Meet an underwater homeowner in Mountain House, Calif.

[Newsjock]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/business/11home.html

MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Calif. — This town, 59 feet above sea level, is the most underwater community in America.

... Kenny Rogers, a data security specialist, moved into Mountain House last year, buying a foreclosed property on Prosperity Street for $380,000. But the decline in values has been so fierce that he too is underwater.

He has cut his DVD buying from 50 a month to perhaps one, and is waiting until the Christmas sales to buy a high-definition television. He does not indulge much anymore in his hobbies of scuba diving and flying. “Best to wait for a better price, or do without,” Mr. Rogers, 52, said.

[Hannah Bell]

1. wow, serious corner cutting there!

waiting for the xmas sales.

[ingac70]

2. lol...

I thought it was about THE Kenny Rogers. :silly:

[Newsjock]

4. Oops, sorry!

I missed the connection. Took his name out of the subject line.

[itsrobert]

3. 50 DVDs a month?

Even at $10 a DVD, that's about 500 dollars. That's on the low side.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. That is what struck me. That guy is buying 50 DVDs a month!!!???

[TahitiNut]

7. One person's austerity is another's prosperity in the plantation economy.

The widening chasm between the wealthy and the working class is now wider in the U.S. than in any other OECD country.

The Banana Republicans have, in 20 of the last 28 years, accomplished their 'mission.'

[LeftyMom]

6. That guy's spending habits sound insane.

And I mean that in a literal "you clearly have no control and need to talk to a professional about this" way.

[leftofthedial]

8. poor, poor man

having to cut back on scuba and flying!

and down to one DVD a month.

What a tragedy!

[XemaSab]

9. Why do they always profile wankers for these articles?

:shrug:

Reminds me of this article about a dude in SoCal from back in January:

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/27/business/fi-makeover27

[Double T]

10. Poor friggin' nutcase baby..........can't buy 50 DVDs a month and an HDTV.

This guy must sit on his ass all day and watch movies. Maestro, please. :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :cry:

[chalky]

11. I went to the link, hoping against hope to find a better spokesperson for this situation.

Other than the Martinez family, I didn't have much luck. (And even they lost me when I saw that they voluntarily got an interest only mortgage. What the hell were they thinking?!)

But hey, at least the couple selling booze is doing a-okay:

Chris and Janet Ackerson can survey this carnage from their own store with a certain equanimity. Their business, a member of the Vino 100 chain of wine outlets, is doing well.

[Chulanowa]

12. 50 DVD's a month?

That's almost two a day! What the fuck is he watching? Collecting M*A*S*H episodes, one fucking disk at a time? I have about thirty DVD's that I've Collected over the past seven years or so. A handfull of movies I consider indispensable, from Miyazaki animations to Big Trouble in Little China (best movie ever, thank you) How many releases are there that are halfway worth seeing, that someone could buy 50 a month and feel they've accomplished something other than keeping a faltering business afloat?

I'm living out of a $400 a month room, eating peanut butter and jelly for dinner pretty much every night, and this punk's whining that he can't go scuba diving? Here's all you need to know, chief. It's wet and blue and fish live there. There are pictures on the goddamn internet.

Fuck you, Kenny Rogers. Fuck you with a stick. A stick that's on fire.

[Gormy Cuss]

13. What a POS article.

This article is about underwater mortgages, not foreclosures. Only one of the people profiled suggested that he was struggling to pay the mortgage. The others, including Rogers, sound more like they're cutting back on frivolous spending just in case they decide to sell their residences at a loss. That Rogers buys 50 DVDs a month is irrelevant until the point where he wants to bail out.

Mountain House is all new development and was all built during the boom. There was no Mountain House, CA prior to 1994, and the first housing wasn't built until 2002 or so. That IMHO is why it leads the nation on this measure.

[silverojo]

14. Poor fucking baby - n/t

[JeanGrey]

15. Oh my! He's had to sacrifice by cutting his DVD's

down from fifty a month???? Lord, spare me.