[logline]

Originally Posted by Kevin_nlv

Great post Red Applex.

Posters like Logline are not potential buyers in today's market. He and him alike are looking for free equity just like those guys back in 2005-2007.

Buying in today's market is for suckers IMHO.

I have no horse in this race at all. I'm neither looking to buy nor sell. Just giving 2 very compelling and substantiated reasons for why owning is better than renting in Las Vegas.

[Kevin_nlv]

Originally Posted by ft_chief

["I think homeownership is greatly overrated in Las Vegas. The cost of owning a home has increased dramatically. I don't understand this obsession of owning a home and some people are willing to overpay for a house just so that they can be homeowners. You buy a house and then what, there is many expense coming your way from that point on."]




My mortgage payment including PITI $653.00 per month, my payment if I was renting the same house, $1200. You do the math!?

You didn't buy your house in last few months so your entire math calculation is phony.

Why don't you use current inflated price of your house and current mortage interest rate and you would see that your mortgage payment is much higher today, probably around $1200 and +.

[Kevin_nlv]

Originally Posted by logline

I have no horse in this race at all. I'm neither looking to buy nor sell. Just giving 2 very compelling and substantiated reasons for why owning is better than renting in Las Vegas.

You are just too funny.
Free equity right Logline, who is going to buy my overpriced house?

[binionrat]

We bought a gated community condo a little over a year ago and we took a little mortgage on our house up here in Canada to pay cash for the LV condo. Now we own a house on 1/2 acre in Canada on a lake (purchased decades ago) and a gorgeous condo in Vegas and pay $400 month mortgage payment to our bank up here for the next 10 years for debt acquired to own both of them. Why rent when we can now pass on both of these properties to our 2 adult children so that they can enjoy some later years. When I hit 66 (I'm 58 now) my husband and I will be mortage free and living equally in the 2 places for 6 months; summer/winter. Yes, it's been decades of not moving or selling, but we would of been stuck paying rents and not paying down a house if we paid it to a landlord/owner since we were married in the 70's. If you constantly rent you aren't paying down anything, you aren't leaving anything to your family, and the future only holds more payments on rent that will most likely double. Perhaps if you look at owning as a longterm 40 year goal in one house, not thinking of real estate as a buy and sell project for your lifetime, a person may come out ahead AND be able to pass on to your kids so they in turn can enjoy it with their kids. Ownership also gives you a feeling of personalization and a closeness, with sentimentality and many memories when you share a life with one house. As everybody knows, if you want to paint your rooms purple in a rental it ain't gonna happen....If you own your own house you can paint polka dots on your kid's walls!!! It permits a freedom not felt in a residence owned by someone else. :-)

[logline]

Originally Posted by Kevin_nlv

You are just too funny.
Free equity right Logline, who is going to buy my overpriced house?

Nice try, but wrong again. My property will stay in my family long after I'm dead and gone. Care to continue to show how little you know about the world? You like to make a lot of false assumptions, don't you?

[BBMW]

This is false. If a house has a $300K replacement value, and you buy it for $250K, and the market drops it to $200K after you bought, you lost money. This probably happened to a lot of people during the bust. Also houses depreciate as the get older, so it may never get back up to replacement value.

Originally Posted by LuisSuarez

As long as prices are below build cost you cannot lose money. Unlike renters who lose money every month.

[BBMW]

I don't know if your talking now, or in general. If you're talking about the market right now in metro Vegas, I agree it's not the best time to buy. I think we're in the middle of a fake upside breakout in the housing market. If the fed has to drop the hammer on interest rates, this rally is going to get crushed. And I don't think the underlying economics in Vegas are enough better than at the bottom of the market to justify the increase we're seeing.

If you're talking about home ownership in general, I disagree. Over the last several decades, owning a home has been a great way to build wealth for the majority of Americans. If the housing market becomes less speculative, it can be again. But this doesn't mean you don't have to time your purchase correctly. People who bought in 2005-2008 (pre-crash) are still pretty well screwed.

But there are strong incentive to buy vs rent. Look at the tax advantages alone. And the fact that there is essentially preferential financing allows a homeowner to build equity through amortization. And if they can catch some price appreciation as their amortizing down the loan, they can be way ahead.

But there's an old saw in real estate that you make your money when you buy, not when you sell. It couldn't be more true now.

Originally Posted by Red applex

I think homeownership is greatly overrated in Las Vegas. The cost of owning a home has increased dramatically. I don't understand this obsession of owning a home and some people are willing to overpay for a house just so that they can be homeowners. You buy a house and then what, there is many expense coming your way from that point on.

How is it the opportunity of a lifetime to overpay for something?
When interest rates go up in an environment with no wage growth, home prices go down.
It is amazing how people are affected by group behavior and totally forget fundamentals in a real estate boom. They always seem to forget that real estate boom is ALWAYS followed by a real estate bust.

Home buying is now officially a casino and everyone thinks they can win as long as they get a chance to play. Unfortunately the stakes get higher and higher as the bets get bigger and bigger.
There is no real housing market anymore, just manipulation at the federal level to keep the game going.

What a shame real estate market has become, one big ponzi scheme involving homebuilders, real estate brokers/realtors, various investors and etc.

[LuisSuarez]

Originally Posted by BBMW

This is false. If a house has a $300K replacement value, and you buy it for $250K, and the market drops it to $200K after you bought, you lost money. This probably happened to a lot of people during the bust. Also houses depreciate as the get older, so it may never get back up to replacement value.

As long as a house is maintained it does not depreciate with age. The bust was an extreme event that will not happen again so build cost is the best indication of the bottom price.

[djslakor]

Luis, "will not happen again" ... where did you purchase your crystal ball?

[BBMW]

Generally, and I know there are exceptions, people will pay a premium for newer, and especially, new houses. Maybe some older houses that are old enough to be "antique" have some level of premium. But houses do very much depreciate, relative to newer houses on the market.

Originally Posted by LuisSuarez

As long as a house is maintained it does not depreciate with age. The bust was an extreme event that will not happen again so build cost is the best indication of the bottom price.