Posted on 04/23/2014 7:43:15 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I've never lived in expensive housing and haven't had a mortgage since 1995. Home ownership makes sense if you're going to live in a house for a long time and have a plan to pay it off, at the very latest before retirement. Not having a mortgage, condo fee or any of that is very nice.
There is a factor to consider now, though. The current economic/social/job stability situations in the US plus all of the weather challenges in recent years cause a situation where one might not want to be tied to one place where perhaps a house can't be sold easily. In an emergency, I have something set aside so I could rent somewhere for a year or to if that became necessary.
This idea of “renting is better than owning” is absolutely true for democRATS, liberals and progressives. Reason being: Because they are all elitists. THEY want to OWN all the property so THEY can dictate the terms. Central Control.
Only IDIOTS would buy into this reasoning.
...and the Post writer?
“Nobel Prize in economics who previously became a household name for identifying the housing bubble.”
Nobel has become a “liberal/progressive” trophy of make believe.
...and BTW, the housing bubble was CAUSED by liberal/progressive ideals, ideas, and ideologies. The libs knew what was happening with the selling of BAD mortgages to lending institutions. They turned their collective blind eye from the inevitable consequences.
I’m a broker (disclosure).
I think in general home ownership is a good investment. Each person should analyze their scenario to make a determination.
I would add for long term, you’ll probably replace a roof and maybe pipes. Good to factor that into the equation.
One example. My parents bought a house in Pomona CA in 1963 for $13,900.
Sold in 72 for $26,500.
A few years ago (before the bubble burst) it sold for $274,000.
I have talked a few people out of buying, at least at that particular time, and then some don’t have the funds anyway. That’s an easier call.
My son is paying off student loans and getting married next year. Not the time for him to buy with his debt to income ration and in two years he’ll be in great shape and may have been promoted and moved to another location.
No one answer for everyone.
Yeah, and working for a living, too.
-PJ
HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS
“Workin’ For A Livin’”
Somedays won’t end ever and somedays pass on by,
I’ll be working here forever, at least until I die.
Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t
I’m supposed to get a raise next week, you know damn well I won’t.
Workin’ for a livin’ (workin’)
Workin’ for a livin’ (workin’)
Workin’ for a livin’, livin’ and workin’
I’m taking what they giving ‘cause I’m working for a livin’.
Hey I’m not complaining ‘cause I really need the work
Hitting up my buddy’s got me feeling like a jerk
Hundred dollar car note, two hundred rent.
I get a check on Friday, but it’s already spent.
Workin’ for a livin’ (workin’)
Workin’ for a livin’ (workin’)
Workin’ for a livin’, livin’ and workin’
I’m taking what they giving ‘cause I’m working for a livin’.
Ooh, workin’ for a livin’
Ooh, taking what they giving
Ooh, workin’ for a livin’
Ooh, ooh
Bus boy, bartender, ladies of the night
Grease monkey, ex-junky, winner of the fight
Walking on the streets, its really all the same
Selling souls, rock n’ roll, any other day
Workin’ for a livin’ (workin’)
Workin’ for a livin’ (workin’)
Workin’ for a livin’, livin’ and workin’
I’m taking what they giving ‘cause I’m working for a livin’
Workin’ for a livin’, livin’ and workin’
I’m taking what they giving ‘cause I’m working for a livin’
Workin’ for a livin’, livin’ and workin’
Keep renting suckers........you’re going to be funding my retirement.
I went to college with a girl whose father made a fortune developing in the town of Restin, VA then moved to develop in Flower Mound, TX. Several years after I graduated and lost touch with the girl I saw an ad in the paper for a huge bankruptcy sale in Flower Mound. Then a year or so later some friends of my sister bragged about buying a house in Flower Mound that had originally listed for around $700,000 dollars for less than $150k. So the "when" part of the equation remains important even in Texas.
I always thought a cool idea is to buy an RV and live in it and where you go, you take your home, sort of live like a turtle. Sort of like what Ponch did in the early episodes of the TV show, “CHiPs.” The downside is that it would be tough to raise a family but for a single person or couple, it could be doable. A side note, a fantasy of mine it to buy something like a 1968 Mercury Park Lane (think McGarrett’s car from the old Hawaii Five-0) and tow my home, a bullet trailer, behind it.
Sometimes renting is better if you do not have the resources to fix something if something breaks. It depends on the individual’s situation I believe.
She’s now written three articles on this topic in as many days. The original article, then two others attempting (unsuccesfully) to reclaim a shred of dignity in the face of the savaging she’s getting in the comments section by people who understand economics and math.
And she’s really being savaged. And the Agenda 21/Occupy idiots who are out there trying to defend her are only making things worse.
Are you saying that landlords do NOT pay taxes on the properties they rent to others?
Really?
Isn’t it more correct to say that renters pay property taxes, too — just as non-itemized components of their monthly rents?
Well of course. I never meant to send the message that anyone should buy a house that would diminish in value. My point was only that profit is not the motivating factor in whether to buy a house. We chose carefully 26 years ago and have stayed in this house despite many opportunities to “buy up.”
My point is that renters do pay, as part of their rent the taxes...but so do "homeowners". Those that say they "buy" a house for $200,000 and sell it for $220,000 are not making $20,000 in profit when ALL the cost are calculated. The cost of "living" in our shacks or McMansions has to be calculated by taking all expenses related to the home into consideration
My other point is the important one... nobody OWNS anything. We all live on the king's land and are merely leasing it at his whim subject to taxes and eminent domain to other favored subjects in the kingdom like his relatives or business partners. THAT is the important point that nobody likes to admit or say in public.
Entire empty cities in China - that’s stimulus -lol
Real estate is a big safe place to park spare cash to protect it from government inflation. The stock market is the place sheeple go to get sheared by big gov, greedy Wall Street insiders, the mob, lawyers, and super geniuses with warehouses of computer servers.
When my wife and I bought our first place, a co-op apartment in Connecticut, no co-op mortgages were available to us. So we had to use personal loans, each with a 5-year amortization schedule. Talk about “forced saving”!!
Anyway, our cash flow was very tight, but our all-in “cost of housing” (including RE taxes, common charges, utilities, RR tickets and savings on our Federal, NY and NYC income taxes) was less than the sum of our rents and the full income tax burden we had paid as NYC renters.
When we sold that co-op two years later, 100% of the profit and 100% of that amortization was ours. This gave us the down-payment we needed to buy our first stand alone house.
Every case is different...
I agree. I’ve owned property since I bought my first one at the age of 16. I’ve made money on every one I’ve sold over the years.
If the motorhome were to be completely self-contained you’d still have to pay to dump the sewage tank, and it would be difficult to find a free place to park it for any length of time. Campgrounds with electric and sewer hookups cost from around $20.00 per night on up plus cost of utilities, depending upon amenities such as a pool, clubhouse, showers and the like. $20 a night equals a monthly mortgage on a starter home in many parts of the country.
I recall at the time that the mantra was that "the land was too good for the people who owned it."
Never mind that the people who owned it were those who moved to South Florida in the 1960s and 1970s, you know, original settlers. Not the newly rich who coveted what others were the first to find.
2005: Land-use battle rages in Florida
RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — It's across the inlet from Palm Beach, but this town — mostly black, blue-collar and with a large industrial and warehouse district — could be a continent away from the Fortune 500 and Rolls-Royce set.But Riviera Beach's fortunes may soon change.
In what has been called the largest eminent-domain case in the nation, the mayor and other elected leaders want to move about 6,000 residents, tear down their homes and use the emptied 400-acre site to build a waterfront yachting and residential complex for the well-to-do.
The goal, Mayor Michael Brown said during a public meeting in September, is to "forever change the landscape" in this municipality of about 32,500. The $1 billion plan, local leaders have said, should generate jobs and haul Riviera Beach's economy out of the doldrums.
Opponents, however, call the plan a government-sanctioned land grab that benefits private developers and the wealthy.
-PJ
Don’t get me wrong , I agree that money can be made in real estate, homes and rentals but its just not a simple price tag comparison. By the way of your explanation shows me you already understand this.
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