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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.
A cheap apartment in my area means living in a complex with higher levels of drugs and violence. A decent apartment means spending at least as much on a lease as you'd spend on a mortgage. You're making generalizations that aren't going to apply to everyone's situation or every location.
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.
Houses are great investments. They are appreciating assets. I could sell my house for 50% more than I paid for it easily, and in a few years, it might be close to double in value. Image if you or your parents had bought land on Manhattan Island in the 1960s or 70s. You would be rich now.
You're making generalizations that aren't going to apply to everyone's situation or every location.
^^ This. You're looking at one aspect of a person's life...their marital status (which is subject to change in many cases) and ignoring every other factor.
A cheap apartment in my area means living in a complex with higher levels of drugs and violence. A decent apartment means spending at least as much on a lease as you'd spend on a mortgage. You're making generalizations that aren't going to apply to everyone's situation or every location.
I agree 100%. With the exception of incredibly expensive housing markets like NYC or San Fran, your mortgage will be cheaper than rent (assuming you want to live in a low-crime area near amenities such as hospitals and grocers).
Lol at renters who think they don't pay for maintenance and property taxes.
My friend, I own rental property and I can assure you that renters absolutely pay it. They might not get an actual tax bill in the mail, but that means absolutely nothing. That $200 garbage disposal that I replaced last year was bought and paid for by them too..
Don't take my word for it though, look around. Pick out a house on Zillow in your area and see what the estimated mortgage for it would be. Then tack on an extra couple hundred for tax and insurance. Then look at what the rental estimate for that same house is... Its a lot more, isn't it.
They pay it. And then some.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncole1
Well this is very dependent on location, maintenance costs, and mortgage parameters (ltv, term, rate, type) and can go either way.
Ok.. Sure, renters out there getting over on their landlords all the time lol.
Should I resign myself to living in apartments forever, simply because I do not have a husband? ROFL This type of thought was outdated in the U.S. before I was born.
My husband is dead; my children are grown. They all currently rent, but are all looking to buy soon. None of them can stand apartment living.
I live in my 4 bedroom house.
I have privacy.
I have an attached garage.
I have a basement.
I have a deck.
I have a garden.
I can plant what I want right in my own flowerbeds in my own yard.
I have a 100 pound dog.
I have cats.
I can paint when I want.
I can watch TV until 3 am without worrying about the volume.
I don't have to worry that my neighbors are watching a loud TV until 4 am.
I can walk across my floors as loudly as I want to.
So can my neighbors!
I don't have to wonder what my rent increase will be at the next lease renewal.
I don't have to wonder IF my lease will be renewed.
I live in a wonderful neighborhood.
Property taxes are deductible.
Mortgage interest payments are deductible.
If we regard owner-occupied housing as an investment, then the investment might be sensible even for a child-free single person, even for an elderly person in poor health, even for a workaholic or itinerant businessman who's never home… IF market-conditions are favorable. But in stagnant or declining markets, such as in my part of Ohio, house-ownership is overwhelmingly a lifestyle decision. It doesn't make good financial sense, but it might make good personal lifestyle-sense. This is where family-size comes to matter, and this is where the OP's point is indeed well-taken.
This is crucial! I am a single-person who relocated decades ago for an employment opportunity. I enjoy my career, and have high regard for my workplace. But the surrounding community does not command my respect or my allegiance. I wish to have nothing to do with it. Buying a house is a testament of belonging, of community participation. I bought a house for privacy-reasons and comfort-reasons, not having comprehended at the time that I'd shirk emotionally from house-ownership and from the responsibilities that it entails, because I feel no kinship to the community. It would have been wiser to rent. For other singles, who remain for example in the community where they grew up, and who yearn for a greater rootedness in said community as well-established adults, house-ownership makes eminent sense, even if they are permanently child-free and without a spouse.
Not if one's house is an austere, isolated compound in the forest.
Not necessarily. On top of a stagnant/declining market, I am overwhelmed with house-ownership, and have neglected crucial maintenance. The house is rapidly spiraling towards condemnation. My strategy is to live there as long as I remain employed. Upon retirement, I'll simply walk away from the house – and yes, it's already fully paid off. I'll simply take the title to the county administration building, hand it to the clerk, and enjoin him/her to deal with it. So, over the course of living there, the house will be a total loss.
When last I checked, I didn't have to replace the roof on my stocks, or mow the lawn of my mutual funds, or replace the water-heater for my bonds. Funny how that works....
In my experience, after 36 hours of travel, there is nothing more harrowing than returning to a house that during my absence has been infested with mice, where the alarm on the well-pump failed and the pump overheated, where a thunderstorm tore off shingles and the rainwater has been accumulating in a puddle in the "finished" basement (so much for the carpeting and "dry"wall). Oh, and running into a clump of poison-ivy en route to reaching my front door, is just an added bonus. Welcome home!
I have a house sitter and a yard service.....I enjoy peace of mind as well.
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.
This. If I wanted to *move* a wall, build this thing or tear down that thing...
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