Affluent Black County Mired In Mortgage Mess

[1stSoon2BePhD]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

It's just a messy situation all around, and today's black professionals--most of whom were either first generation college students and/or first generation homeowners--were more vulnerable than their white colleagues with similar education and income.

I agree 100% and I think THIS is the problem - it's like the old story of poor people winning the lottery one week and being broke again the next. People who weren't taught how to properly manage their money are, in my opinion, at higher risk of losing it. I was just talking to someone about this today as I am a first generation college graduate and will soon be the first person in my family with a PhD. I have no idea what it takes to pay for a house because my parents never owned a house and we were evicted twice.

Just because you make "six figures" doesn't mean you know how to MANAGE that much money. I think this is a hard concept for people to grasp so they end up bankrupt and in foreclosure.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I agree. There's a reason why these things disproportionately impact Blacks.

So blacks face foreclosure at a higher rate than non-blacks? I didn't know that. Where would one find these figures?

Is this his story? Yikes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/0..._n_203305.html

I posted this story a few months back. There is also a similar one circling FB about a family who haven't made a mortgage payment in almost 2 years. Must.Be.Nice. As a renter I think I could slide for about a month tops before my ass was living on the street. I'm sorry but since housing is typically ones highest expense, barring catastrophe I don't understand how one could not pay for housing and still be behind on credit card bills.

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I'm here! Finally! I was out of town for a wedding this weekend and was mad busy in the days leading up to it.

I hinted at this upthread, but there's a lot of pressure for black professionals to buy houses even when it might not be the best time to do so in their lives. It used to be that homeownership was the official sign that "you've made it," and you can still see it with a lot of black Baby Boomers and Greatest Generation folks. When I got my masters, my father was on me hard to buy--I knew it was a dumb idea, given how mutable my life was and how expensive real estate was in NYC, and I chose to focus my financial priorities on building savings and investing for retirement. I'll have the rest of my life to buy a house. But, there are a lot of people in their early to mid 20s who take what their parents say as gospel, especially if their parents did "well." (It's a relative term since so many Black Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers had stable government or union jobs, VA housing loans, and the GI bill to get out of college without debt. It would require lot more income--and much lower housing costs--to replicate that sort of middle-class prosperity today.)

The bolded statements are more universal than you think. We are just living in a different era now than when our parents were our age. Over Thanksgiving my aunt was telling me how she bought her first house when she was 19 and working as a cashier at a grocery store and couldn't understand why "kids" these days couldn't afford their own houses. I told her if I was able to buy a nice 3 bedroom ranch in a safe, tree lined suburb for $35,000 than I probably would've been a homeowner at 19 as well

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

So blacks face foreclosure at a higher rate than non-blacks? I didn't know that. Where would one find these figures?

Well, I said "disproportionately." That is within the context of representation in the total population and among those who are purchasing houses. And I believe I was talking about a range of economic correlates and outcomes that disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities.

Example:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/6041...re-crisis-race

As for an overall "higher rate," example:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/18/news...sure/index.htm

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

I posted this story a few months back. There is also a similar one circling FB about a family who haven't made a mortgage payment in almost 2 years. Must.Be.Nice. As a renter I think I could slide for about a month tops before my ass was living on the street. I'm sorry but since housing is typically ones highest expense, barring catastrophe I don't understand how one could not pay for housing and still be behind on credit card bills.

You have a generous leasing office.

[PiKA2001]

What's this thread about now? Are we talking about peoPle in general loosei g their house or only black folk in PG county? I've got lots to say about both, well not black people specifically but DC housing prices... Ridiculous. I used to work at Andrews AFB so I'm familiar with the DC area and the fact that a shitty three bedroom townhome would cost half a million dollars. Add the fact that houses a few years ago were appreciating 10-20k a year and the fear of being priced out and you have trouble.

And if this post doesn't make sense it's cuz I've been boozing. Goota do something during layovers.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

And if this post doesn't make sense it's cuz I've been boozing.

I thought something was wrong with the first three sentences. LOL. The rest made sense.

We have 4 topics going on here: the relatively more affluent Blacks in PG county; racial and ethnic minority homeownership in America; housing prices/cost of living; and the mortgage crisis.

Wait until you're sober. Be safe and have fun.

[PiKA2001]

Hey, I'm on vacation so I'm allowed. I also have to build up a tolerance to alcohol. I'm flying out west and touring Pinot Noir country this week!

[DrPhil]

http://www.aaah.org/

http://ybpguide.com/2006/12/04/home-buying-101/

http://www.emergingminds.org/African...me-Market.html