housing solution for the entire country

Instead of structuring home loans so that you can never get out from them with compound interest, why not do home loans more like a car loan? Simple interest would almost guarantee far fewer defaults on loans. It would mean more money at the end of the month for home owners to go out and spend in the economy. It would mean the banks would have fewer problems with "risky customers". Sure, any loan comes with risk, but if you can improve the odds that someone will actually be able to pay it back then the banks would get a lot happier customers. It's not like the banks won't still be making money, even at 10% simple interest the bank will be pulling in a good chunk of change from each loan. There are cars on the road now that cost more than my house did but they still give simple interest loans for those cars. Why not my house? It's not like my house is going to be run off the side of a bridge. Even if a house totally burns to the ground, there is still the ground. Once you can get people to afford their own houses, it has the potential of putting fewer people in public housing and relying on the government. With each new homeowner comes home improvement loans (another source of revenue for banks).

I challenge anyone in the banking industry to give me one reason why Simple Interest home loans are impossible. The only answer that is unacceptible is "banks won't make as much money".

(I'd been chewing on this for many years even before I got my own mortgage. )

new ground

My girlfriend has now become my fiance. This is a totally new feeling for me. It's exciting! Of course it's always a little scary when ya tread into new territory but I'm looking forward to it. Now if I could just find a way to relax my facial muscles... they're hurting from all the smiling. :)

Car Talk

The Check Engine light in my girlfriend's car came on the other day so she took it to the mechanic to be looked at...
"There was a crack in a hose that lead from an intake manifold…thing thing thing blah blah blah car talk where I began to fade out…blah blah blah."

I love my girlfriend! :-)

flickr test

This is a test of using a picture from my flickr photo sets. This particular one was taken when I was visiting San Francisco... Chinatown specifically.

Fives

5 JOBS YOU'VE HAD IN YOUR LIFE:
Pizza delivery w/ Pizza Hut
AOL tech rep
Windows helpdesk at Vistakon
Flagler College Mac God
Mac Genius

5 MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
Star Wars - DUH
Princess Bride
Office Space
The Great Escape
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

5 PLACES YOU'VE LIVED:
Riverside, Jacksonville
Northside, Jacksonville
Southside, Jacksonville
Arlington, Jacksonville
:)

5 TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH:
Law & Order
MythBusters
The Simpsons
South Park
Family Guy

5 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN ON VACATION:
Orlando
Bequia, St Vincent & the Grenadines
San Diego
Battle Creek, MI
Tampa Bay

5 WEB SITES YOU VISIT DAILY:
dilbert.com
calvinandhobbes.com
cnn.com
pennant.blogspot.com
engrish.com


5 OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
spaghetti
beef stew
broccoli & rice & cheese
oreos
PB&J with strawberry preserves

5 PLACES YOU'D RATHER BE:
Mars
in Bed sleeping
flying in 1st class with so much leg room I can
stretch out!
touring Scotland and England
Easter Island

5 ALBUMS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT:
Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zeppelin box set
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Pink Floyd Wish you were here
Monty Python Sings

5 PEOPLE YOU'D TAG TO PLAY THIS GAME:
whoever wants to share

painful communications

Well Joe, you've gotten me to do a blog. I hope it is going to be less painful than the picture here.

first thing's first

OK Joe, here it is...





... um yeah