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Originally posted by Singuy
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Can't get over these numbers. Here, $1,600 a month will get you a bed partitioned by a curtain from your other roommates. And that I'm not talking about trendy neighborhoods, I'm talking Alphabet City. -
How does this work exactly? The owner renting out his home for $600/month is hopefully breaking even or close to it. How is he able to have that payment but someone buying can't? Is it because he's owned the property a long time and prices have risen?Originally posted by Singuy View PostSteve
* Despite the high cost of living, it remains very popular.
* Why should I pay for my daughter's education when she already knows everything?
* There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.Comment
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I think if you are going to live somewhere less than 5-7 years, you should seriously consider renting vs. buying. This is based on buying houses every time I moved with the military for the past 25 years. Even with big down payments, the amount you pay to buy vs. renting is much higher. Not because of the mortgage as much as all the closing, maintenance and outfitting costs for each new house. This adds up to way more than the tax savings or appreciation / depreciation we ever made over the years. 25 years later I owe $449,000 on a house I paid $514,000 for that is now worth $500,000.Comment
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Nika if you read the riverwed thread it's very interesting because I've never seen a property where I live with an ROI of 10%+ that riverwed was looking for. I find it amazing. But apparently some places the ROI is what is important instead of chasing appreciation as explained by Another Reader and 339. It's a different location.
DS I agree and wonder the same thing. How do you keep getting the $600 rent = $600 mortgage payment and a nice house with a mortgage. Where are the hidden costs? Buying the lawn mower or mowing the yard yourself versus having it done for you? The cleaning of the gutter. Just the small things that keep on adding up.
But Singuy I just don't think a primary residence is a good investment. It's a great place to live and somewhere nice to not be transient. But otherwise? There are many costs associated with buying.
Tomhole brings up a great point of outfitting a house, maintenance, selling, etc. There are seriously a lot of costs associated with buying.
Personally we only came out ahead because we stayed put for 10 years. If we had stayed put for 5-7 we'd have lost money I guarantee it. I also guarantee that we are extremely lucky.
For a FACT I know that our neighbors have spent a fortune on more maintenance and repairs on an identical unit to ours. Their heat pumps failed 3 times and they had to replace it 3x. We replaced out once in 10 years. They had to tear out a floor and two bathrooms because a pipe burst and there was damage. Yes insurance covered but only replacement cost, and they decided why not upgrade? So they spent more on top of what insurance got. Their refrigerator broke and water heater needed replacing. These are not unexpected expenses nor is it unreasonable and they said it themselves. But it all adds up against our "appreciation". They had to replace all their windows.
We both had to blow in insulation into our homes. We're currently replacing exterior stairs that have rotted from the elements. They had to do their deck. Ours was fine. But the exterior stairs being replace is just normal wear. We had to redo the gutters on the house from the winter ice dams. We have a crack in the foundation needing to be fixed. We had to when we move in put in a sump pump. From the ice melt our entry steps needed to be resealed by a mason.
So where would a tenant be responsible for this? We shovel snow ourselves. I see all the rental homes on our street having a company come do it. Considering what we went through this winter it looked awfully nice to be a renter.Comment
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