Re: OT: AARP

OMG are you serious? Make repairs as money becomes available? When that repair is a septic field that is shot or a roof that is sagging, one doesn't have the luxury of waiting until they have the money. If you can't afford to insulate the house better you'll go through fuel like a house on fire. Old farmhouses you might as well just open the windows and doors. Around here people can go through a full fuel tank in a few weeks. Buying a fixerupper like that they'd never manage to save to fix it because they'd have burned it right up the chimney and that would be just trying to keep it moderately warm. Some folks may have ability to do the work themselves - jack of all trades types - not everyone can do that. Affluent familes don't have to make time - they can afford to hire someone immediately and get it fixed right.


Phyllis Nilsson wrote:
I truly know exactly what I'm talking about. If they buy something that needs repairs they make them over time as the money becomes available. Why wouldn't low-income families have as much time to make repairs as more affluent people? They sure are taking fewer vacations.

RaeMorrill wrote:

When do you think a low-income family is going to have time to do these repairs? What are they goig to pay for them with? A roof along can cost many thousands of dollars and if it has been bad for some time, the damage may be more serious than meets the eye. You truly have no idea what you're talking about.

Phyllis Nilsson wrote:

Unfortunately, they don't always list the lower-priced houses, at least around here. But again, it is what someone does or does not want (in this case a handy-man special, commute, etc). Its just a matter of the scale of living we prefer versus what we can afford. Its nice that your house is worth so much more than you paid for it. Makes it all worthwhile doesn't it?

RaeMorrill wrote:

We're in a rural town between the major cities of Portland and Lewiston/Auburn. Even what I'd consider modest homes here are going for over 200,000. If you have a family and don't want a "handy-man" special, your not going to find much under 200,000 and if you do, the commute will be a killer.

I just did a search on Maine Multiple Listing for Portland, as well as my town and its sister town. Searched first for 2 BR and 1 bath in 125,000 to 150,000 range. Out of 1111 homes for sale, zero matched. When I kicked up to 150,000 to 175,000 the total in my two-town area was 3 and in Portland 6. That's still a lot of money

Sandi wrote:

"Phyllis Nilsson" <phyllisnilsson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Zu-dneVzCvB5umreRVn-vg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Domestic help is having a cleaning lady come in once a week. It doesn't take a mansion to need help when one is old and has limitations. It has nothing to do with the size of the house and is not dictated by the neighborhood.

The house in the subdivision you showed is, in my opinion, an example of excess. There are millions of people getting by on far less without the large mortgage and interest rae that would come with it.

Nicer is in the eye of the beholder isn't it? Our house has less than 900 sq. feet plus a full basement. It sits on property that is 30 x 120. We've lived here for 23 years. Although we've spent thousands during the last few years to make repairs, there are still many to be made. I'd like to live in a bigger house that needs no repairs. I'm no different than anyone else in my "wants". But I know the difference between "wants" and "needs" and what we can afford.






Well, then, Phyllis, you have more house in better condition than I have. And my mortgage is not cheap. So I repeat my point that you don't understand what the market is like TODAY. If you went into the market TODAY, you couldn't have the house you have. What you did years ago is irrelevant. Even 10 years ago the market was not like this.


It is just a matter or priorities (which for us, doesn't include a huge mortgage payment, a brand new house, a brand new car, or the toys for grownups that lots of people thing of as being necessities of life.

LizzieB. wrote:


If you would, please, define your "nicer neighborhood," because I don't have a basis for comparison.

Also, "nicer car," because I'm fully in support of a car that runs.

Domestic help? Is your "nicer car" and "nicer neighborhood" on the order of "domestic help" (that is not in the context of profitability margins)? I can totally see your point if your nicer house and car are in a neighborhood where one would expect people to have domestic help.

But we're not talking about that.

This is a house 1 block down the street from me that has been on the market for almost a year now (note the price): http://tinyurl.com/awyvl

This is my house (bought for almost exactly half the price): http://tinyurl.com/7suy5

Now, in a rare reversal of events, the first house is typical of what sells here and for what price (although I can't really say why this one hasn't) and MY house is the one that (typical for this area) should have stayed on the market for a year (but I hate the idea of being house rich and cash poor[1]).

If your definition comes close to that first house I linked, then I can really see your point (and agree), but until we define what's "nicer" to everybody, then we have no basis for debate on the specifics.



[1]When I was delivering pizza at the tender age of 20 for one of my dad's bizarre PI assignments, I saw this a lot. I'd go to the neighborhoods with the million-dollar homes (and Beemers in the drive) and they'd have no furniture, and no cash to tip me with. I thought that was just about as pathetic as any rust-ridden tin-roofed SE Kansas coal-mining shack I'd ever seen.



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