[lamoneyguy]

You can always go back even you don’t have citizenship.

If you are a third or fourth generation Asian American, who likely does not speak the language of our ancestors, and who may not have even visited the land of our ancestors, how is it we can “always go back”? I was born and raised in California. So were my parents.

If you are a sixth generation American of German ancestry, would you consider moving to Munich as “going back”?

[lamoneyguy]

You can always go back even you don’t have citizenship.

If you are a third or fourth generation Asian American, who likely does not speak the language of our ancestors, and who may not have even visited the land of our ancestors, how is it we can “always go back”? I was born and raised in California. So were my parents.

If you are a sixth generation American of German ancestry, would you consider moving to Munich as “going back”?

[lamoneyguy]

You can always go back even you don’t have citizenship.

If you are a third or fourth generation Asian American, who likely does not speak the language of our ancestors, and who may not have even visited the land of our ancestors, how is it we can “always go back”? I was born and raised in California. So were my parents.

If you are a sixth generation American of German ancestry, would you consider moving to Munich as “going back”?

[lamoneyguy]

You can always go back even you don’t have citizenship.

If you are a third or fourth generation Asian American, who likely does not speak the language of our ancestors, and who may not have even visited the land of our ancestors, how is it we can “always go back”? I was born and raised in California. So were my parents.

If you are a sixth generation American of German ancestry, would you consider moving to Munich as “going back”?

[lamoneyguy]

I LOVE the idea of the “Lexus Factor.” Can I steal it an write about it on my blog? I’ll credit you. “Juice, from Piggington” Is there any other way that I should credit you?

The Lexus Factor is all about the car, the McMansion and the private schools that are beyond most people’s means. Great stuff.

~lamoneyguy

[lamoneyguy]

No doubt, living below your means is key. There’s no disagreement here. First of all, I would NEVER spend $200 on shirt and pants. Not even close. Sometimes I go to the outlet stores, and head straight for the sale rack, and still leave empty handed shaking my head at how overpriced the name brand stuff is.

I own three pairs of jeans, for which I paid a combined total of fifty dollars. They look sharp, and unless I gain or lose a bunch of weight, I don’t see any need to buy more for several years. Also, I haven’t paid a dime in credit card interest in about ten years.

All I am saying is that I believe most people have a “too much house” or “too much car” problem more than they have a “latte factor” problem. I agree that you should watch the little expenses that do add up, but sometimes it’s putting a bandaid on a fractured leg. People can go around patting themselves on the back for making coffee at the office instead of going to Starbucks, but their mortgage is 45% of their gross income. I don’t care how many Lattes you skip, you need surgery, not a bandaid.

~lamoneyguy

[lamoneyguy]

Which would you rather cut, your monthly housing outlay, or the discretion to eat out, buy a latte or a new shirt once in a while? I would rather live in a modest home and live comfortably day to day. Many are the opposite. They would rather kill themselves over their home and scrimp day to day. The problem is exactly what the article addresses. If they have a disruption in income, they are overcommitted and cannot scrimp any more day to day. If something happens to my income, I can cut back the day to day stuff.

I agree we should be mindful of the small stuff that adds up, but I think it’s the house and car this is killing most people. They struggle over the big decision for a few days, weeks or even months. But once they do it, they just accept that big ol’ monthly nut like it’s a tax on life.

~lamoneyguy

[lamoneyguy]

The most important line in this article:

“Families are not going broke over lattes,” Warren quips. “Families are going broke over mortgages.”

I’m so sick of David Bach and his “latte factor.” The fact is, few people actually go to Starbucks every day, or eat out for lunch every day.

~lamoneyguy

[lamoneyguy]

Mmm… Spam. I’ve got a few good ones for you if you want to get started.

~LAmoneyguy

[lamoneyguy]

LookOut, maybe so but then again maybe our mortgage will be the same as you’re paying +2% interest… I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think there will be a happy medium or intersect between rates and prices.

This is a common misconceptions that lower prices and higher rates leading to equal monthly payments are essentially the same thing. They are not. I wrote a lengthy post about this topic on my blog.

[lamoneyguy]

What are you talking about?

[lamoneyguy]

Good find PS. One note. Kirk was not saying that 2mil was a one month supply, meaning that 2 mil units are sold in an average month, rather he was saying that 2 mil represented the number of new completions (newly built houses). However, even that number was vastly overstated. He was corrected by another commenter who noted that the 2mil figure was the annual number of completions.

Anyway, a long way of saying that this is going to be a painful process for many.

~lamoneyguy

[lamoneyguy]

How, exactly, were you “slammed?” Sounded like disagreement, but no personal attacks. Not even close.

[lamoneyguy]

You may be right. As much as I agree that we are in the midst of a housing bubble in the process of collapsing like most others here, it is possible that the escalated prices has affected perspective. Part of my reaction was that I was surprised that it was not priced higher. It is much nicer than the pictures on ZipRealty. Of course, in the midst of a 20-30% overall decline, this would also drop. Another 100k? Yea, that’s probably pretty fair. But that would make it currently only 10% overpriced, versus 20-30% for most. I think those townhouses are 30-40% over.

~lamoneyguy

[lamoneyguy]

[walking off in shame] Man, I knew that was wrong…

Haha, not in shame, and probably not wrong. As we said earlier, this is all about semantics. The beauty of the English language is that there are multiple valid definitions for these words.

I just love to debate my point. 🙂

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