Just found out the wife ran up some serious credit card debt

I think the proper term is “entitlement” not “expectation”.

 

So you can live in a house not only for free, but get paid to live there...with the only caveat being you dont/never actually own the house?

There HAS to be more to it than that, or everyone would be doing it. Who cares if I never own the home, if somebody is paying me to live in it.

 

First you have to own the home, numbnutz. Or a good portion of it at least.

 

Ah ok, haha. Now that is starting to make some sense.

My house has been paid off for a couple of years now. So I could do a reverse mortgage and "give" my house to the bank, and they start paying me monthly? Is that how it goes?

 

Yes, basically that's it and they own your place at the end.

 

There’s a little more to it now that I’ve read a few articles on it.
As mentioned, you have own or damn near own it.
Have to be at least 62 (sorry)
Has to be primary residence for at least 6 mo
Has to be maintained to remain up to FHA standards
You still ‘own’ the house
You still have to pay taxes, HOA, etc
Your heirs can still inherit the house, but they have to pay back the remainder of the loan. You can take the loan in installments or lump sum. If your reverse mortgage was for 500,000, and you’ve received 500,000 in lump sum or payments, and your heirs sell the house for 600,000, they have repay the 500,000 +interest. If the house depreciates and only sells for 450,000, your estate owes 50,000 + interest. Once the balance is settled, the heirs own the house.
I’m sure there’s more fine print, but that’s what I’ve come up with so far.

 

Damn just reading that gave me a headache.

I reckon ill just keep it and eventually sell it myself and take the lump sum myself.

 

I have a handful of friends dealing with "aging parents" in their childhood homes. All of the structures are less than "accessible" for a parent in a chair or in need of assistance. My one friend has 3 siblings and it was still a chore to coordinate round the clock care for a parent with dementia and the other with lupus. Unfortunately his mother passed a few months ago so they are left caring for the father in a familiar setting. He doesn't have an understanding of whats going on... but moving him to a facility will likely break him.
My other friend had to move his 85 yr old mother in to his basement 2 room apt and fit a chair lift so she could make it up to the first floor. Plus he has 2 toddlers so he can't just leave the door unlocked.
In those 2 examples... you would be looking at huge $$ for care. But they are making sacrifices to get the best situation for everyone. All those parents had their own place(s) but it still wasnt worth the hassle to do a reverse mortgage.

 

Same problem we are having with my wife's parents.

Her mom has Parkinson's and her legs are almost unusable.

We tried explaining to them multiple times they need a house with everything on 1 floor. Parkinsons doesn't get better. It gets worse.

They just don't get it yet.

To me, when the fire department has to get you out of your bedroom, that's a pretty big fucking sign.

Wanted to do a chairlift at their house, but it's a goofy 2 piece stairway in a l shape.

If her dad goes down, her mom is totally fucked.

 

Everyone trying to keep up with the Jones's as my parents would say.

Absolutely mind boggling to me how many people live stuck in the "what's my monthly payment" mindset.

 

While I definitely agree with this to an extent, the popularity of using real estate as passive income has definitely impacted housing costs. A 2 bedroom, 15 year old, 1500 sq ft townhome where I live is in the neighborhood of $300k, give or take ~$20k, depending on a few other variables. That exact same townhome was barely north of $100k just a decade ago when it was only 5 years old. In manufacturing (what I have the most visibility to and a very prominent option for all levels of work around here), wages have increased ~50% in that time period.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching about it. But reality is entry level homes are, in fact, more expensive relative to entry level incomes in plenty of places around the country. There are a lot of variable contributing to that and it obviously does vary by locale. But, best I can tell, true nonetheless.

 

The sad thing with today's market is this:

-The retirees are getting their asses handed to them

-The poor are even more poor

 

Wages have barely risen in the last 20 years but the housing, vehicle cost, insurance, EVERYTHING has risen dramatically. I dont blame the youngest generation from seeing the uphill battle and saying "fuck it...imma be poor and have nothing, or work my ass off and still have nothing...."
I bought my first house for 220k in 2010, i was making $18 an hour and first few year we were scraping by. I sold that house 4 years later for 340k in 2014. Bought my current house for 420k (giggidy)....last year during the craziness very similar house near me sold for 1.2 million....Youre telling me house price tripled in 8 years but "people just have an expectation of what their parents have and are bitching?" Nah my dude...
Families are renting basements for $2000 in Toronto while wages havent risen in 10 years other than minimum wage. Burger flippers make $15, while rest of peoples wages havent risen nearly enough. Truck drivers make $25an hour. Average house price in Toronto is 1.5 million, same houses my parents bought in 1997 for 200k.
Im not gonna sit here and shit on the younger generations and that "their expectations are too high..." Theres literally NOTHING within 2 hours of Toronto for less than 400k, and that means deep country. Good luck finding a job that doesnt pay more than $15 an hour up there. I weep for them. They are being handed a shit sandwich.

 

This is why travel (especially international) is important. It gives you some perspective.

Who are the people buying these places in Toronto? Apparently lots of folks can afford it or half the properties would be in foreclosure. It kinda seems to me like they are selling for market value. I don’t know about Canada, but in the US I can show you lots of places where you can have a beautiful home on a modest income.

 

There's a couple of words being used in this thread that I think need to be redefined, or perhaps refine the definition.

Broke- a temporary condition of not being able to make ends meet.

Poor- a pattern of decision making that results in being perpetually broke.

When you realize that you are broke, stop being poor.

 

You mispelled the bank's house....

 

A lot of the inflated prices in Canada and the US states that mirror it (CA, NY, IL, etc) is due to the layers and layers of regulations on building and the costs associated with this level of regulation.

If we went back to very basic zoning and rules regarding what can built, how its built and where its built, prices would be better. because more homes could be built, single and multi family, and that extra supply would lower prices.

when you have to get permission/permits from 4-5+ different local and state entities to build, add extra parking spaces, green spaces, 3 layer windows, super efficient HVAC, extra insulation, sprinklers, ADA compliance, 2car garages, minimum lot size, neighborhood pool/gym etc it gets expensive.