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34. Paid cash.
Of course in one of the smallest towns in Iowa.
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Scraping the initial down payment together is the hardest (10% down); most need a hand from relatives.
But after that, you're set... As long as you can keep interest below say 10%.
Figure on PIT of about 30% of your gross.
(Bought my first place in my mid-twenties; always had one since then).
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I was 28. My situation was different to that of an average American, but relatively typical of the software types who read this page.
- My wife and I were both professionals, so our income was somewhat above the median.
- We lived frugally, essentially spending one income and saving the other.
- We bought our first house outside the big city of Seattle.
- We made extra payments to pay off a larger part of the mortgage.
- We refinanced when interest rates went down.
We lived in our first house for 10 years. During this time its value doubled in nominal dollars. We bought our second home in a somewhat depressed Seattle neighborhood near the university. The sale of our old home funded half the price of the second home, and our increased income funded the payments.
We lived in that second house for 12 years, eventually moving to a big house in the desirable Capitol Hill neighborhood. Again, the sale of our second house funded half the purchase price of the next house, and our income was adequate to make the payments. This was the first time that we needed both incomes to live on. This was actually a mistake, as the Great Recession plus a devastating accident cut off both our incomes. But we made it through.
We had good neighbors and bad neighbors. We had maintenance costs in addition to the mortgage, like putting new roofs on two houses. We substantially remodeled the third house.
Some things we learned:
- When you own your home, your payments stay the same for 30 years. No surprise rent increases, no getting kicked out because the landlord wants to turn the building into a condo. No getting kicked out because the landlord sells the building to Amazon who wants to raze it and put up a 12-storey office building. Large maintenance costs can be scheduled years in advance if you need to. It's very rare to have a significant maintenance expense you have to pay right away.
- The monthly mortgage payment on a house is about the same as the monthly rent on the same sized dwelling. If you rent, that money's gone, but if you buy, some of that money goes into principal, which you may eventually get back. The financial computation is a no-brainer.
- You can buy nice appliances, instead of the cheap ones they put in apartments. In fact everything you do in a house you own will be nice and new and you get to use it for years.
- Crappy neighbors of your hose are separated by 30 feet and a six foot fence. This air-gap is really important. Crappy neighbors in an apartment are banging on your walls or ceiling and feeding cockroaches which eventually get into your unit.
- You have to stay in a house about two years to pay back the up-front cost of purchasing a house. It's not a good plan to buy unless your relationship is strong and your job situation is good.
- We moved in up markets and stayed put in down markets. There were scary financial times during the time we were in each of our houses, but we made it through on one income or the other, plus savings, and didn't lose the house.
- We have never regretted living frugally, deferring purchases (e.g. automobiles) until we could pay for them with cash, and enjoying a few very nice things instead of a whole lot of cheap things that broke quickly.
- We had friends who made the same money we did, but made different spending choices, who had difficulty saving enough money for a down payment, or who were screwed by an economic downturn or job loss. I cannot understand how a developer paycheck could possibly not be enough to live on, but people are funny that way.
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25, in 1984. Like many other respondents to this question, there's a "but"... I bought it from some acquaintances, no estate agents involved, and we split the resultant savings between us. Cost about £43K and I put down a 10% deposit, and got in two lodgers whose rent covered most of the mortgage costs. On the outskirts of London.
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I was 24 and married with a 6 month old. We bought the house because it was $200/month cheaper than our apartment, was 1,000 sq.ft bigger and had a 2 car garage. Our immediate neighbors were great, but the others.... no so much. There ended up being a gun-fight between rival gangs on the corner (we were the corner house), which was about 50-60 feet from my two kids windows.... and that led me to look elsewhere. That was a year ago, and have since moved from southern California to Seattle, where I bought my 2nd house in December. Just turned 32.
Senior Software Engineer / Automotive Hacker
"the fabric is down again...."
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Hello all,
I have a wifi access point that can work as a wifi repeater (which is how I have it connected now).
In a computer that is plugged directly to the router I can get a download speed of 10270kbps and an upload speed of 787kbps and a latency of 36ms.
Nothing impressive, but it works.
And in a computer connected through wifi across that repeater I'm getting a super download speed of 1015kbps and an upload speed of 707kbps and a latency of 40ms (this happened after resetting the access point, before it was impossible to finish the speed test as it was impossible to send data to do it).
Is this normal? or should I test something in any of the devices? seeing that big difference, what would you suggest?
The wifi has connected:
2 Chromecast devices.
4 Phones.
1 Computer.
There are a maximum of 5 routers nearby...
Any idea on how to improve that performance?
The computer is getting full signal from the wifi repeater.
Probably the repeater is getting half the power from the router.
Thank you all!
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Nothing in your on-going daily kerfluffles with technology is "normal."
Nor is the behavior of turning the Lounge into a personal support forum for a never-ending series of posts about said daily apocalypses.
In fact, one might say you define "normal" by providing a clear example of what is it not.
If only defining "normal" was more entertaining 
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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BillWoodruff wrote: Nothing in your on-going daily kerfluffles with technology is "normal."
I don't think so...
I've upgraded from 7 to 10 and it worked flawlessly... well... ok, you are right... that seems not to be normal given the posts of other people here. 
BillWoodruff wrote: Nor is the behavior of turning the Lounge into a personal support forum for a never-ending series of posts about said daily apocalypses.
They are not apocalypses, simply things that are technology related and that are giving me some headache... then before starting touching things here and there and possibly making things worse, it seems to me a good idea searching the internet and asking for help here... No one is under pressure to answer and each time I find a solution I tag the post as solved to avoid people wasting time in an already solved issue.
The Lounge is a very nice place to come, not only a personal forum, but it is also a personal forum where a lot of technology savvy people hangs and where a lot of things can be discussed.
BillWoodruff wrote: In fact, one might say you define "normal" by providing a clear example of what is it not.
I'm from a small village in Catalonia... what did you made think I would be normal? 
BillWoodruff wrote: If only defining "normal" was more entertaining
Seriously, I'm sorry if reading those messages have annoyed or bored you, of course this is not what was intended.
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<i>BillWoodruff wrote:
turning the Lounge into a personal support forum</i>
Ooh! The quoty thing isn't working!
However. Point of order, Mr. Chairman!
The ruling at the top of the page clearly states "<i>anything in a software developer's life</i>", so we clearly <i>are</i> his personal support forum until such time as he changes job.
Just wait for him to post an "<i>I've been promoted to Project Manager!</i>" message, then you can jump all over him.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Why so curmudgeonly? She isn't asking for codes pleeze. Besides, have you seen her picture???
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I'd check the channel usage.
For Android there is an app I use: Wifi Analyzer[^] which shows you how many other routers are on the same channel, or close and suggests better ones. It also lets you monitor the signal strength in near real-time as you move around.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Done that, no one else was at the same channel, but the router had the channel selection at AUTO mode, so I've selected the channel manually.
A little bit better... 
And I've disconnected the 54G mode...
And this has made it work better too...
I'll cross fingers and see if this stays this way for long...
Thank you OG!
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You're welcome - good luck!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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As Griff says, check the channel allocation. What other SSID are appearing, possibly causing interference using the same channels or channel overlap. Check which frequency everything is using. if every man and dog around is on 2.4, and your hardware supports it, switch to 5 (depending on distance etc.).
Also, look at the direction, are you looking at extending out in one direction, i.e. possible reflector option at main AP. Also look at the antenna angles, positioning, can the router be moved slightly near a doorway etc. All these help.
WifiAnalyser is definitely an excellent tool to play around with until you get things optimal.
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I think the @#$% router I own is not really good... It only allows 2.4...
I've seen that putting it to a specific channel has improved a little bit the behavior...
Let's see what will happen from now...
Thank you!
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In UK, I got so fed up with (what felt like) constantly replacing and poor performance Wifi Routers and Extenders that I ripped them out and hard wired in Ubiquiti POE UniFi APs, one upstairs and one downstairs. wired back to a Ubiquiti Switch and Ubiquiti Router.....so much better and never any problems now. 
Downstairs AP[^]
Network Rack in loft[^]
Over here in Qatar I have linksys AP (wired back to cannot be removed fibre router, telecoms company owned)and 2 Linksys Extenders, they can be problematic and need to be rebooted every so often. I am wanting to do the same as the Uk and replace them with Ubiquiti gear, so after holidays maybe look at how can get the wiring through the building (concrete walls and false ceilings). 
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Aw. The old Fiasco in which you could easily break your arm reaching for the passenger side seat belt (no rear seatbelts in those days, of course!) Such memories!
I am not a number. I am a ... no, wait!
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R. Giskard Reventlov wrote: Marvelous car.
Too bad it's butt ugly. 
That's what I do. I drink, and I know things. ~ Tyrion Lannister
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Yeah, but went like sh*t off a shovel. For its day it was ok but it did require regular servicing. Like every week...
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Nope, Axl still sucks and takes away from the ACDC sound I have grown to love. They need to retire now.
Second link, he sounds like Sam Kinison.
...in my opinion, that is.
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Wow! Thank you for this. I never expected that he fits that good.
modified 19-Jan-21 21:04pm.
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It's cute the first time.
The nth time, it creates a new behavior -- how long can I wait so that I'm not the first caller having to listen to the hold music.
Ah, the side-effects of technology on our behavior!
You can hear the hold song here[^] if you want. Like I said, cute the first time.
Marc
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