Posted on 08/30/2011 8:58:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Articles like the one I'm referencing below demonstrate why there are still bubble home prices in certain areas. This particular article also shows how poorly people manage their own finances, and does a good job showing how much the country's people are still relying on inexpensive and easy to obtain debt.
The article is called "The Financial Fix" (that ought to be in quotes, btw, because it is anything but a "fix" that this advisor gives them) that appears in Money Magazine, September 2011 issue, Page 42.
Where do I start??
This 31 and 32 year old couple have $783,000 in debt! The debt is made up of a mortgage on a townhouse, a mortgage on a condo, plus car and student loans. First off, that is a terrible position to be in. They are in way, way over their heads. But it gets worse.
The wife is expecting their first child so they only have the husband's $93,000 / year income. They say they are "barely breaking even on [his] salary"...uhm, no, you are not breaking even at all. You are losing ground (to debt and financial slavery), and fast. If they could apply all $93k of his income toward all their debt, it would still take them 8.41 years to pay it all off! OMG. That's attrocious.
"They decided to keep their old condo as an investment, but so far it's been a cash drain." Silly people, you ought to stick to consulting or whatever it is that you do. "Real estate" as an investment if often highly overrated, as the returns on residential real estate have, on average over long periods of time, only barely beaten inflation.
What are you doing buying a $410,000 townhouse in Leesburg, Virginia? Anywhere in Virginia, for that matter? That's bubble pricing if I've ever heard it. Making matters worse is that they still own a mortgage on a condo. Why does a young, white collar dual income (previously) no kids couple have to buy a townhouse or condo in Virginia? Because we are still in a significant housing bubble in multiple areas of the country...and Leesburg, Virginia is definitely one of them.
These articles never fail to count "home equity" under the "Assets" section of peoples' financial situation. It says this couple has $66,000 in home equity. Bwah, ha, ha. Sure, right. Did you get those figures from Zillow? Or better yet a local realtor? Are you factoring in selling costs to liquidate all of that "equity"? Of course not. A quick off the cuff guess is that they are sitting on about half that much "equity."
If the tenant skips out on paying them rent, the article tells how the young, naive couple will be on the hook for mortgage payments totaling 42% of their income (!!!), not factoring in maintenance and repairs. Gulp!! Gasp. That's a mighty scary position you are putting your family in, sonny. And btw, I'd definitely factor in maintenance and repairs.
These young kids are financialy screwed because they are trying to live "the American Dream" that someone else told them they should. Why do you have to have a kid if you cannot afford it? Parenting magazine just quoted a new study saying that the typical cost to raise a child to age 18 is approximately $190,000. This couple is already in a financial hurt locker, and now they are adding a newborn child to the picture. Wanna bet that they'll "have to" have a second child? I've seen it too often.
And why did they have to buy a house? (a condo) And then another house? (a townhouse) This is a great example of the real estate pathology that many people still have today.
Since the "financial advisor" gave them terrible advice (let me guess, the financial advisor also thinks real estate is a good investment? And has hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to her name, too? That would explain the horrendous advice to this young couple), allow me to intervene further by offering some sound financial advice for them:
1. Sell your new townhouse immediately 2. Sell your condo concurrently 3. Sell your car / cars and pay off the loans immediately 4. Use any remaining "equity" funds from above sales to pay off any and all debt 5. Rent a nice apartment or home for a couple of years 6. Buy a conservative used car with cash
That's really only a beginning but still much better than the article offered for them.
Well, by those numbers it is doable BUT they would be on the Dave Ramsey Beans and Rice budget for the entire time they are on that schedule. I bet someone as stupid as this couple is not going to sit still for 30 years paying off their draconian debt burden which they created themselves.
Sorry, I have no sympathy for them or their lenders...go into chapter 13 and live with the consequences, in a 1500 apartment rental they can afford and a beater for a car.
They could rent out the condo for additional income to pay off their loans...
Very expensive area financed with the FedGov bubble. My wife's cousin is a bit worried the bubble will break before she leaves.
A $400k house won't buy what you think it would.
RE: A $400k house won’t buy what you think it would
Tell me about it. I live in Long Island at the border of Queens, NYC. $400K gets you something small ( in a not so nice neighborhood ).
Many become wealthy doing the same 10 and 15 years ago - if they sold quickly enough. Hinesight's 20/20... The guy writing the article has a lot invested in trying to feel superior to everyone... that's a little creepy.
Already here. Obama; Barney Frank and their friends created this.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/
Just wait and see how many more hoops you will have to jump through to get a mortgage or direct your investment dollars.
Yeah, same reason you see 3-4 people w/fake disabilities shack up together - we are all sending them a check.
........I used this mortgage calculator based on 4% interest for a 30 year loan.................
The trouble with your table is that the debt includes car loans and student loans, so the entire payments are not over 30 years, or at 4%.
Probably near term their debt payments are considerably more than the $44k per year in your table.
Thank you. I turn 32 next month. I have two years of deployments (one of those was 15 months in combat in Iraq during the pre-Surge/Surge craziness), I’m a college grad, currently in a Master’s program, have two kids with a third on the way, own a home that I’m renting out, and own a truck and paying off another vehicle currently.
As a “young kid” I lived with my parents and looked forward to “Transformers” on TV every afternoon.
By the time many married women with stable incomes think they can finally “afford” a child, they’re often too old to conceive.
If you think having a kid is expensive, go out and price fertility treatments. The money you think you saved by waiting turns out to be an utter wash. And frequently, they don’t work.
I think the one thing this couple is doing right is having a child while they still can.
Yuppies.
Must have it ALL.
Must have it ALL RIGHT NOW!!!
Cannot even balance their checkbook.
They might have spent their time and money to attend college but didn’t receive much of an education.
They sound about as smart as a sack full of hammers.
What are the odds they voted democrat and helped put Obama in office?
I hate to say it but many (not all) of 20 to thirty somethings seem to “want it all and right NOW”. I don’t truly understand why? My parents told us frequently how they rented a small apartment first and how they scrimped on food, drove beat up used cars... while saving for a down payment for a small house. The idea was to start “small” and save while waiting to move up (when and if possible). Today, I see late 20 somethings to 30 somethings who get the big house first, brand new cars, vacations, designer clothes etc... What happened between the generations?
3/4 of a million in debt? Less than 100,000 gross income? This is easy. Declare bankruptcy. Bit the bullet now, you will never get out from under.
When my kids were old enough to leave the nest, I pointed out to them that all the trappings of a good middle class life around them did not come all at once. It took us a good 20 years to get the stuff and another 10 to pay off the house.
One took my advice and is still doing quite well. The other married a dingbat who kept getting in hock for all the toys, saying "they owed it to themselves". They're drowning.
This wouldn’t be a bad situation for these people if they were renting out their investment properties for more than the mortgages are worth, but apparently that isn’t the case.
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