Gas Prices.... Completely Outrageous!!! How Much Are They Where You Are???

[Sarah]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Atlanta is similar. I bought my first real house for $205,000 - it sold eight years later for 1.2 million and it sold in less than an hour at an all cash offer. Granted, I had not lived there for a few years and I no longer owned it - can you say DIVORCE - - and it had been renovated for about 400K - but still, that is about a 500K gain. I shoulda stayed with the bastard

sounds like you have too much money. you should send me some.

i'm not going to buy a house until my s.o. wins the lottery. i require beach-front property.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by Sarah

sounds like you have too much money. you should send me some.

i'm not going to buy a house until my s.o. wins the lottery. i require beach-front property.

I got none of that. I bought the hosue, but only because my credit was better. I then sold it to the ex a year or so later and left a few years later. Such is life.

[sara1998]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I got none of that. I bought the hosue, but only because my credit was better. I then sold it to the ex a year or so later and left a few years later. Such is life.

Are you serious? You were married?

[Sarah]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I got none of that. I bought the hosue, but only because my credit was better. I then sold it to the ex a year or so later and left a few years later. Such is life.

And now I feel like I should buy you a beer.

[sara1998]

Originally Posted by Sarah

And now I feel like I should buy you a beer.

You get the beer, I'll find the shot.

[strandinthewind]

We were, of course, not legally married.

In the end - I made my choices and the chips fell as such. I have no regrets.

I will, though, take the booze

[Sugar]

Seems to me the really egregious thing about gas prices is how the top three oil makers (in the U.S. anyway) are reporting "record profits" quarter after quarter anymore.

And as to the conversation about costs of living around the world, I'm surprised that no one has brought up health care. I'm not going to say that it's not more expensive to live in smaller nations like the UK, but my understanding that some of those taxes are used to pay for health care (I tried to research but didn't get anywhere fast, so if I'm wrong just say so).

When you consider that some American families are paying $500 a month for their healthcare coverage, it levels the field a bit.

[strandinthewind]

^^^

I agree --

and, unless we compare post tax dollars to post tax dollars, any comparison is bogus. In other words, a person can make $100,000 a year, but take home $45,000 a year once they are taxed and necessary things like ins. payments are considered (most peoples' are taken out of their paycheck and could be pre tax dollars) -- then mtg interest is tax deductible here, but perhaps not elsewhere. Anyway, food for thought.

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

^^^

I agree --

and, unless we compare post tax dollars to post tax dollars, any comparison is bogus. In other words, a person can make $100,000 a year, but take home $45,000 a year once they are taxed and necessary things like ins. payments are considered (most peoples' are taken out of their paycheck and could be pre tax dollars) -- then mtg interest is tax deductible here, but perhaps not elsewhere. Anyway, food for thought.

I actually addressed some of that, I was talking net take home. And health care IS a huge bite out of our budget and car insurance and home insurance and so many other things...agreed.

[MacMan]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

^^^
then mtg interest is tax deductible here, but perhaps not elsewhere. Anyway, food for thought.

Mortgage interest isn't tax deductible in Canada, I know that much. Plus isn't it true in the US you can get a loan for a house and only pay the interest as your payments - and nothing towards your principle?

I saw something on the news a few months ago about housing sales and how they are falling in the US, along with forclosures and they were talking about interest rates and how people are buying these huge expensive houses they wouldn't normally be able to afford only because the way the banks are working their mortgages with interest payments only or something like that..

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by MacMan

Mortgage interest isn't tax deductible in Canada, I know that much. Plus isn't it true in the US you can get a loan for a house and only pay the interest as your payments - and nothing towards your principle?

I saw something on the news a few months ago about housing sales and how they are falling in the US, along with forclosures and they were talking about interest rates and how people are buying these huge expensive houses they wouldn't normally be able to afford only because the way the banks are working their mortgages with interest payments only or something like that..

The amount of foreclosures is up and some of the major markets are slowing. However, I read somewhere that even with the slowing of the market and the foreclosures (which could be due to a myriad of reasons - remember, the US allows one to discharge almost all their unsecured debt and still keep their house in a bankruptcy if they can still afford the payment) -- the amount of gain in the real estate market is still significant. I think much of the trouble is that people get 100% + loans and never pay them down. It takes time for property to appreciate to cover that excess even in the US market of the last ten years.