[Oldexpat]

The scale of the size of the house has changed over the years.
A working family of four used to think a house of 1000 ft2 was their dream and they wanted it paid off so that they could survive a layoff or strike at the factory. Somewhere along the line that became at 2500 ft2 house with vaulted ceilings and ac. Marble counter tops and a jazucci. We need to return to humbler less leveraged homes.

[dalereed]

Not the problem!

The problem is when they allowed a person to buy a home with less than 20% down and payments that couldn’t exceed 30% of net income including taxes and insurance.

That was the criteria when I bought my 2400sq/ft. home in Glendale California in 1966.

We lived in a rented home for 7 years after we got married in order for me to save the down payment and have an additional 6 months earning in savings in the bank.

We saved $8,000 in those seven years on my earnings of $3.50/hr and $3.75/hr when we bought the house and put down $7,000 on the $32,000 purchase price in 66.

[dalereed]

My parents saved enough durring the depression to build their 2,600 sq.ft. home in Silverlake, Los Angeles in 1936 with a $5,000 loan on it and also saved enough to start the business without borrowed money in 1936.

As they did, they taught me that other than a mortgage on my 1st home if you haven’t got the money to pay for it you don’t need it.

I’ve lived by that rule for my 72 years and have not only my home but 2 condos, that I paid cash for, paid cash for my airplane that cost 3 times what my home did and have never borrowed one cent other than my mortgage on our 1st home.

We also ran the business for 57 years and never borrowed one cent to run it.