Expense of 2 kids (judging by the picture, they look older and are probably consuming a good deal of the income).
Kids are most expensive when they are really small (IMHO).
First of all, either one parent stays home with kids, or you have to pay an arm and a leg for their day care. Infant day care in good areas of San Diego is $800/month/kid and up.
Second of all, they eat a lot (considering their size) and infant formula is pretty expensive. One infant can consume $200-300 worth of formula each month.
Older kids (the kind this family has) spend a lot of time in school so both parents can work full-time, eat adult food, don’t outgrow their clothes every 3 months, and basically take care of themselves.
they’re already talking about buying kids braces, etc.
They are talking about buying braces for the WIFE.
I think the loan forgiveness may be a curse for them.
Did you notice the main reason why they chose not to go through foreclosure? They don’t want to pay taxes on $40,000 (possibly higher) difference between the value of their house and the mortgage.
In the next six months, the president will sign the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, their house will lose another $40k of equity, and the outcome of this loan modification will become moot. They will do the math again and probably realize that it makes no sense to keep paying $3000/month interest-only for their condo when they can foreclose, live in it for 6 months rent-free, and then move into a rental apartment for $1800/month.
