How do people afford to live?

[cignus_pfaccari]

I occasionally think about buying a condo or something.

Then I realize that a place similar to my ex-GF's 1BR+den would cost $270k, and mortgage payments would eat me alive.

One of my friend's place is going condo, and it's fairly inexpensive. Now, I see this as a sort of harbinger of doom, given that he lives in a craptastic hellhole, where the elevator won't go if you have more than four people in it, and people disable the security system all the time. Sort of like how Joe Kennedy pulled out of the stock market a week before the Crash because he was getting stock tips from shoeshine boys.

Then I look at my $790/month rent for a studio three blocks from the Metro in a nice neighborhood, and think it's okay (seriously, it is, since I've had it for over 5 years now). And then I go home to visit my parents, and as we're driving through Evansville, IN, I see 2BR apartments going for $400/month, and sigh.

Brad

 

[VirgilCaine]

I manage a computer lab for the Farm Service Agency in Saline County, Missouri.

You work for the government and wonder why everyone feels so entitled?

Location, location, location.

Taxes, taxes, taxes.

In the book Nickeled and Dimed the author, I forget her name, makes some very good points. One of the truly outrageous problems for the working poor is that they are in competition for the same real estate that the rich are. Of course, the rich always win that competition. Even in a neighborhood-size scale, many low-income (read affordable) areas are being cleared to make way for more profitable (expensive) developments. A large number of the working poor in urban areas actually get from day to day by renting motel rooms. The cost is astronomical, but they have to stay somewhere and there is no way to save up to get an affordable apartment. Just remember how hard the working poor have it when you start complaining about your own problems!

Of course, her solution is to raise the minimum wage, putting more people out of work...I mean helping them, right?

Remember that 30% tax figure before?
Think how prices would look without those taxes, and without the taxes on businesses which screw around with prices even more than inflation does?

____________________________

As for me, I don't see how people are expected to afford things.
Most apartments in Charlotte, NC costing $500+ per month. At least, the ones advertised in the free apartment magazines, and the local daily and an independent weekly. More typical is $600.

Even assuming minimal utility use ($100), that's still $600. Add in $300 for food, and $1000 for car payment, car insurance, gas, and savings for repairs. That's $1900 for one person.

Of course, saving is somewhat easy.
Getting three or four roommates to rent a three or four bedroom house for ~$1000 a month, sharing the costs and working to minmize utlities, that could save two hundred dollars or so.
And those exist in my area.

 

[Dark Jezter]

How do people afford to live?

They spend less than they make.

Yes, the concept really is that simple. However, there are a lot of people out there who simply can't abide by it; they just have to have that new car, or motor boat, or home theater system, etc. So they get those things, and then spend years trying to pull themselves out of debt. I've seen it happen time and time again with friends and realatives. I'm thankful that I have parents who taught me the importance of financial responsibility before I even started going to high school.

 

[Old One]

Even though I'm a guy, I hope to be a stay at home parent within a couple years. The one thing I want to point out in your analysis is that you seem to assume that a 1-income family with kids only needs one car? Not likely, these days.

A -

Again, all about expectations. "Back in the old days", many families lived near neighborhood schools (within walking distance) and parents weren't expected to be the family shuttle service to the myriad of activities that many kids are involved in today. If kids needed to get somewhere, they walked, rode their bikes or carpooled.

Modern suburbia (among other things) have changed this. The neighborhood school no longer exists in many communities and forced busing programs have crippled it in others. Families are reluctant (rightfully so) to let younger children walk or bike places because of the small legion of frequent-flier pedophiles that plague many communites and we pretty much have to get into our car to go places.

Surviving on a single auto is doable, if you have access to good local services and/or decent public transportation - but the expectation in many American household's today is a car per driver.

~ OO

 

[Arnwyn]

Of course, her solution is to raise the minimum wage, putting more people out of work...I mean helping them, right?

Actually, economically speaking, neither situation is valuable.

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

Surviving on a single auto is doable, if you have access to good local services and/or decent public transportation - but the expectation in many American household's today is a car per driver.~ OO

That's our situation. I can't drive for medical reasons. My wife does all the driving, all the time.

 

[Storminator]

For a little perspective:

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

PS

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

... Id live just fine with a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in a nice neighborhood and that certainly wouldnt cost 200k.

Choke*LOL* Sputter...

Gah!

NO 3/2 within 90 miles of my town under $500K ...