Justice Kennedy Retiring

PJPOWER said:

PJ_Soul said:

oftenreading said:

tbergs said:

PJ_Soul said:

tbergs said:

oftenreading said:

tbergs said:

pjhawks said:

tbergs said:

I read that the other day. It was all on Washington Nationals season tickets. He paid it all off, but it was strange and seemed really dumb of him. Sounds like an addiction issue if you can pile up that much debt buying season and playoff tickets. He does have the lowest assets of any justice. Way less than Gorsuch had coming in.

yes lots of Nats tickets.   They have a $1.2 million dollar home and combined they made around $300,000 a year. seems like they are living close to the edge.  

Hey though, what could go wrong with a financially unstable judge prone to debt. I'm sure he can't be bought.

Yeah, the home value really threw me off when I saw the income amounts. Didn't make sense. Also read some of the debt was related to home improvement costs.

What about the home value vs income throws you off?

Maybe it shouldn't have. I guess a home that costs 4x your annual income is pretty normal these days. Just not how I'd ever want to be financially strained. I guess they could have put down a large down payment so probably just poor speculation on my part.

? A $1.2 million home is the average price of a home, including condos, where I live, and almost nobody has a household income anywhere remotely near $300,000. I see nothing at all odd about that salary/income factoid. Actually, I'm surprised they have a home that ONLY cost $1.2M.

Wow. I guess I'm a little behind the times then. Where I live, 1.2 million is a mansion or 100's of acres of land with a modest home and out buildings. I didn't like paying 200k for our house because of the payments. My wife and I often wonder how everyone affords the 500k plus houses, but then again only I work full time and for the state at that.

Oh, god, I would love to have a housing option of only $500,000. And $200,000 seems like some quaint little historical fact. 

Right?!? Even when that "history" hails from maybe 2001, lol. Hell, owning property of any kind is completely out of the question for me and many, many others. I don't even consider it a possibility. My thoughts are focused solely on the rental market, which is also totally insane, but at least I don't need to save $150,000+ just for a down payment on a condo, because there isn't a chance in hell that I'd ever be able to achieve such a feat!

Holy crap, I knew costs of living were a little higher up there, but those prices are crazy!  My 2000 square foot house with a good portion of land in a good neighborhood cost me less than $200,000 here in northern TX.   No wonder this city has been growing like crazy lately!
For reference:

PJ_Soul said:

oftenreading said:

Nothing would get me to move to Texas, even if my house was free. I love where I live. Unfortunately, so do a lot of other people . 

Ditto! And if I ever do move, it will be north, not south. I'm thinking maybe climate change could drive me north someday, like when I retire.

PJPOWER said:

oftenreading said:

Nothing would get me to move to Texas, even if my house was free. I love where I live. Unfortunately, so do a lot of other people . 

Meh, it’s not all bad around here.  What I enjoy is the ability to make good money, invest extra in retirement, buy a good house, make donations, and still afford to go on vacations whenever I please...all without going into debt . Haven’t had a vehicle or credit card payment in 15 years or so.  I couldn’t imagine my whole paycheck going towards my mortgage...

PJPOWER said:

PJ_Soul said:

PJPOWER said:

oftenreading said:

Nothing would get me to move to Texas, even if my house was free. I love where I live. Unfortunately, so do a lot of other people . 

Meh, it’s not all bad around here.  What I enjoy is the ability to make good money, invest extra in retirement, buy a good house, make donations, and still afford to go on vacations whenever I please...all without going into debt . Haven’t had a vehicle or credit card payment in 15 years or so.  I couldn’t imagine my whole paycheck going towards my mortgage...

I just wouldn't be caught dead living in that climate. You couldn't pay me to live there (not that anyone's offering, lol). It's just too fucking hot! I can't imagine my whole paycheck going towards my mortgage either, and that's why I don't own and probably never will!

I agree that it is way too fucking hot here sometimes, especially this past week (over 100 F every day).  Thank goodness we are getting a break this week (80s with rain chances ). My garden was hating the heat last week.  My main argument against renting is that you are flushing your money down the drain. At least when you are buying a house you build up equity.  Once you have enough equity, buying in the future is a LOT easier, not to mention the investment  if you decided to rent the place out in the future.  I don’t know what I would do if average house prices were in the range of $500,000, though...probably live in a tent, lol

RoleModelsinBlood31 said:

PJ_Soul said:

PJPOWER said:

PJ_Soul said:

PJPOWER said:

oftenreading said:

Nothing would get me to move to Texas, even if my house was free. I love where I live. Unfortunately, so do a lot of other people . 

Meh, it’s not all bad around here.  What I enjoy is the ability to make good money, invest extra in retirement, buy a good house, make donations, and still afford to go on vacations whenever I please...all without going into debt . Haven’t had a vehicle or credit card payment in 15 years or so.  I couldn’t imagine my whole paycheck going towards my mortgage...

I just wouldn't be caught dead living in that climate. You couldn't pay me to live there (not that anyone's offering, lol). It's just too fucking hot! I can't imagine my whole paycheck going towards my mortgage either, and that's why I don't own and probably never will!

I agree that it is way too fucking hot here sometimes, especially this past week (over 100 F every day).  Thank goodness we are getting a break this week (80s with rain chances ). My garden was hating the heat last week.  My main argument against renting is that you are flushing your money down the drain. At least when you are buying a house you build up equity.  Once you have enough equity, buying in the future is a LOT easier, not to mention the investment  if you decided to rent the place out in the future.  I don’t know what I would do if average house prices were in the range of $500,000, though...probably live in a tent, lol

That is very much up for debate. In a housing market like the one I'm living with, many experts argue that it is the smart economic move to NOT own. After all the interest on the mortgage, the property taxes, and all the money you pour into a home over the years, and still taking into account the speculation factor of ownership, it turns out that in many, many cases that it was actually fiscally preferable in the long term to rent. That becomes even more true if you bring into that a burst housing bubble, which is always at least a bit of a risk in a hot housing market. But yeah, in markets where homes are cheap, like you are, this isn't the case. In markets where people seem to be happily buying $1.5M detached homes when their household income is only $90K or something, it quite likely to be the case.
In any case, yeah, with average prices at $1.2M including condos, and the average individual income being only $40K or something like that, lol, the issue is rendered completely moot for most people who don't have a pretty hefty inheritance coming their way.

That’s interesting, renting vs buying.... my wife dragged me from the northeast to Texas after law school years ago.  It’s hot as shit in the summer but man it is amazing here for 8 months of the year.  I’m in a similar situation as pjpower it seems, although he/she is in Dallas and I’m in Austin,  similar markets but Austin is growing faster population wise.  I couldn’t have afforded shit where I grew up or in Cali where I lived for years, no way- but here the idea of renting would be insane.  In 5 years my little house has gone up 60% in value, the 200K I spent then if I sold now would bring in more than 310k.  It’s crazy.  But that’s pretty much the cash in our back pockets now, and we’ll sell in a few years and probably get out of tx and closer to the beach.

i rented for years and probably since I’ve never lived in a place like Vancouver (although I did live in San Fran for a while which may be close?) I just can’t see how renting would ever be a smarter decision in the long term.  Renting you just don’t have to deal with the costs of ownership, but the upside is massive for ownership. Interesting the costs you lost though, I can totally see that.  Do you own or lease your car, just curious?