The Economy

At least it will get to play with its Lexus sister once it crosses the rainbow bridge.

 

It can show off its new battery, new fuel pump and new starter.

 

One of the reasons we're waiting until February or March is so the mortgage company can take care of those (especially the taxes) one more time. We got the money in November, so we figured it wouldn't hurt anything to wait until after New Year's to pay it off.

 

I’ll never own a home. Before the marriage went belly up, I thought we were saving for one. Now, they’ll wheel my ass out of whatever rental I’m in after the smell bothers the neighbors enough to have it investigated.

I’m not jealous of y’all. I just wish it had worked out differently.

 

They've probably already paid the taxes. They usually do by the end of November. They're also sitting on at least a two-month cushion of escrow that you'll get back. Of course, if they're taking into account your low taxes in deciding how much escrow to hold, it may not amount to much of anything.

 

*Acura

 

Don't sweat it. My daughter lives in France and in that country, renting is the majority option. She has a lovely apartment in a great neighborhood, and although she makes pretty good money, would never be able to buy it. Out in the country, there are plenty of mouldering brokedown castles you can buy -- for the price of a townhouse in Greenwich Village. So she rents, and probably always will.

 

He's referring to my other 300,000-mile ex-car, not so much the precise family of makes/models.

It's that idea of being in your 60s, retired, and still having that rent payment due . . .

My peace of mind couldn't take it. I'm not one of those, "eh, I'll figure it out" people.

 

It's just how people in France live. Since it's normal, they don't have that anxiety. It helps that their social support system is robust, especially tenant protection. You have to kill a landlord's pets, or maybe his relatives, to get evicted.

 

You see, if you shoot pool with some employee, you can come and borrow money. What does that get us? A discontented, lazy rabble instead of a thrifty working class. And all because a few starry-eyed dreamers like Peter Bailey stir them up and fill their heads with a lot of impossible ideas.

 

As recently as 12 years ago, I bought a nice house on a third of an acre with a fenced yard in Charlotte for $143,000.

For a few years after the 2008 crash, things seemed almost normal on the home buying front.