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where I come from
Sep. 10th, 2007 09:37 pmI've been having little email to-and-fro with my father - I sent him the realtor listing for the house two blocks down from where he grew up, and he pointed out (as I had already discovered) that it isn't in the Mariemont district, but in the city proper, and the local elementary is rated "emergency" by the state.
So he rambled on about school and real estate matters, and then dropped this:
"Our house is probably worth a little more than twice what we bought it for in 1993. We would not be
able to afford to buy it now, even were I still working."
Now, Zillow.com is placing his house at $282K right now. Which I think is overpriced - it is 2400 square feet, but poorly laid out and thoroughly lacking in charm. It gets a bump due to size and the school district.
But, people, my father is a 61 year old (retired) doctor! He was a family practice doctor, so a fairly low-paying specialty - median income for family practice doctors in 2002 was 'only' $150K a year. I would imagine that by the time he retired in 2004 he was making rather more than that, since he had many many years of experience. If your annual income is $200K a year - or even if it's only $150! - you can generally afford to buy a $280K house if you want to. I mean, right? A conservative mortgage is 3 times annual income, right?
To sum up: my father = totally out of touch with reality, financially-speaking (other ways also, but we don't have time for them tonight). It is probably not worth the effort of pointing this out to him. But if I am guilty of being cheap, at least I come by it honestly.
So he rambled on about school and real estate matters, and then dropped this:
"Our house is probably worth a little more than twice what we bought it for in 1993. We would not be
able to afford to buy it now, even were I still working."
Now, Zillow.com is placing his house at $282K right now. Which I think is overpriced - it is 2400 square feet, but poorly laid out and thoroughly lacking in charm. It gets a bump due to size and the school district.
But, people, my father is a 61 year old (retired) doctor! He was a family practice doctor, so a fairly low-paying specialty - median income for family practice doctors in 2002 was 'only' $150K a year. I would imagine that by the time he retired in 2004 he was making rather more than that, since he had many many years of experience. If your annual income is $200K a year - or even if it's only $150! - you can generally afford to buy a $280K house if you want to. I mean, right? A conservative mortgage is 3 times annual income, right?
To sum up: my father = totally out of touch with reality, financially-speaking (other ways also, but we don't have time for them tonight). It is probably not worth the effort of pointing this out to him. But if I am guilty of being cheap, at least I come by it honestly.
