You also have to factor in the fact that when you’re buying a house, you’re not paying rent. Even when considering maintenance, that’s a major value to you. Over the last 50 years, my investments in real estate have done quite well, thank you NYT.
You also have to factor in the fact that when you’re buying a house, you’re not paying rent.
So it would cost me at least an additional $1,300 to live where I live if I did not own it. As it happens I have CDs that contain around what I paid for my home and believe me, I am not getting $1,300 a month in interest from those CDs.
(For full disclosure my property tax is $1,100 a year. I keep the maintenance up on the home but when averaged out it is less than $50 a month. So for me, buying a home has been a good “investment”
Besides, I do not believe anyone should buy a home with the idea it will be a good investment. That could be a factor but not one of the main ones to consider.
Same here.
My time line is only 30 years for investments, although it is 45 years for home ownership. I have done far, far better in real estate than in the stock market, even though I have put more money into the stock market.
The real reason for this is that I can safely get an 80% loan on real estate. If it is investment property, someone else makes the payments for me, and that nasty old inflation that they factored out of their calculations works for me. I put 20% down, but inflation increases the price of 100% of the property. Even if values go down temporarily, the loan can not be called if I keep the payments up.
For a lot of reasons, inflation is the government's friend, so we will have it forever. If you are a real estate investor (I mean real tangible property, not REITs) you make inflation your friend also.
When you can align your personal financial interests with the government's interest, you will prosper.
You are the smartest one here.
No house, you rent for 30 years and accumulate 360 cancelled checks. You have paid the owner’s taxes, upkeep, insurance, and sundries.
You buy a house and after 30 years (!) you have 360 cancelled checks good for toasting marshmallows PLUS the ownership of that house which has been a family’s home for that 30 years. It is yours.
Rent or buy, you have lived, eaten, played, had children, vacationed and worked hard.
RENT: 360 checks cancelled
BUY: Property worth (especially now) one hell of lot of money, even after taxes. ALSO, when sold, the money from the house can earn YOU interest.