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23 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

I paid off my mortgage in 10 years. I took out a 15 year loan, made the payments early and added an extra $100 towards the principal on each payment.

 

It's nice not to have any debts hanging over my head.

 

Notes ♫

 

That is quite nice. I am a ways from paying off any mortgage. We do add extra money toward each payment, though. I do really wish I didn't have house payments.

 

However, better that I own a house now since things are crazy expensive now. To think that people used to get a job out of high school and be able to afford a house and support a family of four. Those days are long gone.

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6 hours ago, KenElevenShadows said:

To think that people used to get a job out of high school and be able to afford a house and support a family of four. Those days are long gone.

 

The evisceration of the middle class explains a lot of what's going on in this country. I sometimes wonder if this whole subscription thing is kind of like the "rental center" type of places transitioning to the mainstream. If you stop subscribing to your iPhone, does Apple Repo take it away? Although I guess they don't have to...they could probably disable it remotely.

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19 hours ago, KenElevenShadows said:

 

That is quite nice. I am a ways from paying off any mortgage. We do add extra money toward each payment, though. I do really wish I didn't have house payments.

 

However, better that I own a house now since things are crazy expensive now. To think that people used to get a job out of high school and be able to afford a house and support a family of four. Those days are long gone.

I got a small house, built in 1950 on a half acre. It does need some maintenance, but the cost of that per year is miniscule compared to house payments.

 

The half acre is two residential lots, and I've re-wilded the back lot by planting the native vegetation that grew here before the lot was cleared.

 

I'm one lot away from a lagoon that feeds to the ocean. Someone 5 lots farther inland just put his lot up for 80 times what I paid for 2 lots plus a small house in 1990. Theoretically, I have 160 times my initial investment in my property, not counting the house. Yes, the housing market has gone crazy.

 

My friends and family who chose to rent are now getting hit with large rent increases. They are at the mercy of their landlords because everybody else is raising theirs.

 

During COVID's first 1.5 unemployed years of no gigs, I successfully made it without hitting my savings because I have zero debt, and minimal monthly payments. I have phone, Internet, Web Host for my biz, and electricity. That's it. My water comes from a well, so it factors in the electricity bill, and I have a septic tank for waste. My home taxes are covered under the "Save Our Homes" act, so the most they can raise my property tax is 3% per year. I can live even if I have to resort to nothing but my social security.

 

I don't buy things on credit unless I absolutely, positively need to, and I know the difference between need and want. Instead, I save up and purchase like my parents did. That way, if unexpected gig unemployment comes around like it did in 2020, I don't have these payments. Plus, I save a lot of money by not paying credit card interest.

 

Things like homes, education and everything else have gotten more and more expensive. IMO, it is because the antitrust laws have been watered down so much they have all but been repealed. This allows little or no competition, the corporate cartels fix pricing, cry poverty, pay pittance wages to employees, while the executives have enough money to be space tourists and have more money that the average person can imagine.

 

I don't know how to fix that problem, so I've learned how to survive under this situation. Survival isn't for the fittest, it's for the most adaptable.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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2 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

I got a small house, built in 1950 on a half acre. It does need some maintenance, but the cost of that per year is miniscule compared to house payments.

 

The half acre is two residential lots, and I've re-wilded the back lot by planting the native vegetation that grew here before the lot was cleared.

 

I'm one lot away from a lagoon that feeds to the ocean. Someone 5 lots farther inland just put his lot up for 80 times what I paid for 2 lots plus a small house in 1990. Theoretically, I have 160 times my initial investment in my property, not counting the house. Yes, the housing market has gone crazy.

 

My friends and family who chose to rent are now getting hit with large rent increases. They are at the mercy of their landlords because everybody else is raising theirs.

 

During COVID's first 1.5 unemployed years of no gigs, I successfully made it without hitting my savings because I have zero debt, and minimal monthly payments. I have phone, Internet, Web Host for my biz, and electricity. That's it. My water comes from a well, so it factors in the electricity bill, and I have a septic tank for waste. My home taxes are covered under the "Save Our Homes" act, so the most they can raise my property tax is 3% per year. I can live even if I have to resort to nothing but my social security.

 

I don't buy things on credit unless I absolutely, positively need to, and I know the difference between need and want. Instead, I save up and purchase like my parents did. That way, if unexpected gig unemployment comes around like it did in 2020, I don't have these payments. Plus, I save a lot of money by not paying credit card interest.

 

Things like homes, education and everything else have gotten more and more expensive. IMO, it is because the antitrust laws have been watered down so much they have all but been repealed. This allows little or no competition, the corporate cartels fix pricing, cry poverty, pay pittance wages to employees, while the executives have enough money to be space tourists and have more money that the average person can imagine.

 

I don't know how to fix that problem, so I've learned how to survive under this situation. Survival isn't for the fittest, it's for the most adaptable.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

 

Very cool. Rewilding the back lot sounds pretty great too.

 

I have a couple of houses. One is in the suburbs. The other one is in the high desert near Joshua Tree National Park. I have an acre there, and the house payments will be very low when we move there compared to Los Angeles...and quite frankly, compared to anyone purchasing a house out there now since the prices have tripled in four years. That's not a typo. You read that correctly.

 

And agreed, adaptability is what makes you survive. If the old model isn't working any more, time to do something new. 

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15 hours ago, Anderton said:

 

The evisceration of the middle class explains a lot of what's going on in this country. I sometimes wonder if this whole subscription thing is kind of like the "rental center" type of places transitioning to the mainstream. If you stop subscribing to your iPhone, does Apple Repo take it away? Although I guess they don't have to...they could probably disable it remotely.

 

I would think Apple would turn it into a brick. And there's no doubt this will be stipulated in any contract agreement you enter into...you know, the ones that are in 4-point font that we routinely click so get on with it. :D 

 

I guess you see rental agreements with a lot of things. And some of it is that adaptability that Notes mentions above. For instance, there's apps for using a car for a day instead of going to a typical rental agency. I'm not sure what the difference is exactly except that it's probably a lot more convenient. Or paying for insurance just what you need it. Renting office space for a day. Whatever. Maybe that's the sane answer to insane prices. 

 

I do know that I've worked with people between 20-40  years of age quite a bit. They're hard-working, adaptable people. And when they find out that I own a house, for instance, they marvel at that and cannot believe the prices I've purchased it for. They believe that they will never be able to purchase a house, certainly not anywhere in Los Angeles. As it is, they are working 2-3 jobs to pay rent, so the idea of purchasing an $800,000 house is absurd. They generally stay quiet despite constantly hear Boomers saying how lazy they are, how they can't get ahead, how stupid their music is, how they don't know anything, how "self-involved" they are, how they don't get anything done, and how they have no social skills because they're on their phones all day. But they keep quiet, working their 2-3 jobs, trying to pay the rent and get ahead. But they also realize that Boomers were able to purchase a house and support a family of four straight out of high school, and that they're taken to task for not doing the same thing.

 

P.S. #vanlife? Sometimes, just sometimes, people live in their van, not so much because it's a "hipster" thing, but because it's one of the saner things you can do when rents are in the stratosphere. But people try to turn it into something fun and interesting nevertheless. Adaptability, like Notes says.

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I realize how lucky I am to have been born when my parents had me.

 

When my parents bought a house, the rule of thumb was one weeks pay went for the mortgage.

 

By the time I bought my first house, it was two weeks pay.

 

Now it's more than an entire month's pay for most people with entry level jobs. Who can afford that?

 

My house and lot is now worth 160 times what I paid for it. But to buy something in an equivalent area, I'd cost that much.

 

Also, in my generation, it was possible for any decent musician who had good self-motivation to make a living by gigging. Before DJ, and later Karaoke, Open Mic night, Comedy night, etc., every lounge from a Holiday Inn through an upscale lounge had a band, at least 6 nights per week. Weddings hired bands, too instead of DJs. Playing records was considered 'less than' entertainment for people who couldn't afford a band. Any lounge with a TV set was probably a corner tavern where the owner was the bartender and had a dozen or so bar stools, no table, and a juke box.

 

I traveled the country playing college towns, and advanced to the point where I was the opening act for the major acts in concert. The record deal fell through, I tried a couple of real jobs, testing what it is to be normal, went back to making a living doing music and nothing but music, and although i never made 'the big time', I'm still doing music, living my life on my own terms, and not being a wage slave to some faceless corporation.

 

With cell phones and computers, music isn't as important to the young folks as it was to previous generations. Music was the defining voice of my generation, not Twitter, Pinterest, or other social media center.

 

Furthermore, In 1971 Nixon took us off the gold standard and our era of steep inflation began. The 33 cent per gallon of gas in the late 1960s is equal to over 3 dollars now. Musicians wages haven't kept up with inflation because the lounges are hurting too.

 

If I were young today, I'd probably have to be a wage slave playing music as a sideline while my rent was soaring out of control.

 

I don't think the younger folks are lazy, and while they are glued to their phones, we were glued to our music just as much. The only thing that's changed is the technology.

 

I think I'm lucky.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<

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I won't participate in subscription schemes. So far I've been able to find viable alternatives for virtually anything offered as a subscription-only item, whether CAD software, music software/plugins, you name it. I realize sometimes the stuff available by subscription is more capable and easier to use. I'll take the learning curve and workarounds. Hardware rental/lease is not acceptable to me and I avoid it as a matter of principle. I don't count car or home loans in this category. I need transportation and I need a place to live but I don't rent nor lease either one. I will never subscribe in order to use something that is basically "nice to have available". There is a perceptible initiative going on to diminish property rights and one way to do that is through subscription-only schemes.

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