It's one of many errors if you're trying to have a real comparison. They acknowledge that the median rental in Seattle is 874 square feet smaller than the median house for sale. So to make it 'apples to apples' they make the rental 874 square feet larger. 'Let's just take away one of the major advantages of renting so it's fair!' They also assume the buyer itemizes taxes. Only 30% of tax filers itemize their taxes. Only 80% of those who itemize claim the mortgage deduction. So they're knocking off 25% of the interest costs. Unsurprisingly, in their rent formula there is no value added for the money a renter saves via the standard deduction which doesn't come at the price of paying interest. It's a terrible methodology to have an honest debate about renting vs buying. But good luck getting an idiot like A Congressman to comprehend that.
I have a fox that lives under the overhang of my house, there is a picture of him somewhere in the random thread, I feed him cat food.......
Everything you wrote was spot on, but then you had to throw in that last line. Why can't you just state your points without resorting to calling people names? Who benefits from that?
they also assume a 3.5% discount rate, i.e., how much your money would've grown if you hadn't used it as downpayment. i'm not a finance guy but 3.5% seems unrealistically low
fattus , please remember that Watson is taking my advise and he is closing on a condo in about a month. Actions speak louder than words.
3.5% is a pretty safe return over a 20-year period. Probably assuming you put your portfolio is a more risk adverse portfolio
Very surprising. Always thought that 20% was the norm and that paying less than that was frowned upon (because you'd have to pay PMI amongst other factors)
The New York Times college football fandom map. It appears that StinkusP1nkus was right, there are more Michigan hats in Manhattan than any other school http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ev=click&ad-keywords=WCARETARG&abt=0002&abg=0
I know. Plus there's a huge NYC contingent at the school -- pretty sure New York is second to Michigan in number of students that attend U of M and those kids aren't coming from Binghamton. Also lead the way in most of the city of Chicago and the Lake Shore area immediately north of Evanston, which is embarrassing for the Illini IMO.
All the Jews. Speaking of, if you want to see something funny, zoom in on Bloomington, Indiana and look at how few IU football fans there are. Every other campus I've checked is like 60%+, but Bloomington is in the teens.
Can't locate the source that I saw, and maybe it's a similar but different stat, but 15% of the surface water in the lower 48 flows through Alabama Also...the Cahaba River has more species of freshwater fish than California
yeah, i see that's what the alabama geological survey is saying. 18% of all surface water. that's probably true (in large part due to the southern appalachians draining across North Alabama via the Tennessee River), but it's also true that if you added up that calculation for every state in the lower 48, the number would end up being much, much larger than 100%. It's kind of a strange thing to measure.
Shivous is correct At 1,300 miles (2,100 km), Alabama has one of the longest navigable inland waterways in the nation.[6] Did you know... Alabama ranks 7th in the United States for its number of stream miles. Alabama has 77,242 miles of river and stream channels Alabama has 3,627,600 acres of wetland and 563,000 acres of ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. 33.5 trillion gallons of water are withdrawn annually from streams, rivers, and reservoirs to supply drinking water to 56% of the population in Alabama. There are 16 hydroelectric power dams and 16 navigational dams (5 of which are also hydroelectric) in Alabama. The Southeastern United States has the world's greatest diversity of temperate freshwater fishes. Alabama has 303 freshwater species of fish, 20 of which are endemic to Alabama. Alabama's rivers are amongst the most biologically diverse waterways in the world. 38% of North America's fish species, 43% of its freshwater gill-breathing snails, 51% of its freshwater turtle species, and 60% of its freshwater mussel species are native to Alabama's rivers. There are more species of fish in the Cahaba River alone than in the entire state of California! Consider the economic value of clean waters. The Alabama Fisheries Association estimates that Alabama's water based recreation industry brings over $1 billion per year into the state's economy.
Having no factual basis for this opinion whatsoever, I think this WAS the norm back in the day, but with the advent of all these low down payment mortgages and new approval processes, it no longer is. People nowadays can get approved for waaaay too much house compared to their income, and sometimes they can manage the payments, but coming up with 20% down is impossible. Example, 2 years ago I had little to no savings, and my salary was $68K at a new job. I want to say WellsFargo approved me for like a $250K mortgage, or somewhere in that range. Even if I could've swung the monthly payments, coming up with $50K down payment was insurmountable.
Most distinctive death map. Louisiana and Florida squaring off with syphilis and HIV http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...-the-distinctive-cause-of-death-in-each-state
its has the highest different number of fish, crawfish, plants, insects, birds, etc. in the country, and many the highest in the world. i cant remember the stat, but in a square yard they found like 100 different plant species. crazy. of course us stupid rednecks are doing our best to destroy it.
Speak for yourself, bruh. I'm actively doing the opposite. One of the most redeeming qualities of Alabama is the incredible natural beauty and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let that be destroyed. Spoiler I'm aware you're probably not actually trying to destroy it yourself either.