Michael Simmons Quotations

Low-income students can come out of here feeling diminished.

I am looking forward to the opening. This is a great opportunity for people to plant stuff and our gardens have been full every year.

I think most people see their homes as somewhat transitory, and they're almost resigned about it. Say you have a house that's worth $1.3 million. Is it a reasonable expectation that you'll ever pay it off? Probably not. The most people hope for is that someday they'll sell it for a profit or leave it to the kids, who might have to sell it but will maybe make a little money.

To go somewhere else for your senior year would be really hard.

We have to figure out ways to make sure students feel more welcome here.

It meant you were the sort of person who couldn't pay your bills -- that you were living above your means. Taking out an equity line has become common, prudent, easy.

It's not a network that we're going to build in a six month or a 12 month period.

Geographically the expansion of it will occur over time as well.

For our parent's generation the goal was to buy a home, pay it off and retire, owning your home free and clear. Now, most people's goal is to buy a home that you can afford, live in it for a while until it appreciates, then buy something more expensive, live in it for a while and wait for it to appreciate, and so on. Then finally sell and buy something smaller free and clear for retirement. People look at their homes as a tool, a vehicle, an investment.