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He makes 100 grand/yr and he is not ready to be a homeowner?

Mark Whitehouse writes about the advantages of renting in the WSJ: American Dream: Default, Then Rent

Mark Whitehouse describes one former homeowner with a monthly income of $8,300. He was paying $4,800 a month on his home and he was basically working to pay his mortgage. He was really a “debt owner” since the home was worth far less than the amount owed. He walked away from his mortgage, now rents a similar home for $2,200 a month and is enjoying life:

He now has the wherewithal to do things he couldn’t when he was stretching to pay the mortgage. He recently went to concerts by Rob Thomas and Mat Kearney. He also kept his black BMW 6 Series coupe, which has payments of about $700 a month……… lives on the 3100 block of Club Rancho Drive in Palmdale, where a terrible housing market lets them rent luxurious homes — one with a pool for the kids, the other with a golf-course view — for a fraction of their former monthly payments.

“I don’t know if I’ll buy another house again, because it’s such a huge headache,” he says.

As one blog writer wrote: “This is one of the tragedies of the housing bubble – it encouraged people to become homeowners before they were really ready and also encouraged them to buy too much home. Many of these people will not buy again for years, if ever”.

Interesting WSJ article. What are your thoughts?

File Under: The New American Dream…Of Luxury Living.

Read other posts about: Luxury Homes

6 Responses to “He makes 100 grand/yr and he is not ready to be a homeowner?” »»

  1. Comment by megan | 12/10/09 at 8:30 am

    Having income does not mean someone is ready to be a homeowner. And not everybody wants to be a homeowner. Some people have careers that require them to relocate often, others would rather not deal with maintenance or the cost of owning.

  2. Comment by Trudy | 12/10/09 at 9:37 am

    Agree with Megan — Some just don’t see the ‘benefits’ of ownership as benefits to them personally. I know I already miss renting, even though I’ve only bought within the last month; already every time I turn around (literally) there’s something that needs to be done in the place, and all my homeowner friends are endlessly telling me, “get used to it, that’s how it is. But it’s worth it.” Maybe it’s worth it — I won’t know until resale time; all I know is that now, in terms of ‘quality of life,’ I truly would be happier not having to do (or manage the doing of) any of these ridiculous things that need to be done. Being able, as an owner, to do the few things I actually want to do to enhance my living space just isn’t worth the hassle of having to do all these other things I’d really prefer not to have to think about. I’m just not the type who gets satisfaction from accomplishing random home improvements — I’d rather be at the beach! Unfortunately I only learned this after buying into the (very strong) societal thinking about ownership. To tell you the truth, I’m already thinking about selling!

  3. Comment by BS, Boston, MA | 12/10/09 at 11:40 am

    The real sick line in the story was something to the effect of, “We’ve used the extra money to buy season tickets to Disney Land and we’re taking a cruize to Mexcio in March.” Oh… don’t forget the jerk continued to own 2 investment properties.

    I hope their neighbors brow beat them out of the ‘nab’ (Sorry Bradley, cheap shot.). What happened to personal responsibility? It has apparantly left Palmdale. Shameful.

    On side note, what kind of idiot says that to a WSJ reporter? That helps you how? Hope her school district fires her for both stupidity and on morals clause. You might be able to argue the morals, deff. not the stupidity.

  4. Comment by Funny | 12/11/09 at 7:22 am

    Here’s another interesting take John,

    http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2009/12/a_home_is_a_home

    They rightfully compare investment homes as opening a small buissiness venture.

    Money quote:

    “No one is looking to make three-fourths of the American population small business owners”

  5. Comment by Marc | 12/11/09 at 8:40 am

    Well, as long as he gets to keep his 6 series, and the $700 monthly payment that goes along with it….

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