Has it really been 30 yrs.?

[wjoerob]

I was thinking about when we bought our first house, married 1 yr. It cost $23,000, sat on a lot 32' wide. Remember sitting in that banker's office, looking at that document. It said it would be paid off in June of 2008! I thought "Man, that is FOREVER! 2008 will NEVER get here!"
3 houses since then, paid off 2, now live on 20 acres outside the same town in Indiana. What year is this?
"All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided, great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me."

 

[tallyho8]

I bought my first house 35 years ago for $15,000 and renovated it myself. I managed to pay it off in 5 years and bought 2 more since then. Now all my houses are paid off and my first one is worth over $150,000. I have been hard-working, frugal, and lucky. I am not sure which trait helped me the most.

 

[capt jack]

You guys (and me) have been doing it all WRONG!!!, Now if you buy a house (or anything else) that you can't pay for, it's the bankers, realtors, credit card company or governments fault. Just pick a political hack pushing their new program to have your fellow Ameicans bail you out, and vote for him/her!
Never consider cutting back on spending or getting a 2nd job, That will be for our kids and grandkids to worry about. Thats why they call them "entitlements". That did'nt change anything but I feel better. Jack

 

[2458n]

Little Pink houses were very popular back then in Indiana. How many times did that singer change his name?

 

[mddorange]

I bought my first house 47 years ago in Tucson, AZ. It was cheaper to buy than rent so went that way.

I now am on the fourth one that I have bought but lived in many others in between. This will be the LAST one.

 

[Bird]

Wife and I got married in '65, were assistant managers of a 104 unit apartment complex until we bought our first house in '68; $16,900, 3 bdrm, 1 bath, 1 car garage, window unit A/C. It was 10 years old at the time. House payment, including taxes and insurance was $106 a month. In '72, bought a new house, small 4 bdrm, 2 bath, 2 car garage, central heat & air, fireplace. In '77, bought another new house, much larger 4 bdrm, 2 bath, 2 car garage, central heat & air, fireplace.

And now, there are new houses and new apartment complexes under construction everywhere in this area. HUGE 3 and 4 story apartment complexes, and I haven't seen a single story house built in a long time; nearly all 2 story with some 3 story.

 

[oosik]

We had a new house built in 1967 in Anchorage. Sold it in 1982 and got out of the rat race making a good profit on the entire situation. Used darn near 100% of the profit earned to rebuild down here. Minimum capital gains tax - fantastic digs here. That was 37 years ago.

 

[PILOON]

My first set me back $12,500 (3 BR split level) and I sold it 3 yes later for $36K and carried the 2 mortgage then upgraded to a 2 story, 2 bath 4 br and garage that set me back $112. per month included capital, interest and taxes.
Think I paid $36 and later sold that for $105.
I now live in a on a lakefront* (3br 2 bath garage + shop) and they tax me on $335,600. but it cost me under $100K to DIY build.
LOL, I suspect it is called inflation.

In between I owned a few rentals that I have since sold. One set me back a tad over $50k rented for 12 yrs and sold it for $340k LOL, it sold within 12 hours of my posting a sign.
I know of another property for sale where I caught the agent hanging up the sign and asked him the details.
It sold B4 I could call back next day

* In my late teens I always read Popular Mechanics and U will remember the classifieds that offered 'Free Gov't Land' and 'Florida Properties'.
Well by chance a friends aunt was into real estate and we did an afternoon jaunt to see her listing in the countryside up north of Montreal.
I asked her where the road led to
Her reply was that it dead ended to where there was Gov't land.
I was 18 at the time!
That fired my interest and I ended up leasing (later purchased) the land I now live on.
LOL, lease was $25/yr and purchase option $600. after you cleared and built to a value of $2500.
That's where I live now.
No road and we boated in hauling all supplies.
I later got involved in building our road (what fun!) which is now fully municipal maintained and serviced.
I even owned a dozer (HD6) for a while, even B4 owning a tractor. (I've had a few over time, all used and often DIY projects)

Sorry, long winded but I did say 'Tractor'

And we are getting real modern, Bell is presently installing fiber as I post so I shortly will enjoy real hi speed. (presently we have a private provider that provides adequate service but often slows down to a mere crawl, especially on week ends and evenings, just too many loading Hi Res films)

 

[teg]

Has it really been 10 yrs.? ...since this thread started??? :laughing:

Only bought one house, 29 years ago for $94k... Working on paying it off for the third and final time, (major remodel in 1996).

 

[RalphVa]

Like mdd, we bought our first house 47 years ago. For $34,000. Actually had to take a 2nd loan the bank didn't know about for the down payment. Paid that off pretty fast. Mortgage for something like 20 years was $183.70/mo. Fuel oil for the year never went above $400/yr until the last 2 years (sold to company when moving to S'pore in 1990 for around $240k).

Ralph