[renterclint]

Man, what am I missing? I’ve been coming to this site for a long time, and I didn’t even know this Jim fellow had his own blog. PS, thanks for providing the link. I’m looking forward to checking Jim’s blog out. Sounds interesting…

[renterclint]

I agree that you probably should not buy a home unless you can reasonably afford the payments (P&I, taxes, and insurance) on a 30yr fixed mortgage, but I don’t believe the 20% down is completely necessary.

I’ve owned two homes so far, and could barely scrape together enough for 5% down pmt. In both cases, I sold at a fair gain. In both cases, I ended up financially better off with purchasing rather than renting.

Obviously, the 20% down helps you if you plan to sell in the next few years, and you’re concerned about declining prices, so the initial equity you paid for will cushion that a bit.

But for some of us who are trying to raise a young family, saving is difficult. If I waited until I had 20% down, I’d probably never purchase a home.

[renterclint]

Hey, I grew up in Arlington. It wasn’t so bad. Of course I spent each summer at my Dad’s house in Poway. I remember going back just before school starting, and my Mom’s house smelled like one big air conditioning unit from the A/C being on all summer. Except for summers, the weather is pretty fair. So if you don’t mind being trapped in your home 3 months out of the year, it’s not a bad place to live. And you can get a decent size home in a clean part of town with a pool for under $200k.

Even with that said, I’m sticking with San Diego (as long as prices come down enough).

[renterclint]

I have relatives in near Dallas, and I’ve got to say one thing – if there was ever an opportunity to buy a rental property & cash flow right away, Texas is the place. In my aunt’s suburb of Dallas, the rents are actually more expensive that buying with a conventional 30yr fixed.

That won’t be happening in SD anytime soon.

[renterclint]

No, Powayseller should post as many times as she wants provided she has something interesting/meaningful to say.

To be honest, some of PS’s comments really get on my nerves. Especially, when she arrogantly assumes that her fairly far-fetched assumption that homes will lose 50% of their value is the gospel (although I hope that she’s right – minus the doomsday element of course). Several times in her threads, she criticizes new buyers for their “ignorance”. We all have our theories about housing, yet most of us realize that our predictions are not a sure thing. Poway does not seem to get that. It also annoys me when she talks about how she’s tired of “teaching” everyone about these issues, like she some kind of ultimate expert.

Even with these annoyances, I still find her posts mostly interesting, and I appreciate the time that she puts into sharing new info she comes across.

I’ve been coming to this site for almost a year now, and I think I’ve posted maybe 3 responses. It’s not like I’ve contributed enough to really criticize anyone… but I guess I just did.

Even though you annoy me, keep up the good work, Powayseller!! 🙂

[renterclint]

Yes!

I’ve been coming to this site for months, and this is the best topic ever! My wife calls me the “Pronunciation Nazi” because just about every issue mentioned above sets me off.

Novice 1027 you rock!! My biggest pet peeve of all of these mentioned above is “orientated” instead of oriented.

2 others:

1) lacks-adaisical for lackadaisical
(It’s not “lacks”, like “Hey dude, I’m lacks (relax)…”

2) supposebly for supposedly
My old boss did that!! And for someone with a freakin’ MBA, I expect more. That drove me insane.

Peace-out.

[renterclint]

Ouch is right. On the flip side, how about the person who bought the house in Aug 05 for $495k and sold it 5 months later for a $85k gain. Capitalism at its finest…

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