31–40 of 380 posts
Think of renting as "housing as a service". Ha. Except for one problem, landlords. Most are not good people. Would rather be my own landlord.
I don't own, but if I did I'd love a "landlord as a service" where I could just call or email someone about a problem and have them fix it.
Think of renting as "housing as a service". Ha. Except for one problem, landlords. Most are not good people. Would rather be my own landlord.
I don't own, but if I did I'd love a "landlord as a service" where I could just call or email someone about a problem and have them fix it.
1 - When I grew up in the 90's all I heard from my rich business owners were to buy real estate. The value always goes up and its a good investment.
This isn't true anymore with the crash and younger people don't see real estate as a worthwhile, long term investment. As such, they're not looking at paying for something for so long and not getting anything out of it.
Same thing for the "equity" part of this argument. Those same business owners pounded into my head the idea that my money when I was paying rent wasn't going towards anything and I would never have any value in a rental like I would a house or town home that I owned.
2 - The transient nature of the younger generations. When I was growing up, your life arc was pretty well established. Go to college, get a nice job in your career field, get married, buy a house, have some kids.
This just isn't the same plan most younger kids have. My nephew is 21 and has been "couch surfing" for years. He has no aspiration to get married, or buy a house. He pretty much lives day-to-day and gets by with help from his friends. His friends are the same way. They change apartments about every 6 months. Different parts of the city, in order to get closer to where the "action" is they say.
With a far more transient, younger population, it makes sense their not going to buy houses and settle down. We've spent decades talking about how we want to have everything available wherever we are, we WANT to be a mobile society and culture. This younger generation has simply taken it to its logical conclusion. No need for a house when I can just crash with my homies. No need for a tv, house, car since we've developed an entire culture to handle that and give it you on your phone, tablet, laptop wherever you are. Car? We have Uber and Lyft. No house? We have AirBNB,
This makes sense on a bunch of different levels tbh.
The problem is we just keep stripping away the middle class and lower class consumer power[1][2] and the solution is getting wages up to fix these issues.
People wonder what happens in a consumer driven economy after stagnant wages since 2001, well this. It leads to Great Recessions, a sideways investment market and a few generations worse off with the US heading in the wrong direction. The country has been Enron'd and drained of cash.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/25/upshot/shrinki... [2] http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/09/news/economy/middle-class/
EDIT: Multi-level marketing, was caught up on middle class, thanks for correction.
I don't think I'd have any interest in every buying a house if it weren't for the insane tax deductions for mortgage interest. Why be stuck in one house when your living situation changes over time (new kids, kids get bigger, kids move away, job changes).
The tax deduction is baked into the price.
The American Dream is looking more like a middle level marketing organization with false advertising for most. The problem is we just keep stripping away the middle class and lower class consumer power[1][2] and the solution is getting wages up to fix these issues. People wonder what happens in a consumer driven economy after stagnant wages since 2001, well this. It leads to Great Recessions, a sideways investment ma…
I don't think I'd have any interest in every buying a house if it weren't for the insane tax deductions for mortgage interest. Why be stuck in one house when your living situation changes over time (new kids, kids get bigger, kids move away, job changes).
My lease expires in April, and I haven't been able to get a response back from the owners about renewing it.
I understand, though... My neighborhood basically grew up around me, and my house is by far the cheapest rent in the neighborhood. The owners want to kick me out, remodel/demolish/rebuild the place where I live, and rent it for twice as much.
I wish I owned it. So while I used to think the same thing, this current situation is definitely causing me to reconsider it.
I don't think I'd have any interest in every buying a house if it weren't for the insane tax deductions for mortgage interest. Why be stuck in one house when your living situation changes over time (new kids, kids get bigger, kids move away, job changes).
Not having your rent increase or being told to move, as are being able to make your home exactly what you need. My home has a 15x15' home gym with all kinds of upgrades I like.. finding a ready made house with my exact ideal gym? Low odds....
If you are renting you are prioritizing the location rather than the house. You can't find a house with your ideal gym, but you can't change your city to New York city.
The way I see it: If you don't plan to live in that place for the next 15-20 years, then you shouldn't buy. You can always invest your money in more liquid assets.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The tax deduction is baked into the price.
Maybe, maybe not: http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/2013/06/05/what-changes-in... . This article estimates that eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would reduce home prices by ~12%. But if you're in the highest tax bracket, the tax benefit from deducting mortgage interest is around a 28% reduction in your effective payment. So at least at first, you'd lose more to the elimination of the deduction than you wou…
I don't think I'd have any interest in every buying a house if it weren't for the insane tax deductions for mortgage interest. Why be stuck in one house when your living situation changes over time (new kids, kids get bigger, kids move away, job changes).
The tax deduction is baked into the price.