DU senior citizens: Do you own your own home?

[gollygee]

Re this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2661055

17 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Unlimited
	I own my house and it is completely paid off.
	10 (59%)
	I either rent, or live in a house that has a mortgage of some sort.
	7 (41%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[gollygee]

1. Can I just say

That I love the disclaimer. "This is an internet poll." LOL

[aristocles]

2. 63 Paid it off 10 years ago eom

[RebelOne]

3. I live in a mobile home that is totally mine.

All I pay is a lot rent of $380 a month, which includes water and garbage pickup.

[Politicalboi]

4. Just bought mine last November

It's a mobile home. I paid $10,000, so not too hard to be paid off.

[appleannie1]

5. We had to go with a reverse mortgage a couple years ago when medical expenses made it

impossible to pay our full mortgage payment. We still live in our home but if any of our kids would want it after we die, they would have to buy it.

[CountAllVotes]

7. that is what I intend to do

Reverse mortgage looks like a good option for me. As for "heirs", where are they anyway? The only time I ever hear from anyone that could be an "heir" is when they are looking for money from me, a practice I no longer participate in.

If said "heir" cannot even send you a birthday and/or Xmas card, just a card when they are looking for some bucks, to hell with them.

The bank can have the house. I really do not care.

[appleannie1]

19. I can't say the same for any of mine. They are always there to help us. In fact they just

put t heir money together and bought us a much needed furnace.

[CountAllVotes]

20. your are very fortunate

I have no children and one sibling and a niece/nephew.

I feel like the sibling would like me to disappear fast so that these particular relatives can grab up anything that might be left of me which I rather doubt given my diagnosis.

It is a disgusting situation and has never changed. I think I give up.

What to do is the problem. Who can be my executor/executrix is my problem.

I need a will badly.

[fwm]

6. Paid it off when the housing bubble hit.

We were old enough to know the housing bubble wasn't going to last too long and the economy would tank after that. We were also in the habit of paying several months ahead of schedule as Wells Fargo had a nasty habit of sending the 'mortgage bill' just 2 weeks before it was due. I much preferred the 'coupon book' method that the previous mortgage holder used, but everytime the mortgage got transferred to a new bank the worse it got. I think there were four banks that held our mortgage over it's 20 year period.

[1-Old-Man]

8. I paid it off back in 1985 and have just been paying rent to the state (property tax) ever since.

You never actually own your property, you just get to rent it from the state.

[Lugnut]

11. Same here.

Our mortgage was paid off in 1986 and we've been renting ever since. Thank goodness pour taxes aren't too high but still.

[MineralMan]

9. I have a modest mortgage on mine, at a good interest rate.

It was taken to completely pay off all other debt. The payment is very manageable. The other debt was not.

[pipi_k]

10. Own...

with a modest mortgage, reasonable payments.

We have put on some additions, added siding, made other improvements, so even though the market isn't that great right now, it's still worth more than the worst assessment we ever got on Zillow, etc.

[shanti]

12. first

what do you consider a "senior"?

[Downwinder]

14. I have a life estate apartment.

[ananda]

15. I like renting.

It really pays off for me.

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. Sold house in Jan. Bought a 2006 motor home, paid cash and live in that now.

Rent for the space is $380/mo which inc. water/sewer/cable/wi fi.

Electric is metered.

Did this so we could afford to live on SS and a small Teamster pension.

[11 Bravo]

17. 62, we still have 15 years on the mortgage, but have around $300 K in equity.

(We bought at the absolute PERFECT time. Sheer, dumb luck.)

[Blue_In_AK]

18. I'm still paying a mortgage.

I'd be pretty much done now if I hadn't had to refinance in 2003 to pay off my ex-husband. The good news is it's a small mortgage and my duplex is worth more than two times what it was when I bought it in 1990. I'm 66, by the way. The mortgage won't be paid off until I'm 86.

[sorefeet]

21. Looking to buy cheaper than rent

I pay 300 bucks a month for a 1300 square foot house right now on 1200 acres, been here for 14 years and now they are going to sell so I gotta go. But I have found several old homesteads in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and a few other western states with 4 to 10 acres that are 50 grand with out buildings and wells and all the goodies, so that is my plan. I'm 60 and I better hurry up. And if the feds would legalize marijuana I would have more options.

[woo me with science]

22. How many who DID buy a home when wages still allowed it

are now on reverse mortgages just to make ends meet, or are liquidating assets? How many will exhaust their assets, including the value of their homes, before they die and be unable to pass anything on to their children?

Look around you. The vultures are everywhere, because costs for health insurance, food, shelter have skyrocketed. People are deep in debt, even though they may, on paper, "own a home." We have the illusion of a middle class now, but most wealth has been or is being hollowed out. Fly-by-night business that offer to liquidate annuities, pay cash for cars or jewelry, or mortgage property that previously was owned outright are booming.

The question is not if people own a home, but how much they are struggling, how deeply they are in debt, and if they are liquidating assets or borrowing in an unsustainable way against the value of the assets they still have left just in order to survive.

[Broken_Hero]

23. I didn't vote, but

my parents own their home, and one is a senior, and one is close.

My mother/father in law are both seniors and they are 8yrs away from owning their home.

eta:to change, removed to "away"

[oneshooter]

24. House, land (40 acres) truck, car, tractor. All free and clear.

Except for taxes and insurance.