Do you own your home?
OK, I'm a renter.
When I tell people that, they say, "oh, ok" like they are sad for me.
And believe me, I want to own my own property. But then I say.
Do you own your house? And they say "yes".
And I say, "nice, so you don't even have a mortgage payment?"
Now every once in a while, you find someone who says, "nope".
But 90% of the time, they are paying the bank. And the fancy truck they drive is bought from their second mortgage. And the addition on the house is financed. And the boat, and the big screen TV. They had to get the 52 inch.
Now our landlords want to sell us the house at a "discount" rate.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the place to live, but my landlords
just bought a million dollar catamaran, and are sailing around the Carribean.
They just visited us on a trip to town. I asked if they would consider the $40,000 rent we have already paid as a down payment. They just looked at me like I was crazy. Why? Because they need the money. Yes, they financed their boat, and their new property, even though they just sold their other house for $1 million
Then I told them this was a terrible time to buy, and I wasn't interested.
Truth is, I will never borrow to build. I will save till I can buy a piece of land, and I will build my house from all the lumber that gets thrown away on these giant construction sites around here.
Now, after 2 yrs of living here, we may be looking for a new home.
At least I don't have to pay property tax.
"At least I don't have to pay property tax."
Who do you think is 'paying' the property tax? You are. It's a part of your rent. When property taxes go up, the rent goes up accordingly.
supposedly texas is the only
supposedly texas is the only state in the union that allows you to own your home and land you live on ...
in every other state you basically rent the land yearly from the government .. it's called property tax
Own your own home?
No such thing. Just don't pay your property tax to your State or County for a couple of years, and see who ends up with possession of "your" home. I'm about of opinion, that with higher property taxes, higher maintenance costs, upkeep, etc. it might be better to rent a nice place and keep the financial exposure to minimum. Our county raises property taxes without a vote, and your county probably can, and does, too. If you complain, you're treated like a "terrorist", and it won't be long before Homeland Security will be summoned to deal with you CT's (complaining terrorists).
alan laney
Guilty until proven innocent...
15 years ago I bought a small house on an island on the FL coastline. There are no services provided by the county, but we still must pay the same amount of taxes as those who do get services. I lived below my means until I got it completely paid for and have no mortgage on it.
Two year ago, however, the local tax appraisor more than TRIPLED the value of the house in one year, so of course our tax rate went way up.
Then recently the principal of our school called my wife up and said he read in the local paper that we were going to be prosecuted for filing dual homestead exemption. I later received the bill from the tax appraisal office. They had no record of us filing for the exemption when we bought the house, aside from a computer screen that said we had filed. Nothing written
They sent us a bill for back taxes for 6 years, PLUS a fine of 50% of the amount owed, PLUS interest on that amount. This totaled about $15,000 to be payed immediately.
I refused to pay, they have a lien on the house, and that's where I stand now. The attorney I hired said just pay it, but that just ain't gonna happen.
Bottom line, as has been mentioned, even with no mortgage WE DO NOT OWN "OUR PROPERTY", and you're guilty until you can prove yourself innocent in cases like this.
Wonder why people hate the government?
--------
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
-Steppenwolf 1969
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
Incredible!
Thanks for sharing your story.
do you own your home?
anyone who has a taxpayer id # and purchases a property/home in the conventional way does NOT own their home/property.
whether or not you have a mortgage or not does not matter either.
your property is actually owned by the state.
if you have a mortgage it's even worse.
then your property and/or home is also owned by the bank.
either way you can lose your property/home to the state or the bank or both.
it is basically the feudal system of landlord and tenant.
the debtor is ALWAYS beholden to the lender.
allodial title gives you true ownership. free and clear of any encumbrances such as mortgages, taxes and liens etc.
you are not beholden to the state or the bank.
by the same token you are not eligible for services that would normally be provided. for example if your home caught on fire you could not call the
fire department to help put it out.
a couple states in the usa allow a common law setup so that you can do that i think. i'm not sure. i would need to research that.
Ron Paul is My President
be careful of life's traps
I was young and wholly idealistic, too. Then came the children, and eventually the need to educate them. I fell into the "they won't be properly socialized" trap, and decided maybe I was not really fit to teach them myself. Once you decide to put your kid in a public shool, then you have to be very picky about where you live, so I eventually got talked into the mortgage for the right house in the right neighborhood, and then it is the sports and the field trips, and pretty soon you meet the Jones' and you want to hang out with them, they are fun. Then you start trying to keep up with them...
I am midlife now, and you are right, the bank owns my homes, both of them. I am a slumlord, too. For what it is worth, my tenant skipped rent last month and did not get evicted for it. He is a disabled Vet who hit hard times. Hard to believe, with the economy so robust, huh? At any rate, I am making the best of it, at least I can grow a garden and such. I find myself having thoughts like this though: "Which house will I let get foreclosed on first?" They are not fun thoughts.
Truth exists, and it deserves to be cherished.
That's all I want
is to grow my own food, and build my own vision of a comfortable home.
Not much to ask, until the banker and government get involved.
We can't even trap rainwater on our roof.
You've got the right idea
about buying land and building. We had one of those heavy mortgages, and it was a 12 year money pit/nightmare during the last recession and didn't end until the housing market went up and we were able to sell it. We bought land, on time, unfortunately, with only 5 more months to go. We built while living in it, with much thrown away stuff, still not finished, but the only way we could own. Our taxes are only 650 a year, and we will probably be building for a long time, but no mortgage is a good thing. Living in an unfinished house while a sacrifice of some sorts beats an oppressive mortgage. Builders are the first to know of a recession. My husband is a builder, brick/stone layer, and since all houses need electricians, carpenters, plumbers, but NOT masons, we always know first that we are in a recession. That's why we did this, because there are months, years without paychecks. Can't rely on rent or mortgage payments. By the way, yes, we are in a recession, contrary to what Bush says.
I'm at the point of being able
to buy a small piece of sagebrush, but my girlfriend doesn't want to uproot our two girls.
I understand, but I want to go completely off the grid, and sorta live off the land. It would be a big leap I admit, but worth it in the long run.
But, I probably will wait, hoping land prices will come down around here.
In the meantime, yes, things are bad in the construction area, even in a resort town like this. Restauraunt is down around 25%
Don't let the numbers fool you. Things are much worse.
Hello, yes we are off the grid too
We eat only our chickens, and game for meat, and grow a bunch of veggies, but not all of course. Yeah, women are sometimes slower about wanting to do this. I am a woman, and I love it, but where we are, many men bought 40 acres lots, and their wives left them when they talked about moving here. Sad, the thing they are afraid of leaving won't be there anymore soon.Yes, construction is very bad, and will soon spread to other areas I am afraid.
Plusses and Minuses ..
As a plus you get to write off the interest on the mortgage ...
As a minus you get held hostage by the local communities annual property tax assesment ..
As a plus you can do what you want to when you want to ..
As a minus you can't just leave :)
Overall though ... renting is a lose lose ..
If you realy crave the freedom, camp out ... other than that advantage why be some landlords cash cow? Doesnt the name LAND "lord" irritate you?
As for your property tax angle ... You do pay the tax, dont you think the landlords just pass through any increase onto your rent?
People someday will understand
they will never be lord of the land.
We are simply keepers of the land.
Land "lord" doesn't irritate me, it saddens me.
I'm still waiting for that land "lord" that says
"you've paid me enough, it's yours"
Even though I rent, I'm still the keeper
of this property.
And I did say, at least I don't "have" to pay taxes.
renting
renting is a no win proposition..Buying a home is the smart way to go....You can stay in it or rent it as an income property..All that is required is that you do it like anything else.....CAREFULLY AND WISELY
Not neccesarily
The home I own, 4/5 of my monthly payments go to
Property Tax
Home Insurance
Mortage Insurance
Upkeep
I could rent a place just down the road for 4/5 the cost of my mortgage, put the other 1/5 into a decent investment and in the long run come out ahead.
It depends upon the local market if renting is a good investment, it isn't always.
You missed the whole point of the thread.
The point is greed. How much is enough? When you take more than you need, you take away from someone else, because there is a finite amount of resource.
When you raise your kids, you teach them to share, right. But as adults get egos, they need to prove to others how successful they are by how much they own. They stop sharing.
And when they share, it's to brag about how much more they have to share, IMO.
If people would stop hoarding, and start sharing, we would all be richers, because we would all be happier.
Think about it, no wars, no oppressed people drowning out their sorrows on alcohol and drugs.
The alternative exercise would be to go spend a day in the greenhouses or building a home for your neighbor.
Until we give it all away, it will never become ours. God still owns it all.
okay, we own our own house,
okay, we own our own house, and we own 5 others. It took us years and our retirement to build up our rental properties. We are very good landlords. Not slum lords. We have gone behind in our own finances when the tenants felt that the cable and internet bill were more important to pay than the rent. and we don't gouge, the rent barely covers the mortgage, taxes and upkeep. I don't know what renters think we do with the rent. We drive used vehicles, over 3 years old, not expensive ones. and our personal residence is only worth 150 grand. We have blessed many of our tenants by forgiving some of their debt on rent being months behind, and then how am i rewarded? Their kids and animals have destroyed my places, and I have never chased them into court. We have worked hard to buy and keep our properties; that doesn't make us greedy, just good old fashioned Americans who believe in the good Doctor's platform of free enterprise. We work as hard sometimes harder than our renters do. We not only have rentals we have regular hard day jobs. Our kids have seen it first hand that we are good to our tenants and they(our kids) have gone without because we had to come up with the mortgage money to cover costs. It will be easier when they are all paid off. But please do not think evilly of landlords. There are some truly kind ones out there, who give the best for not and arm and a leg.
________________________________
the lesser of two evils is still evil
And Dr Paul also
speaks about freedom of speech, and I feel the right to exercise mine.
nice
nice concept but sharing doesn't pay the bills and put your kids through college...and god owns nothing in my life..I'm not a god person
Well, that is your
choice.
Until God decides otherwise.
I will add
your are in charge of your life. You can choose to take your life in your own hands (end it) or you can wait until God decides to take your life.
Does this make sense. God does exist, I have seen and experience many
things in my life. Not trying to preach, just trying to get people to see the effect of their actions.
preach
Preach elsewhere..god is the biggest hoax ever played on mankind..
I'll preach where ever I want.
Thanks.
You
You shouldn't push mythology on people and false hopes....although I will say religion can be a great crutch in peoples lives.....my mother in law was one of them jesus freaks
Please,
review my story about the homeless guy.
http://www.steamboatstuff.com/Bill__the_homeless_man.html
Whatever you may believe, that event affected my life.
So here I am. Not here to anger you, as I don't even know you.
Its Cultural ..
We are bred to consume.
Until you change the entire culture of consumption, greed will prevail. Its a natural consequence.
What culture
What culture are you referring to? American culture? American bashing is very trendy but are you blaming us for inventing or even perfecting greed? You infer the world was greedless before the USA and it is our culture of consumption that causes it.You think Gilgamesh was tip toeing through the tulips back in Mesopatamia? Name the greedless civilization, not little pockets like the Kalahari Bush-men, but large societies without greed. It's the greed (lust,avarice, pride, etc.) that gives rise to the culture of consumption not the other way around.
Not forever.
Not forever.
Even if you pay cash
for a home right out, you still never own it.
You tell me what happens if you miss a tax payment - That's right - tax sale.
Also, you are actually paying your landlord property tax - it's included in your rent, even though it's not presented as such.
There is no home ownership in communist USA - the taxing authority owns it all.
How do you solve that problem?
It would have to be voluntary.
All debt would have to be forgiven.
Everyone who has a place that place become their own. Then, they can trade if they want.
People with excess land could help those with nothing by giving them a piece of land, and the community could help clear and build.
Also, those with the means, could help build large greenhouses, so that we could have local produce and keep our food out of the toxic air. Also year round growing. Why don't we have more greenhouses?
But it would all have to start with the banks. Good luck. I've been trying. They won't listen. Their still sucking up the last little bits left in the economy. When that's gone, then what?