Economic illiteracy and Catholicism are a bad mix.
Mr. Potter Hates Mortgages
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Well, the movie also promulgated the mushbrain belief that dead humans become angels, so…
Good fiscal policy. Notice the clenched fist in the background of the Mr. Potter picture.
Saint Joseph is the patron saint for homes.
Selling my home several years ago, after Mass I was invited to a prayer group. I declined because I need to be at the house. They said that they would pray for me. The house sold that day to the first buyer.
South Coast:
And the worse part of it was that the angel had to earn his wings. as if angels needed wings.
A doctorate? Ouch.
A doctorate? Ouch
I personally think that anybody that has a PHD that insists upon referring to themselves as doctor is arrogant. Maybe it’s just me. Lawyers typically receive a Juris Doctor degree. You don’t see them running around referring to themselves as Doctor. It could be that I’m just biased coming from a family of many doctors.
I don’t object to referring to people with a research degree as ‘Dr’. I object to the multiplication of shizzy research degrees. In academic subjects, you should have programs in various sorts of literature (English most commonly), music, art history, speech and rhetoric, philosophy, comparative religion, classics, political science, sociology, economics, history, anthropology, human development, geography, statistics, linguistics, demography, psychology, biology, computer and information science, mathematics, chemistry, geology, physics, astronomy, meterology / climatology, and theology. In occupational subjects, you might have them in the study of business, public policy, law, clinical laboratory sciences, medicine, engineering, agriculture, public health. As for professional credentials, you might have them in ministry / divinity, music, medicine, dentistry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, and professional psychology. Professional doctorates have been multiplying like kudzu the last 40-odd years and we’re in need of an exercise in title deflation. EdD programs should be eliminated completely. (Teacher training programs should trade in certificates, seldom in degrees).
“..personally think that anybody that has a PHD that insists upon referring to themselves as doctor is arrogant…”
agreed, dangerous too in some professions…. Pride is not the Way.
Of course, the brilliant acting job portraying Mr. Potter —-and in a way “stealing the show” on the dark side of things—-by the “immortal” Lionel Barrymore..
@ Mary D.: Absolutely right: S. Joseph as patron of selling a home is not to be laughed at. Absolutely miraculous, from personal experience.
David WS:
I don’t mind academic titles in an academic setting. I always addressed my chem professors as “Doctor” on campus. I certainly wouldn’t have called a neighbor by that name.
The longer the mortgage, the more it benefits the bank, not the buyer.
When we bought our first home I was 31. Paying a mortgage into my 80s? Madness.
For my sins no doubt Dale I have spent the last forty-three years doing a ton of foreclosure work for banks and representing individuals in bankruptcy. Most banks, if they could, wouldn’t do home loans, as they tend to be among the least profitable loans that they make and the most troublesome, with frequent defaults, people catching up, loans being rewritten, insurance not being maintained, property taxes being sold, etc. If they have to foreclose, at least in states where foreclosure has to be by court order, the process tends to be expensive and time consuming. With a diligent attorney, it usually takes about nine months from start to finish in Illinois.
The average 30 year has a term of 7-8 years before the property is sold, or refinanced, and I would expect the proposed 50s to be about the same. About 3 percent of 30s end with payment in full in the 30th year. I wouldn’t take out a 50 year now because I wouldn’t need to. Starting out four decades and so ago, I might have if that gave me the lowest monthly cost. I probably would have gone to a 15 in ten years or so, due to rising income and appreciation in the value of the real estate.
I refinanced 13 years ago when I had two kids in college and law school and I will be paid in full about in four years. My monthly mortgage payment is 302.00 per month and the average rent in my village is now around 1500 for a decent place. I wasn’t too enamored at the amortization schedule when I took out my mortgage initially 40 years ago, and rent was about what I was paying for the mortgage each month, but for me it has worked well. MMV for others of course.