Guardian: Home ownership has become a nightmare for many Americans.

Owning a home isn’t for everyone.

This Guardian article gives some sad stories, but not enough information to figure out what the home owners are doing wrong. 

“I had to take out an additional mortgage to replace the heat and AC system,” she said. “I keep increasing the deductibles on the home insurance to try to keep the premiums down. They ratchet up every year, while my income does not. I won’t be able to do more repairs unless our circumstances change significantly. Our necessities consume 75% of my income, with 50% of that housing costs.”

This suggests that 25% of the home owner’s income is available for luxuries or items that aren’t necessary.  That’s pretty good.  Save that for a rainy day fund.  The journalist doesn’t ask.

“I’ve come to view home ownership and healthcare as destabilizing forces in my life,” said Bernie, a 45-year-old network engineer from Minneapolis. To finance owning his and his wife’s $300,000 home and saving for the future, the couple was foregoing medical and dental treatment of any kind and cutting back on expenses everywhere, he said, despite a pre-tax household income of more than $250,000.

After-tax, this couple has something like $15,000 coming in per month.  Details of the mortgage aren’t provided, but probably around $2500 per month.  Obama-care requires everyone have some health coverage.  What medical treatments are being delayed?  Most dental treatments are urgent or routine checkups.  The journalist should have asked for clarification.  The finances don’t seem dire.

“I bought this house 19 years ago for $220,000,” she said. “We have this huge tax burden here, it has really gotten out of control. Property taxes increased by $3,100 last year. I now pay $8,800 per year on a home I can perhaps only sell for $280,000. I’m in a better position than most people and make a decent salary today, $170,000.

The homeowner is a 60 year old woman living in a Chicago suburb.  With an after-tax income of $130,000 or so, the house should already be paid off.  She probably has a 3 or 4% rate on her mortgage, so financially it may not make sense, but it’s a good idea to go into retirement with no mortgage. 

She adds this part:

Anxious about her property taxes eating up funds she will need for her retirement, Angela has been exploring a move to a rural area with a lower tax burden.

“But those very rural areas tend to be more conservative. This nation is so divided, I might be totally isolated in some of these places,” she said.

That helps clarify the situation.  She is a Progressive living in a southern suburb of a poorly run major city in a poorly run state.  She could move to a better-managed and unexciting location, but she would miss the chaos.

Meg was among scores of homeowners from across the US who shared with the Guardian how much they have been struggling with the rising cost of home ownership.

The journalist doesn’t explain how these struggling home ownership anecdotes were solicited or what follow-up questions were asked.  What is the motivation for this article?

What’s the motivation for my post?  Well, Sparky isn’t doing anything interesting and the article pissed me off.