Not only is paying cash for a house rather rare, it is also fiscally
stupid and in the US, crazy.  About the only deduction that one has for
income taxes is the mortgage interest and it makes perfect sense to
borrow cheap money, at first and invest the cash into something that
generates money.  Of course, it is a good idea to refinance the house
some years down the line to reduce the payments.

If you lose your house two months after you lose your job, you bought
too much house in the first place.

Finally, I should point out that property taxes are used to pay for
police, firemen and other sundry services.  Federal taxes are not used
for that.  In Texas, my biggest tax bill, after Federal income tax, is
school district taxes, then county taxes (fire/police/etc.)  The
property tax is directly proportional to the size and value of the
house.  If one has a more expensive home, one pays more property taxes.

Shawn you are correct, Herr Baier lives on a planet that I would not
even want to visit.  :-)

Denys


-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Tim Cummings
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 10:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Weekend Reading

<snip>

>Home ownership is at an all time high in the US as well.  Now maybe
your
>figures take in to account all the illegal aliens in the US that are
poor,
>which wouldn't really surprise me.
>
>

The banks own the homes not the people that live in them. 2 month out of
a
job and they loose the house.

<snip>

Michael,

Banks own the homes?

Don't know what your smokin but my name is on the deed to my house.  The
mortgage company hold my mortgage the house is collateral for the loan.
If
I don't pay, they take the house.  That's the way it works!

How is this any different than at any other point in history.

When was the last time you (or anyone else) paid cash for your home?

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