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My situation is different. I don't think I want to own a home mainly because I don't plan on having any children and therefore I don't need the space. But if I see a nice loft for sale, I'd consider buying it.
Question: Was/Is it worth it to own a home?
Meaning, time spent with up-keep, repairs,costs etc......?
I use to buy homes as an investment, live in them for awhile and then flip'em. Never formed an attachment to them. Now, there really is no money to be made from a home, unless you've had it for 40 years and it is paid off. The only bonus left, is if you have a mortgage, you can deduct the interest from your taxes, don't know how long that will remain.
The home I am currently living in is just right for me, not too big and low maintanence. If I were to sell it, I would start renting in different parts of the USA. Rent a turnkey place in one state, then move onto another, there are so many cities that I want to explore...in depth.
I use to buy homes as an investment, live in them for awhile and then flip'em. Never formed an attachment to them. Now, there really is no money to be made from a home, unless you've had it for 40 years and it is paid off. The only bonus left, is if you have a mortgage, you can deduct the interest from your taxes, don't know how long that will remain.
The home I am currently living in is just right for me, not too big and low maintanence. If I were to sell it, I would start renting in different parts of the USA. Rent a turnkey place in one state, then move onto another, there are so many cities that I want to explore...in depth.
Thank you DD and great points.
Great lifestyle.......I don't know your age but you sound like you're young at heart. :0)
That would be cool to have 2 or 3 places in your favorite cities. Apartments are very affordable. For a guy like me, I'd even settle for a nice sized studio as my 2nd/3rd homes in other cities.
The financial benefit of owning a home is having more of a grasp on your cost of living going forward. If inflation plays a part, you still pay the same amount in mortgage (or own the home outright). Whereas rent could go through the roof.
I use to own a real estate holding company, did alot of buying, building and reselling. Fortunately, I got out of the biz in 2004. It was no longer lucaritve.
Owning a home is not for everyone, there has been alot of research done renting vrs owning, and it is showing that in todays market, it is not a bad idea to rent. The tax write offs do not really matter that much, and the upkeep of a home can really drain you. I just spent 40K updating my home...money that I will never get back out of it.
My home is up side down, as are many other homes. I owe more than it is currently worth. Right now, for me, I do not worry about it, as I plan to keep it for awhile as my base of operation.
Until I put my master plan into effect, then I will probably unload it. Right now I will travel in my motorhome, soon I will be leaving on a 3 month trip, heading out west!
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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For those that bought in the '90s and had a good down payment there has still been a great return on the investment, with the exception of a few very bad areas of the country. Even if the property value remains the same, you will eventually get most or all of it back when selling. Mine is still worth more than double what I paid for it. When you rent all that money is gone forever.
Even if there was a loss for home ownership, though, I would prefer it. I like being able to do whatever I want as far as decorating, garden, and pets. With a fixed rate mortgage you don't have to worry about a big rent increase,
or being thrown out if the landlord decides to sell.
another thing to keep in mind is that if you can find an area that you like and want to live in for a long time and can find a home there (house, condo, whatever) that is well under your means, you could potentially get a 15 year mortgage (or less) and have it totally payed off in that amount of time. From that point on you would only have to pay taxes, upkeep, and HOA fees. This should be substantially less than just about any rent you would pay. You could also easily turn it into a rental property for some income if you wanted to move. It's much more difficult to sublet apartments effectively. And of course you could sell it to get a good portion of your money back.
I use to own a real estate holding company, did alot of buying, building and reselling. Fortunately, I got out of the biz in 2004. It was no longer lucaritve.
Owning a home is not for everyone, there has been alot of research done renting vrs owning, and it is showing that in todays market, it is not a bad idea to rent. The tax write offs do not really matter that much, and the upkeep of a home can really drain you. I just spent 40K updating my home...money that I will never get back out of it.
My home is up side down, as are many other homes. I owe more than it is currently worth. Right now, for me, I do not worry about it, as I plan to keep it for awhile as my base of operation.
Until I put my master plan into effect, then I will probably unload it. Right now I will travel in my motorhome, soon I will be leaving on a 3 month trip, heading out west!
Ron.,
There are some really GREAT posts here and I totally agree with DOllydo's.
1. Owning is not for everyone. Why? We all have different interests in life. Some people like the idea of moving around others dont. Its all subjective to ones lifestyle, job location etc.
2. Economy in the dumps and VERY shaky. This plays more of an impact on day to day costs and mortgages. Obviously interest rates will fluctuate, but so will home valuations. You can play math or stat whiz all day to justify a financial position, but when it comes to owning property, its again subjective as to how it applied to your financial picture and if it makes the most sense for you.
I just bought my first property in 2010 after sitting on the sidelines for a while. I tackled my MLS searches and property hunt like an investor over the years by just collecting as much info as I could ( so statistics, distance to things etc. Very dry and non emotional) then applied it to my lifestyle to see which scenario brought the best value to that lifestyle. Needless to say I found a happy medium and quite satisfied with the purchase.
The days of making hand over fist in real estate as Dollydo said, are slim. RIght now the game is meant for people that dont really care about reselling home but rather staying in it for a min of 10 years to potentially see some degree in appreciation. Granted, all real estate is different and is local, what was said above is only a general place to start.
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