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I know so many got hurt in the real estate and economic crash but I still believe in real estate. In fact, my personal goal is to buy a couple of rentals. Not there yet.
Years and years ago, I lived in a condo, then a townhome. My father always kept asking me when I was going to buy a "real" home. I protested and years later, I have that family home. I now understand what he meant. For me, that was good.
Some people like to pick up and go and have a maintenance free life - that's great. Figure out what you like and go from there.
Buying is not for everyone but it's a good way for me. I actually love real estate, love looking at homes, the whole experience and ugh, guess what I do for a living? (LOL).
I don't know if it's me or not. I do know that for now, I'm happy that on my day off I can sit and read a book, rather than thinking about the many home projects I should be working on. Was a homeowner for 16 years, have been a renter for 4 months now, house sold 2 days ago. Woo!
I'm sure there will be times that being a renter is annoying. While having shared walls is an adjustment, my old neighbor's living room was only 6 feet from my bedroom window, and she played loud music and had screaming fights a lot, so my 86 year old apt-neighbor is pretty good so far.
I made a decent profit on the sale of both houses- bought 1998, sold 2004; bought 2004, sold 2014, so my timing worked out pretty well. I haven't ever sat down and actually figured the nitty gritty of whether or not buying was significantly better than renting would have been for those years, although I may do that one of these days.
I must admit, I do like looking at a MLS websites.
With my future plans and such, spending time mowing, cleaning gutters, etc.... is not the way I want to spend my time.
I would consider buying a loft, townhome of Condo.....
Are you an agent?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bette
I know so many got hurt in the real estate and economic crash but I still believe in real estate. In fact, my personal goal is to buy a couple of rentals. Not there yet.
Years and years ago, I lived in a condo, then a townhome. My father always kept asking me when I was going to buy a "real" home. I protested and years later, I have that family home. I now understand what he meant. For me, that was good.
Some people like to pick up and go and have a maintenance free life - that's great. Figure out what you like and go from there.
Buying is not for everyone but it's a good way for me. I actually love real estate, love looking at homes, the whole experience and ugh, guess what I do for a living? (LOL).
Thanks for the share. Congrats on selling the 2nd home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdxmilw
I don't know if it's me or not. I do know that for now, I'm happy that on my day off I can sit and read a book, rather than thinking about the many home projects I should be working on. Was a homeowner for 16 years, have been a renter for 4 months now, house sold 2 days ago. Woo!
I'm sure there will be times that being a renter is annoying. While having shared walls is an adjustment, my old neighbor's living room was only 6 feet from my bedroom window, and she played loud music and had screaming fights a lot, so my 86 year old apt-neighbor is pretty good so far.
I made a decent profit on the sale of both houses- bought 1998, sold 2004; bought 2004, sold 2014, so my timing worked out pretty well. I haven't ever sat down and actually figured the nitty gritty of whether or not buying was significantly better than renting would have been for those years, although I may do that one of these days.
After losing 30K in home value,I am done with home ownership. My husband and I are moving on August 29, straight from our closing. Heading to our new townhouse rental unit in Wilmington,NC. No more worrying about the roof,the septic,the pipes freezing,new appliances,looking at the 2 foreclosed properties across from us.
We can pick up and find a new place without a care. Don't have to burden our children with selling the house when we die. We will never own again. Oh Happy Day
I wanted to see how many people bought a home, than after many years, you sold it and will never buy another home.
Share your reasons why?
I will never own taxhog again. Ownership implies taxation/seizure/insurance/ to protect the owner from potential insurgents. Never.again.
I owned a farmette in Texas. The property was homesteaded. A new law was passed by the state legislature in approximately yr. 2000 allowing small self-incorporated municipalities to forcibly annex adjacent property if certain criteria were present. Mine was, and it was forcibly annexed against my will and without my consent. The city then told me what I could do with my land, how I could live there, sent me a bill, and raised the taxes sky high. I sold it.
Then I moved to a different state. I bought a bigger place zoned agricultural, with a 100 year old house and barn and a lovely water well, and set up for happily ever after. Until the county planning and zoning commission rezoned my property without my consent and against my will -again- to some land use they made up, called 'urban reserve'. After that they defined what I could do with my property and how I could use it, raised the taxes sky high, and sent me a bill. This state had no homestead law *protections*. I sold it months later. Buh-bye money pit.
Now I live in a cheap schitzy apartment I do not own. I have no homeowners or renter insurance. If the landlord raises the rent, I'll move. I own nothing that needs to be insured, taxed, or can be seized or rezoned by money hungry government. I'm done allowing my property to be confiscated by these thieving bureaucrats.
We.own.nothing. Not even a car - no car insurance either. Done.
Ownership in America = liability. I own nothing. Tax that azzhats.
The reasons to own a property are MOSTLY financial...
the rest is about the emotional/functional desire/need to have land etc.
But ownership can be a condo/apartment too.
The common theme to the financial aspect is stability and longevity.
If you have good reason to know you'll be staying put at your job and in your town
it will be a VERY rare person who won't benefit from ownership. Even as a single.
With kids (and school issues) it's almost insane to NOT buy.
Exceptions are about price:value... some markets just cost too much to justify the "buy in".
I think everyone should own a home at some point in their life. First of all, it is the American Dream, and secondly, it can be a good investment. This is especially true if you have a family with kids, it gives them an anchor in the community and a sense of stability that you can't have in a rented home or apartment. When you own your home you sort of have this feeling that you have "roots."
That being said, I now live in a rented condo and love it. This fits my life at my age. For years we did the home ownership week end thing, I did all the outside mowing, trimming, and cleaning, and my Wife did the laundry and cleaned the inside of the house. It was fun then, but now it is very nice to have someone do my lawn maintenance and if something breaks, like an ac unit, I call the landlord and let them fix it. The one downside is noise. It is a little quieter in a single family home than it is when you have 400 other people living around you.
But I did enjoy owning homes when we did, however, now that the kids are grown this is just so much easier.
Don
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Depends.....
