It's the RIGHT TIME TO BUY, as seen on TV
Has anybody seen the (new?) ad on TV where the young husband and wife are in the kitchen of their apartment discussing buying a house? The wife (of course) is pleading to buy a house with the usual "but now is a great time to buy" dribble, while the more-restrained husband is seated at the table, dragging his feet. Then they cut to a shot of the husband still seated at the table, except that he is 40 or so years older with white hair, apparently still waiting for the right time to buy (which is, of course, right now).
It looks locally-produced, and pretty low-budget.
At the end of the ad, they give this web address:
http://www.righttimetobuy.org/, which directs you to this website: http://www.mba-ks.com/mbaks3c.cfm?SectionGroupsID=114
Which is, [surprise] a page on the King-Snohomish Counties' Master Builder Association telling you to get off of your can and go buy a house! Here's the first paragraph, as a teaser:
Congratulations – you're thinking about buying a new home! With low interest rates, a great selection of homes on the market, and the financial benefits of home ownership, now is the right time to buy.
Would somebody like to explain what the possible financial benefits of owning a home are, at today's prices? As discussed in another thread here, I figured out that even though I bought my house in 1997 (closed in early 1998), I would be saving about $500 more per month than I am now by renting (assuming my equity was invested giving a 5% annual return), and I wouldn't have to shell out $4-5K for new flooring (and $4-7K for a new furnace, and $$$K for new windows, etc). Through this and other housing bubble sites, my eyes have been opened to the true costs of home ownership (well, actually having one has too :?
).
Can you smell the desperation? Couple this with the sudden shutoff of easy mortgage money over this past week, and Houston, we have a problem. Builders sitting on all of these $$$ crapboxes, and no more funny money to buy them with.
What are your thoughts?
[Note: No builders were harmed in the making of this thread, and any resentment to actual realtors, real or photo-fuzzed, is purely intentional.]
It looks locally-produced, and pretty low-budget.
At the end of the ad, they give this web address:
http://www.righttimetobuy.org/, which directs you to this website: http://www.mba-ks.com/mbaks3c.cfm?SectionGroupsID=114
Which is, [surprise] a page on the King-Snohomish Counties' Master Builder Association telling you to get off of your can and go buy a house! Here's the first paragraph, as a teaser:
Congratulations – you're thinking about buying a new home! With low interest rates, a great selection of homes on the market, and the financial benefits of home ownership, now is the right time to buy.
Would somebody like to explain what the possible financial benefits of owning a home are, at today's prices? As discussed in another thread here, I figured out that even though I bought my house in 1997 (closed in early 1998), I would be saving about $500 more per month than I am now by renting (assuming my equity was invested giving a 5% annual return), and I wouldn't have to shell out $4-5K for new flooring (and $4-7K for a new furnace, and $$$K for new windows, etc). Through this and other housing bubble sites, my eyes have been opened to the true costs of home ownership (well, actually having one has too :?
).Can you smell the desperation? Couple this with the sudden shutoff of easy mortgage money over this past week, and Houston, we have a problem. Builders sitting on all of these $$$ crapboxes, and no more funny money to buy them with.
What are your thoughts?
[Note: No builders were harmed in the making of this thread, and any resentment to actual realtors, real or photo-fuzzed, is purely intentional.]
Comments
I forgot to ask if somebody could set their TIVO to try to catch it. Saw it on one of the local channels (4, 5, or 7) I think about 7pm last night.
I am still in the dark ages using VCRs, and have no good way to get the video onto my computer.
Got Moosemunch!!!
After divorcing my grandmother in his 40s, my grandfather lived in a couple of 1-bedroom apartments in decent complexes in Oklahoma City. He was a mid-level manager for the Federal Aviation Administration and retired in 1992.
Needless to say, his frugality (he always drove used cars about a decade old) left him with a generous amount of money for retirement (and unfortunately, most recently, an assisted-living apartment).
Was my grandfather driven to the poorhouse by not being a homedebtor from his 40s (in the late 1960s) to today? No.
It was on KOMO TV Channel 4, at the 6:42pm commercial break during the local news.
If anybody wants to set their TIVO, I'd say target the 6-7pm and 11-11:36pm timeslots on this same channel.
Sorry I didn't manage to record it, but it doesn't seem to play very often--maybe with the continued slowing of the market they'll show it more often now.
It's still as entertaining as the first time I saw it!
Doesn't sound like your grandpa was any smarter than the very people you are making fun of. He simply never "lived" and now all the money he never spent is going into pockets of relatives as inheritence. I think he would have been happier if he actually lived a little. He's more like a role model for those idiots who drive 50 on I90 in the left lane.
That's an unkind statement and completely inaccurate. If you consider the 'goal of life' to be anything except living lavishly, then it is utterly impossible to say that someone 'never lived' just because they lived frugally. Let's assume a hedonistic goal of life...to be happy. Who are happier, USA billionaires or average citizens of the Netherlands? It's the Dutch. In America today, even those living in poverty generally have enough income to meet their needs. At that point, it is generally relationships and free time that produce the most happiness.
So I say that if Puget Sounder's grandfather had good friends, loving family, and the foresight to save for his future, then he has done as well as anyone. Probably much better than the cynics Ubersalad.
In this grandfather's case, in a very short description of course, he sounds ultra conservative, and such I do not envy.