This is not a trick question.
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| Numbers corrected based in comments. Cost of insurance added in. Utilities look low compared to what we pay. |
Then there is the added cost of commuting if you are not located close to your job.
If your kids are rough on the interior it is another $2000 for dry-wall repair and repainting the interior.
If your neighbor gets their kitchen redone in the latest, prestige countertop materials and you want to "fit in", that might be another $30k.
So, by the time you add up all the on-going costs of living in a 2200 square-foot, suburban house and honestly include depreciation...you are looking at $1000 a month to live in a Free House.
It happens with depressing frequency: People who are stupid with money (and this includes Marxists) confuse the "Markers of Wealth" with "Wealth".
I can start putting Ph.D. after my name but that doesn't make me any smarter. Nor does it mean I earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in anything useful. For all you know, Ph.D. means Post-hole Digger; a useful skill but it doesn't mean I am smarter than before I put Ph.D. after my name. "Ph.D." is a marker, not a fact.
A family that is stupid about money can acquire all of the markers of wealth but they won't have wealth. In truth, they will have dissipaters of wealth. Markers of wealth almost guarantee the holders of those markers will not gain any more economic power or economic freedom.
Stanley and Danko, authors of The Millionaire Next Door make the point that the one thing that rich fathers can do to guarantee that their children will NEVER become economically healthy is to give them the down-payment for a house in a neighborhood they cannot afford.
The fact that the markers of success are not and can never be the critical tools for success is where the Left has been mentally broken.
ReplyDeleteThe only time a race is equal is at the starting line, making it even at the finish line by cheating in favor of the less capable racers.
Harrison Bergeron is a warning but Progressives want to use it as a reference manual.
Insurance?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I forgot about that. Thank-you!
DeleteMaybe the people who were "given" the house don't worry about replacement value. After all, it is not financed and they assume that somebody will give them another.
Are there any insurance agents out there who can estmiate what a typical monthly insurance premium on a 20 year old, 2200 square-foot house? It would be useful to have a range.
According to the ever wise and wonderful Mrs ERJ, she estimates that the local rates would be between $100 and $110 a month. It could be higher if you had multiple claims, raised pit-bulls or lived in a high risk part of town.
Delete$36,000 seems a bit excessive for floor coverings, but you probably live a bit better then me. Not trying to be picky but that price throws off the monthly and yearly price.
ReplyDeleteGreat catch. I missed the cost-per-yard to cost per square-foot conversion.
DeleteCost varies hugely by quality. $6000 will get you durable carpet and a good pad and free installation from the Home Despot. Making a few other, offsetting assumptions like 65% of the house is carpeted gets you a number of about $25/month instead of $150.
Great catch. Thanks