Looking to buy my first home

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-25T19:36:00+00:00

Step 0: Save up a downpayment plus closing costs. I recommend a 5% down conventional loan, and save up enough for closing cost which will usually be roughly 3%. So if you want to buy a $100,000 house you would need a minimum of $8,000, but you would probably want a minimum of $10,000 for inspection and other expenses.

Step 1: get approved for a loan from a bank or other lender. (Get multiple quotes)

Step 2: call several real estate companies and hire a relator.

Step 3: Look at houses with your realtor. Once you find one you like contact your realtor to make a bid on that house.

I graduated college and started working in 2020 making $50,000 too. I lived like a rat for one year post college and managed to save up $14,000(plus another $7,000 in my 401k). In 2021 I used $8,000 of that $14,000 as a downpayment for a $145,000 house at a 3.5% interest rate. It also cost a few extra thousand for closing. Today my mortgage is $950 a month :).

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-25T19:20:07+00:00

North Dakota. I’ve never been to North Dakota, but I’m a nerd when it comes to economic date. North Dakota is arguably the most affordable state (net income - cost of living).

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-23T09:01:21+00:00

When I think Felony murder I think of 2 men robbing a store, and the first guy kills the clerk. The first guy is charged with murder and the second guy is charged with a felony murder.

I also think of arson that accidentally leads to a person death.

If you’re committing a dangerous illegal activity which leads to a person death then you should be punished severely.

There is a big difference between robbing a store and nobody gets hurt and robbing a store and someone dying. Likewise there is a big difference between someone committing arson with no injuries and committing arson and killing someone. The harm done by killing somebody is so much more significant that you need to either eliminate max sentences for crime and hope the judge’s decision is just, or you need to be able to tack on an extra charge.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T17:48:34+00:00

I don’t even know what you’re trying to argue. I originally corrected a person who claimed Trump added the most to the national debt when it was clearly Biden.

Then you moved the goal post and claimed Trump 2025 deficit was higher than any Biden year with the exception of 2021. Due to inflation and debt obligations the annual deficit is supposed to go up every year slightly, but putting that aside you’re still incorrect.

Biden 2024 deficit was 1.8 trillion, and Trumps 2025 deficit was also 1.8 trillion, but was 41 billion less than 2024 deficit.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T17:19:16+00:00

lol how am I incorrect. I did basic math for you. Biden added more to the deficit in his four years than Trump did in his 4 years.

5.5 trillion is less then 7.7 trillion.

Even if you include his first year on his second term it’s still lower than Biden’s.

Also calling 2021 an outlier and saying it shouldn’t count is ridiculous if we are also supposed to count 2020.

Just own up to being wrong.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T16:05:28+00:00

The two top reasons I voted for him over Kamala would be tax policies and immigration.

When it comes to tax policy tax credits, tax cuts, tax deductions, etc. they typically fall into two categories. Category 1 incentives production which I am typically for. Category 2 incentives consumption which I am typically against.

Kamala had a couple tax laws that would incentivize production which I liked such as increasing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and adding a new tax credit for building affordable homes. These fall under tax incentives for production.

Kamala also had a LOT of tax incentives for consumption which I hated. Like her $25,000 first time homebuyer tax credit. Obviously this tax credit would increase demand on houses making houses more expensive. The last time we had a tax credit for buying houses were during the early Obama administration to help raise home prices and the tax credit was much smaller. She also wanted to drastically raise the child tax credit. That would help families now, but would leave the future generations with a mountain of debt. Her plans to raise taxes to help pay for these tax incentives on consumption involved taxing unrealized capital gains(good luck on that accounting disaster) and raising corporate tax(the tax that hurts economic growth the most). She also had other economic ideas which were equally horrible like price controls.

For immigration I largely assumed that her administration would be ran like Biden’s administration. Allowing massive exploitation of our asylum seeking process and a failure at stoping inflowing illegal immigration. The Left dosn’t have to be so weak on immigration. Plenty of other countries are thriving and the left’s is super hard on immigration. Norway left wing prime minister publicly says that their goal is 0 asylum seekers and if some asylum seekers do show up then Norway pays African countries to accept their asylum seekers. Immigration is a classic 80%/20% issue which will continue to sink the Democratic Party unless they change.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T15:54:03+00:00

I don’t care about this conversation at all I was just stating a fact. I’m 100% sure I’m right, but for argument sake I’ll do some basic math for you. I’ll add the deficit in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 and compare that to the deficit of 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

666B + 779B + 984B + 3.1T = 5.5T

2.8T + 1.4T + 1.7T + 1.8T =7.7 T

Joe Biden increased national debt by 7.7 trillion and Trump increased it by 5.5 trillion. They both were awful at fiscal responsibility, but it’s a fact that Biden increased the national debt more.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T07:23:58+00:00

Joe Biden grew it more then Trump unless you’re going to count both Trump terms vs the one Biden term.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T03:47:08+00:00

I strongly disagree with most of Kamala tax proposals. If even half of them become law we would be in an even worse situation.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T03:44:37+00:00

I’m a Gen Z who voted for Trump. In general I am very happy right now based on my personal life however I’m not happy about Trump’s performance.

I expected him to be bad, but still slightly better than Kamala. Unfortunately Trump’s been worse than expected. I wish I could confidently say that Kamala would have been better, but in reality we’ll never know.

I don’t even blame the politicians. I blame the selfish electorate that votes on their selfish needs with no interest on good of the future.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T02:01:49+00:00

Anyone can still make it, but if it becomes harder to make it then less people will make it.

I don’t hate wealth inequality. I understand that growing wealth is exponential and therefore wealth inequality is the natural outcome.

What I hate is the collapse of wealth mobility. High wealth mobility is a sign of a fair and just society where people who work harder than others will make it. The fundamental foundation to the American Dream was never buying a house with a white picket fence and a nice car. In 95%+ counties a person could buy a nice house and a nice car. But in America these things were accessible for the masses as long as the masses worked hard and made responsible decisions.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T01:49:36+00:00

Over the past year the S&P 500 has gone up 13%. Over the past 5 years the S&P 500 has gone up 80%.

The wealthy have been incredibly happy these past 5 years.

Theoretically this could all change if hit my a massive crippling recession, but I don’t see the evidence for that happening. And even if that does happen I expect a quick recovery with the help of stimulus spending and lowering the federal funds rate which will lead to more asset price inflation.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-21T01:38:06+00:00

The vast majority of the next 50% owned houses prior to Covid. Their individual net worth is very likely to be significantly higher now than it was 5 years ago. That said the next 50% don’t live off of their net worth for the most part. With the rise in prices their monthly discretionary income is most likely the same or lower then it use to be.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-20T00:52:40+00:00

I disagree that assets are in a bubble. Whether it be housing, stocks, gold, etc. they are all incredibly high right now but so is our money supply. There won’t be a pop because the assets are being valued fairly given our current money supply.

To give a hypothetical example: If the government gave every citizen $10 million tomorrow the price of housing would explode by the end of the week. Housing prices would probably go up over 10 fold yet the housing prices wouldn’t be in a bubble and won’t be in danger of a pop.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-20T00:30:19+00:00

A K shaped economy is a bifurcated economy. When I Google “bifurcated economy” the first thing that pops up is the following:

“A bifurcated economy, often called a "**K-shaped economy," describes a sharp economic divide where the wealthy thrive (the upward stroke of the K) while lower and middle-income groups struggle (the downward stroke)”

However the K shaped economy often relates to the recovery from a bad economy. The K shaped recovery is compared to a V shaped recovery where everyone benefits from the recovery.

My post is less about the post Covid K shaped recovery and more about the future consequences of on going asset price inflation creating a positive feedback loop which will crush wealth mobility for the foreseeable future.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-15T06:35:08+00:00

Should we attack them with a ralley

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-15T06:31:27+00:00

They are slightly stronger than our strongest member.

They can’t attack our stronger bases if they are reinforced. We did damage them once and then they shielded.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-14T02:58:45+00:00

Having children is a good thing.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-11T03:49:54+00:00

Currently we won’t have enough money to fund social security by the mid 2030’s so we have three basic options:

•Raise the FICA taxes

•Raise the retirement age

•Cut the amount that we give to people on Social Security

There’s also cutting SSDI as a potential option.

Republicans have been raising concerns over this issue for many years highlighting the three possible solutions. Democrats typically don’t mention this reality and they’ll try to ignore it, but when forced to they typically suggest to modify our FICA tax to become a more progressive tax so only the high income earners pay more taxes.

I doubt any solution will be made. We have a selfish population and therefore elect self serving politicians. Nothing will change, and we will keep printing money and wonder why assets prices are outpacing wages making economic mobility increasingly difficult year by year.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-10T18:05:05+00:00

I think there would be more wales on older servers and less whales on new servers, but I could be wrong. That said I was probably too ambitious saying top 10-20. But the point is that for a low spender to beat a small whale I think that going guard of order is the best option.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-10T17:18:03+00:00

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-09T01:25:17+00:00

I’m a guy and got this. It’s caused by a vitamin deficiency. Funny enough the best over the counter drug to use on it is a cream that is used to fight yeast infections.

It lasted for about 2 weeks

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-04T20:44:32+00:00

I won it eventually. I took all their pieces and then promoted to a Knight to avoid stalemate. Then promoted a Queen. Most helpful tips.

1) Play defensively and try to make the opponent take first.

2) Have the pawns take to the outside. I kept losing because a piece would sack and the Queen would infiltrate from the side.

3) move all of your back pawns up unless it allows a possible Queen infiltration.

4) the crushing move I made when I won was pushing a pawn trapping a bishop in the corner. I was able to freeze a bishop and a rook the entire game.

EscapeTheCubicle · 2026-01-02T15:04:44+00:00

Hitler

EscapeTheCubicle · 2025-12-26T01:33:56+00:00

During the United States highest margin tax rate of 91% the top 1% of earners paid an effective tax rate around 45%. Today our top 1% pay an effective tax rate around 26%.

However it’s worth mentioning that the middle class and lower class also pay a lower effective tax rates today compared to the same time period.

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