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Housing: The Foundations Of The Middle Class Are Crumbling
Of Two Minds ^ | 02/27/2025 | Charles Hughes Smith

Posted on 02/27/2025 8:05:50 AM PST by SeekAndFind

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1 posted on 02/27/2025 8:05:50 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Did I just read that this struggling couple pulls down a quarter of a million?


2 posted on 02/27/2025 8:10:30 AM PST by Jeff Chandler
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To: SeekAndFind

If you don’t have a job, you can’t afford a home.
Families now need two solid incomes and a PLAN to become home owners.


3 posted on 02/27/2025 8:10:51 AM PST by Zathras
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To: SeekAndFind
Lots of interesting material to digest here. This one stood out to me:

Those who locked in low mortgage rates are trapped in their current homes, as they can't afford to move and pay interest rates that are 50% to 100% higher than the low rates they secured years ago.

Well, yeah. For some of us, the whole purpose of locking in low mortgage rates was to move into a home that would be the last one we ever occupied. I'm still trying to figure out who is in the receiving end of the financial disaster (for them) that my mortgage has created -- paying 3% on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage while inflation rates have exceeded that almost since the day I closed on the home.

4 posted on 02/27/2025 8:12:44 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("Well, maybe I'm a little rough around the edges; inside a little hollow.” -- Tom Petty, “Rebels”)
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To: SeekAndFind
From the article: As for reducing demand: the population of the U.S. was 265 million in 1995, and it's now 345 million:.

Me: Hmmm....we've been told over and over that our fertility rate is below replacement rate...so what could have cause this increase in population which increased housing demand .... hmmmm could it be the tons of illegal immigration and their anchor babies?

5 posted on 02/27/2025 8:15:25 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Alberta's Child

The “bag-holder” that owns the long term 3% mortgage are large entities who are convinced they will be bailed out by .gov if they fail—since they are “too big to fail”.

They pulled it off thanks to the Uniparty in 2008.

They may not get so much joy this time.


6 posted on 02/27/2025 8:17:04 AM PST by cgbg (The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise.)
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To: SeekAndFind

This is why Trump cutting the cost of government is important, there are many that believe government is the solution and must grow and be fully funded. Well their wrong, this article discusses the direct and indirect costs of our massive government.


7 posted on 02/27/2025 8:18:15 AM PST by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show host to me.... Sting)
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To: Zathras

A few thoughts:

1) Housing demand (and cost) will drop when we have stopped govt subsidizing of millions of illegal aliens and sent them packing.

2) While I abhor ‘low cost housing’ forced into all new construction, you people starting out need to set their sights on starter homes. Too many think they can step right into a mansion they cant afford and dont need.

3) Interest rates go up and down. You cant time the market if you want to get invested in a home. You buy in to what you can afford as soon as you can afford it. If rates go up, you win. If rates go down, you refinance and win. But you keep building equity all the while. The sooner you can start this the sooner its paid off, or the more equity you have going into your next home purchase.


8 posted on 02/27/2025 8:20:19 AM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: Alberta's Child

You have an interesting point. If the lenders are silent, perhaps something is going on.

We have seen how taxpayer money has flowed to specific causes through entities like USAID. This has explained, at least to me, news outlets that don’t care about ratings or viewership, among other things.

Corporations have seemed giddy in embracing DIE. You mention embracing being underwater on a loan.

Something does not smell right.


9 posted on 02/27/2025 8:21:54 AM PST by Empire_of_Liberty
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To: SeekAndFind

The writer works to make a case against owning a home that’ cobbled together in the style liberals use when they want to make a point that’s not really valid.


10 posted on 02/27/2025 8:22:45 AM PST by GOPJ (Delta just Bud Lighted themselves - freeper dfwgator)
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To: SeekAndFind

I own my home outright but spend $64,000 a year on just property taxes ($32,000) utilities ($25,000) and insurance ($7,000).

I have substantial equity, but can’t sell because sales tax would take too much. So I am forced to hold on it and leave it to my kids when I pass so that the basis will reset allowing them to sell without having to pay taxes on the appreciation.


11 posted on 02/27/2025 8:24:43 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: SeekAndFind

Even worse - you do not even own the house you finally managed to “buy.” Someone else holds the massive mortgage you had to take

And above all, the REAL owner is state and local government. You own tax on that, in perpetuity and forever increasing. Don’t pay that, and your home will be seized.

You are simply a debt slave


12 posted on 02/27/2025 8:25:04 AM PST by PGR88
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To: Jeff Chandler

One of the biggest reasons to get rid of 50 million illegals.


13 posted on 02/27/2025 8:27:47 AM PST by KobraKai
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To: SeekAndFind

This article is a summary of the obvious. What is not so obvious is that money, effort and other assets directed into housing is money that is not directed into other worthwhile industries and activities.

Housing may not be the wisest investment a society can make. All the effort, capital, and natural resources used differently and without artificial stimulation, might be a net gain for America.


14 posted on 02/27/2025 8:29:17 AM PST by oldplayer
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To: TexasFreeper2009

There’s sales tax on a home sale when you sell a home?


15 posted on 02/27/2025 8:30:27 AM PST by Dilbert San Diego
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To: SeekAndFind

Your points are valid.

another one is few have the skills of home ownership anymore. We did our own work and the cuts the cost of home ownership maintenance in half.


16 posted on 02/27/2025 8:31:07 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued, but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere)
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To: SeekAndFind

A bit of a burst is already happening around here.

We have an insane Property Appraiser who is illegally jacking up property taxes, in some cases nearly doubling them. She is changing property designations from residential to commercial, which allows the increase, and if the homeowner doesn’t contest it within the short time allowed, it becomes permanent.

This has led to greatly increased monthly payments, which the homeowners can often not afford, so they have to sell...fast. Thus we have homes that were valued at $450K being listed at $350K and still not selling.

Stuff is gonna hit the fan, and soon.


17 posted on 02/27/2025 8:31:53 AM PST by Crusher138 ("Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just")
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To: SeekAndFind
I know you gloBULList Freepers don't want to hear this but ending legal immigration, ending the H-1B visa will cause the standard of living for all workers to go up exponentially.
18 posted on 02/27/2025 8:33:50 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Which says it’s not cost of house but their spending habits


19 posted on 02/27/2025 8:34:19 AM PST by Nifster ( I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: Jeff Chandler

$250K after taxes does not go that far.


20 posted on 02/27/2025 8:37:23 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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