The Off Topic Topic

[Neil]

I'm pretty much resigned to never owning a home unless I'm the last heir standing when my parents die.

Here's a secret.

If you have to take out a loan to buy something, you don't really own it. I mean, sure - you have the title and the deed and so on. But it isn't *really* yours - not in the sense of "I give you this currency/item/whatever and you give me this thing, and we take our respective stuff away and neither of us holds claim to the other person's stuff anymore". And not only is it not really yours, you owe far more on it than your offer would indicate, thanks to the magic of interest.

Keep renting and squirrel away money until you can buy something with cash. Tell the vipers at the bank to fuck themselves. That's my angry, bitter advice for the evening.

SFG has clients who do this, typically Latinos who work their asses off and save, over a number of years, let's say $80-100K. Then when they shop for houses, they shop for houses which are...wait for it...$80-100K. If a Latino landscaper knows mortgage interest is a sucker's game, surely we all can learn such a valuable lesson.

I love my house. I really do. But if I had it to do over again I'd never have bought it. The mortgage has caused me so much stress over the last year thanks to a number of things that it's been more headache than heartwarming. And home repairs are fun, too, but you know what else they are? Fucking expensive. I prefer to get paid to do them than to have to pay to do them.

It's going to take him a long time to save up the $350k that you need to buy a house.

[Eddie Teach]

You don't need $350k to buy a house if you're willing to spend an hour in the car every day.

[Jacob]

You don't need $350k to buy a house if you're willing to spend an hour in the car every day.

Depends where you live.

In these parts if you expect to pay $350K for a house you better be ready for a long commute (or not have to go to work).

[Eddie Teach]

Yeah, that's probably true here as well. However, in Atlanta metro(and presumably Edmonton which likewise has lots of room to expand) one could find a nice big house for half that.

[derspiess]

It's been fun watching this develop since yesterday.  My Argie in-laws/friends are all praising Mujica.  I'm no fan of his, but credit where it's due

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22044970

Argentina protests after Kirchner is called 'an old hag'

Argentina has made an official protest after the Uruguayan president was caught on microphone apparently referring to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as an "old hag".

President Jose Mujica was overheard saying: "This old hag is even worse than the one-eyed man."

A Uruguayan newspaper has posted audio of his comments on its website.

It has claimed that he was referring to Ms Fernandez and her late husband, who she succeeded as president.  Ms Fernandez's husband, Nestor Kirchner, had a lazy eye. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 2010.

President Mujica has denied that he had been talking about the Kirchners, but has so far failed to explain who else he was referring to.

Frequent clashes

He made the comments at the start of a news conference while speaking quietly with another official.
El Observador newspaper posted the audio on its website, claiming that the president did not realise that the microphones were on.  The newspaper said that its website has crashed because of historically high levels of traffic generated by its coverage of the incident which has also gained the attention of social media.

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman summoned the Uruguayan ambassador in Buenos Aires, Guillermo Pomi, to protest about the comments.

"It is unacceptable that derogatory comments that offend the memory... of a deceased person, who cannot defend himself, have been made, particularly by someone to whom Nestor Kirchner considered his friend," a statement issued by the foreign ministry said.

Correspondents say that President Mujica, 77, a former guerrilla leader who took office in 2010, has clashed in the past both with Ms Fernandez and Nestor Kirchner.

Relations between Uruguay and Argentina have recently been strained because of concern in Montevideo over what it sees as protectionist measures enforced by Buenos Aires.

Nestor Kirchner was Argentina's president from 2003 to 2007. His wife Cristina succeeded him and won re-election in 2011.

[MadImmortalMan]

I get the impression that Uruguay is the place all the Argies try to keep their money. How is the Uruguayan real estate market for Argentine citizens? Are they buying up stuff there?

[derspiess]

I get the impression that Uruguay is the place all the Argies try to keep their money.

To some extent.  Not as much as it used to be.  That's just my impression, though.

How is the Uruguayan real estate market for Argentine citizens? Are they buying up stuff there?

Yeah, but that seems to be slowing down as well.  Most people I know personally seem to be buying in Patagonia and Mendoza.

[Admiral Yi]

A guy who had travelled in South America (different dude than the hallucinagenic tea dude) once told me that Paraguay was the country where gay and fuckup offspring of rich people were sent so they wouldn't embarrass the family.  So Asuncion has apparently has this large trustifarian population that just does coke all day.

There's a chance he was full of shit of course.

[Neil]

Yeah, that's probably true here as well. However, in Atlanta metro(and presumably Edmonton which likewise has lots of room to expand) one could find a nice big house for half that.

Edmonton is riding an economic boom.  If a detached home is listed for under 300k, you're going to have to put a lot of work into it, even in bad neighbourhoods.  It's all the space that is keeping housing prices down.  Otherwise, it'd be a Vancouver-esque disaster here.

[MadImmortalMan]

http://www.bcsportbikes.com/forum/showthread.php/146566-Build-to-Fail-Fail-to-Build.-What-is-this-I-don-t-even.....


This thread is going viral, funny stuff.

Wow. That's hilarious. 

[fhdz]

You don't need $350k to buy a house if you're willing to spend an hour in the car every day.

Depends where you live.

In these parts if you expect to pay $350K for a house you better be ready for a long commute (or not have to go to work).

It's not like that where Ide lives.

[Sheilbh]

Keep renting and squirrel away money until you can buy something with cash. Tell the vipers at the bank to fuck themselves. That's my angry, bitter advice for the evening.

I don't know how much that necessarily how it works in London's rental market

[mongers]

Keep renting and squirrel away money until you can buy something with cash. Tell the vipers at the bank to fuck themselves. That's my angry, bitter advice for the evening.

I don't know how much that necessarily how it works in London's rental market

London is a country unto itself.

[alfred russel]

According the audio guide at the Louvre, under the Code of Hammarabi the penalty for saying your step father that he was not your real father was having your tongue cut out.

[Ideologue]

You don't need $350k to buy a house if you're willing to spend an hour in the car every day.

Depends where you live.

In these parts if you expect to pay $350K for a house you better be ready for a long commute (or not have to go to work).

It's not like that where Ide lives.

I'm still pretty dubious that a house that costs $30,000 is liveable or that I wouldn't be murdered before I'd even moved all five pieces of furniture in.