Average Median Income?

[2fnloud]

But now I'm finding I'm just modding the car AND the truck AND the wife's Audi.

So you are modding three vehicles?

[DrkZide]

Pretty much. The truck is getting winter ready, the Audi is getting some "pep" added to it by request of the wife and the 3000.....well no further explanation necessary. It's also the one receiving the more extensive treatment. Here's the thing though, I can mod both the Audi AND the truck for a fraction of the 3000. I just ordered a new set of "shocks" for the truck since it bounces more than your neighborhood gangbanger's lowrider and all it cost me was $100. Wife's new down pipe for her A4 cost her $125.

[IPD]

don't always think that renting is "throwing money away". when you buy a good size home, the annual taxes may equal what you're paying for rent. people don't always consider this, since you're throwing away just as much.

best reason ever to own a modest home. at 1200 sq ft (plus a 2 car garage) my house has annual property taxes of <$1200. that's less than $100 a month. while i won't be here long enough to have this particular house paid off, that's pretty much what i will end up owning eventually. i don't base it off of what i could be paying for an apartment; i base it off what i would be paying in lot-rent if i owned my own single-wide mobile-home (which is usually about the lowest you can scrape by on).

once my cadet loan & my mortgage are gone, my monthly NET income increases by around $1100-1200. and that's without any promotion or annual COLA. that's practically another full-time job.

that's what i'm really after. equity won't help me now--so it's not an incentive. it's the lack of recurring monthly expenses which i'm shooting for. owning a small, adequate home is the quickest & best way to achieving that goal.

[CoreyB]

Your modest home in my location would be 4-5k a year in taxes.

[HilbillyHomeboy]

I was gonna say, best reason ever to live in a place that doesn't have stupid high property taxes. I'm sitting on 3,400 square feet and my annual taxes are less than $500.

You can have the big city...I wanna be a hillbilly.

Jeremy

[CoreyB]

We dont have state income taxes or sales tax. So they make up for it with property taxes. That and we have a nice area. Not city at all.

[DaveSlow]

We dont have state income taxes or sales tax. So they make up for it with property taxes. That and we have a nice area. Not city at all.

We have both here in Chicago. Highest sales tax in the country I believe and our property tax is still out the roof. Yet our state and city is dead broke.

[IPD]

Your modest home in my location would be 4-5k a year in taxes.

sounds like a great reason to GTFO of there. just like cali.

[UTRacerX9]

I was gonna say, best reason ever to live in a place that doesn't have stupid high property taxes. I'm sitting on 3,400 square feet and my annual taxes are less than $500.

You can have the big city...I wanna be a hillbilly.

Jeremy

We'll always see you as one, don't worry. As for me, it's definitely about location and timing. Last year I was laid off. With a severance package and unemployment though, I actually made almost as much as I would have working the whole year. I was living in FL and about to buy a 1900 sq ft house in a short sale deal. I backed out once I lost my job though, I didn't want that mortgage of $1800 or so a month hanging over me.

Fast forward a year though, and I've moved back to TX, bought a house that's twice the size of the one I would have bought in FL, and with my new job paying the mortgage and bills, I don't have any recurring payments like car payments, child support, child care, etc, and that I think is the key. Have the least amount of bills possible before throwing money at a car.

I have to spend money buying stuff for this house, but once that is done I can finally start putting money towards my car again if I want to. I just dropped 3k on a friggin sectional sofa... That could have been 19T's or even a TD05 upgrade. Ugh, the things we do for women.

[IPD]

$2100 on a sectional microfiber berkline. but it's pure win, so i'm happy with it.