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So are you saying home ownership always comes out ahead of renting? There is a lot of research that would disagree with you. Here are just a few of the costs that I have paid so far this year that most people ignore as costs of home ownership.
POA Dues: $175
Fixing some loose shingles on the roof: $300
Fixing a leak in the thread of the bathroom ventilation pipe: $50
Fixing a chip in our countertops: $200
Mowing the grass 8 times @ $35/mow: $280
basic landscape maintenance: $50
Weed Control: $195
Total through May: $1250
or an additional $250/month in expenses
So my true cost of home ownership isn't a 20% down payment and my mortgage + interest+HO insurance+Property taxes, it's that plus $250/month.
This is on a relatively new home (built in 2005).
A few things on the horizon:
re-shingle the roof: $10k
new HVAC system: $7k
People tend to ignore these costs when factoring their monthly cost of home ownership.
There are definitely benefits to home ownership, but the monetary benefits are greatly exaggerated. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but for every Denver, San Francisco, etc. there are many that are not appreciating at all. If you happen to live in the next city that will see that appreciation and you know it before it happens go for it! But I lived in Orlando in 2007. The home I was renting was for sale for $499k. It's zestimate today is $315k. Whoever owned that sure made a killing! I'm much more happy that I paid $1.5k/month in rent to live there than got stuck with owning the property.
No dues
Metal Roof has a 40 year Warrenty
I ran the ventilation pipe.... if/when I need to fix it it'll take part of a tube of calk.
Home made countertops, next house will have cement countertops I make myself.
I'm replacing the grass with clover, it'll stay a few inches tall and never need mowing, and my bees will love it. (Rural)
Window unit.
I DID buy 80 lbs of salt ($12) yesterday and spread it in the driveway to kill the grass sprouting in the gravel.
If your parents gave you a college education and helped with the down payment on a house, are you living on inherited wealth or did you make it yourself?
The general rule is that you are a dependent for your first 20 years, then a worker for about 40 years, and then (if you are lucky) you get to be a dependent again for another 20 years or so at the end.
Fewer than half of the current population currently has a job. And the jobs picture is of course pretty good right now.
The general rule is that you are a dependent for your first 20 years, then a worker for about 40 years, and then (if you are lucky) you get to be a dependent again for another 20 years or so at the end.
Fewer than half of the current population currently has a job. And the jobs picture is of course pretty good right now.
I have a friend whose husband hits estate sales every Saturday by 8 AM. He has a great eye and will buy things (generally furniture) that look valuable. He then sells them to a consignment store. He told us he made nearly $10K doing this last year!
If you add up the hours time and host cost invested he could probably have made $20k annually in a weekend job.
Spending habits are equally if not slightly more important than wages.
Someone earning $80k in Knoxville TN is likely far better off than someone earning $150k in San Fran. Really it comes down managing and limiting flex spend items. Vehicles, jewlery, vacations, entertainment, drugs, booze, cigs, etc can all be cripples expenditures.
Fewer than half of the current population currently has a job. And the jobs picture is of course pretty good right now.
Sooo... Somewhere less than half of the current population feels the need to work for a living, given the combination of their savings, living situation, and the plethora social safety net programs.
While some of course are looking for a job, the overwhelming majority are not -- and yet they live their lives every day.
A lot of people just "finance" their lives with credit cards and loans. To keep up appearances. And a lot of people have family money, maybe their parents help subsidize their lives or they have money from a deceased relative or something.
Little secret, many of the people who look rich actually ain't got ish, and a lot of people who you would NEVER peg as rich have millions. Even rich ppl like good sales!
Also, gurl we need to go shopping together for those Walmart goods. I didn't know about the camis or leggings. Have you checked out Sam's/Costco clothes too? Good stuff.
My question is why do you care? It is none of your business unless it affects you. And, from what you said in OP, it doesn't
It’s human nature to feel jilted and irritated, from perceived injustice. If I study hard for my exam, but only score a “B”, whereas the other fellow partied and disregarded his studies, but got an “A”, I will feel irked by sense of injustice. I’m going to start rooting for him to fail. If I eat properly and exercise, but after a year of sedulous weight-lifting the other guy enjoys greater growth in the circumference of his biceps, despite eating junk and exercising rarely, well, I’ll feel jilted, and will root for that fellow to sustain some progress-sapping injury. Similarly, if one scrimps and saves, foregoing lavish vacations or fine-dining, while the couple down the street disregards their 401K or whatever, and drives elegant cars and indulges in luxuries, well, that piques one’s sense of injustice. Why can’t they suffer some financial calamity, to, you know, be cut down a few notches? Maybe a foreclosure? Car repossession? No? How come they keep living like that, seemingly without the hatchet ever falling?
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I didn't know about the camis or leggings. Have you checked out Sam's/Costco clothes too? Good stuff.