03/13/09, 10:25 AM
|
 |
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Beautiful SW Mountains of Virginia
Posts: 9,512
|
|
|
I think some people have absolutely no clue what is going on outside of their own little corner of the world. To say $800 rent is excessive; that there is something wrong with an adult who makes min. wage; or that you're better off driving a $1,000 piece of junk, is just unrealistic. That might work where you live and work, but that isn't the case for much of the rest of the country.
It also seems like people think you just up and move to cheaper part of the country. That doesn't work for everybody. Many people have family commitments or just emotionally are tied to one place. That doesn't make them scumbags or not willing to do have a better life. If you can just up and move, good for you! Some people just aren't built that way and it doesn't make them less than you.
My opinion about what kind of car you drive depends on where you live in relation to your job. If you're living 60 miles from work, then a $1,000 car that will continue to have the miles stacked on it, which will become undependable, or costs you more than $200 a month in maintenance (or burns gas like a monster), won't be wise. If you lived just down the street from your job and you didn't need to be on the go all the time, would work just fine. Again, it isn't one-size-fits-all. It depends on many factors.
As far as min. wage goes, I have no idea where you folks live, but min. wage for just about anything is the norm. around here. The factories are gone, all there is are fast food joints, Walmart, and a handful of smaller stores. It wouldn't matter if you had a PHD, McDonalds isn't going pay you any more for flipping a burger than they do anyone else. If you're not within daily driving distance of a major city, that's pretty much the case. Also remember that pay is less in many parts of the country because there are no unions.
I have to hand it to the OP. Whoever this is she's talking about (she said it wasn't her), is able to save $400 a month on minimum wage. I say, God bless them! Most people can't do that who have much more income.
No one can answer the question on whether to buy a house or not for someone else. The buyers need to set down and realistically add up a mortgage payment, taxes, insurance, additional escrow payments, maintenance, cost of things like a lawn mower, tools, etc.
I say the first thing to do is to talk to their bank and see if they would qualify for a mortgage and get some real-time rates and figures to work with in order to determine if it is feasible. It might turn out to be the opportunity of a lifetime, considering they are practically giving away foreclosed houses now. If the total comes to less than $800 a month; you'd be far better off investing that money into a home of your own, than putting it in someone else's pocket.
__________________
"Challenges are what make life interesting -- overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."
|
