August 22, 2003

Buying a house, or talking to people who are involved in you buying the house, means that you get to learn that everyone is motivated by money. The real estate agent gets 3%, the seller's agent gets 3%. The builder makes a small margin (5%) on the house, but marks up the upgrades (85 of them) by 200%. You put down 5%-20%, then pay 4-6% in order to use the money (150-200K) for a few (10-30) years. You pay the insurance people (life, homeowner's, car), mortgage insurance people (1.5%), financial planner (10-85 basis points, or .10% - .85%), homeowner's association ($100), teamsters (as much as they want), union (whatever your representation gets for you), etc. You then go down to the liquor store, where you purchase a case (24) of beer (5%) for a few bucks (.003% of monthly gross income) and get fucked up (3 times/week).

August 22, 2003 02:23 PM