Living at home? Not quite.

From the Atlantic:

The Misguided Freakout About Basement-Dwelling Millennials

More than ever, young people are living in their parents’ basements.

You’ve surely heard that one before. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the New Republic, Salon, and others have repeated it over and over in the last few years. More than 15.3 million twentysomethings—and half of young people under 25—live “in their parents’ home,” according to official Census statistics.

There’s just one problem with those official statistics. They’re criminally misleading. When you read the full Census reports, you often come upon this crucial sentence:

It is important to note that the Current Population Survey counts students living in dormitories as living in their parents’ home.

When you were adjusting to your freshman roommate, you were “living with your parents.” When you snagged that sweet triple with your best friends in grad housing, you were “living with your parents.” That one time you launched butt-rattling bottle rockets at the stroke of midnight off your fraternity roof? I hope you didn’t make too much noise. After all, you were “living with your parents,” and mine definitely went to bed around 11.

According to Richard Fry, the wonderful Pew demographer, the answer has less to do with “laziness” or the recession’s impact on Millennial wages and jobs. It has mostly to do with education.

As you can see in the graph below, the share of 18-to-24-year-olds living at home who aren’t in college has declined since 1986. But the share of college students living “at home” (i.e.: in dorms, often) has increased. So the Millennials-living-in-our-parents meme is almost entirely a result of higher college attendance.

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35 Responses to Living at home? Not quite.

  1. lovenj says:

    first

  2. 30 year realtor says:

    Still on my Bloomfield question…Lib, top rents for 2 bedrooms appear to be about $1800 per month and I anticipate Glenwood Village will be charging in excess of $2000. Thinking of living in one of the units. Two of my kids are currently attending MSU and it would be rather convenient. If I don’t live there it will be a positive cash flow from the start.

    I am not afraid of the area. Only so many locations within 30 minutes of Manhattan by mass transit and they aren’t making any new ones. Bet you in 10 years there isn’t a fried chicken joint or hair weaving place within blocks of Glenwood Village.

  3. Fast Eddie says:

    17. Samivel says:

    July 5, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    Not a bag holder yet.
    Over last year put bids in GR, Caldwell & morris plains.
    Sellers make zero concessions and expect house to sell itself for top dollar.
    This process is taking heavy toll on wife however. I’m just hanging in there.

    /—//—/

    Samivel,

    People don’t believe me how horrid the process has become and the gall of the dirty, fat muppets who expect you to buy their p1ss dump. Hang in there!

  4. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Re: Bloomfield Center. Wow! I just took a Google street view tour of Bloomfield Center and couldn’t believe that it was true about the chicken joints and hair braiding shops. We lived in an apartment at 5 Park St (corner of Park & Broad) from 1991-94 and Bloomfield Center was obviously a bit past it’s prime, but still “walk around at night” safe back then with places you would actually want to walk to. My wife just reminded me that the theater, which was still in operation, switched from first run movies to Indian movies while we lived there. The sketchiest crowds we ever encountered were the Newark kids with fake Bloomfield addresses that would take the bus to Bloomfield Center and walk up Broad to attend the HS. There were no problems that I knew of back then until you got closer to the Newark border on the other side of the Parkway.

  5. 30 year realtor says:

    Just looked at the website for Parkway lofts. Lowest priced 2 bedroom is $2805 per month. Had to laugh when I clicked on the “Neighborhood” tab on their website. There are photos of downtown Montclair and you can clearly see Anthropology in the photo.

    The bet on Bloomfield is that enough people are priced out of Hoboken and similar commuter friendly locations where schools are not an issue to the likely occupants.

  6. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    30 year: Some additional rental data points. We lived in the 128 Broad complex which is close to the Glen Ridge station. 11 Park Place is close to the Bloomfield station. Looks like the better locations of these buildings start at $1500/month for a 2BR. Interestingly, 1BR apartments seem to have a price floor set at around $1000/month even on the gun play side of the Parkway. Our 1BR was very nice at 5 Park and I think the rent was around $650 in 1993. The very modest rent appreciation to just $1050 over 20 years probably says a lot about the direction the neighborhood has taken.

    http://goldberg-realty.com/apt-search-results.asp?propertyCity=Bloomfield

  7. Bloomfield is great if you have the right firearms.

  8. chicagofinance says:

    I am fatigued at what a b^stard O-Man is……he can’t deal with the fact that Slick Willy has the gravitas to call him the piker that he is…..the Clinton’s are some of the only people he truly has to answer to and he can’t show the humility to do it…..even if it costs the Democrats the White House……

    This means Warren: Obama backs challenger to Hillary

    President Obama has bypassed Hillary Clinton, offering his support to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren if she runs for president.

    2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

    President Obama has quietly promised Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren complete support if she runs for president — a stinging rebuke to his nemesis Hillary Clinton, sources tell me.

    Publicly, Obama has remained noncommittal on the 2016 race, but privately he worries that Clinton would undo and undermine many of his policies. There’s also a personal animosity, especially with Bill Clinton, that dates from their tough race six years ago.

    A former Harvard law professor and administration aide, Warren would energize the left wing of the Democrat Party just as Obama did against Clinton in 2008.

    Thanks to her outspoken stand against big banks and the top 1 percent, Warren is the darling of progressives. She won her Senate seat thanks to millions of dollars in donations from outside Massachusetts, including from rich environmentalists and Hollywood celebrities.

    Obama has authorized his chief political adviser, Valerie Jarrett, to conduct a full-court press to convince Warren to throw her hat into the ring.

    In the past several weeks, Jarrett has held a series of secret meetings with Warren. During these meetings, Jarrett has explained to Warren that Obama is worried that if Hillary succeeds him in the White House, she will undo many of his policies.

    He believes that the populist Warren is the best person to convince the party faithful that Hillary is out of touch with poor Americans and the middle class. Warren, in his view, would carry on the Obama legacy after he leaves the White House.

    So far, Warren has been reluctant to make a commitment. During several recent interviews, she has said that she has no present plans to run for president.

    However, she always phrases her stance on the issue in the present tense and has refused to issue a Shermanesque statement that she will not run for the White House under any circumstances.

    “Barack, Michelle, and Valerie have been talking about Elizabeth Warren for quite some time,” says an Obama administration source. “Valerie has told Warren that Obama is prepared to throw a great deal of money and organizational support behind her.

    “The Obamas believe that Warren sees things from the same ideological point of view as they do. She is a committed progressive who, like Obama, wants to transform America into a European-style democratic-soc!alist state.”

    Bill Clinton has worried for some time about Obama backing another candidate, as I revealed in my book “Blood Feud.”

    “I’ve heard from [Democratic] state committeemen about Obama’s preference in ’16,” Bill confided to several of his close friends. “And they tell me that he’s looking around for a candidate who’s just like him. Someone relatively unknown. Someone with a fresh face. He wants to clone himself — to find his Mini-Me.”

    When I ran this information before a well-informed Democratic Party operative, he pooh-poohed the scenario.

    “It’s all bulls–t,” he said. “The media is creating a Hillary Clinton-Elizabeth Warren rivalry to hype the storyline. If Warren dared to challenge Hillary, women all over America would never forgive her. She’d lose all her credibility.”

    That, however, is not the way Valerie Jarrett sees things.

    “Both Valerie and Michelle Obama have convinced the president that Elizabeth Warren is his Mini-Me,” said a person who has discussed the issue with Jarrett.
    This person continued: “For the time being, the Obamas have decided not to broadcast the fact that they’ve tapped Warren as their chosen candidate. They are waiting until the moment is right, which will probably be after the midterm elections.”

  9. Liz Warren should have stayed in academia. She has now become a politician and therefore, someone to be loathed.

    Nothing will improve until every politician- right, left and center- is lined up against a wall and shot.

  10. Libturd at home says:

    “Bet you in 10 years there isn’t a fried chicken joint or hair weaving place within blocks of Glenwood Village.”

    You’re on. Crown Fried Chicken will be there long after we are dead.

  11. yome says:

    Politics and Crime they are the same thing- Don Corleone

  12. Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:

    [10] clot

    Sign me up for Liewatha’s firing squad.

  13. Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:

    Here’s a solution for all of NJs future dead malls

    http://www.weather.com/video/abandoned-mall-filled-with-what-50714?

  14. “One of the spate of shootings that took place in Chicago, Ill. over the July 4th holiday weekend involved a veteran with a c@ncealed carry permit who was forced to a shoot a man who began firing on him and a group of friends.

    The incident occurred Friday night, the Chicago Tribune reports.

    The veteran and three of his friends were leaving a party on the city’s south side. When the group reached their vehicle, a container with liquor was sitting on top of it. A woman from the group asked another group gathered next door who the liquor belonged to and removed it.

    The move angered 22 year-old Denzel Mickiel, who approached the veteran and his friends shouting obscenities. The man then went into his residence and returned with a gun.

    As Mickiel opened fire on the group, the veteran took cover near the vehicle’s front fender, according to assistant state attorney Mary Hain, the Chicago Tribune reports.

    The veteran fired two shots, hitting Mickiel both times.

    Two of Mickiel’s friends also began shooting at the group, which was able to flee the scene in their vehicle.

    Mickiel was transported to the hospital and is in critical condition. A woman in the veteran’s group was hit twice – once in the arm and once in the back – but was stabilized and taken to the hospital.

    Mickiel is charged with attempted murder and will be held on $950,000 bond.

    Had Friday’s shooting occurred a little more than a year ago, the veteran would not have been legally permitted to conceal carry his firearm.

    Illinois was the last U.S. state to allow citizens to carry c@ncealed weapons with a permit, finally passing a law on July 9, 2013. The state began issuing c@nceal carry permits in February.

    Seven people died and approximately 50 were injured in shootings that took place in Chicago over the weekend. The city has among the highest violent crime rates among major U.S. cities.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/veteran-concealed-carry-permit-shoots-back-chicago-gunman-031804649.html

  15. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    [14] Nom – LOL about the fish mall. OTOH, I hate being sucked in to those stories on weather dot com as only 1 in 10 has any real payoff and those ads are brutal in that it’s usually the same one for every story.

  16. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Main article – I know I sound like Grandpa ExPat, but there has been a huge demographic shift with RE and young adults. Back in the early 80’s it was not atypical for students to be footing a good portion of their college costs with their own earnings and one of those costs was rent in off-campus apartments, so there were many 20-year-olds and up already mostly out on their own prior to college graduation. It was very typical to never go home after your sophomore or junior year. Many kept their college apartments or signed leases on swanky new apartments when you started your first job. Interestingly, NJ college grads who started on Wall Street were the exception to this rule. Back then you had to pay your dues on WS starting at $16K/year and working long 60-80 hour weeks. Between new suits and transportation most of those kids couldn’t afford their own place on current cash flow so they had to bite the bullet for a year or more unless you were able to hole up in your old frat house or something similar on the cheap.

  17. Boomers need a beating says:

    Translation in brackets of ExPat’s boomer reality to today’s Y generation.

    Main article – I know I sound like Grandpa ExPat, but there has been a huge demographic shift with RE and young adults. Back in the early 80′s it was not atypical for students to be footing a good portion of their college costs with their own earnings and one of those costs was rent in off-campus apartments, so there were many 20-year-olds and up already mostly out on their own prior to college graduation. It was very typical to never go home after your sophomore or junior year. Many kept their college apartments or signed leases on swanky new apartments when you started your first job . Interestingly, NJ college grads who started on Wall Street were the exception to this rule. Back then you had to pay your dues on WS starting at $16K/year and working long 60-80 hour weeks Between new suits and transportation most of those kids couldn’t afford their own place on current cash flow so they had to bite the bullet for a year or more unless you were able to hole up in your old frat house or something similar on the cheap.

    This poor lady did not deserve this ( even though many of you cheer for it, because she’s bebo like ), but Boomers do deserve this:

    http://youtu.be/fYeC-D1_Vv4

  18. Boomers need a beating Part 2 says:

    Translation in brackets of ExPat’s boomer reality to today’s Y generation.

    Main article – I know I sound like Grandpa ExPat, but there has been a huge demographic shift with RE and young adults. Back in the early 80′s it was not atypical for students to be footing a good portion of their college costs with their own earnings and one of those costs was rent in off-campus apartments, so there were many 20-year-olds and up already mostly out on their own prior to college graduation. It was very typical to never go home after your sophomore or junior year. Many kept their college apartments or signed leases on swanky new apartments when you started your first job . Interestingly, NJ college grads who started on Wall Street were the exception to this rule. Back then you had to pay your dues on WS starting at $16K/year and working long 60-80 hour weeks Between new suits and transportation most of those kids couldn’t afford their own place on current cash flow so they had to bite the bullet for a year or more unless you were able to hole up in your old frat house or something similar on the cheap.

    This poor lady did not deserve this ( even though many of you cheer for it, because she’s bebo like ), but Boomers do deserve this:

    http://youtu.be/fYeC-D1_Vv4

  19. Boomers need a beating Part 3 says:

    Translation in brackets of ExPat’s boomer reality to today’s Y generation.

    My bad – I used brackets which made my comments in post dissapear.

    Main article – I know I sound like Grandpa ExPat, but there has been a huge demographic shift with RE and young adults. Back in the early 80′s ( Before boomer locust ) it was not atypical for students to be footing a good portion of their college costs (which were cheap because of tax support put in place by the greatest generation which was proud to pay taxes to create a better future, instead of sucking it dry like boomer locust ) with their own earnings ( earning possible with a real manufacturing economy before being sold out to commie china by locust boomers for an economy based on debt peonage) and one of those costs was rent in off-campus apartments, so there were many 20-year-olds and up already mostly out on their own prior to college graduation. It was very typical to never go home after your sophomore or junior year. Many kept their college apartments or signed leases on swanky new apartments when you started your first job (first job with a real economy before offshoring and importing cheap illegal labor was the rule of the day created by boomer locust corporate and government – one in the same these days – leaders, if they can be called that at all ). Interestingly, NJ college grads who started on Wall Street were the exception to this rule. Back then you had to pay your dues on WS starting at $16K/year and working long 60-80 hour weeks ( notice the lack of serious money, because Wall Street had not become a locust boomer den of thieves, that gives that old mob a run for its money, as they are the boomer mob – except with lawyers ) Between new suits and transportation ( no hookers and blow here yet, that develops with boomers taking the power chief of thieves positions )most of those kids couldn’t afford their own place on current cash flow so they had to bite the bullet for a year or more unless you were able to hole up in your old frat house or something similar on the cheap.

    This poor lady did not deserve this ( even though many of you cheer for it, because she’s bebo like ), but Boomers do deserve this:

    http://youtu.be/fYeC-D1_Vv4

  20. Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:

    [16] expat

    Yeah, I hate them too but it was too topical not to share.

  21. Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:

    The death of the world’s most expensive insurance policy on a cost-to-probability basis is a welcome development. This whole bunker mania was distorting the market.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/101810840

  22. Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:
  23. chicagofinance says:

    Look at these innovations. It is so exciting….

    Picking the Right Mortgage

    Banks are offering a wider array of home loans. Here’s how to choose the best one for you.

    By AnnaMaria Andriotis

    They are starting to ease their stringent requirements and offering a wider range of loans. The options being dusted off—many of them dormant since the housing bust—include interest-only mortgages and so-called piggyback loans. They also are promoting adjustable-rate mortgages and rolling out more-attractive terms.

    These options can make it easier to purchase a home or lower your monthly payments for years, and they may be appealing options in certain circumstances if you understand the risks. Yet some loans that lenders are promoting now could cause major problems down the road, as many borrowers learned during the financial crisis.

    In most cases, experts say, plain-vanilla, fixed-rate mortgages remain the best choice.

    Since the 2008 subprime-mortgage meltdown, lenders have for the most part approved only borrowers with near-perfect credit scores and significant assets. Now—as the Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts a 42% decline in the dollar amount of new and refinanced mortgages this year—lenders are broadening their pitch to include home buyers with slightly weaker credit and offering more options for borrowers who can’t afford to make a 20% down payment.

    “Over the last year you’ve begun to see the appetite for risk,” says Bob Walters, who is chief economist at Detroit-based Quicken Loans, the third-largest U.S. mortgage lender by dollar amount of originations, where he oversees new mortgage products. “You are seeing the market open back up.”

    With peak home-buying season under way, here is a guide to the four types of financing arrangements borrowers are likely to encounter and how to evaluate the pros and cons of each.

    Fixed-Rate Mortgages

    Fixed-rate mortgages are the most straightforward of all home loans. The interest rate remains the same for the life of the mortgage, which means the monthly principal and interest payments never change.

    Borrowers pay a premium for consistency. This year, the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has been 1.22 percentage points higher than on one popular type of adjustable-rate mortgage whose interest rate can change annually after the first five years, according to HSH.com, a mortgage-information website. The premium is up from 1.12 percentage points last year and 1.15 points two years ago.

    Most people are willing to pay the price. Fixed-rate mortgages have accounted for about 90% of the total dollar amount of home loans originated annually since 2010, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication. Many people who opted for other types of mortgages faced foreclosure during the financial crisis, as their monthly payments spiked and the economy was shedding jobs.

    Clint Nold, a first-time home buyer, says he considered taking out an ARM for the house that he and his wife, Laura, bought in Ladera Ranch, Calif., in March. Though the ARM would have resulted in lower initial monthly payments, he opted instead for a fixed-rate loan with a 4.625% interest rate rather than risk seeing the monthly payments rise sharply years down the road.

    “It wouldn’t be worth the mental anguish,” says Mr. Nold, who is 34 years old. “I’d rather pay more for long-term certainty.”

    Some fixed-rate mortgages have 15-year repayment periods, which typically carry lower interest rates but also tend to require larger monthly payments since the repayment period is shorter. A borrower signing up for a $400,000 mortgage with a 4.19% interest rate, the average for the week ended June 27, would pay about $1,954 a month for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, compared with about $2,826 for a 15-year note with a 3.33% interest rate, the average for those loans, according to HSH.com.

    Financial advisers say borrowers shouldn’t sign up for 15-year mortgages unless they are certain they can make the payments. Many lenders also offer 20-year loans with lower interest rates than 30-year mortgages and smaller monthly payments than 15-year mortgages.

    Another option: Consider a 30-year mortgage and make additional payments toward principal when possible to pay down the loan faster.

    Adjustable-Rate Mortgages

    Most adjustable-rate mortgages have a fixed interest rate for three to 10 years before the rate begins to adjust annually.

    ARMs are considered riskier than fixed-rate loans because the interest-rate adjustments can push borrowers’ monthly payments up by hundreds of dollars or more, depending on the size of the loan and the change in the interest rate. Nearly a million homes with ARMs fell into foreclosure during the financial crisis, often because the homeowners couldn’t keep up with payments that were higher than they had been originally.

    As a result, ARMs fell from favor. But Wells Fargo, WFC -0.65% J.P. Morgan Chase JPM -0.84% and Bank of America BAC -0.97% are among the banks where ARMs are now accounting for a greater share of new home loans, based on total dollars.

    ARMs accounted for 18% of the total dollar amount of home loans originated in the first quarter of 2014, up from 9% in the same period a year prior, and the highest quarterly share since 2008, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

    The appeal is comparatively low initial interest rates. The interest rate on the most popular ARM—which has a fixed rate for the first five years—averaged 3.16% during the week ended June 27, according to HSH.com.

    Before signing up for an ARM, borrowers should find out how its interest rate can change over the life of the loan. In most cases, the interest rate on such a five-year ARM can increase or decrease by as much as five percentage points over the life of the loan.

    In other words, borrowers who get a 3.16% interest rate could see it rise to a maximum of 8.16%, and their monthly payment on a $400,000 mortgage could go from about $1,721 to $2,790 overnight. The increase can come all at once at the start of the sixth year or over a period of years, though after the sixth year the interest rate typically can’t change by more than two percentage points each year.

    There are ways to minimize the risk by asking for an ARM with an interest rate that can’t jump more than two percentage points the first time the rate resets. That option is generally limited to borrowers who are taking out large mortgages, and may not even be available to them.

    ARMs can be a better bet for borrowers who plan to sell their home before the fixed-interest period ends. The initial interest rate is typically higher for ARMs with longer fixed-rate periods, though still cheaper than regular 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.

    Jude Gomila, 30, purchased a two-bedroom home in San Francisco in May with an ARM that has an initial interest rate of 2.25% for the first five years. Mr. Gomila, co-founder of Heyzap, a mobile-advertising company, says he doesn’t expect interest rates to rise significantly before the fixed-rate period ends and expects to be able to pay off his loan in full at that point.

    “It was against the advice of some people,” he says. “But no one can predict the future. I’m banking on being able to buy the house.”

    A growing number of lenders offer ARMs with interest rates that adjust less frequently. This year, Pentagon Federal Credit Union, based in Alexandria, Va., whose members include government employees, military personnel and their families, launched an ARM with an interest rate that is fixed at 3.625%, as of July 1, for the first 15 years. The rate changes only once after that, then remains fixed again for the remainder of the loan.

    The credit union and other lenders, including TD Bank, the U.S. unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank, TD -1.36% and Salt Lake City-based Zions Bancorp, ZION -0.24% also offer ARMs with interest rates that change every five years.

    Crunch the numbers before taking out an ARM. Several websites, including Bankrate.com and HSH.com, offer amortization calculators where you can input the loan balance that will remain when your fixed interest-rate period ends and the interest rate you could end up with, and see how high your monthly payments could go.

    Interest-Only Mortgages

    The lure of an interest-only mortgage is captured in the name. For a set period—often five to 10 years—the borrower doesn’t have to pay down the principal. Some carry fixed interest rates, but most are ARMs, so the rate can then fluctuate.

    The interest-only feature can result in tens of thousands of dollars in savings, at least initially. On a 30-year $800,000 mortgage with a 3.2% interest rate that is fixed for the first five years—typical for this type of loan—interest-only payments would be about $2,153. If a borrower signed up for a similar loan without an interest-only feature, the monthly payment would be about $3,364.

    Interest-only mortgages became popular before the housing bust because they allowed people to afford more expensive houses. But many borrowers were unable to keep up with the loans once their monthly payments increased, and their homes ended up in foreclosure.

    These days, the loans are mostly available to affluent borrowers, and are typically offered through banks’ wealth-management or private-banking divisions. Citigroup, C -1.04% UBS UBS -1.83% and Bank of New York Mellon BK -0.74% all offer the loans to clients. Wells Fargo offers the loans to retail customers and private banking clients.

    The loans can help borrowers who get much of their income through bonuses or other lump sums by limiting their monthly outlay.

    Lenders say many borrowers invest the initial savings and some aim to pocket gains by selling the home before the interest-only period ends, assuming home prices have appreciated.

    But there are downsides. Borrowers aren’t building up any equity, for example, and if home prices drop, they could end up owing more than they can get by selling the house, depending on the size of their down payment. Minimum down payments vary by lender, though some lenders require at least 20%.

    In addition, when the interest-only period ends, borrowers must be ready to make principal and interest payments or risk foreclosure. The size of this new monthly payment will vary depending in part on the length of the repayment period that remains.

    For example, if the mortgage calls for interest-only payments for five years, the principal payments will be spread over 25 years, typically. On the same $800,000 loan, monthly payments would surge to about $3,890 after five years, assuming the interest rate remains the same at 3.2%.

    In some cases, interest rates can also adjust before the interest-only period ends, which can result in larger monthly payments. Borrowers should find out by how much their interest rate could rise—and whether they could make the new monthly payments.

    Piggyback Loans

    Borrowers typically sign up for home-equity loans or home-equity lines of credit to pay for renovations and other expenses. But they are also being offered to borrowers who can only make small down payments.

    Some lenders will approve a mortgage equal to up to 80% of the home’s value and originate a home-equity loan or line of credit that equals 10% of the home’s value, meaning the borrower only has to make a 10% down payment.

    The setup, known as a piggyback mortgage, varies by lender. Navy Federal Credit Union, based in Vienna, Va., and the largest U.S. credit union by assets, offers a piggyback option for up to 90% of the purchase price, and Alliant Credit Union, based in Chicago, recently began allowing piggybacks for up to 90%. Wells Fargo also offers this option for up to 85% of the purchase price.

    Piggyback mortgages also were common before the housing bust—in many cases, with no down payments—and virtually disappeared in its aftermath.

    Home-equity loans tend to have fixed interest rates, which averaged 5.96% last month, according to HSH.com. The loans are given to borrowers in one lump sum. Interest rates on lines of credit tend to be variable, and averaged 5.01% last month.

    Borrowers need to keep up with all the home loans or risk foreclosure, even if they are current on the primary mortgage. Home-equity loans typically must be repaid in 10 years, so monthly payments on that portion of the deal can be large.

    Home buyers also should consider the risk that they could end up owing more on their home than it is worth if home prices decline, given their small down payment.

    Not being able to afford a home can be disappointing, but as many homeowners learned during the financial crisis, it can be even worse to have a home you can’t afford to keep.

  24. JJ says:

    Back from the dead. Anyhow, rents on two bedrooms are not much lower in bad neighborhoods than good neighborhoods. Even though an identical house may cost 200K more in the good neighborhood.

    Main reason is that lower income folks trash your place and skip on rent. My wife refused to let me buy a great rental for 120K what would rent for almost 2k a month for that reason.

  25. JJ says:

    Funny story so I rent my beach place out once in awhile. So I am trying to avoid short term rentals as beach passes are for residents only. Picture ID show a lease and I have to turn in my beach pass and pay a ten dollar per pass parking fee. Gladly do it for a longer rental but not a week or less rental.

    So lady wants it for six days I tell her it is a resident only beach, she goes no problem, then she goes how far to beach, I then say one mile to public beach beach up block is resident only. Then I get ok I take it with no beach passes I will just pay non-resident rate. I go it is resident only there dont let anyone pay it is free for residents only. That is why it is a private beach.

    This women was from out of state so right off bat I should have ignored her. But from tone of emails which by end I was laughing she seemed to think the concept of a beach you cannot pay to get on and folks renting for a few days are not considered residents was insane. Like she never hear of concept.
    I had no desire to rent for six days it is a pain the butt I was doing her a favor. Now I just ignore those requests. I still find it funny how out of state folks and this is the second think beaches are free and open to anyone to walk on.

  26. Juice Box says:

    JJ you been hanging out at Field 5?

  27. Fast Eddie says:

    “You’ve got much more negative vibrations in the housing surveys about homeownership than we ever had before,” Case told CNNMoney. “I think it’s because people got hosed. They thought that housing prices will never go down. That’s just bull — you know what.”

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-housing-market-crap-shoot-100800729.html

  28. JJ says:

    I wish. I decided this summer not to try to hard to rent my beach place. Other than a couple who wants it labor day week I dont have it rented.

    Costs me 12k a year to carry it and winter rental paid me a little over 17K. Last summer I closed in mid June was not ready to rent till mid July and I had a vacation already planned laste July then I rented it for last three weeks of summer and only had a two day turnover for winter tenant. I actually only used it one night last year. Kinda weird to own a beach place for a little over one year that nobody has ever seen. Last week we had people over to the mystery place.

    27.Juice Box says:
    July 7, 2014 at 1:59 pm
    JJ you been hanging out at Field 5?

  29. JJ says:

    $27,400,000 Secaucus Board of Education, New Jersey, School Bonds, Series 2014

    NJ has a huge muni bond issue coming up. Borrow Borrow Borrow

  30. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    [29] JJ – Does it seem anti-climactic to arrive at your beach condo after only driving 8 miles? BTW, pretty cheeky advertising your unit in an “affluent village” with “world class beaches” on euro vacation sites.

  31. Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:

    Gotta love those Yankees fans and their attorneys . . .

    http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2014-07-07/yankees-fan-caught-sleeping-on-tv-suing-espn-for-10-million-andrew-robert-rector-dan-schulman-john-kruk-mlb-video

    I used to joke that when I spoke to Yankees fans, I would speak slowly and use small words. Seems I have to treat members of the New York State bar in similar fashion.

  32. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    [34] Nom – in case you’re looking for your very own ambulance reserved seat to chase:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wapNcP_7PPo

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