Why single people should never buy a house. (square footage, investments, mortgage)
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Let's be real here. Homes are for people with kids to raise them in. They are not a good investment for people with no kids to live in. Before anybody shouts out equity I will tell you this.
1. You'd get better equity by living in a cheap apartment and investing any extra money in the stock market and proudly watch it grow for 10/20 years. Screw a investment where you pay property taxes and any maintenance is on your dime. Yeah I said it.
2. When you live alone you don't need as much personal space. This makes apartment living superior to the single individual.
3. It is a myth that houses are assets. They aren't. Just stop paying the taxes on that home and see how fast Uncle Sam steals it from underneath you. The only real assets In life are your investments, the money you save at the bank, and your job. Anything else your just renting for a fixed amount of time (with the car being the only exception).
Just my opinion on why homes are a bad investment for single people and why renting for those people is a better option.
By all means, not much .. Even your car is not going six ft under. Once you learn that, the material world is a facade of one upmanship. Live in a cave then..
I like having shelter .. Wherever I am.., And married or single.., it's a way to survive and live a full life.
Good luck though telling single persons that having and owning property is a poor investment. Will agree that mortgages are a poor way to invest in real estate...
Where I live owning, even with maintenance costs is typically cheaper than renting. Not to mention, I like privacy which is difficult to obtain in an apartment complex.
I don't think everyone needs to own, but I don't see much difference for a single person versus a coupled person.
For some people (single and married), the financial balance sheet reasons and flexibility to not be tied down to one property or area may be good reasons to rent, but they apply whether someone is single or not (aside from the square footage per person). Though even when it comes to space, why should a single person have to settle for a crammed apartment (which in many cases means dealing with the constant risk of having bad, noisy neighbor drama, etc.), but being married or having a kid gives someone the birthright to a large home with a large yard?
It was not uncommon a couple of generations ago for larger families to live in 1,000 square feet or less. I mean, if someone (single or married) wants a large home or small home, why shouldn't they go for it, if they can afford it and can pay for it. Tax laws do make it much more difficult for a single person to afford a larger, nicer home since they arbitrarily don't receive all of the tax advantages that married people with kids get, so it's more difficult to afford (along with just having one person to earn income). But if a single person can be disciplined and overcome these financial obstacles and wants to buy a home, they should have the same opportunity.
Also, it's important to consider the psychological impact of owning versus renting, and the chance to feel like someone can set down roots, make something their own, and not have to answer to the whims and arbitrary rent increases/rule changes, etc. of a landlord. Just because someone is single, that doesn't mean they don't have roots in a community, and have family and friends who may enjoy their home with them, and shouldn't have the opportunity to make a residence that's their own feel more like home. Why should this opportunity be limited to married people?
And even from a financial standpoint, renters will end up paying for property taxes and maintenance, depending on what the local market will tolerate in terms of rental rates increases. In many places, during the housing crisis of the late 2000's, rental rates went up by quite a bit, so it's not always a cheaper option. It depends on the local conditions.
Not saying that renting can't be a good choice for single people in some circumstances, but it's not always the case and why should they be confined to serfdom? Why wouldn't they deserve the same chance to make their house a home that married people and married people with kids have?
I have always preferred being an owner whether single or married. If I wanted to paint a wall I could. New carpeting or hard wood floors were mine if I wanted. Whenever I rented I could never get anyone to fix anything and it was not up to the standard I wanted.
I am single, and childless. The best investment I ever made was to buy property (I bought during recessions because it was the only time I could afford it ). In 1971, my recently deceased aunt bought her home, while married, for $28,000. When she got divorced, she bought out her husband and kept the house. Fast forward forty-five years later....my aunt passed away and left her house to me because she did not have any children. I just sold the house for $700,000.
Rents go up. Mortgages don't. The only thing that seems to constantly cost more is property taxes and I totally agree with you on that. The government is like Jesse James. But even then, landlords are just going to increase the rents as the property taxes increase.
4 years ago a 1 bedroom apartment here was around $900. Now it's $1500. Ideally, buy a house and pay it off as fast as you can. Then you don't have to worry about it.
Let's be real here. Homes are for people with kids to raise them in. They are not a good investment for people with no kids to live in. Before anybody shouts out equity I will tell you this.
1. You'd get better equity by living in a cheap apartment and investing any extra money in the stock market and proudly watch it grow for 10/20 years. Screw a investment where you pay property taxes and any maintenance is on your dime. Yeah I said it.
2. When you live alone you don't need as much personal space. This makes apartment living superior to the single individual.
3. It is a myth that houses are assets. They aren't. Just stop paying the taxes on that home and see how fast Uncle Sam steals it from underneath you. The only real assets In life are your investments, the money you save at the bank, and your job. Anything else your just renting for a fixed amount of time (with the car being the only exception).
Just my opinion on why homes are a bad investment for single people and why renting for those people is a better option.
My mortgage payment is less than what a nice 1 bedroom apartment would rent for, and it will be paid off in 8 years. An apartment? No thank you.
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