# Bernie Sanders $600,000 House: So What? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 13, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730 "2016-08-13T23:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/1 "2016-08-13T23:28:38Z")
I’m trying to understand why this is getting so much attention Yeah, I know there are some anti-Bernie people who will make an issue out of the slightest thing, but why is the mainstream media carrying this? He’s a US Senator. I expect most senators have nice homes, and probably multiple homes. These days, a $600,000 home is not exorbitant. It’s probably the median price of a house in San Francisco. I don’t recall Bernie taking a vow of poverty. So why is this such an item throughout the media? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/2 "2016-08-13T23:30:36Z")
> [@dataguy](#): > > These days, a $600,000 home is not exorbitant. It’s probably the median price of a house in San Francisco. That’s about _half_ the median price of a house in San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/3 "2016-08-13T23:42:53Z")
Part of it is that some people think he used campaign contributions to buy the home (which is illegal and I really doubt happened). Some people are claiming that the DNC or some other democratic org bought him the house in exchange for him supporting Hillary. Some are upset that a socialist has 3 houses, and one is worth 600k. Those are the reasons I’ve heard (so far). I personally don’t care. Bernie makes about 200k a year as a senator, and he got the money by selling a different house that his wife inherited in Maine. What are Bernie’s 3 homes out of curiosity? I’d assume they are his primary residence in Vermont, his home in Washington DC and his summer home. When people say he has ‘3 homes’, are they counting his home in washington DC as a home? If so, that shouldn’t really count as that is a business expense. Or is his 3rd home a rental property? I can’t figure that one out. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/4 "2016-08-13T23:57:32Z")
Link to the outrage? **Biffy** : So true, so true! Median price is \> $1M. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/5 "2016-08-14T00:02:09Z")
Bernie is rightly criticised because his wife is a hypocrite. Bernie ranted about high college tuition at the same time his wife was bankrupting Burlington College. Jane Sanders got used to the nice lifestyle while Bernie was pretending to run for president. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/6 "2016-08-14T00:20:35Z")
600K might be enough for a ~1500 square foot 3 BR house in my neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/7 "2016-08-14T00:23:20Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Bernie is rightly criticised because his wife is a hypocrite. Bernie ranted about high college tuition at the same time his wife was bankrupting Burlington College. Jane Sanders got used to the nice lifestyle while Bernie was pretending to run for president. We’re supposed to take your word for this? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/8 "2016-08-14T00:32:57Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/2016/08/10/bernie-sanders-buys-summer-home/) about the home and the alleged outrage. (An “American Thinker” blog post, an article in the Washington Examiner, and a few Twitter posts apparently.) Seems like nothing to see here and not many who care. OTOH I’d love to see him doing some well chosen events soon to benefit House candidates and the top of the ticket as well … ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/9 "2016-08-14T00:35:26Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > We’re supposed to take your word for this? [Here.](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/what-happened-at-burlington-college/482973/) > [@](#): > > The end of the school year doesn’t just mark graduation at Burlington College, the small Vermont institution led by Jane Sanders from 2004 to 2011. The school announced on Monday that it will shut down later this month, facing insurmountable financial difficulties. The closure comes after years of difficulty for Burlington College, a small school founded in 1972 for nontraditional students. > > “It is with great sense of loss to the educational community that Burlington College’s progressive and unique educational model will no longer be available to students,” the school said in a statement. > > Many of the school’s financial difficulties date to Sanders’s tenure as president. She has been a frequent presence alongside her husband, Senator Bernie Sanders, on the presidential campaign trail.\*\* In announcing the closure, the school blamed the “crushing weight of the debt” from the purchase of a new campus in 2010, during Sanders’s tenure.\*\* Burlington said its bank had pulled the school’s line of credit. The college was already at risk of losing its accreditation—which is essential for receiving federal funds and conferring legitimacy—if it could not resolve its financial difficulties. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/10 "2016-08-14T00:40:29Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > 600K might be enough for a ~1500 square foot 3 BR house in my neighborhood. Yeah well I doubt Vermont experiences the influx of government loot that the suburbs of DC enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/11 "2016-08-14T00:41:27Z")
First, my concern is not focused just on the “outrage”, but why is this a news item at all? Do we get updates when other senators purchase things? Second, if some people are associating this with misdeeds by Bernie’s wife, why aren’t the headlines directed to Bernie’s wife? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/12 "2016-08-14T00:45:04Z")
Well, dalej42 is wrong at least so far as timing. She was President of the college like six years ago. And I don’t see how her supposed “love of the high life” has anything to do with her ill fated plans while President. But it does look like she helped kill the school. > [@](#): > > Burlington College, a small Vermont private school once led by the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, said Monday it will close later this month, citing “the crushing weight” of debt incurred during her presidency. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/05/16/vermont-college-that-bernie-sanderss-wife-once-led-is-closing/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/05/16/vermont-college-that-bernie-sanderss-wife-once-led-is-closing/) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/13 "2016-08-14T00:48:36Z")
I’m not a fan of Sander’s, but I don’t see how his wife’s poor management of Burlington College really reflects on him one way or the other. And the house thing is just a silly attempt to give the impression of a scandal by repeating the mundane details of a politicians life in an ominous tone. (FWIW, when I lived in Burlington I used to see Bernie shopping at TJ Max, so at least a decade or two ago, he wasn’t living too lavishly). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/14 "2016-08-14T01:04:15Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Here.](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/what-happened-at-burlington-college/482973/) Thanks. Doesn’t make Bernie a hypocrite, though. And the Bankruptcy of a college with a few hundred students 5 years after his wife was president does not make her the cause of high tuition in the US. And the guy is a Democratic Socialist, not a Marxist. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/15 "2016-08-14T01:11:17Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > > [@dataguy](#): > > > > These days, a $600,000 home is not exorbitant. It’s probably the median price of a house in San Francisco. > > That’s about _half_ the median price of a house in San Francisco. [Less than half of the average price](http://www.citynews.ca/2016/06/03/average-house-price-in-toronto-continues-to-rise-to-1-28m-in-may/) of a detached house in Toronto, too. Does Bernie live in a trailer park? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/16 "2016-08-14T01:13:22Z")
I live in a mid-sized college town in Northern California. [This](http://ap.rdcpix.com/1446706408/cf82fbc32891e2b6dcdaf702caf42990l-m0xd-w1020_h770_q80.jpg) is what you can get for $600,000. Yeah. Living like a Saudi prince, that Bernie. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/17 "2016-08-14T01:18:07Z")
> [@neofishboy](#): > > I live in a mid-sized college town in Northern California. [This](http://ap.rdcpix.com/1446706408/cf82fbc32891e2b6dcdaf702caf42990l-m0xd-w1020_h770_q80.jpg) is what you can get for $600,000. Yeah. Living like a Saudi prince, that Bernie. No need to overcompensate. Bernie’s new home is in North Hero, VT. Population 800, median household income $45k. I suspect a $600k house there is quite nice. And good for him for working hard and being able to afford some luxury at his age!! ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/18 "2016-08-14T01:19:39Z")
> [@dataguy](#): > > First, my concern is not focused just on the “outrage”, but why is this a news item at all? Do we get updates when other senators purchase things? The [original story](http://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2016/08/08/bernie-sanders-buys-a-summer-home-in-north-hero) first appeared in the Bernie Beat section of a Vermont paper. There was no hint of outrage in the story. They love Bernie, and they have an entire Bernie Beat section to fill. I suspect they would write a couple of glowing paragraphs if they got wind of particularly satisfying Bernie morning bowel movement (pun totally intended). There’s a small minority of people who are still pissed at Bernie because they feel, rightly or wrongly, that he stuck around a little too long in the primary and behaved in a less than exemplary manner. They love posting anything that they think, rightly or wrongly, makes Bernie look bad. My recommendation is to ignore them. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/19 "2016-08-14T01:24:06Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > There’s a small minority of people who are still pissed at Bernie because they feel, rightly or wrongly, that he stuck around a little too long in the primary and behaved in a less than exemplary manner. They love posting anything that they think, rightly or wrongly, makes Bernie look bad. My recommendation is to ignore them. Thankfully, none of those folks post here! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730/20 "2016-08-14T01:24:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No need to overcompensate. > … _looks down_ Well, that’s very kind but … ohhhhhhhhh … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bernie-sanders-600-000-house-so-what/762730.md?page=2)