Pumapayam Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Royce Builders offering free gas Houston Business Journal - 10:57 AM CDT Tuesdayby Allison WollamHouston Business Journal Royce Builders is helping new home buyers ease the effect buying a new home has on their wallets by offering free gas for a year with the purchase of a new home. ROYCE HOMES at HBJ What they should be doing is putting that money into land closer to Houston and quit building so damn far away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 oh, that's nice. let's see here...say you work downtown $2,400 gas card say it's a suburban with a fuel tank capacity of either 31 or 39 gallons (link) at roughly $3 a gallon, that's about $93-117 per tank. let's say you are in a royce home that's in their mid-distance range from downtown (baywood oaks west, perhaps) - the "san pedro" model, at 5418 bur oak dr., about 19 miles. that's 38 miles a day, 190 per week, assuming you go nowhere but work and back and only work five days per week and never go out on the weekends... 2006 suburbans get an average 19 average highway miles, and 14 city. we'll take the average of 16.5, since i am sure the a/c will be needed 16.5 mpg, 190 miles per week, that's about 11.5 gallons per week. okay, so the gas card will cover it, but i think i just made myself have even more reason to never commute (and do things other than go to and from work )! owwwwww Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted July 19, 2006 Author Share Posted July 19, 2006 okay, so the gas card will cover it, but i think i just made myself have even more reason to never commute (and do things other than go to and from work )! but after that one year, you will be paying that premium for the life of the house. It is not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 but after that one year, you will be paying that premium for the life of the house. It is not worth it.Actually...I'd think that it would work out well for a lot of folks. If you can take out a loan that covers both your house and a whole lot of gas, then you're borrowing money with interest rates like those of a mortgage, and using it to consume products that can't be repoed and would normally be financed at a much higher rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Actually...I'd think that it would work out well for a lot of folks. If you can take out a loan that covers both your house and a whole lot of gas, then you're borrowing money with interest rates like those of a mortgage, and using it to consume products that can't be repoed and would normally be financed at a much higher rate.That's assuming that financing a year's worth of gas at ANY interest rate is considered worth it. Those items that are consumed, leaving no residual value, should never be financed. Anyone financing consumables, such as gasoline, food or utilities, is in serious financial trouble. That person should not be financing a house on top of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted July 19, 2006 Author Share Posted July 19, 2006 I have heard of auto, home, student, and home improvement loans, but never gas, vacation, etcs loans.I agree and don't think you can fluff your amount borrowed to ask for gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 That's assuming that financing a year's worth of gas at ANY interest rate is considered worth it. Those items that are consumed, leaving no residual value, should never be financed. Anyone financing consumables, such as gasoline, food or utilities, is in serious financial trouble. That person should not be financing a house on top of that.In theory I agree with you that people should be more financially responsible than that. On the other hand, I also recognize that there are a whole lot of folks that just aren't. I'm talking about the ones that perpetually carry $20k or more on their credit cards. The obsessive compulsive spenders with more income and credit scores than sense (i.e. my parents).If they're going to carry the debt anyway, then they may as well finance it as part of their mortgage and pay 6% to 8% than the credit card rate. Then, in theory, they could reduce the amount of perpetual revolving credit card debt and make out better for themselves with no change to consumption patterns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trophy Property Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 In theory I agree with you that people should be more financially responsible than that. On the other hand, I also recognize that there are a whole lot of folks that just aren't. I'm talking about the ones that perpetually carry $20k or more on their credit cards. The obsessive compulsive spenders with more income and credit scores than sense (i.e. my parents).If they're going to carry the debt anyway, then they may as well finance it as part of their mortgage and pay 6% to 8% than the credit card rate. Then, in theory, they could reduce the amount of perpetual revolving credit card debt and make out better for themselves with no change to consumption patterns.Problem is that once they wrap the credit card debt into their mortgage and have zero cc debt they go right out and get back into debt. Now they owe $20k more on their house at 6-8% and then have another $20k on their CC's at 20%. It is amazing, but I know people who have done this. Including an ex girlfriend that was crazy stupid with her spending. Good thing she is gone.Oh yeah, and Royce sounds pretty desperate to be offering free gas for a year. The price of gas is not what would bother me, it would be the time in my car !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Problem is that once they wrap the credit card debt into their mortgage and have zero cc debt they go right out and get back into debt. Now they owe $20k more on their house at 6-8% and then have another $20k on their CC's at 20%. It is amazing, but I know people who have done this. Including an ex girlfriend that was crazy stupid with her spending. Good thing she is gone.Oh yeah, and Royce sounds pretty desperate to be offering free gas for a year. The price of gas is not what would bother me, it would be the time in my car !!Like I said: THEORY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 Not to pick on Niche, since he did qualify his answer, but this thread reminds me of something else one should NEVER do. Do not take second mortgages from Ditech, etc., to pay off credit card and other unsecured debt. Like Niche's example, theoretically it allows you to deduct the interest on taxes and the interest rate is lower. HOWEVER, it virtually never happens. We always end up running up some new credit card debt, in addition to the 2nd mortgage. A bigger problem arises if a financial catastrophe, such as illness or job loss hits. Bankruptcy allows one to discharge unsecured credit card debt. To keep your house, though, you must pay the mortgage, including the 2nd mortgage. That credit card debt is now part of your mortgage, and must be paid.I know we all think positively, and think our income will only increase. But, this stuff happens to good people all the time. In a crisis, you at least want to save your home. Don't load it up with debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalparadise Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 The Houston area has many employment centers scattered throughout. Why does everyone assume people want to commute downtown? Only a small fraction of our total workforce works downtown.I work with several master-planned communities who tell me commuting patterns are drastically different than the 1950s-1970s model you guys seem to subscribe to. Some people live in Pearland and work in Sugar Land. Or, they live in The Woodlands and work at HP, up 249, or out at the energy corridor.What's wrong with buying a house you like in a neighborhood you like, when the transportation infrastructure is good enough (as ours is) to allow you to work almost anywhere in the city, if you're willing to drive less than 30 minutes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostDog Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 Home builder offering $2400 in gasoline when you buy a house?Gosh, what areas of the home building process did they cheat on to come up with this extra $2400??This is absurd...But this is America- plenty of idiots will fall for it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted July 21, 2006 Share Posted July 21, 2006 Home builder offering $2400 in gasoline when you buy a house?Gosh, what areas of the home building process did they cheat on to come up with this extra $2400??This is absurd...But this is America- plenty of idiots will fall for it...Remember: in the long run, costs are always passed on to consumers.However, in this case, Royce might just be doing one of the things that apartment owners were having to do a couple years back. Remember all those concessions? All those months of free rent? At one brief point, the Alexan Lofts were giving away a free Plasma TV along with three months of free rent on a 13-month lease. Their market was hurting.I can't tell what Royce's price levels are on the homes for which they're making this offer because the HBJ link isn't working for me, but if they're in the lower strata of price points, they're probably hurting. Even a few of the wealthier subdivisions have had trouble on the margins. Has anyone noticed an uptick in the number of commercials recently being put out by suburban developers? Also part of the trend. They're looking to differentiate themselves in a saturated market, especially as interest rates creep upward.In any case, I can tell you this much: their subdivisions have been planned and developed long before anyone came up with this gimmick. I would consider it unlikely that the consumer is getting ripped off here. In fact, this may be the cusp of a great deal of consumer benefit, much like GM's deep discounts last year. You don't think that they forgot to put in catalytic converters to all those cars that were sold, do you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonmacbro Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 oh, that's nice.let's see here...say you work downtown $2,400 gas card say it's a suburban with a fuel tank capacity of either 31 or 39 gallons (link) at roughly $3 a gallon, that's about $93-117 per tank. let's say you are in a royce home that's in their mid-distance range from downtown (baywood oaks west, perhaps) - the "san pedro" model, at 5418 bur oak dr., about 19 miles. that's 38 miles a day, 190 per week, assuming you go nowhere but work and back and only work five days per week and never go out on the weekends... 2006 suburbans get an average 19 average highway miles, and 14 city. we'll take the average of 16.5, since i am sure the a/c will be needed 16.5 mpg, 190 miles per week, that's about 11.5 gallons per week. okay, so the gas card will cover it, but i think i just made myself have even more reason to never commute (and do things other than go to and from work )! owwwwww i'm a city boy too, but had to move closer to work (5 miles) when i got a job in north houston. i really don't like living in the 'the burbs' but i also don't like paying an arm-and-a-leg for gasoline just to get to work and back. houston suffers from very poor urban planning and therefore all these neighborhoods that sprang up were never really planned with $3 - $4 gasoline in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted August 3, 2006 Author Share Posted August 3, 2006 houston suffers from very poor urban planning and therefore all these neighborhoods that sprang up were never really planned with $3 - $4 gasoline in mind.It was the cheap land that got developers to make poor so-called "master planned communities" or "villages"What a sham! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 It was the cheap land that got developers to make poor so-called "master planned communities" or "villages"What a sham!i agree...cheap with no foresightnow that's the making of some great communities! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.