Vacation Plans, Part IV
Dec. 30th, 2005 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebToday I finally did an hour of gardening. I started with the fun stuff: planting my pansies. I may have waited too long with one of my six-packs. Maybe those flowers will perk up tomorrow.
Then I did icky gardening. I got out the saw and cut down four trees in the front yard that were within a foot of the house and/or within 2 inches of a tree I wanted. I cleared out the rose area, and cut down a few more trees in the back that are growing in with my good trees and/or within 2 inches of the fence. If you like all trees, like I used to, I noticed several trees that had already been cut down, but had more trunks growing out of the stump. So, don't worry, the trees are still winning.
I don't think I did quite a whole hour of icky gardening, maybe only 50 minutes. But it's my policy to stop when I feel a blister coming. And it was well over an hour total.
I never did find a movie that Robin's friend and I would probably like but that Robin wouldn't be interested in.
Housing affordability update: I just noticed a New York Times article with the thesis that housing has become more affordable since the early 1980s. It doesn't mention square footage and barely mentions price; this conclusion is based solely on monthly payments. Of course mortgage length is also not mentioned. I guess 30-year mortgages were already common by the 1980s, but now I've heard that even 40-year mortgages are available.
Anyway, they say that a family earning the median (United States) income would have to spend 22 percent of its pretax pay this year on mortgage payments to buy the median-priced house, compared to 30 percent in the early 1980s. They say this difference is due mainly to the decline of interest rates since that time.
Back when I bought my house, I think my payment was $610/month, and I remember I wasn't yet making $20,000 per year, which would have been $1667/month. Using those numbers, my percentage was 37%, but that's not exactly fair. I had my roommate's rent be half the payment, and then I would pay the full cost for repairs and updates. So, for the purposes of this calculation, my payment was more like half that, or 18.5%, which is very low.
Nowadays, since I already bought the house, and only the taxes and insurance are going up because I have a fixed mortgage, my percentage today is more like 25% (half of which is 12.5%). Now I feel extremely spoiled. And also like a spendthrift. Where is all my other money going?
The article does admit that its conclusions don't apply to the 25% of Americans who live in the crazy expensive places.
Entry of the day: Not exactly a journal article, but it does read like a good one, Ben Stein's "When Investing, Profit from Serenity" discusses applying lessons from 12-step programs to investing. Weird, huh? And interesting. "I Am Powerless Over the Stock Market, and If I Believe I Do Have Power, My Life Is Unmanageable" is one subtitle.
Then I did icky gardening. I got out the saw and cut down four trees in the front yard that were within a foot of the house and/or within 2 inches of a tree I wanted. I cleared out the rose area, and cut down a few more trees in the back that are growing in with my good trees and/or within 2 inches of the fence. If you like all trees, like I used to, I noticed several trees that had already been cut down, but had more trunks growing out of the stump. So, don't worry, the trees are still winning.
I don't think I did quite a whole hour of icky gardening, maybe only 50 minutes. But it's my policy to stop when I feel a blister coming. And it was well over an hour total.
I never did find a movie that Robin's friend and I would probably like but that Robin wouldn't be interested in.
Housing affordability update: I just noticed a New York Times article with the thesis that housing has become more affordable since the early 1980s. It doesn't mention square footage and barely mentions price; this conclusion is based solely on monthly payments. Of course mortgage length is also not mentioned. I guess 30-year mortgages were already common by the 1980s, but now I've heard that even 40-year mortgages are available.
Anyway, they say that a family earning the median (United States) income would have to spend 22 percent of its pretax pay this year on mortgage payments to buy the median-priced house, compared to 30 percent in the early 1980s. They say this difference is due mainly to the decline of interest rates since that time.
Back when I bought my house, I think my payment was $610/month, and I remember I wasn't yet making $20,000 per year, which would have been $1667/month. Using those numbers, my percentage was 37%, but that's not exactly fair. I had my roommate's rent be half the payment, and then I would pay the full cost for repairs and updates. So, for the purposes of this calculation, my payment was more like half that, or 18.5%, which is very low.
Nowadays, since I already bought the house, and only the taxes and insurance are going up because I have a fixed mortgage, my percentage today is more like 25% (half of which is 12.5%). Now I feel extremely spoiled. And also like a spendthrift. Where is all my other money going?
The article does admit that its conclusions don't apply to the 25% of Americans who live in the crazy expensive places.
Entry of the day: Not exactly a journal article, but it does read like a good one, Ben Stein's "When Investing, Profit from Serenity" discusses applying lessons from 12-step programs to investing. Weird, huh? And interesting. "I Am Powerless Over the Stock Market, and If I Believe I Do Have Power, My Life Is Unmanageable" is one subtitle.