patrick.net

@Misstrial

Can I comprehend the effort? Buddy, I’ve lived the effort. I applaud her wanting to improve herself, but I doubt that taking on huge amounts of debt and working three jobs is the way to do it - especially if that’s the only way she’ll be able to continue paying for the place for 30 years. The capitalistic spirit on my dime concept is hard to swallow at this point - because I don’t think that setting someone up to fail by loaning them a couple of hundred thousand dollars is the way to untold wealth.

Yes, ***APPLAUSE***
It is not the smart and responsible way to do it. I took out school loans with Sallie Mae to start my career and have since paid them back. Then once my payscale increased to 60K I took out FHA loans to buy a 175K house at $1200/mo with my wife, who at the time made 45K as a postal worker. People need to get "somewhat" settled in their careers before investing into property and/or there needs to be a giant cushion between the rents and mortgage.

If she works three jobs, she should work them a couple of years, save a 20% downpayment toward a home, and see if she can continue at that pace for 30 years before she takes our money. People should buy homes that they can afford.

****MORE APPLAUSE*******

I agree, homeownership should be a 5-10 year process that is started in our late 20's and early 30's. There is an ideal path for the American public should taken to build up their lives in a responsible way. 1. Education (Trade School, College, Apprenticeship) 2. Life Skills, Wisdom 3. Marriage, Family, and Homeownership. We simply cannot have 20 years going out, buying, then dumping the loan when it does not work out.

I know from experience poor people are very impatient, looking to blame others for their plight. In this instance, I think the girl's father is not showing his daughter how to be patient and take the right paths.

A college degree worked for me because I had a chosen field of work that requires a diploma and a license. By the way, I’d like to send a shout-out to ya’ll that contributed to my education, for without it I would have been a welfare recipient. College isn’t for everyone, and there are a helluva lot of college grads looking for work as we speak. But 4x’s comment about “mopping the floors at McDonald’s” negates the possibility that the floor mopper will someday become Manager. Ya gotta start somewhere.

*** No Applause...YOU LIE!!!! *****

I think we are saying the same thing here.....but just for the fun of it: YOU LIE!!!

Yes, lower wage paying jobs should be used as stepping stones, but it is flat out IRRESPONSIBLE if a person plans to stay in the lower economic situation, then buy a home and start a family on $6.50/hour. The floor mopper should do as you say, work their way into a manager position and/or find another career choice. While I was in college I was a security guard and I also used a Sallie Mae loan to pursue a career in Architecture, but once I found out Architects starting pay was 20K per year I quickly changed to IT at which point within a few years I was making 60K per year. I had a choice to stay impoverished or to seek another option for my career choices. I also, used a FHA loan later that year to buy my first home for 175K, which I could more than afford the mortgage. Plus, if I were ever laid off, I could find a job within 3 mos without going on welfare or filing unemployment to support myself. It is all about being responsible, a McDonalds employee should not buy but a Mcdonalds Manager should if they can afford it. Jobs flipping burgers at McDonalds should be used by college students to aid them in getting to the next level and not as career choices. What if I would have simply foregone my college experience and tried to buy a house on a security job wage like this girl?...I would still be poor.

Once I left college it took me 10 years to build up my lifeskills and wisdom, I think she is simply making some poor choices as a young adult that have the potential to affect everyone. My mistakes were that I sold my house for 50K profit at a time where if I had held on to it 2 more years I could have sold for a 300K profit. Ouch!

Again - I applaud the spirit of the person who is trying to get rich by buying a house for $155k and a 2nd of $28k; she now believes that she has an asset of $255k while she’s paying 54% of her income (article doesn’t specify gross or net) toward her house payment. But 2005 is calling, it wants its optimism back.

*****ROARING LOUD APPLAUSE*********

Right, next year at this time this house wont be worth 100K. What will she do then with her 3 jobs and investment opportunity? Will she start her family in a responsible manner that wont result in you and I paying for it?

you will find lower income neighborhoods like these but in East Pasadena (Hastings Ranch, Sierra Madre) you wont find one gang member. Los Feliz is not an area you or I would want to raise our kids. It is surrounded by gangs, thugs and pushers. The city of Los Angeles is a giant ghetto….good luck to everyone who visits.

I would at least anticipate a shift in the status quo, regardless of zip code. It is normal too see a rise in crime rates, but especially violent and organized/gangland crime, particularly when the economy is on the skids to the degree that it is now -- at least at street level.

@ 4x

She fixed up the house already. Spent money doing it. Whoever was there before hadn't, so this is already an upgrade.

If she chooses not to further her education and pursue a life with lower paying jobs, higher working hours and decided to purchase a house early in life, what is wrong with that? If she can maintain the loans, housing, and jobs, she is fine.

She has at least 2 loans on the house now. One for the house itself, and one for the upgrades. If she defaults, she'll lose her down payment, and the 2nd recourse loan could come after her. She'll have decent incentives to keep up the work. If she's competitive, like it appears to be from the video, she'll find a way to keep winning.

There are lots of people who CAN afford to keep their homes up to a normal decency level and who don't. Money helps, but doesn't dictate that they will be. Gardening is free. Paint is pretty cheap. She can do the things herself. Probably a good hobby for her as well, since she won't have that much money for spending on external entertainment!

When there are rules and economic incentives, people will find ways of abusing them. Telling people they can't buy until they've been to college, or this has to happen first, will invariable lead to problems within a few years. People will always find a way.

@Pkennedy

I am not saying we need rules, but stating there is a less riskier way to go about a home purchase. From the start she has not been operating under ideal conditions, especially with her father direction. God bless her if she can maintain this home, I am rooting for her.

Can you at a minimum agree that she has bought more house than she can afford?