Saturday, May 12, 2007

To stupid to live

I just read a report in the AP from the dumbest idiot in the news media business, Maya Roney.

The title;

The 25 Best Affordable Suburbs in the U.S.

Buying your first house? Fleeing the city for a life within your means?

Here's a novel idea: Move to a suburb where you won't break the bank or get your car broken into. A community with reasonable home prices and decent schools.
I'll quote the first few..

25 Affordable Suburbs

Anchorage, Alaska
Metro: Anchorage
Nearest city with pop. 200,000-plus: Anchorage
Median Home Price: $550,000
Cost of Living Index: 135.4
Primary School Test Score Index*: 143
Violent Crime Index: 50
Average Commute Time: 23.7 minutes


Bellingham, Wash.
Metro: Bellingham
Nearest city with pop. 200,000-plus: Seattle (78.3 miles)
Median Home Price: $359,500
Cost of Living Index: 120.5
Secondary School Test Score Index: 113
Violent Crime Index: 100
Average Commute Time: 21.2 minutes


Castle Rock, Colo.
Metro: Denver
Nearest city with pop. 200,000-plus: Aurora (22 miles)
Nearest city with pop. 500,000-plus: Denver (28 miles)
Median Home Price: $240,000
Cost of Living Index: 107.2
Secondary School Test Score Index: 137
Violent Crime Index: 22
Average Commute Time: 32 minutes


Eagle, Idaho
Metro: Boise
Nearest city with pop. 100,000-plus: Boise (9.3 miles)
Median Home Price: $569,900
Cost of Living Index: 107.8
Secondary School Test Score Index: 98
Violent Crime Index: 82
Average Commute Time: 24.5 minutes


Eugene, Ore.
Metro: Eugene
Nearest city with pop. 200,000-plus: Portland (106.4 miles)
Median Home Price: $429,000
Cost of Living Index: 110.8
Secondary School Test Score Index: 108
Violent Crime Index: 100
Average Commute Time: 19.4 minutes


Folsom, Calif.
Metro: Sacramento
Nearest city with pop. 200,000-plus: Sacramento (22.8 miles)
Median Home Price: $551,600
Cost of Living Index: 158.7
Secondary School Test Score Index: 145
Violent Crime Index: 34
Average Commute Time: 29.3 minutes
But wait.. there's more.. and I swear to Gorak I'm not making this up..

The Top 100 Affordable Communities in the U.S. He looks for places that suit the typical professional American family, making $50,000 or $60,000 a year.

2 comments:

Steve said...

Yup. The american dream... where living within your 50k a year (family income) means affords you a 500k house.

That's pretty crazy. I'm not too far under that 50k mark, and it's just me, no family noone else to support etc. I have a few student loans left to pay but am otherwise debt free. Guess how much of a house I can afford.... maybe 100k.... maybe.

Of course my "american dream" isn't to be in debt for 100 years, rather actually be able to afford my house. :)

Steve.

Tom said...

I just don't get how a report like that gets published by the AP. It's so completely out of touch with reality it's just delusional.

Even if there are two people making 60 grand, they are not going to quality for a half million loan. There is no way.

Yet.. there it is.. I wish the AP would include the email address of their "reporters" when publishing stories.