Buy This House For No Money Down!!! WTF???
Dear America,
American Made Means American’s Are Paid
Forgive me, but am I the only Republican that thinks that John McCain sounded like an out of touch idiot last night. It was like we are truly admitting we live in a Confederacy of Dunces. John McCain’s “shoot from the hip” Maverick plan last night – “his recovery plan” – was for the government to buy back the houses from the people that bought them and financed them at a value that they could not afford – only to revalue them and then let them stay in their houses. Wake Up! This housing financial crisis was caused NOT because housing prices are too high – it was caused because financial institutions were loaning money (and large amounts of money) to people that could not afford to pay that amount of money back. How could someone finance a home’s for more than 2 1/2 times their annual income. Where in the heck were the financial calculators?
The housing price run up affected everyone. Not just the people that now can’t afford their homes. It was caused by the stars and producers of shows like “Flip This House” or “Flipping Out”. It was caused by infomercials running late at night that sell people up that late (the night shift) that they too can be millionaires by buying real estate for “No MONEY DOWN” and then selling it for a profit. It was caused by the mortgage broker that told people that they could finance their house for 110% percent of it’s value because he was in cahoots with the Appraisal Guy down the street that would be aggressive. It was caused by developers in Urban Areas building Condos (the snooty word in my mind for “apartment”) and speculative selling them for prices that far outweighed the value because Donald Trump’s name was attached – you know “his brand”. It was caused by the “MARKET” of California where people would bid up a house’s value and then got financing for the house over and above what the seller was originally asking. When houses go on the market in California – a “range” is displayed…not the sales price…what in the heck? As big as California is – how can a banker justify that a 1,500 square foot house is $1.499M? Granted, they put some nice floors and countertops in but $1.5M? That’s just insanity. You know to be as dillusional to pay $1.499M for a 2 Bedroom house, you’ve got to be qualified for a Sub-Prime Mortgage.
So, Now John McCain’s plan is to “reevaluate” the price of that house and then let the stressed out homeowner (with a “sub-prime) mortgage refinance the mortgage for a new value? Is that fair to me? No – it’s not. I’m also not going to pay $1.499M, let alone $200,000 to live in a “supposively breathtaking” 1,500 square foot 2 Bathroom/2 Bedroom House. The price is what’s breathtaking! Here’s the $1.499,000 house for sale – 1611 Benedict Canyon Drive, Beverly Hills, 90210. 2Br/2BA Gorgeous, but Really? If you are interested in this house, contact Connie DeGroot. She’s a hot agent with a good picture and I’m sure she’d pull up in her fabulous car with Premium Gasoline. Here’s another $1,500,000 house for sale – and if you say “Location, Location, Location”, then obviously you are truly thinking that one day you’ll be able to afford this beauty….$60,000,000 dollar house. People that can afford houses that are mortgaged for $200,000 need to make $80,000/year. Every $200K of value of a house has to have $80K/income. Therefore, someone that is living in a million dollar house needs to bring home $400K/year. $1.5M means…you betcha Sarah Palin…$600K. In Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills alone there are over 2,000 houses for sale in excess of $1M.
So I’ve done a little research. Number of Houses for Sale in Major Metropolitan areas in excess of $1M
San Francisco 828
Austin 477
Denver 707
Aspen 483
Dallas 818
Houston 767
Atlanta 1,693
Beverly Hills 290
Santa Monica 213
Los Angeles 1,832
Chicago 1,489
New York City 1,258
If there are 100,000,000 households in the U.S. and 1% of the U.S. economy makes in excess of $400,000 per year….that means there is only capacity for 1,000,000 houses valued in excess of $1,000,000. According to an Article in Wall Street Week/Fortune in 2001, there were only 7,000 U.S. households that made in excess of $10,000,000 a year. That’s .00007% of the US households. Virtually nobody.
Realtor.com doesn’t allow me to get a number of the number of U.S. houses on the market valued in excess of $1,000,000, but what I was able to pull was alarming. There is a road that my husband and three children drive along on our way to mass each Sunday and the houses are DREAMY. Big, Stunning, Beautiful houses. Old oak trees, blooming gardens, and security systems. I would safely guestimate that there are 40 houses/estates along this one stretch of road that lasts about one mile. None we can afford – ever in our wildest dreams. This one that I highlight this post is for sale for $3.495 million dollars and sits on 1.5 acres. There are at least 30 houses for sale . This isn’t good. Even the Uber Rich can’t afford to be Uber Rich anymore that. Mr. R would need to bring home $1.2Million dollars PER YEAR to afford that payment? No thank you. If the weathy are taxed at 50% (let’s say) then he’d bring home $600K of that….That would make $50K/month. $20K/month would be going to the mortgage payment, taxes, and insurance on that beauty…with 20% down. Unimaginable for 99.99% of America.
American Made Means Americans Are Paid
Our Great Nation needs to stop thinking that we can make a quick buck by not working a honest hour. Our nation was built on the ability for our WORKERS to work an honest day for an honest wage. We now outsource all manufacturing and we’re all “managers”. Everyone “goes to college”. ..College graduates don’t work in factories, and now, since everyone has a divine right to go to college – guess what – China is manufacturing all of our products – and our country is running a $500B loan to them. We OWE CHINA OVER $500 Billion dollars! Their factory worker in the Wal-mart manufacturing facility gets paid – ARE YOU READY? – $3.00/PER WEEK. The boys in Jonesboro, Arkansas are all “managing” this – and our dresses and closets are overrun with cheap clothing that was manufactured in China….So then, when we’re done with it – we put it in a dump or we sell it on EBay.com (God forbid your neighborhood lets you have a Yard Sale – College educated neighborhoods don’t have Yard Sales – We donate to the Salvation Army.)
One thing I learned during by brilliant career (that neither of our candidates have a business background) was that clothing manufactured in a factory is typically made out of the same fabric, same pattern, same thread, same buttons. The corporation buys the “design” and then sews their brand label onto the item of clothing. A pair a Kacki pants sold at Dillard’s with the label “Savannah” are the exact same pair of pants that have the label “Duck Head” are the exact same pair of pants that say “Yves St. Laurent” and are sold at Needless Markup. The pricing is different – but regardless if the label says “Made in China” or “Made in Bangladesh” or “Made with Pride in the U.S.A” chances are it’s a non-college educated Rapunzel sitting at a sewing machine cranking out that pair of slacks….thousands of them a day. What makes them different is the label sewn on the ass or the embroidery stitched on the back pockets…We care about what people think we paid because that makes them think we’re “rich”.
We shouldn’t buy houses we can’t afford – A HOUSE IS A HOUSE – A PAID OFF HOUSE IS YOURS.
We shouldn’t charge items that we can’t afford.
Your Land Rover doesn’t really need Premium Gasoline. And why in the hell do you need to drive a Land Rover or Hummer anyway? My 2002 minivan is paid for and I’m solving my energy crisis by walking my kids to school and waiting for Michigan to build me an electric one. I’m not fond of American Made cars, but if I have to purchase one made in the U.S. in order to create homeland jobs, I think that’s an investment in my children’s future and not Hong Kong’s kids. I’m not buying a Suburban either. It’s a gas guzzler, and I’m sick of spending $100/week towards getting my kids food on the table instead of into their college fund.
We should look at where the item is MADE in order to create Jobs in the U.S. If Wal-mart’s cheap clothing made in China wasn’t making them billionaires – they wouldn’t manufacture it in China. I’m making a commitment to purchase my cars manufactured in the U.S. The rest of America should too. I’m looking in my clothing labels too. If American’s are too educated to make it, then lets let the Mexicans crossing the border work in our factories for a fair wage and tax them since we’re providing them health care anyway.
Wake up John McCain. Wake Up Barrack Obama. We can’t bail out the first to fail, and we can’t give everyone THE BIG FREE. Government needs to back off and stop spending money it’s not making.
If the $500Billion dollar loan is Due to China – that means every U.S. Citizen, man, woman, child owes $1500 to CHINA! China’s factory workers make $156/YEAR! How much did Wal-Mart profit from cheap labor and our “I want it cheap and I want it now so I’m charging it on my Wal-Mart credit card” mentality?
The $700Billion dollars the US just bailed the banks out with means that every U.S. citizen, man, woman, child just paid another $2000.00
The $5 Trillion dollar US deficit means that every U.S. citizen owes an additional $14,285
Stop buying crap to fill up your closet because you are too lazy to do the laundry.
Look at the labels and put your money into the U.S. economy and create U.S. jobs.
A family of 5 (mine) now owes $17,785.00 to get us out of this mess.
I can’t sell my house to do it because the guy next door couldn’t afford his in the first place and I don’t want John McCain to bail him out either and I don’t want Barrack Obama to regulate it…not to mention…The Fence Issue .Which is certainly the only thing that I’d like government to regulate….
Accept RESPONSIBILITY.
Be Happy With What You Have, Where You Are, With the Skin That You’re In