Franconian Beer Message Board
Real Estate, etc. |
| Posted by Nick B (ex-ErlangerNick) on 2020-06-05 14:46:04 |
| AFA parents helping with their offspring's financial situation goes...I've long thought that one reason why Europeans (generalising here) are relatively well off is because their roots go deeper than Americans' do. So, there is more "old money" handed down from generation to generation. Like how the breweries that have been in family ownership have "only" taxes to pay, they already own the land and property outright, and have for generations. But that's generalizing. In my case, my parents didn't own a house until they divorced, when I was 11 or 12. Mom bought a little 2-BR townhouse and had a wall put up to divide the larger bedroom into two for my sister and me. The carpenter ended up being her boyfriend, and his daughter and I ended up having a bit of a ... never mind. Dad never bought a place until he moved in with his now 2nd wife, probably around 40. Becki & I rented until we were in our 30s, when we bought a new-build house in suburban Portland OR. That was back in the days when you could buy a house with less than 1% down payment, especially if you had a good job, which we both did. When we bought our house in Erlangen, the banker asked us if we didn't WANT to put more in down payment on it, since Germans typically put up to 33% down. No, thanks, we don't want to transfer that many dollars to Euros, so they let us do it with 5% down, I think. Actually, the banker's boss is an American, of all things. (Sparkasse Erlangen) Dad grew up in the house his grandparents built and left to his parents, in Waseca MN. It was a beautiful 2-story wooden thing with craftsman features and the luxury of 2 bathrooms, dating from around 1890. Dad sold it when his parents were gone, and it got transported out to the edge of town. I wish I could've seen that. The Lutheran church next door wanted to expand their parking, so they bought the property. Now I'm buying a 65 year old TRAILER HOME. The strange twists and turns life can take... |
| Followups: |
 Real Estate, etc. by Nick B (ex-ErlangerNick) on 2020-06-05 14:54:45 |
| Real Estate, etc. by Barry Roy Taylor on 2020-06-07 04:34:45 |
| Real Estate, etc. by Jeff on 2020-06-10 07:52:46 |
| Real Estate, etc. by Uncle Jimbo on 2020-06-17 23:01:41 |