tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post3693094518183416577..comments2024-03-28T13:53:04.287-05:00Comments on Bayou Renaissance Man: Your debt, your spending, and your votePeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10595089829300831372noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-27815450941293573172017-12-31T14:49:39.112-06:002017-12-31T14:49:39.112-06:00Places like the SF Bay Area in point - it's ha...Places like the SF Bay Area in point - it's hard to qualify for a Million dollar mortgage, but a fair number of home sales to foreign investors are all cash.<br /><br />This is an area where the 1100 sf condo we used to own (in a dodgy neighborhood) is valued at $550000. We sold it for $92,000 in 1988. And it was overpriced then relative to most of the country.Javaheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14922782424313956036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-47769290441452151912017-12-31T08:45:07.416-06:002017-12-31T08:45:07.416-06:00Major debt sources - college, car, home, hospitali...Major debt sources - college, car, home, hospitalization, business ownership. If you don't have these, you don't have debt measured in decakilo dollars. Renters don't have mortgage debts, even though they may pay more per month. People who can take a bus to work and have neighborhood grocery stores don't need cars and the loans associated with them.McChuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10243337792601085456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-50739885295026677522017-12-30T22:57:32.315-06:002017-12-30T22:57:32.315-06:00Even factoring Prop 13 I find the Ca numbers baffl...Even factoring Prop 13 I find the Ca numbers baffling. My husband and I didn’t buy in until we had been married 10 years because it took that long for the market to drop enough for our income to catch up. My husband’s cousin is trying to buy now and you can’t buy into a shitty area for less than $400k. Most people I know have no savings for retirement.SQThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04251030404220909306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-13543505840751320842017-12-30T19:35:02.875-06:002017-12-30T19:35:02.875-06:00Thomas - Given how Proposition 13 has distorted th...Thomas - Given how Proposition 13 has distorted the housing market in CA, yes, quite a few homes were purchased many years ago and are being held by the owners. Note also that in large cities, especially Los Angeles, current zoning and planning requirements effectively prevent the construction of new homes except for the very rich. <br /><br />I also find the numbers... odd, in some states; as with any survey or study, the details will make or break it - and no details are given about sample size, response rate, questions asked, normalization used, if any, etc. Without that information, any general claims such as these state comparisons have to be taken with not just a grain of salt, but the entire shaker!<br />JonathanJonathan Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10476185257203343474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-74381443432079753382017-12-30T16:14:11.031-06:002017-12-30T16:14:11.031-06:00This would make more sense if it omitted mortgage ...This would make more sense if it omitted mortgage debt (since a mortgage payment is a substitute for a rent payment).<br /><br />I find the California number odd -- if California debt is so low it implies a relatively low rate of home ownership or a lot of those expensive homes were purchased years ago and the mortgage is paid off.Thomas Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05701283200252131890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6244999628674918029.post-45357187415792520222017-12-30T07:26:49.029-06:002017-12-30T07:26:49.029-06:00A couple of things jump out at me, with regard to ...A couple of things jump out at me, with regard to debt.<br />First, the level of debt will depend on ability to borrow. Poor people will have low debt (in terms of raw dollars, not necessarily in relation to income), because they can't borrow much.<br />Second, rich(-ish) people often have high mortgage debt but also substantial assets - it's entirely possible, for example, to have $2 million in mortgage debt and $5 million in securities, and this situation makes sense if the yield on the securities is higher than the interest on the mortgage (and factoring in capital-gains tax on any securities liquidated to pay off the loan).<br />I suspect the debt map would make more sense if it looked at debt minus assets, or debt-to-income ratio.Eric Wilnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04351991168469225129noreply@blogger.com