Entitlement @ 47 - Interesting read

[RickTheToad]

They rushed to buy a home in the pandemic. Here’s what they would change.

The COVID pandemic has turned out to be a historically miserable time to buy a home on a market ripe for regret.

www.seattletimes.com

You can read with the epicbrowser if you do not have a NYT account.




Recent buyers — those who are remorseful and others who are content with their homes — have some sage advice about how they would do it differently if they had to do it all over again.

The cost of being house poor

Stephanie DiSantis and her dog Brady in their new home in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. The house gave her more space, but at a significant financial cost. (Ruth Fremson / The New York Times)
Three months into the pandemic, Stephanie DiSantis felt claustrophobic working from home in her 800-square-foot town house in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.

So, like millions of other Americans, she started looking for a bigger space. She set her maximum budget at $900,000 but soon realized that if she wanted to stay in the central neighborhood, she would have to pay more. She pushed her budget up to $1.3 million, reassessing her priorities.

“I decided, I’ve done a lot of traveling, I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve done the thing where I’m like, ‘I’m hungry for pasta, I’m going to go to Rome for three days,’” said DiSantis, 47, who works for Amazon. “I can stop doing that. I can afford to be a little house poor.”

In October 2020, while she was in Massachusetts visiting family for a month, a 2,570-square-foot house dropped the list price to $1.45 million, over her maximum budget but within reach. After her friends, her broker and an inspector vetted it in her absence, her offer at full asking price was accepted.

She returned to Seattle in November, seeing the house she’d only seen on video in person for the first time.

“When I first saw it, I cried,” she said of the house with views of the Puget Sound. “I fell in love.”


The house gave her more space, but at a significant financial cost. In 2021, her priorities shifted, and she suddenly felt the burden of a huge mortgage.

“I got super burned out at work,” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘Man, if I was still in that town house, I could just quit my job for a year and be fine.’ The mortgage was so low, I could take a year off, I could relax, I could refuel and now I really can’t. ”

The spacious new home with views of Puget Sound that Stephanie DiSantis fell in love with — but she also finds the mortgage to be a financial strain — in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. (Ruth Fremson / The New York Times)
What she wanted: A three-bedroom house in Seattle for $900,000.

What she bought: A three-bedroom house in Seattle for $1.45 million.

What she learned: When DiSantis calculated her budget, she did not anticipate how a large mortgage would limit her future options.

“I wish that I would have been able to foresee a couple of years down the road and waited it out,” she said. “I could have taken a big break or been that person who’s like, ‘OK, I’ll move to Montana and get a house that is everything I want for half the price.’”

 

[Bokanovsky]

What is the point of this article? That buying things you cannot afford is bad?

But seriously, what do you expect from a woman who's thought process works like this: "I’ve done the thing where I’m like, ‘I’m hungry for pasta, I’m going to go to Rome for three days”.

 

[Zimbabwe]

Dog Mums have become the new cat ladies

 

[derby1]

I wouldnt have even thought about how they upheave things on a whim.

But looking back, my daughters Mom always got fed up of the house we were in. she would find a reason why we would need a bigger house, every 12 months.

my mom is constantly finding stupid jobs for my dad to do.

and my nan gets my grandad to redecorate every 18 months, so the house looks a totally different style inside.

The females in my family really dont cause the guys any hassle and theyre free to work on race cars etc.,

But you can see how "bored" women get.

 

[SargeMaximus]

It’s over for RentCels?

 

[SW15]

Dog Mums have become the new cat ladies

Since the early 2010s, it seems like so many Millennial women are dog owners. So annoying. I remember when I moved to my current city in 2011, I went on Match (before Tinder and other swipe apps launched) and remember seeing that practically every single women 25-28 at that time had a dog. Those were the early Millennials. I thought it was only the Match audience that was dog crazy. It turned out that Millennials were the most pet crazed generation ever.

It’s over for RentCels?

Even those she is 47, I doubt she has any difficulty getting laid.

That the whimsical nature of females is a reason to control the finances in a cohabited situation?

This makes sense. It makes even more sense to not cohabit.

 

[Black Widow Void]

Not sure that this is just a female thing.

Look at those of adult age that were ‘smart enough’ to be accepted by a University, but somehow failed to realize that there would be accompanying large college debt.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Women have no understanding of how much things cost. They think - “a man will pay for it.”

(For single women that man is the government)

 

[Robert28]

Women have no understanding of how much things cost. They think - “a man will pay for it.”

(For single women that man is the government)

Yep because simps that open their wallet aren’t a good long term strategy.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

Lady ain't house poor, she's brain poor.