Damm right, which is why we should not be using my tax dollars to bail them out.

You are using protection, aren't you?

I thought you were.

heh. We are spending roughly a quarter of the family income (if you could call it that) on our housing. And we don't even own it.

Now glatt is only one degree away from a complete fool.
:)
(of course I'm not going to pay 250,000 for a broom closet in a santa fe barrio, forget it)

What are we including in housing costs? Just rent/mortgage? Taxes, insurance, maintenance, utility bills? If you rent, you're probably just including rent and insurance, maybe some utilities. If you own a house or condo, the other costs can be considerable. We probably spend $8,000 to $12,000 per year on things like tree cutting, new roof, painting, furnace repair, etc., which we would not pay if we were renting.

Some months I pay 100% of my income on the house. Sometimes 10%. It just depends on what is happening in the cellar.

Welcome to the Cellar, hauystore. :D
Is that 50% an average minimum for people buying their first house or the general average for everyone?

I heard on the news today that Australia is one of the most expensive places to buy a house in the English speaking world. Apparently on average it costs more tha 7.5 times the average income to buy a house. So that means, even if you could put every cent into the mortgage for 7.5 years, you still couldn't pay it off because of the interest which means gone are the days when the average couple could well and truly pay off a house within 10 years.

Also, a bottle of coke costs twice the amount in Australia as it does in the US. (that's just a useless fact you may find useful some time)

???

!!!

You would pay for these things through your rent. Landlords own housing to make a profit in the long term and are unlikely to lose money in the long term. If they find they have to shell out money for maintenance they would either put off the repairs, have already budgeted for long-term maintenance by charging additional rent to cover it, or do the maintenance and then put the rent up. The exact action taken by the landlord will depend on the circumstances.

Yes, but a jar of Vegemite costs 6x here what it does in Syndey.

Thank god.

I'm sure the price would go down if you all started buying it.

Well, clearly our refined American palate has rejected your national snackiness.

Well, clearly your American palate is not as refined as you might like to think.