First Person: Why We’re Giving Up on Home Ownership

[mfcorey1]

From the mortgage crisis to the ongoing plunge in home values, it's been a rough couple of years for the American housing market. But is it really time to give up on the whole idea of home ownership for good? We asked our Yahoo! contributors for their take on the state of the real estate market and discovered that more than a few of them are now looking at home ownership in the rearview mirror. Below are their stories.

The Math Doesn't Work Anymore

"We are all told a house is a sound investment. Well, I could rent a larger house than mine for $200 more a month than I am paying for my mortgage, property taxes and homeowner's insurance. If I tack on renter's insurance, that number increases to $230 a month.

"I once bought into the hype, but now I'm over it. I realized my mortgage, my homeowner's association, my insurance, property taxes and interest aren't worth the aggravation. I can tell you that when the market improves, I'm going to sell and be a renter forevermore." -- Shauna Zamarripa

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/First-Person-Why-We-Giving-Up-ac-3171295281.html?x=0

[holdencaufield]

1. As someone...

...who owns rental properties -- I applaud your decision and encourage more people to follow your example.

[Uben]

7. I've been thinking of renting myself

I own apartments and lease homes in Dallas, although I do not live there anymore. I currently live in a gated lake community, but I am thinking of selling/leasing my home and trying to find a house in the countryside to lease to see if it will fit our lifestyle. If so, I might buy in the country, but I'm getting too old to maintain a large property, so leasing might be the best option. I like not hearing anything but nature at night. I grew up on a farm, and the thought of living out the rest of my days there is appealing, sans the work!

[Whiskeytide]

26. If you sell your house and don't buy another one...

... you could be hit with some serious tax consequences depending on what your basis is in the house. Check that out first.

[krabigirl]

58. Nothing wrong with it. I own a rental property and I rent. Now is not a good time for us to buy.

[dkf]

2. The probability of increasing real estate taxes looms large too.

Who knows what you will be able to afford.

But in the end, inflation bails out the homeowner.

[Zanzoobar]

48. Probablilty?

Possiblility, maybe...sorta

[Luminous Animal]

3. As someone who rents in rent controlled San Francisco. I agree.

[frazzled]

4. Well, I'm not decided yet

If I were younger now, I'd definitely rent instead of buy for the moment. But once the market stabilizes (and it eventually will), I still think owning a home for many people (but not all) is worthwhile. You just have to dial back expectations of "moving up" every four or five years or using your house as a cash cow, or increasing the value of your home by 10% a year. And you need to think of it as a pretty permanent thing.

Back in the day, home ownership was a very different animal. You had to make a substantial down payment, and you were told not even to THINK about selling for at least five years or you would lose money. You expected to be in the home for many decades, eventually paying off the mortgage. No one expected the value of their home to double in six or seven years.

Of course, what is different about today is that people are more mobile, and sometimes must relocate for work (jobs are no longer lifelong) or other reasons. If you're thinking you might move in 5 or even 10 years, I wouldn't buy. But for a long-term investment, and for the stability and sense of community, I think there will always be value in owning. Just don't look at it as a short-term "investment."

[Nye Bevan]

5. There is absolutely nothing wrong with renting. Home ownership is not appropriate for everyone.

For younger people especially it can make much more sense to rent. People tend to forget about all of the other costs of home ownership like property taxes and maintenance. The rate of home ownership is much lower in countries like Germany and the real estate market tends to be more sane, avoiding the kind of bubbles that we see here.

[Matariki]

6. There is way more to owning a home than it being an 'investment'

there was a time that people thought it helped communities to have lots of folks owning their homes, and government programs to help that happen.

People who live in homes they own tend to take better care of them than landlords take care of their properties.

And speaking of 'landlords' - a trend toward renting seems like a step back toward feudalism to me. Do we really want the 1% who owns 80% of everything owning our houses as well, telling us what colors we can paint the walls, what pets we can have, and kicking us out for random rules?

[hunter]

8. The last time we had a landlord he freaked out over our compost heap.

To him I was dumping garbage in his backyard. He couldn't see it any other way. Compost wasn't something he could understand. Explaining it to him was pointless. I tried. In his universe you put garbage out for the garbage man, and you paid a lawn guy. The end.

My wife and I own a house so we can have a compost heap, we can paint the house any color we want inside or out, we can have messy destructive pets (parrots are the worst!), we can hang pictures with nails, we can bolt large artworks to the walls...

Maybe with the way the economy is going and such I'll end up living under a tarp somewhere, but it will be my tarp.

I'd rather not rent again unless the landlord knows what compost is, and possibly understands how I'd rather have a painted concrete or irregular wood floor than cheap landlord carpet.

[roamer65]

42. Delete.

[kelly1mm]

9. My wife and I are thinking of retiring early, at age 47. How? Paid off house

and no kids. If we can figure something out on health insurance we can do it now even.

I don't know how people without mega bucks can afford to retire if they still have rent to pay.

[exboyfil]

10. Hypothetical for you

I figure we should be paying our teachers about $20K more per year to match industry salaries. That would mean my taxes on my home would go up probably $2K/yr. Will you be able to handle such a change in retirement? Property taxes represent a big hole in any thoughts of home ownership on a long term basis. Maybe your community would resist such a change, but most on this board would advocate increasing teacher salaries. The money will have to come from somewhere (note I am figuring that federal income tax and corporate tax increases on the wealthy will go to cover the $600B-$1T in deficit spending we are currently doing).

I am all for a paid off mortgage, and I am about 8 years off myself. I am not so certain that once I no longer need the lifestyle of home ownership (primarily the ability to have dogs and a yard in which my daughters can do dog agility) I am going to continue to own a home. While I would be indirectly impacted by rising property taxes, a renter is not tied to a particular location (especially one who is retired). I do think home ownership on a long term basis is an inflation hedge - it is not a perfect one because of the uncontrollable expenses associated with home ownership (primarily property taxes but also maintenance, more expensive utilities, property insurance, etc.

A home is an anchor. When I was living in another state and in jeopardy of losing my job, it was by far my biggest consideration. If I had been a renter, it would have been far less of a concern.

[hunter]

11. If I wasn't worried about being " tied to a particular location..."

I'd have joined the Navy.

Corporate America desires a nation of good worker bee consumers who will go wherever they are told.

Community is not important to the big corporations, in fact local communities are often an impediment to corporate plans and profits.

Like, what do you mean we can't build a Wal-Mart here?

[kelly1mm]

25. My state has real estate caps based on income. At the time we retire

at 47 till we reach 62, our income will be about $16,000 per year (we have non tax deferred savings to provide additional money if needed). Our real estate taxes will be capped at $1100 per year. Our RE taxes now are $2700 per year.

The only problem is health care/insurance. It may end up that one of us has to work for no other reason than health insurance. Although we may qualify for a subsidy under HCR due to our low income, I am worried that the subsidies will be cut/scaled back/eliminated due to budget cuts.

[exboyfil]

32. Nice law about capping real estate taxes

based on income. Our state has no law like that. Would such a law have a tendency to force higher earners out of the state over time? Your state would be one I would like to retire to if I planned to own my own small home (or trailer or condo). I don't expect to have a very wealthy retirement either. If I have books and access to a good library, then I am good to go with minimal living expenses. While I would like to travel, I would prefer the security of hanging onto those dollars.

As always healthcare is the last remaining bugaboo to a lot more people getting out of working for the man. I have played with the idea when my youngest graduates High School of retiring. If it was just me and not my wife and me, I am sure that I would. I will be 53 when my youngest finishes High School, and driving my EFC to zero would benefit both my daughters for college grant aid - something they have no hope for now. Between Pell grants and state grants based upon Pell availability, the tuition would be covered ($16K for two years for one daughter and $32K for four years for the other daughter). That is $48K over four years. While not a deciding factor in of itself it should go into the pot when deciding to retire early. Also many scholarships have a merit and need based component. Driving your EFC down might also get some additional funds from that source as well. My boss will be eligible for Social Security when his kids hit college age, so he even has more motivation to eye 62 as his retirement date.

[kelly1mm]

33. It is Maryland. So long as you are out of the high price areas (75 miles

from DC/Baltimore) not too bad as far as real estate. I am biased but western Maryland is nice. Just checked the website for the property tax credit and at $16,000 yearly income the property tax cap is $420 (even better than I thought). Here is the chart and a link if you want to check it out:

Household Income Tax Limit
$1 - 8,000 $0
9,000 40
10,000 80
11,000 120
12,000 160
13,000 225
14,000 290
15,000 355
16,000 420
17,000 510
18,000 600
19,000 690
20,000 780
21,000 870
22,000 960
23,000 1050
24,000 1140
25,000 1230
26,000 1320
27,000 1410
28,000 1500
29,000 1590
30,000 1,680
and up to a maximum
of $60,000 *


* For each additional $1,000 of income above $30,000, you add $90 to $1,680 to find the tax limit.

http://www.dat.state.md.us/sdatweb/htc.html

[RebelOne]

15. I was forced into retirement in 2010.

My company was downsizing and I was one of the downsized. I was already 70 at the time. I was collecting social security and had a few dollars in my 401K. I own a mobile home and only pay $367 monthly lot rent that includes water and garbage pickup. For those who cannot afford high home mortgages, mobile homes are the way to go. I am doing quite well at this time and it will be a few years before I will have to eat cat food. Health insurance is not a problem because I have Medicare.

[kelly1mm]

28. Not an attack on you as I do not know your situation, but my point about

having a paid off mortgage was that it would be paid off well before someone is in their retirement years. Thus, that cost is not included in the retirement budget. My RE taxes, insurance and water/garbage now cost $388 per month (after retirement the RE taxes will go down, we have caps for low income, so my cost for housing will go down to $247).
While mobile homes are a good option for many and seems to be working for you, I prefer having my garage, basement, big deck and 1/3 acre lot for my garden and fishpond. Additionally, if needed, I could get a reverse mortgage on my property once I turn 60 for additional income. I do not believe that option is availabe for mobile homes.

[rdking647]

55. i did that

retired at 45.. house isnt paid off but my mortgage is at such a low rate its better not to pay it of (2.5%) . I could pay it off any time...
health insurance was our sticking point.. we are in the texas hi risk pool... expensive as all hell but its better than nothing

[Harmony Blue]

12. I was on the fence

but I decided to not become a home owner recently:

1. It is rare to stay at a job more than 10 years, because this is a result of Americans losing rights as a worker.

2. Prices change so dynamically and are in constant flux now, that is it better to have flexibility to move (renting) than being a home owner. I suppose this point reinforces the first point.

Biggest reason why I prefer monthly payments for internet service, over a year long contract. The flexibility is too important of a tool not to wield given the makeup of our society.

[JNelson6563]

13. I am currently renting but plan to buy in a few years.

I have no interest in using my future home as a cash machine as became the norm in the not too distant past. In renting you pay all of the mortgage and tax expenses that the landlord incurs. It's also likely they charge you over and above those expenses to help with repairs etc.. Some places raise the rent every year, hardly an incentive to stay long term! Some places are great and do what they can to make it attractive to renters to stay a long time. Like the housing market, the rental market (and associated landlord) is a real mixed bag.

I miss owning a home (have rented since my divorce a few years ago) and the feeling of permanence that it will be there for me and mine always. Would like to get a modest place and pay it off, leave it behind for the kids. On the financial side of things you can write-off the interest on your mortgage and you are achieving an asset, unlike when you rent. This is important for future loans you may want to take out.

I can see how those who lost much equity when the market sunk may never want to own again because it was painful and traumatic. Renting has positives and these used/abused former homeowners will be the ones to most greatly appreciate them.

Something for everyone out there, good luck to all in the search for the perfect fit.

Julie

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

14. It'd be nice if people stopped thinking of homes as ATMs

and sadly many of them still do - I say this as a REALTOR(R). I even still see flippers who are as much to blame for the housing crisis as anyone else. A lot of the flipped homes here in my area were poorly renovated (not up to code, missing permits, no inspections, and so on), just to make a quick buck.

Homes shouldn't be bought if you're not planning on staying in them, working on them, maintaining them, etc. for at least 5 years.

[Bragi]

16. Housing affordability matters, not ownership

Affordable housing is a social good. Whether the homes are owned or rented is not particularly important. The only thing that has made ownership important is the tax code.

End the tax breaks for mortgage payments (which favor upper income groups) and renting versus owning is purely a comparative cost issue that people can decide for themselves.

[JustAnotherGen]

17. Add my fiance an I to this pool

We were really hearts set on a much older home. They basically sit in rural communities around NJ completely neglected. However -who knows where the economy is going. Add to that fact that we both already outright own property (he in Acri, Florence, Paris) and me a condo I rent out in Rochester and it comes back around to . . . How much do we REALLY need. And truthfully - I don't want the aggravation of home ownership day to day. There's a big difference between an apartment in Europe and a Condo in Rochester and having a home that needs repairs, upkeep, lawn mowed, etc. etc. Where we COULD see buying is a small condo on the shore since we prefer to spend every weekend we can during the warm months on the beach. But living down the shore is not feasible in terms of where we work.

[laundry_queen]

18. Do people not understand

that your landlord has those same expenses YOU are looking to get away from and when you rent you are simply paying one large payment to cover all those 'annoying' smaller ones? You think the landlord is going to rent to you at a loss? Plus, then the landlord gets all the equity because you're paying his mortgage for him.

As soon as I'm out of school and fully employed (Thankfully where I am the economy is pretty strong) I'm buying a house. I'm tired of not being able to hang pictures, paint walls or finish the yard. I don't want to have to call my flaky landlord for every little thing when I can fix it myself. I don't want to live in fear of my landlord being foreclosed on and not telling me, or of him deciding to raise my rent, or of him deciding to sell. I want to be in control of my own home (yes I understand the bank owns it until it is paid). My parents paid off their home and because of that will be in good shape to retire. They didn't even start saving for retirement until their 40's. That house saved their finances - because they lived in it and paid it off, not because they 'flipped' it. That's what I plan on doing - living in it until it is paid off.

[taught_me_patience]

20. Correct... however, rent is not determined by cost plus

Rent is a function of market supply and demand. In many expensive markets, it's much cheaper to rent than buy. Landlords can and do rent for losses all the time, especially if the house has gone down in value.

The little expenses of owning a condo are not even that annoying. Your mortgage, taxes, HOA are all deducted automatically. It's less annoying that having to write a check and mail it to the landlord. The small things... don't really add up... not much goes wrong in a condo.

[laundry_queen]

21. True, because they can write off losses

however where I am rent is actually more expensive than most mortgages. I'd be better off right now with a mortgage (which I can't get because I'm not employed even though I have regular income that would cover a mortgage no problem) even though housing is pretty expensive here. It depends on the market, and I think apartments/condos are different than a detatched house/yard.

[pitohui]

37. you don't make money writing off losses...which is WHY renting costs more than buying

i think the same is true most places

it has to be a rare circumstance for buying to cost more than renting, maybe some places where there is rent control like manhattan spring to mind but you and i will never get one of those rare rent controlled apartments in manhattan either

[laundry_queen]

40. You can still get ahead by writing off losses

well, here in Canada anyway - if the landlord is a small business owner a rental loss will lower his income and thus lower the taxes he owes. Many people have rental properties for the write off of the losses. However, the losses can't be too big, obviously because they don't get it ALL back. And at the same time, he's still building equity in the property he owns. One day he can just cash out and all of that equity is his to pay off his own home and vacation properties. Then he is now further ahead than the rest of us.

[joshcryer]

47. If they own the property (free and clear except taxes) it's not a real loss.

But it may be able to be calculated as a loss if the owner can show that he's renting at below the going market rate or something like that.

[Bragi]

29. Think hard about that

You are basically assuming that the post-war housing market forces that drove house price increases to unprecedented levels in recent decades will be replicated in the coming decades. I seriously doubt that will happen.

Without these huge capital gains, you may get a better return renting and then saving and investing the money you'd otherwise pay for mortgage interest.

This will be particularly true if the tax breaks for mortgage interest are ended, as they should be. I think it's the tax break that actually distorts the market.

[taught_me_patience]

19. These are precisely the articles I'm hoping to see

that signal a time to buy. If you can afford it, it is a great time to buy. However, there are certain demographics that should not buy:

If you are 25 and single... don't buy. You're life will change dramatically in five years.
If you just moved to a new city... don't buy. Rent for a year to see if you really like living there.

[SoCalDem]

22. Pets & children often make buying a "better" option for many people

Landlords often prefer to rent to people who are the least likely to damage their property. Damage deposits don't always cover the amount of damage that a few rambunctious kids and a couple of pets can do. We don't rent, but before we ever would try to sell, we would have to replace almost every door frame in the house due to the fact that one of my rascal cats (Sweetie Pie) has decided that he prefers door frames to the scratching post, and then there's carpet...We have tile throughout, but rentals tend to have carpeting, and there's only so many steam cleanings that a carpet can take, and we all know that pet urine permeates the pad and sub-floor. Those are expensive fixes after tenants leave.

The more degraded a rental becomes, the less rent the landlord can collect, and we all know that taxes & expenses don't usually decrease.

If people plan to stay put, and plan to pay off a house, buying makes sense. Renting makes sense for many people though.


Real estate has been in a big , unrealistic bubble, and now that it's popped, there are some bargains to be had, but don't expect values to rise like before.

[roamer65]

45. I hear you on kitties.

I am glad I bought a used double-wide instead of a stick built expensive house for the reasons you state with sweetie pie. Mine are finally going after an old sofa I don't care about.

[pitohui]

23. they obviously don't know how to do math

let's see, let's RENT and pay all those costs plus the landlord's profit (or does this fool imagine that landlords are renting properties to lose money)

or let's BUY, don't have to pay landlord's profit, plus after the passage of time you have paid off
the note and have a free place to stay


an additional and substantial cost of renting is all the moving that is necessary, it costs money to move and if you are really paying below the market for your rent, it's because you are not always paying the rent and you end up getting evicted or the landlord eventually notices there is no profit and he has to raise the rent...and you end up getting evicted or if you have to move if you can't meet the increase

it's funny how renters are so hopeless about capitalism, well, the lifelong renters anyway, they truly don't seem to understand that the reason they never get anywhere or have any money saved is because they have to pay rent, every month forever, or pay to move, and meanwhile the homeowner eventually pays off the mortgage, has disposable income, and now you're in competition to buy "stuff" with somebody who is functionally richer than you because he has more disposable income...prices keep going on, but the renter's disposable income isn't going up, the homeowner's does...huge jump in our disposable income when we paid off our home, that's for sure

oh, and the other cost of renting is that you have to live in neighborhoods with a lot of other renters-- most don't have an investment in the neighborhood and community, higher crime, more general assholery

my eyes popped when i heard what the house next door was renting for, holy christ on a crutch, how do you get ahead when you're paying those prices and it will never end?

[mike_c]

30. my rent is less than half the cost of a mortgage on the same house....

I rent my house for $900 monthly. A few years ago, at the height of the housing bubble, my landlord offered to sell it to me. The monthly cost of the mortgage alone would have been nearly $2500, almost three times my rent. Add insurance, taxes, a down payment, and pretty soon we're talking about real money. I have as many pets as I want-- currently two dogs and six cats. I hang pictures where I want them, I paint the walls as I see fit, and so on. I've rented here since 2000-- for the first five years or so the rent was only $750.

There is no way I could have come out ahead buying this house, so we declined the offer and have continued renting. The owner has other rental properties as well-- he didn't need to sell the house, but was thinking about a project that required capital and selling the house to me was one way he could raise some. In the end he raised it some other way, and we continue to rent. Everyone is happy with the arrangement. I am not at all math challenged!

[pitohui]

35. i'm not saying your experience is true but it doesn't make sense that it's normal

my house note was $440 a month for a 30 year note, i paid it off early because i came into money, but even if i was paying it off still today at $440 a month, the houses in my neighborhood (all of the same basic size of plan) rent for $1200 a month -- and in the 18 months after katrina they rented for $1600 a month

it sounds like your landlord was not interested in selling his house so he offered you a silly price, that doesn't mean you come out ahead by renting -- why didn't you find a DIFFERENT house? at a reasonable instead of a gouging price?

i am going on 10 years now with NO payment of rent/mortgage -- that is freedom to roll with life's punches, with my uncertain income, if i was still a renter, i would be "renting" a tent on the street

in fact, a tent site at the state park near my neighborhood is $16 a night -- yes that means that my mortgage costs LESS than being homeless

and yes i got some assistance because i bought my home thru a program for low income people, during the savings and loan crisis, but we also have a crisis, cheap houses in many areas of the usa, and many programs available today...a landlord can only compete by playing on ignorance or the fact that some people simply can't get their lives together -- at the end of the day, it costs them a lot of money to be poor and unable to figure out how to buy

you must be aware that landlords are in business to make money, not to lose money

[mike_c]

49. dude, it's northern california-- that IS a reasonable price....

eom

[joshcryer]

44. I'm sure everyone is happy when you pay the guy $10k a year for probably a tenth of that in costs...

...for the landlord (assuming about $1k yearly maintenance which is extremely absurd, an appliance if included may need to be replaced occasionally, but other than that...), and smile while doing it.

[mike_c]

59. viewed another way-- from my perspective...

...I pay less than a third of the cost of ownership. Sure, the house is paid for and the owner is making a profit renting it to me. He's a great landlord, my cost is sustainable, and everyone is happy with the arrangement.

When I was considering buying the house I spoke with a realtor with a long track record in local property sales. She agreed with me that there was a strong financial disincentive to buy-- recall too that this was at the height of the real estate bubble. The house appraised for $140K in the mid-1990s, but similar houses in the neighborhood, including neighboring homes, sold in the $350K range during the mid-2000s when I considered buying it. I never actually made an offer after reviewing the costs and benefits, but we were talking about the $300-$350K range (as a measure of just how good my landlord is, he was waiting to see what sort of financing I could obtain rather than simply naming a price). Anyway, the realtor I spoke with told me that "you won't find any deals like that (my current rent) in the housing market today. Some people are simply better off not buying when they can rent MUCH less expensively."

[dionysus]

57. it's completely different depending where you live. i own a little duplex. the rent from the other

side covers 2/3 of the mortgage. it's different for everyone.

[Evasporque]

24. BULLSHIT!! -- try buying homes you can well afford...thousands of homes for sale...CHEAP

My house cost 75K....my mortgage, utilities and taxes are less than 650/month. It's not big...or new..built in 1921 in the city....nice and cozy and the money my partner save in housing we go out and live life, help others...I have a sailboat at the local marina...we go dining out a lot...we save some...

We don't need $350,000 plus homes on 4 acres...

The fact is there are HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of houses in America's cities that people think are "beneath" them...SCREW THAT...

Renting is a scam! Buy a inexpensive old home...pioneer neighborhoods...revitalize our own cities...

[GreenStormCloud]

27. Eventually, the house is PAID FOR. Rent NEVER stops.

Further, with a conventional mortgage the payments don't go up, but rent increases fror the same place. And with owning the house you can do what you want to with it. If you want to get new carpets, you do it, if you have the money. Owning beats renting. With renting the other guy has to make enough money to pay for his mortgage, taxes, insurance, empty time, and still make a profit. All of that is part of your rent.

[cemaphonic]

31. These sorts of articles often treat the math on home ownership purely as an investment

and ignore that living expenses are, well, expenses.

If you buy a house for 200k, hang onto it for 10 years, and end up paying $20,000 more in interest, taxes, maintenance, etc than you make from the sale, that's bad from an investment standpoint. However, this also means that it has only cost you $2000 per year to put a roof over your head.

Plus there's the whole expense stability and equity building of ownership. Over the life of a 30-year mortgage, the cost of renting can be counted on to go up - some quick googling suggests that average rents have just about tripled since 1980. With a mortgage over the same timespan, taxes and insurance will increase too, but not by nearly as much. And, at the end of that 30 years, the homeowner is now only paying taxes and insurance, while the renter continues to pay the full amount.

The mobility issue is a good argument for renting though, given our current lifestyle patterns. If you move every few years, even if you don't have a lot of trouble selling a house to move, resetting a mortgage every few years makes it hard to get on the favorable side of the amortization curve. Especially since you'll be paying 1-2% closing costs each time.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. Even after your mortgage is paid off

you don't "live free." You still have property taxes, repairs, and maintenance. And then there's the temptation that a lot of people I know have: once they own a house, they're constantly remodeling it.

I don't consider my rent money "wasted" any more than I consider my grocery money wasted.

[pitohui]

36. but you have repairs and maintenance when you rent also

and the cost of the property tax is folded into your rent

you are paying for all that stuff, only as a renter you have the extra hassle of when something breaks you either get into a big fight with the landlord or eventually you give up and fix it yourself

i don't know how people who are not "handy" rent in new orleans, if you can't do your own repairs, you are fucked

pre home ownership we were good at that sort of thing and even got some cashbacks from landlords after they realized we were willing to fix stuff/mow the lawn but i've had other friends in just terrible circumstance because they don't know how to fix stuff and landlords WON'T fix stuff

i hate to come across as a communist devil but marx was right about one thing -- landlords are thieves!!! (well, most of them are pure scumbags but i guess they didn't call people scumbags in marx's day) they want to take your money and do fuck all

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. That hasn't been my experience

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've had exactly one landlord (over 30 years ago on the East Coast) who wasn't reasonable. My current one is a member of the family that built the building, lives on the premises, and repairs things promptly.

Given the way my income has fluctuated over the past ten years, I am VERY glad that I never bought. I would have been one of the foreclosure cases.

I couldn't afford to buy the apartment that I currently rent.

[raccoon]

52. IME, it's MUCH better to rent from a property manager than from an individual.

I currently rent in an apartment complex and they're very good to keep things fixed.

However, I have a co-worker who rents in another complex, and they are lousy at maintaining the place.

Again, IME, when you rent from an individual they don't want to fix things, if something was thousands of years old and breaks, they think YOU broke it.

[Harmony Blue]

54. In some places in Florida

monthly mortgages are indeed less than renting. But when you take into account insurance, which is often overlooked, it can be crippling for those not prepared. But I stand by my original statement that until the Capitalist machine comes crashing down, home owning isn't worth it, even though it is enticing currently! I think we haven't reached the bottom yet, which is why I am not buying a home NOW. I am a patient person, and I can tell that the crash hasn't happened yet. If the crash does happen, I may entertain the thought of buying a home. But renting, having flexible mobility, and actually generating my own savings is far more efficient where I am in my life currently.

I like the advice given above, that if you plan to buy a house, buy it because you want a place to live for a long time, and DO NOT look at it like an investment.

[raccoon]

50. And maintenance, such as re-roofing, re-wiring, plumbing, etc., can run into mucho bucks.

The decision whether to rent or buy--there's a lot more to it than just economics.

[chillspike]

38. Just buy the land and put up a shack

Put up something, anything, that doesnt require a loan, even if you build it yourself, and youl'll only have to worry about the taxes. Renting is no solution either. It is another scam too.

[BiggJawn]

41. I tried the home ownership "American Dream"

It turned into a nightmare. at least the foreclosure and bankruptcy have finally dropped off my credit report.
Among the reasons I'll never "own" again are:

1. I'm not young enough to save up the now requisite 20% down payment. It would take YEARS for me to save up 30 kilobucks.

2. I'm almost 55. I seriously doubt I'd live to see a 30 year mortgage paid off.

3. I do not feel that the market has hit bottom. I'll not get into a situation again where I'm underwater as soon as the papers are signed.

Home ownership is so fucking over-rated. Hell, for the first 10 years of the mortgage, all your monthly payment goes to interest, not Principal. How's that any different than paying rent?

[rdking647]

56. interest is tax deductable rent isnt

[joshcryer]

43. Fuck that.

Stupidity.

[MadHound]

46. Depends upon each person's taste, the housing market where they live and their goals

For me, home ownership makes sense. I've got deep roots in this community, and I'm not moving. Renting here is more expensive than mortgage payments, and I will own this house within fifteen years, if not sooner. Thus, it makes sense to me to own.

For others, not so much. It all depends on your situation.

[JackDragna]

51. I rent due to time constraints.

My job pretty much owns me - I have little time to upkeep a yard or make repairs on a house. I let others do it for me. Still, if I ever have kids, I'd want them to have the same experience I did, with roaming through neighborhoods full of houses and playing in the yard. God knows if I'll ever afford it.

[rdking647]

53. homeownership isnt for everyone

but in a lot of cases its the best deal.. In many parts of the country its cheaper to buy than rent.. thats an advantage for homeownership..
mortgage interest is tax deductable,rent isnt
while recently house prices have fallen that will change.. and if the house rises in value you make money
one other advantage with homeownership that is often overlooked is the cost of money..
you will be paying back the bank with cheaper dollars.. assumining you have a house with a 200k mortgage for 30 years... that make your mortgage payment about 1000 a month.. assume inflation is 3% for the next 30 years.
that means your 1000 payment in 30 years is like a $400 payment today. your paying back the bank with cheaper dollars..

[krabigirl]

60. Renting is fine. In many countries, renters have many more protections..we should, too.

Right now, we rent a home and own a rental property that we plan to sell in a couple of years. We will buy another as well, but in CA, it is still not a good time to buy.