Re: How do people afford houses in places like NY, Cali, and other expensive areas?
anyways going back to the topic, here are some other ways ppl can afford expensive homes aside from the juggling expenses and cutting on other things.
1) they earn more.
2) they go for interest onlyloans on low APR ARMs (recipe for disaster if market goes south)
3) they were in real estate and took advantage of the appreciation on their homes as they traded up, having larger chinks avaiulable for down payment.
4) places appreciated after the people bought them, e.g. someone may have bought a place for $500K and now its up to $700K, they cant afford a $700K but they are living in one, because to them its a $500K house, cuz thats what their payemnts are based on.
How is that "other", that's the only way.