It just boggles my mind how within the past decade, it's become so popular for people to live so far outside of their means. My wife and I together make well over 100k / yr, but our mortgage is well below 1,000 / mo. Our house cost us 64,000. That's not a typo. Sixty four thousand.
Meanwhile, there's so many "house poor" people out there who bit off way more than they could chew, simply because they could. For a while there, anyone could get a mortgage. Sooo, you had the same types of people who max-out every credit card offer that comes in the mail, buying houses they couldn't afford. What other outcome could there have been?
I've got 2 simple rules that I live by in my life: Keep your public record clean (your criminal record), and keep your private record clean (your credit). It's as simple as that.
I may sound like a dick for saying this, but it pisses me off that I bust my ass to pay my bills and keep my credit good...for what? What does it matter when someone can get a mortgage on a house that costs 5x what mine did, just off of stated income? How the hell is that fair?
It isn't just mortgages, it's all aspects of credit. Shit I remember having to show all sorts of financial documentation just so I could finance a vehicle. The first 2 business trucks I financed took DAYS to get an answer on the loan. My credit was the same back then as it is today. NOW however, I can walk into a dealership and within a couple hours I can drive off with whatever I want. I could probably go finance a Ferrari right now..no questions asked. Doesn't mean I could afford the first payment, I almost guarantee I could get the loan. That's screwed up.
My question is this: Whatever happened to the incentive of working hard for the things you have, when anyone can finance anything they want!