[Serkevan]

I think the worldwide economy would go into a depression if most people followed your mother's advice. In the US the average length of a new car loan is 72 months, with 70% being five years (60 months) or more. That enables average new car prices to creep north of $30k. If new car loans weren't a thing, or were capped at 2-3 years I'd bet the average new car price would fall under $20k and most people would keep a car 15+ years.

And the housing market would collapse in a way that makes 2008 look like a little blip. I'd guess that 90%+ of US home sales are with a 30-year mortgage.

Well it would certainly bring housing to a more reasonable level, but the problems of the debt-based economy are big offenders of the P word so I'd steer clear of going into that thornbush

[Racer X 69]

I think the worldwide economy would go into a depression if most people followed your mother's advice. In the US the average length of a new car loan is 72 months, with 70% being five years (60 months) or more. That enables average new car prices to creep north of $30k. If new car loans weren't a thing, or were capped at 2-3 years I'd bet the average new car price would fall under $20k and most people would keep a car 15+ years.

And the housing market would collapse in a way that makes 2008 look like a little blip. I'd guess that 90%+ of US home sales are with a 30-year mortgage.

I bought a new motorcycle in 1978 for $1,500. Paid it off in six months.

Made my first real estate purchase, a house on acreage, in 1995 for $180,000. When I sold it in 2004 I owed less than $60,000, having made extra principal payments every month.

I bought a new pickup in 2001 for $36,000. Paid it off in a year.

In 2004 I bought the property I currently own for $200,000. Around 2008 I refinanced and added a $300,000 construction loan I had paid the original loan principal down to around $150,000. After completion of the house the mortgage was converted to conventional loan, just under $500,000. Today I have the principal down to $250,000.

I bought a new car for $20,000 in 2005. Paid it off in less than a year.

I still own the pickup, it has 140,000 miles on it. I still own the car, it has 190,000 miles on it. Neither has ever been in a shop other than mine for repairs or maintenance, save for some warranty repairs when each was covered by the original warranty (I never buy extended warranties).

[ThorSanchez]

Well it would certainly bring housing to a more reasonable level, but the problems of the debt-based economy are big offenders of the P word so I'd steer clear of going into that thornbush

I'll stay away from the P-word, but in the old days there were more aggressive limits on borrowing without much down payment. When I first bought a car in the 1990s I wasn't approved for the first loan I tried to get, for something like $15k when I was making $30k and had a few thousand to put down. Today I think that kind of thing would be approved without a second thought.


When I first bought a house in 1998 the suggestion was that I needed 20% or more as a downpayment, and had to ask for a little help from my parents to get there. I'm not sure what the current state of the market is, but 15 years ago you could get a $500k mortgage with zero down, with an annual income well under $100k. That's probably come back to reality a bit after 2008, but I'm thinking it's not back to 1970s or 1980s levels of lending conservatism.

---------- Post added 10-22-21 at 09:50 AM ----------

I bought a new motorcycle in 1978 for $1,500. Paid it off in six months.

Made my first real estate purchase, a house on acreage, in 1995 for $180,000. When I sold it in 2004 I owed less than $60,000, having made extra principal payments every month.

I bought a new pickup in 2001 for $36,000. Paid it off in a year.

In 2004 I bought the property I currently own for $200,000. Around 2008 when refinanced and added a $300,000 construction loan I had paid the original loan principal down to around $150,000. After completion of the house the mortgage was converted to conventional loan, just under $500,000. Today I have the principal down to $250,000.

I bought a new car for $20,000 in 2005. Paid it off in less than a year.

I still own the pickup, it has 140,000 miles on it. I still own the car, it has 190,000 miles on it. Neither has ever been in a shop other than mine for repairs or maintenance, save for some warranty repairs when each was covered by the original warranty (I never buy extended warranties).

I've always paid off my car loans in about three years, and refinanced my house to a 15-year loan that will be paid off about the time my kids hit college. But that's equal parts being fiscally conservative and having an income that lets my family afford things many others can't. We've been pretty lucky.

[Rondec]

Some debt isn't a bad things, assuming you don't go over board with it. Homes certainly have a tendency to at a minimum retain their value and often appreciate some over time, beyond which you have to live somewhere. Just don't buy more than you can afford.

It doesn't make much sense to borrow for luxury/hobby items.

The nice thing is that there are plenty of options for Pentaxians that won't break the bank and will turn out very nice images.

[reh321]

I bought a new motorcycle in 1978 for $1,500. Paid it off in six months.

Made my first real estate purchase, a house on acreage, in 1995 for $180,000. When I sold it in 2004 I owed less than $60,000, having made extra principal payments every month.

I bought a new pickup in 2001 for $36,000. Paid it off in a year.

In 2004 I bought the property I currently own for $200,000. Around 2008 when refinanced and added a $300,000 construction loan I had paid the original loan principal down to around $150,000. After completion of the house the mortgage was converted to conventional loan, just under $500,000. Today I have the principal down to $250,000.

I bought a new car for $20,000 in 2005. Paid it off in less than a year.

I still own the pickup, it has 140,000 miles on it. I still own the car, it has 190,000 miles on it. Neither has ever been in a shop other than mine for repairs or maintenance, save for some warranty repairs when each was covered by the original warranty (I never buy extended warranties).

We purchased a house in early 2008 for $210K - then sold it in mid 2014 for $120K.
Now, there is more to the story ….. it lingered on the market for months in 2013 at $175K {roughly the amount we still owed}, then a snowstorm hit in December 2013 and our stupid realtor didn’t check that the heat was on - until someone called and reported water pouring out the basement windows; it turned out that the water had come from a broken pipe in the {second floor} bathroom. Our ‘vacant property’ insurance excluded “water from a pipe”. We had to cash in our life insurance to get from under the house. This was the cause of the financial distress that caused me to purchase a used K-30 when my Canon Rebel unexpectedly failed at age 1-1/2 years.

[mee]

We purchased a house in early 2008 for $210K - then sold it in mid 2014 for $120K.

Oh I don't like to read that. You bought at or near the peak of the housing boom and sold at the bottom after the subprime mortgage bubble burst in 2008/2009.


Hindsight is 20/20 but it would have been excellent to have snapped up property in that lull from around 2011-2015. Today it's back to sky high pricing and I'm not sure it will actually go back down this time.

[reh321]

Oh I don't like to read that. You bought at or near the peak of the housing boom and sold at the bottom after the subprime mortgage bubble burst in 2008/2009.


Hindsight is 20/20 but it would have been excellent to have snapped up property in that lull from around 2011-2015. Today it's back to sky high pricing and I'm not sure it will actually go back down this time.

We bought because we had moved to town from 1600 miles away.
We sold because we had left town to 800 miles away.
We moved Indiana - Kansas - Massachusetts - Indiana {100 miles from the town where we had started}.

---

Last edited by reh321; 10-22-2021 at 08:52 AM.

[borisII]

Amateur Photographer a well respected weekly photo news and review publication in the UK has just Predicted end Pentax and K1ii likely to be it's last new Camera.

K-3III and GRIIIx are last cameras already...He is wrong.

[Belnan]

The number of pentax users will just continue to get smaller. Ricoh seems fine with that.

[Dartmoor Dave]

The number of pentax users will just continue to get smaller. Ricoh seems fine with that.

Fewer and richer. Fewer and happy to feel that they are among the elite who can discern the quality they are getting. There's no problem with that for Pentax in an ever smaller market, although it will price out riff-raff like me.

[Lord Lucan]

I think the worldwide economy would go into a depression if most people followed your mother's advice [that if you need to borrow to buy it, you can't afford it]. ... And the housing market would collapse in a way that makes 2008 look like a little blip.

The economy would survive but be diifferent. "Ordinary" people in the UK did not borrow money before about 1950, in fact it was regarded as rather sinful, and most rented their housing. My mother did make an exception for houses as otherwise it would never be possisble for most people to buy one.

[Serkevan]

The number of pentax users will just continue to get smaller. Ricoh seems fine with that.

Second verse same as the first for most other companies, too... numbers drop and prices per unit increase.

[biz-engineer]

The number of pentax users will just continue to get smaller. Ricoh seems fine with that.

Ricoh are having fun. Customer complain about Pentax prices.
Customer: "Pentax products are too expensive"
Ricoh: "no problem , go to Canon"
Customer goes to Canon and realize Canon is more expensive.
Customer come back to Ricoh.
Ricoh waiting arms crossed "So, how was Canon? "
Customer: "Hummmm Errrr ohhh hummm Errr"

[RobA_Oz]

The number of pentax users will just continue to get smaller. Ricoh seems fine with that.

The number of people buying new Pentax gear, possibly, will get smaller, but that’s turning out to be the case across the board. It’s a major motivator for the bigger makers to create something with a good selling point (ie “mirrorless”) to help staunch the outflow. Ricoh was smarter than Nikon in that regard, I reckon.

[biz-engineer]

Pentax (and other) cameras and lenses have an advantage over cars and motorbikes, no need to refill gasoline tank, change tires, oil, and insurance. Ok, you have to recharge those D-LI90 batteries but much does it cost per charge? 0.35 cent per charge ?