Escrow should close today on our new home. Wahoo! It’s been quite a ride, selling in California and buying in Connecticut.
Watching real estate prices, and all the crazed mortgages people are using, well, I’ve never followed the beaten path and in this case, am certainly glad Sue and I didn’t. We put 70% down and have a 15 year fixed rate baby mortgage. Fall mountains, just don’t fall on me.
What will happen to those with variable rate balloon mortgages? Many of them will suffer real pain, that’s what. We got lucky, the bizarrely high real estate prices in LA allowed us to cash out and move here. With the Internet, both Sue and I can continue what we do, and we both brought clients with us.
So, we have affordable housing, secure careers (or about as secure as any career can be now) yet too many, friends included, live in apartments with high rents, have maxxed out credit cards, and live precariously from paycheck to paycheck.
Affordable housing should be a right, not a luxury. In a saner, more equitable economic system, it would be. That’s what we need to be working towards.