Rant: Laid off today...

[NoTine42]

lol @ those telling him to move out. Typical atot. Perhaps he needs to find another job first before considering moving out. Accumulated savings means nothing if there's no income to continue to replenish it.

As for moving out of town even more LOL. I doubt he can afford that in his situation. The big cities have higher cost of living, crappier living conditions and overall arn't very fun to live in. Work to live, not live to work.

OP, with all the spare time now is a good time to see if you can start a kickstarter or something. I think we are at a time where starting your own gig is easier than finding a job. Everybody is outsourcing or relocating jobs these days and it's only going to get worse. There's no such thing as job security unless you're the owner.

Unlike Canada, not all cities in 'America have outrageous real estate prices. A $266k home in Pittsburgh would cost $509k in Boston or $936k in San Fransisco.

 

[Subyman]

Unlike Canada, not all cities in 'America have outrageous real estate prices. A $266k home in Pittsburgh would cost $509k in Boston or $936k in San Fransisco.

Or $80k in my area.

 

[Kev]

...You mean all those things that go into an apartment rental payment? You need help. Mental. Help.

Down payment aside, which is no longer really necessary with an FHA loan since the government is so desperate to get people into homes these days (Obama is about to make a speech about a drop in the interest rate).

OK retard, let me be more clear. When buying a home you:

1. need a down payment
2. you pay interest on the loan (money that could otherwise be invested)
3. utilities are higher because there's generally more square footage
4. in an apartment, the landlord does the maintenance. Have a plumbing issue in your house? Roof issue? You're fucked.

 

[Subyman]

OP, with all the spare time now is a good time to see if you can start a kickstarter or something. I think we are at a time where starting your own gig is easier than finding a job. Everybody is outsourcing or relocating jobs these days and it's only going to get worse. There's no such thing as job security unless you're the owner.

Bad idea. He will waste a good 2 years pursuing a dead end venture and then have a huge blank spot on his resume.

Interviewer: "Why were you jobless during this 2 year stint?"
OP: "I was pasting together paper and cardboard for my sick boardgame called 'XXX fantasy elf bloodbath beat down'".
Interviewer: "We'll be in touch..."

 

[Subyman]

OK retard, let me be more clear. When buying a home you:

1. need a down payment
2. you pay interest on the loan (money that could otherwise be invested)
3. utilities are higher because there's generally more square footage
4. in an apartment, the landlord does the maintenance. Have a plumbing issue in your house? Roof issue? You're fucked.

On top of that if you do a low down payment like he suggested you have to pay mortgage insurance which is quite high. There is also normal homeowner's insurance that must be paid while under a mortgage. Those can easily raise the monthly payment by $300 depending on the house. Then, like you said, utilities, tax, normal maintenance, yard care, blah blah. Home ownership is great, but it can be very costly.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

OK retard, let me be more clear. When buying a home you:

1. need a down payment
2. you pay interest on the loan (money that could otherwise be invested)
3. utilities are higher because there's generally more square footage
4. in an apartment, the landlord does the maintenance. Have a plumbing issue in your house? Roof issue? You're fucked.

Ok Retard, let me be more clear since the special bus missed your stop.

When your apartment owner buys an apartment complex, he needs:

1. A down payment
2. He pays interest on the loan
3. Utilities based on the renters
4. Buys Insurance / contracts for any repairs needed due to retarded renters

Now when he adds up all those bills.... Who do you think pays them? If you answer "The landlord / owner" You have proven you are a complete retard and everyone here is laughing at you.

 

[Kev]

When your apartment owner buys an apartment complex

Nobody said anything about "buying an apartment complex." We're talking about renting an apartment vs buying a home. Stop trying to change the argument now that you already lost.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Nobody said anything about "buying an apartment complex." We're talking about renting an apartment vs buying a home. Stop trying to change the argument now that you already lost.

/facepalm... he doesn't get it guiz... There is no hope left.

 

[Kev]

/facepalm... he doesn't get it guiz... There is no hope left.

Holy fuck you're stupid.

 

[Imp]

You shouldn't have to defend yourself to them.

I swear engineers have to be the most condescending motherfuckers I've ever encountered.

Yep. Spent almost a decade around them in school plus at work. It starts right at school, right from day one at orientation, ongoing from the professors, and from the media.

Bad idea. He will waste a good 2 years pursuing a dead end venture and then have a huge blank spot on his resume.

Interviewer: "Why were you jobless during this 2 year stint?"
OP: "I was pasting together paper and cardboard for my sick boardgame called 'XXX fantasy elf bloodbath beat down'".
Interviewer: "We'll be in touch..."

Definitely a risk. I'm making a nice hole in my resume right now, but meh. Plan F is to go back to community college for a technical diploma in my field within the year. The work drains my soul, but it pays and I'll go into this time knowing that it's just a paycheck.

 

[piasabird]

Pittsburg might be a better town overall. My daughter moved from Illinois to Boston. Had no problem finding work.

 

[Lash444]

Nobody said anything about "buying an apartment complex." We're talking about renting an apartment vs buying a home. Stop trying to change the argument now that you already lost.

Strawman?

Clearly his stance was that when you rent, you are paying for those things anyway. Which if hes taking the stance that regardless of whether you rent or buy you are going to be paying for maintenance, then it supports his argument.

Unless you really believe your strawman that his argument is when you buy and apartment, you are buying the entire complex?

You want to win an argument legitimately, don't be a clown in the process.

 

[Kev]

Strawman?

Clearly his stance was that when you rent, you are paying for those things anyway. Which if hes taking the stance that regardless of whether you rent or buy you are going to be paying for maintenance, then it supports his argument.

Unless you really believe your strawman that his argument is when you buy and apartment, you are buying the entire complex?

You want to win an argument legitimately, don't be a clown in the process.

Ah, thanks for explaining what he was talking about. His writing sucks so I can't understand wtf he is saying.

Anyway, we are talking about a residents' rent payment vs an owner's mortgage payment being equal. A landlord's overhead expenses are irrelevant.

 

[Puppies04]

That was an autocorrect typo. Please edit your post accordingly.

No

 

[NoTine42]

Or $80k in my area.

I doubt it's that extreme of a difference (unless you are living in an extremely economicly disadvantaged area...which = move)

Without a family, you don't need an average, 200k family home anywhere. You only need half that much home.
Your familiarity with your current area helps you know where you can find a decent, below market average home. When 1st searching a new area, most of those homes are in questionable areas. Eventually you will learn enough about an area to find good ones, too.

 

[midwestfisherman]

LOL.....Wow, some of you guys really go off on tangents!

OP, hang in there you'll find something. If staying close to family is a priority then stick to that and keep searching.

 

[Fritzo]

Ok Retard, let me be more clear since the special bus missed your stop.

When your apartment owner buys an apartment complex, he needs:

1. A down payment
2. He pays interest on the loan
3. Utilities based on the renters
4. Buys Insurance / contracts for any repairs needed due to retarded renters

Now when he adds up all those bills.... Who do you think pays them? If you answer "The landlord / owner" You have proven you are a complete retard and everyone here is laughing at you.

Hey now, be nice and take it down a notch you two.

 

[SolMiester]

My position was terminated because the company is heading in another direction. I was brought on as a mechanical engineer to oversee design and production of their products. We joined up with another company last year, with the idea that they would take over the production aspect of the business. I've worked with them throughout the year and I guess my company feels they know enough to take over design and production. That company even told my company they were looking for engineers like me to hire, and have reached out to me to see if I would be a fit in their company. Unfortunately, they are located in Pittsburgh and I have no desire to move away from family.

This all comes while I am searching for a home to purchase in a slow real estate market. Unless I find another job soon, I probably won't be able to get a mortgage. To top it all off, I am living at my parents house because the house I was renting had mold in it that the landlord did not want to take care of.

So I am a single, jobless 27 year old living with my parents. :\

Your single!, i would have followed the job offer, change is as good as a break! Your young too, so that would of been exicting!

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Anyway, we are talking about a residents' rent payment vs an owner's mortgage payment being equal. A landlord's overhead expenses are irrelevant.

Kev, Respect +1 for coming around when someone re-articulated the argument.

Now let's be clear. Given the same property it makes sense to purchase a home. Unless land-lords are
1) losing money in the short term
2) have a significantly better deal on costs
3) we are talking apples-to-oranges comparisons
4) unaware of the underlying nature of the housing market

Why?

1) The land lord, in order to make money, must charge more than his all-in costs. So if his Rent must be treater than mortgage + other costs. Therefore whatever profit the land lord is making in the short term is money the renter could have in his pocket (in an apples-to-apples comparison).
2) An offset to this is if the land lord can offset costs better than the home owner. For example, if the land owner can get a better deal on a loan for the land than the home owner can. Or if the overhead costs of owning 100 homes divided by those 100 homes is < the overhead costs of owning 1 home. Perhaps he can get a better deal on a bulk-rate contract with electricians, plumbers, painters and all the other stuff that home owners need to deal with

3) Of course, comparing an apartment to a house throws all of this out of the window. But in theory if you were willing to live in an apartment you should be just as willing to live in an apartment you are buying, but which you pay less for because you are not paying profits to the land owner

It seems to me that if people were as respectful and personally invested in a rental property as they are homes they own then the economic equilibrium would favor being a renter because so many people would enter the land-lord business that it would stop being more profitable than any other investment; this is because typically we can expect real return on an investment to follow the fallowing formula: 6% - inflation + required return on risk. (Greenspan, 2008)

Between kinds of investment it is only that third bit that really changes. But renters add risk to the land-lord's investment, kinds of risk that increase the premium. Just think for a moment "why don't I just buy rental properties instead of stocks with my IRA"? The answer is that there is significantly higher risk being a land lord. People don't pay, but file bankruptcy and stay in the home for months; People destroy walls, ignore leaks, and otherwise treat the rental like... a rental. They are also a pain in the ass. All of this leaves profit to be made by people willing to bear the risk.

Therefore risk premium - efficiencies of scale = fiscal benefit of home ownership.

So when does it make sense to rent? Look back at the formula: 6% - inflation + required return on risk. If inflation is low and the value of the property is rising then, to an investor, that required return does not have to come entirely from rental up-charge. If required return is 6% inflation is zero and the land is appreciating at 10% year over year, then the minimum rental up-charge is 2%.

4)The underlying fundamentals of the housing market are invisible to people investing it in. Further, unless there's a systemic shift in how people are spending their money, any sector that grows in value at a page that exceeds the overall economy is leading into abubble that is going to burst. But when the person who owned 10 houses leverages into owning 100 look around all he sees is gravy: because everyone else that did this is also adding into the year over year appreciation. Eventually though, this bubble will burst and prices will dip, and then return to a linear trend that follows the general increase in the economy.

Now, if people are changing how much of their wealth they put into a particular sector then you can have a 'bubble' that's really a measure of the change. For example, as people get older they will sell off their family-sized homes and seek smaller places to live. They will systematically re-orient where they put their money as they move from the consumer-service oriented 18-48 demographic to the more miserly retirement-health care oriented spending demographic of 58-78.

So as people invest in a last minute attempt to have enough money to retire then things you invest in should serge in price: gold goes up in price, homes go up in price, stocks go up in price, bonds should offer crappy returns.

Further as people spend money on not-dicing the price of health care should skyrocket; as there will not be enough doctors, nurses, and the like to go around. Similarly we should see a surge in investment in 'midlife' healthcare products like heart rate monitors, gym memberships, and heart/depression/blood pressure etc. medicines.

Eventually though we'll have an over-investment in healthcare because people will not be 'end loaded' and the amount a doctor, nurse, or geriatric care costs will fall dramatically.

Well also have a BIG drop in the real price of gold, stocks, homes, and a dramatic increase in the returns on bonds as the "saving for retirement" demographic tries to become the "retired" demographic.

So to think that the housing market will rebound is ridiculous; we need to look at the supply/demand of homes in terms of demographic shifts.

 

[WackyDan]

you are single and living with your parents.....move to pittsburg for the other company!!!

This.

Has nothing to do with who he is living with. Family is important but will always be there. I used to commute between Utica, NY and Pittsburgh all the time. From Rochester it isn't that bad a run and to be honest, Pittsburgh is an awesome town. I used to drive home to Utica from living in DC as well and it wasn't that bad.

So OP I think you should really reconsider. Shying away from that opportunity is probably going to cost you in the end.

At any rate, you can move to Pitt, take the job (they'll probably offer some relocation assistance or bump in pay - make them) and tough it out for several months. In that time you get to experience living in Pittsburgh, and you GET PAID while searching for a new job back home in Rochester if you wish. No gaps on your resume and you get to negotiate for the job you really want from the position of being already employed.

I'm sure there is more too it, but given you don't have a lease or a mortgage with no serious girlfriend mentioned, there is absolutely ZERO fucking risk to take the job in Pittsburgh. NONE. You can always move back to Rochester if it doesn't work out, you get sick of it, or never find a job back in Rochester...or find a job in Syracuse or Buffalo.

Can you see that?

 

[96Firebird]

I don't get why people think I have a job offer in Pittsburgh. I don't. I'm going to send an e-mail to the guy I worked with down there tonight (to his personal e-mail address that he gave me) and see what's up. For all I know, they don't have anything open at the time but will keep me in mind for the future. Or maybe he just wants to give me a letter of recommendation. Who knows...

For the time being, I got my resume all nice and purty and have started sending it out. Got some friends who know people who might be interested, and I'm in the process of beefing up my LinkedIn profile.

And while I do not have kids or a serious girlfriend, I do have a 90lb dog and it is hard to find a place that will rent to anything over 30lbs. Some people may think its just a dog get rid of it, but that won't happen.

Actually, I will be headed down to Pittsburgh this weekend. I'm helping my brother-in-law's brother move there for his new job.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I don't get why people think I have a job offer in Pittsburgh.

Because you made it sound as though you pretty much had a job waiting for you in Pittsburgh?

That company even told my company they were looking for engineers like me to hire, and have reached out to me to see if I would be a fit in their company. Unfortunately, they are located in Pittsburgh and I have no desire to move away from family.

 

[amicold]

A few years ago, my position was eliminated. I was given an option of remaining in the same job but moving to Tonawanda/Buffalo area or moving into a completely unrelated position and staying in Indy. I took the unrelated position to stay in Indy and then I left the company when I secured another job. Why did I do that? Indy is a far larger employment market (among other reasons).

Praxair?

OP I think you'll be fine, if you stay in upstate you'll find work even if it's an hour down the 90.