Thus far, in my life, I have never owned my own home except when I've lived in VW vans. It's my own fault - mortgages were easy to come by several times in my life and I chose not to invest. This will sound funny, but the prices always seemed too high. In the early-1990s - a Staff Seargent in my Marine Corps unit suggested that a bunch of enlisted guys pool our money and start buying real estate. It was a good suggestion and none of us took it. In the mid to late 1990s, I was struggling to find my calling - if, while I had worked in radio, I had applied for a mortgage using my VA Loan - I could have bought a modest house in what is now the booming real estate market of Bellingham, Washington. In the early 2000s - I had the opportunity to purchase a small studio apartment in Honolulu for $100,000 - the price seemed pretty extreme to me and I passed. And then, the housing boom came and I was sure that the economy was heading over a cliff but mortgages were incredibly easy to come by - I chose not to seek a home loan. That was it for me - those were my opportunities. We all know what happened in 2007 with the economy and housing - as a result of that - the requirements for getting a home loan became much more stringent - in fact - in 2016 when I talked to several banks about getting a loan - they told me that my VA Guarantee was no longer worth much and that as a self-employed business owner that my reported income was too low to qualify for a home loan - both bankers suggested that I 'find a way' to report a higher income. Yes, I could have lied on my taxes this year. I could have taken less deductions. I could have paid more tax...but the truth is that this year with the long grey winter and the bizarre politics of 2016 - my business wasn't sufficient to do that. We needed those deductions.
Homeownerlessness
Homeownerlessness
Homeownerlessness
Thus far, in my life, I have never owned my own home except when I've lived in VW vans. It's my own fault - mortgages were easy to come by several times in my life and I chose not to invest. This will sound funny, but the prices always seemed too high. In the early-1990s - a Staff Seargent in my Marine Corps unit suggested that a bunch of enlisted guys pool our money and start buying real estate. It was a good suggestion and none of us took it. In the mid to late 1990s, I was struggling to find my calling - if, while I had worked in radio, I had applied for a mortgage using my VA Loan - I could have bought a modest house in what is now the booming real estate market of Bellingham, Washington. In the early 2000s - I had the opportunity to purchase a small studio apartment in Honolulu for $100,000 - the price seemed pretty extreme to me and I passed. And then, the housing boom came and I was sure that the economy was heading over a cliff but mortgages were incredibly easy to come by - I chose not to seek a home loan. That was it for me - those were my opportunities. We all know what happened in 2007 with the economy and housing - as a result of that - the requirements for getting a home loan became much more stringent - in fact - in 2016 when I talked to several banks about getting a loan - they told me that my VA Guarantee was no longer worth much and that as a self-employed business owner that my reported income was too low to qualify for a home loan - both bankers suggested that I 'find a way' to report a higher income. Yes, I could have lied on my taxes this year. I could have taken less deductions. I could have paid more tax...but the truth is that this year with the long grey winter and the bizarre politics of 2016 - my business wasn't sufficient to do that. We needed those deductions.