I just skimmed thru a blog posting, written by a blogger making a living by giving out good financial advice, who was doing some self-rationalization on why he is (probably) going to buy a house with no down payment. He made the usual good points about prices going down, interest rates going down, wanting to build equity etc. etc. Followed by 60+ comments warning him of everything from appliance failures to sudden hurricanes, all of which HE, and not a landlord, would now be responsible! True, all true. But my question is this, didn't most of us grow up in a household where our parents were paying a mortgage? Did the fact that they were also responsible for all of the various and sundry, repairs/bills that go along with that escape some of us? I can't imagine how? Our dinner table conversation was liberally peppered with comments about the washer being on the fritz again, and how much did it cost to have it fixed the last time. Patching that bathroom roof one more time, until the money was there to re-roof the whole house. Yikes, the insurance went up again! Didn't we just tweak the policy to get a better price? Helping Uncle Ed fix a couple of windows, and then he was going to help Dad with the porch floor. How has (apparently) an entire generation missed all of this? Now admittedly, the economy is far different than it was 30 or even 20 years ago, but I can't believe that an entire generation has grown up in rental housing, chasing the landlord (or ducking, as the case may be) blithely ignorant of the realities of owning something! If you own a car, you are responsible for repairs, maintainence etc. Why would you not realize that a house is the same principle? I grew up in farming country, I remember the comments about people who moved on because they just "couldn't make it" on the farm. Families lost their homes then, just like now. Now, I will admit (loudly) that being able to find a job and regroup WAS a lot easier in past days, but no one, at any time is guaranteed a perfect life. Sorry, I digress. (often) I just can't imagine how they missed all that!
Didn't Your Parents Have A Mortgage?
September 19th, 2010 at 12:09 am
September 19th, 2010 at 02:48 am 1284864507
I'm not quite sure what my parents had with the farm - I think dad bought/inherited the farm from his dad so the money was kept in the family. But other family members had mortgages, with down payments, local bank assuming the note, local bank using the rule of thumb that house price should be 2-3X household income, and the general atmosphere of lending tinted from the horrors of the Great Depression, which had happened only 20-30 years hence.
More like a lot of people grew up relatively sheltered. When I was in college, many of my classmates grew up with the Bank of Mom and Dad. Anything that happened, next came a "withdrawl" from BMAD. I don't know how old you are, but its quite conceivable that they are backed up by the BGMAGD (Bank of Grandma and Granddad). Now doubly generationally sheltered.
September 19th, 2010 at 03:16 am 1284866162
Problem is the fear of people to even *try* to do things themselves. I got some plumbing supplies today, and plan on updating the tub drain. I may fail (its ok, I have two tubs in the house), but at least I will try first before I call in a plumber.
September 19th, 2010 at 04:10 am 1284869416
Fortunately I still managed to have some common sense, and even though I spent years working at low paying jobs I never acquired debt and lived within my means. I also had learned not to ask my parents for money, and never did once I was out of the house.
The unfortunate thing in it all is that my dad worked in a finance-related job and was pretty financially astute. We all could have benefitted from his knowledge if he'd been able to share it with us.
Daisy hears way more about personal finance than I ever did. I think she will be the wiser for it.
September 19th, 2010 at 03:04 pm 1284908676
September 19th, 2010 at 08:58 pm 1284929885
They had a healthy attitude toward money, perhaps should've taken a few more risks, but their attitudes have grounded me, I think.
September 21st, 2010 at 12:52 am 1285030349
September 21st, 2010 at 04:32 pm 1285086779