taxes, medical care and transportation to work — giving them a disposable income of about $40,000 a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Here is the NY Times trying desperately to make us feel sorry for people. If they go to the bottom they find fat people on welfare with big screens and XBoxes, if they go up they find wealthier people complaining about the need to cut back a tiny bit from their lifestyle. No one feels sorry for them.
They are getting closer though. They actually found a couple who work and pay taxes. Notice how they skim right over the fact that if it weren’t for taxes, these people wouldn’t be “hurting” at all.
They live in the DC area; $75,000 wouldn't get you a boarded up crack den.
They need to be renters, and even then they're going to pay at least $1000 a month for something livable.
My wife and I have a combined yearly income of nearly at or around 70k(and I’m working two jobs). We’re middle-class to be sure and in our late 50s(closing in fast on 60). Homes in our little area , modest, one-story ranch homes mind you are valued at around 220k at a minimum. Brother we ain’t seen the half of it yet. If things get worse, and indications are going that way, only the Lord knows what we’ll do.
I feel much worse for people who did everything right, were earning $150K+ until 2 years ago until their jobs were sent to Asia, and now can’t find any work...at all.
Here in northern NJ, you can’t even fall back on lower-paying jobs; they require that you are an illegal alien, or at least fluent in Spanish or Portuguese. Cashiers, bank tellers, fast food, whatever - Americans need not apply. Americans who only owe $10K on their homes will lose them, and they’ll run up a property tax bill schooling those illegals’ children while doing it.
In Va it’s about $600-$650 p/m per $100,000 you mortgage. That’s PITI.
I have no sympathy for these people, but I don’t know what the government expects people with no marketable skills to do at this point. Before, it was high school drop-outs that were up the creek (losing their livelihoods to illegals); now it is people who devoted a lot of time, effort, and money to learn skills that are increasingly becoming “for Asians only” (either abroad, or they’ll even import them here).
Maybe they had a $100,000 down payment?
Yes, and it doesn’t say anyting about second jobs. Many folks I know paid off their mortgage early on the strength of part time employment in addition to their regular jobs. Now often this was cash employment (landscaping, construction, etc.) but it was genuine work nonetheless.
Wow, yet another reason to put a few years in uniform and gain veterans status. It’s amazing we have such a tough time recruiting high scoring young men onto the team, but that’s for another thread.
When I bought my first house, the rule of thumb was 2x your yearly income. I think that this is still a good idea.
The way things are now if I had a choice, I’d rent. Let someone else have the headache of repairs and costs. There are plenty of people willing to take a loss every month if you’ll just pay them on time and don’t destroy their home. Housing prices will fall more before it’s all over.
Maybe where you live it’s different, but a 75K home in the greater Phoenix area would put my family smack in the middle of Gangtown, Little Mexico. No thanks. Sometimes it’s a hard decision for families who want to be in safe neighborhoods but have to find somewhere affordable enough.
Why do say that things could "get worse?" I don't see what's "bad" with your situation to begin with. Aren't you getting enough to eat? Don't you have a roof over your head? What do you care how much a ranch home costs? Can't you continue renting? If you're almost sixty years old, then you must have had decades of time to save, right?
I'm not saying that you couldn't be on hard times, but what you've written so far doesn't give any real indication of that.
Regards,
Did you miss the part where their cars are at least 12 years old each????
Don't know where you live but in DC you CAN'T get anything that you'd want to live in for $75,000. In DC a $230,000 house is still below average.
United Parcel Service does that.
Part-time “union” workers can work 40 hour plus weeks but are still considered part time. I worked there years ago as a part timer and would picked up extra work that was available at the facility. Anything over 25 hours a week was time and a half, so the extra work was nice come payday.
I am surprised this is not worse.We have very little debt compared to most people and even we are feeling the pinch.Food and energy prices have rose so much that we are spending nearly twice what we did just 3 years ago for less than we were able to buy then.I could not imagine what those who had every dollar accounted for must be doing now?
I always thought your housing costs should never go above what you make in 2.5 years?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.