Re: OT: AARP

And they're much easier to accommodate when the money is available for them.

Neal wrote:

But Phyllis, did you note that by trying to stay under or near $100,000 it actually COST me $90,000? Not to mention that at the time I could have gotten more house, in a better neighborhood, that I could have moved into immediately for less than $100.00 more a month? Now that same house in the better neighborhood with more room (and storage) would cost me $500.00 a month more than I am paying now. If this is unclear to anyone, I will run the figures here for you.

I believe in being out of debt, too. Except for the house payment and an occasional car payment, we are out of debt. Although we are talking about houses, I have NEVER wanted to be a slave to a house payment. It is really not because of living beyond my means, but I do have other wants, desires, and yes, needs besides basic or fancy housing.

Neal


Phyllis Nilsson wrote:

Neal, I'm really glad that you and Martha found a place you like (except for the storage). I'm glad you don't have a 30-mile commute because it is hard on the nerves as well as the cars. You wanted to be closer to the kids and grandkids and I think that is admirable. Family is really important. Obviously you got both your needs and your wants. Life doesn't get much better.

Neal wrote:

I certainly can't argue with that, Phyllis. (I could, but I won't.)

Yes, I could have bought a house for under $100,000 on the far west side and drive 30 miles to take my wife to work through terrible traffic. Since I work at home, it really doesn't matter where I live.

Yes, I could have bought a house for under $100,000 on the far west side and been 40 to 70 miles away from our kids and grandkids, the reason we moved to Albuquerque. (One son told us if we bought a house there, we might as well stay in Roswell, 200 miles from Albuquerque.)

Yes, I could have bought a house in "The War Zone" and carried a gun when I went outside to get the paper.

But Phyllis, the difference between your idea of "want" and "need" is more complex than your simplistic definition. We could live in a 2 bedroom apartment, sharing the space with our daughter, her 5 cats and our 4 cats (we did that four 3 months until our house was built), but for some strange reason we did not "want" to live that way for the rest of our lives.

*(I thought of the following after finishing this note. The lack of space in Kristin's apartment made it necessary to put my Dictaphone transcriber inventory in storage, thus stopping an eBay business that had been doing $30,000 per year. I just started this business again 3 weeks ago, being unwilling to spend more than $100,000 for a house actually cost me about $90,000. Please continue reading to see why.)*

To illustrate some of the differences for you, here is the "great" idea I had when Martha moved to Albuquerque in November while I stayed in Roswell to sell our house there. (I sold the house and moved to Albuquerque myself in late January.)

I made a list from Realtor dot com of the houses available in the area I wanted to live in, with the only criteria being under $100,000, 3 bedrooms, and a bath and a half. My idea was to drive by the 22 houses, decide which ones we wanted to see inside, then call a realtor to show the houses to us.

Martha, my youngest daughter Sarah, and I spent most of the day driving and looking. Of the 22 houses I had on my list, we found 0 that we would even consider looking inside, much less living in. It was getting late in the day, we were very frustrated, and decided to go back and look at a development we had seen a few months before. (It was sold out, but Martha said she had seen one of their signs still up.)

Some deals had fallen through, and they had 4 more houses available. After looking at the 3 model homes and the 8 different floor plans, we bought the townhouse on the spot. I almost had a stroke from the idea of buying a $118,000 house before our house in Roswell was sold, but at least our housing "need" was satisfied.

Need, want, or whatever you would call it, it was a complex issue to be solved, not a simple as you seem to believe. After living here almost 3 years, we like the house, the neighborhood, and the convenience of being fairly closed to our kids and grandkids, but we wish we had more room, especially storage space.

The interesting thing is if we had bought say an existing home for $140,000 that the realtor had first suggested we could have moved right in, and the payments would have been less than $100 a month more than they are now. Because of the increased prices of houses, our house has increased 35%, so the other would increase the same amount, and the payments would increase almost $500 a month. (I probable should put the math equation here - it is astounding! I ran the figures twice because I couldn't believe them myself.)

Neal

Phyllis Nilsson wrote:

I don't think Toledo, Ohio could be considered the boondocks, but again, I've discovered that a lot of people here don't know the difference between need and want. You didn't "want" to live in a house that cost under $100,000 enough to give up the "want" of a better neighborhood. I don't find anything wrong with that, but neither do I believe there were no houses that sold for less. Your "want" of a better neighborhood outweighed your "want" of a house for less than $100,000.

Neal wrote:

Good grief, Phyllis!

What boondocks do you live in anyhow? This is a serious question. I haven't been reading this thread, and really wonder on what you base your assumptions.

We moved to Albuquerque 3 years ago. The realtor we were working with kept sending us listings running between $130,000 and $150,000. I wasn't about to buy that "expensive" a house! I wrote her and told her not to bother sending me any more listings.

We tried to stay under $100,000, but the areas those houses were located in were called "The War Zone", "Gangland West", etc. We ended up getting a small townhome where every house looked identical for $118,000. It was considerably smaller than our home in Roswell.

I could now sell this home any day of the week for $160,000, but would have to pay that much or more for anything livable.

Neal

Phyllis Nilsson wrote:

The key word is "need". I sincerely doubt there is any state in the union that doesn't have housing for less than $100,000. You are confusing "want" with "need".
.

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