"The trucker I met Saturday in Virginia not only believed in the American Dream, he believed he had achieved it. He owned his own truck. He owned a nice house in Texas on a lake near the Louisiana border. His brother owned five trucks.
He probably drew certain conclusions from the way I dress and talk. But if he was at all curious about what I did, he didn’t show it, or didn’t want to veer off into topics where he wasn’t in control. Instead, he talked about the things any guy would want to put at the center of his life: highways, engines, hauling, dogs and food."
Hooray for the Trucker. How many folks get to do the job they actual like, let alone love? This gentlemen defined his rendition of the American Dream and is living it everyday.
Good for him.
Showing posts with label american dream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label american dream. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Somebody wake me up from this American Dream
"Although significant, the losses won't be large enough to topple the United States' $12 trillion economy, Cagan said. "This is the turning of a business cycle," he said. "There will be some pain, but most people will be fine and most lenders will be fine."
That's little consolation to homeowners like Andrew Villaruz, a 43-year-old hospital administrator who said he refinanced into an option-ARM late last year without understanding what he was getting into. His loan balance quickly grew from $364,000 to $370,000, a shift that become even more disturbing to him as he watched more foreclosure signs go up around his Sacramento neighborhood.
Coupled with other costs lumped into the loan, Villaruz figures he lost about $25,000 by the time he found another lender willing to refinance him into a more conventional mortgage. He sheepishly acknowledged he had never heard of a negative amortization loan until he had one. He knows enough now to stay away from them.
"They might be good for people who make a lot of money, but they don't pan out for the average person," he said. "They just don't make sense.""
When it was it "those stupid not credit worthy" people, there was little registration on the compassion meter. Now that a hospital administrator didn't understand what "he was getting into," he's looking for a little understanding.
Newsflash Mr. Hospital Administrator, if you don't pay your mortgage, on time, your credit will look no different then "those subprime" people.
The disturbing part of this entire debacle is the housing market was overpriced. Too many people were building bigger home when, I'm just guessing" they reallly didn't need "that much house."
But inorder to feed in their fantasy of wealth, these people overextended themselves. I had two employees purchase homes in the past two years. One whom graduated with honors from Franklin & Marshall in business. The other a possessed a high school diploma from a rural county. Both employees put NO money down but just knew it was time to buy.
In their excitement, I asked a simple question of both "Will you have money at the end of the month?" Both were surprised by the question. It never occured to them. Their friendly mortgage broker told them it was time for them to buy a house. Neither employee had prepared a simple budget.
Every 28 year old needs to buy an overpriced four bedroom home, right?
When they signed on the dotted line they could afford the ARM monthly payments as they were trying to convince me and themselves. When the call arrived, I verified their employment income.
Now these former employees and their spouses are working two jobs now just make ends meet. So when do these spend time in their dream homes?
(Oh I forgot to mention, that when our company was preparing to be purchased for the second time in three years, we had to lay people off. Neither employee anticipated losing their jobs within sixty days of buying their homes.)
Now the Feds are dumping money into the markets so RICH people won't lose their expensive shorts in this shell game.
Home depot is having a sale on tents.....
That's little consolation to homeowners like Andrew Villaruz, a 43-year-old hospital administrator who said he refinanced into an option-ARM late last year without understanding what he was getting into. His loan balance quickly grew from $364,000 to $370,000, a shift that become even more disturbing to him as he watched more foreclosure signs go up around his Sacramento neighborhood.
Coupled with other costs lumped into the loan, Villaruz figures he lost about $25,000 by the time he found another lender willing to refinance him into a more conventional mortgage. He sheepishly acknowledged he had never heard of a negative amortization loan until he had one. He knows enough now to stay away from them.
"They might be good for people who make a lot of money, but they don't pan out for the average person," he said. "They just don't make sense.""
When it was it "those stupid not credit worthy" people, there was little registration on the compassion meter. Now that a hospital administrator didn't understand what "he was getting into," he's looking for a little understanding.
Newsflash Mr. Hospital Administrator, if you don't pay your mortgage, on time, your credit will look no different then "those subprime" people.
The disturbing part of this entire debacle is the housing market was overpriced. Too many people were building bigger home when, I'm just guessing" they reallly didn't need "that much house."
But inorder to feed in their fantasy of wealth, these people overextended themselves. I had two employees purchase homes in the past two years. One whom graduated with honors from Franklin & Marshall in business. The other a possessed a high school diploma from a rural county. Both employees put NO money down but just knew it was time to buy.
In their excitement, I asked a simple question of both "Will you have money at the end of the month?" Both were surprised by the question. It never occured to them. Their friendly mortgage broker told them it was time for them to buy a house. Neither employee had prepared a simple budget.
Every 28 year old needs to buy an overpriced four bedroom home, right?
When they signed on the dotted line they could afford the ARM monthly payments as they were trying to convince me and themselves. When the call arrived, I verified their employment income.
Now these former employees and their spouses are working two jobs now just make ends meet. So when do these spend time in their dream homes?
(Oh I forgot to mention, that when our company was preparing to be purchased for the second time in three years, we had to lay people off. Neither employee anticipated losing their jobs within sixty days of buying their homes.)
Now the Feds are dumping money into the markets so RICH people won't lose their expensive shorts in this shell game.
Home depot is having a sale on tents.....
Thursday, June 21, 2007
My American Dream, not yours
An agenda item at a local Democratic Committee meeting was a issue regarding the building of condos/apt on a patch of two acres. The two acre patch is located in a residential community. The developers want to build 84 units on the two acres, a concession from 88. The units would be sold for 250-300K.
The gentlemen laid out the facts. His arguments were an increase in traffic; the backyards would no longer have the open space of that land; and increase in taxes because 10 children would be added to the community.
Then he said, the posse of homeowners, did not want those types of people, "condo/apartment dwellers," moving into their neighborhood. Worse, these units would bring down the property value of their home. More importantly, these people should have to earn their way into the neighborhood.
It gets better..
It would be ok if the developers built a handful of million dollar units. He pointed out that he lived in the city and a up in coming rural area. He EARNED the right to live in his community. Change is bad. These people who live in these communities simply don't belong in his neighborhood.
His solution was to build a park with County money. Money supplied by "other people" who have no clue where these two arces are located.
Did I mention this was a Democratic Committee meeting?
Let me be clear, putting 84 units on two acres of land is just dumb. Its too much in a small area. That is a sound enough argument to kill or modify the terms of the project. Period.
But its not ok to build a park with "other people's tax money," as long as "they" don't move into his "piece of the American Dream."
The rest of his argument of keeping "those types of people" out his neighborhood, made my brain seize up. He was stunned by how he offended, the old white land owning women in the audience.
Could let this go? Not a chance. I did not "call him out" during the meeting. The seniors managed to do well without my assistance. However, I spoke with him after the meeting. He assured me that he meant no harm.
I guess its ok to experience the American Dream of home ownership as long as you play by the rules of faceless snobs.
I challenged him, "what makes him think, that a million dollar condo owner would want to live next door to someone whose home is only worth 700K"?
The gentlemen laid out the facts. His arguments were an increase in traffic; the backyards would no longer have the open space of that land; and increase in taxes because 10 children would be added to the community.
Then he said, the posse of homeowners, did not want those types of people, "condo/apartment dwellers," moving into their neighborhood. Worse, these units would bring down the property value of their home. More importantly, these people should have to earn their way into the neighborhood.
It gets better..
It would be ok if the developers built a handful of million dollar units. He pointed out that he lived in the city and a up in coming rural area. He EARNED the right to live in his community. Change is bad. These people who live in these communities simply don't belong in his neighborhood.
His solution was to build a park with County money. Money supplied by "other people" who have no clue where these two arces are located.
Did I mention this was a Democratic Committee meeting?
Let me be clear, putting 84 units on two acres of land is just dumb. Its too much in a small area. That is a sound enough argument to kill or modify the terms of the project. Period.
But its not ok to build a park with "other people's tax money," as long as "they" don't move into his "piece of the American Dream."
The rest of his argument of keeping "those types of people" out his neighborhood, made my brain seize up. He was stunned by how he offended, the old white land owning women in the audience.
Could let this go? Not a chance. I did not "call him out" during the meeting. The seniors managed to do well without my assistance. However, I spoke with him after the meeting. He assured me that he meant no harm.
I guess its ok to experience the American Dream of home ownership as long as you play by the rules of faceless snobs.
I challenged him, "what makes him think, that a million dollar condo owner would want to live next door to someone whose home is only worth 700K"?
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