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The Rise of Renting in the U.S

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Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#261

Post by matwood »

themagician wrote: post #211
Grishnakh wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with your analysis is that you're forgetting that renters have no control over the amount they pay in rent. You can only control your rent price for the first year; after that the landlord is able to jack up your price almost any amount they want (subject to local laws), and you can either pay the jacked-up rent or move out (which is expensive) and find a new place. When you buy a house (err, rent from a…

Your monthly "rent" isn't fixed though. Most people have both HOA and propter taxes, both which increase year over year. Not only do these rates increase over time, but as the value of your home (which you often don't own in any significant way) rises, so too does the assessed value. Do they increase as dramatically as rent? No, but they do still increase. Then you've got the 10% or so of "homeowners" with variable r…

>Your monthly "rent" isn't fixed though. Most people have both HOA and propter taxes, both which increase year over year.

My taxes and HOA increases are minuscule compared to when I was renting. For the most part I have a fixed payment for a place to live going forward.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#262

Post by lotharbot »

ahh wrote: post #195
toomuchtodo wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's simple the same way exercise is simple: knowing what to do is easy, having willpower to do it is hard. Being financially independent can be done on a median wage, full stop. https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ "Is that all too fluffy and philosophical? OK, fine. Here’s how to cut your life costs in half. Start by getting rid of your Debt Emergency if you have one. Live…

This works once you have a (supportive) partner. It requires living in nice rural communities where you will never, ever meet a new person, though, so if you start it single you'll stay that way forever. So I'm in a major metropolitan center, burning cash at a way higher rate, so I can hopefully find a wife. If I'm very, very lucky, that wife will want to move with me to rural Colorado. Sadly, this insane plan is abo…

I live in Denver, in a house I paid $135k for earlier this decade (now completely paid off), on about the budget the GP post mentioned. It's not even remotely hard to meet people here, and I don't need to burn cash like crazy.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#263

Post by gnaritas »

gozur88 wrote: post #184
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The money you're not using to pay rent you mean?

I don't know how it works most places, but when I bought my first house my payment was almost double what I was paying to rent the apartment I vacated.

Houses tend to cost more than apartments, you upgraded, of course it cost more. It's generally cheaper to buy a place than to rent the same place; your rent is paying the landlords mortgage on that property + a little extra for him and buffer for time between tenants. People don't rent out places for less than it cost them unless they're desperate.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#264

Post by matwood »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #33

The article doesn't really touch on two very key facts. 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…

>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.

If you had listened and done it smartly you would be a rich person. I have multiple friends who followed that advice and are now landlords doing quite well. When the real estate crash happened they were ecstatic and bought more homes to rent either from distressed sellers or tax sales.

Of course doing it smartly means not over extending, buying smartly (buy a duplex or quadplex and live in one while saving for buying the next place), etc...

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#265

Post by xenihn »

horv wrote: post #191
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #141

To anyone who noticed one of the cities with high rates of homeownership, that can work remote, withstand rough winters, and accept that their football team will never win the Super Bowl, MOVE TO BUFFALO! Buffalo used to be a very wealthy city. It was the first American city with widespread electricity (thanks, Niagara Falls!), and because it's had some hard times, you can literally buy a mansion at (relatively) barg…

I grew up in Buffalo and I would not recommend this for a lot of reasons. There are plenty of other cities with affordable housing (including lower property taxes) and much more pleasant weather.

Where? Curious to hear your thoughts.

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#266

Post by flyrain »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #95
seivan wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does it work with having a companion. It might be easier to find someone with the same outlook. But if you're already in a relationship it's going to be an uphill battle.

I might be able to answer that. My wife and I are early 30s. I spent my 20s in the rat race, working 60-80 hour weeks for material possesions (nice vehicle, luxury townhouse, etc). At some point, I got tired of it and said, "Can we try something different?" I switched to a fully remote job. We disposed of the townhouse (no equity in it). We downsized our lives (1 car! I ride a bicycle everywhere! You would not imagin…

I envy you, man. Just out of curiosity, do you have children? Or are you going to have children?

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#267

Post by [deleted] »

dcw303 wrote: post #229
lowglow wrote: post #64

I've sorta turned my back on the standard american dream. Racing to new areas of growth, working to build someone else's dream, getting paid well immediately for performance, paying high rent, etc to afford the image of success, and making friends that participate in this same high ambition culture. Instead of making markets, markets start making you. All the rules, and "norms" we've collected around ourselves to par…

Australia has cloned the great American dream as well. When I lived in Sydney, real estate was all anybody ever talked about. Are you renting? Oh, too bad. Got to get on the property ladder, y'know. Yeah, my commute's about an hour and a half, if there's no trouble on the M5. I toughed it out on an oppressive mortage for thirty years out in the sticks, why can't you? Kids these days want it all. etc, etc. Coming to T…

[deleted]

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#268

Post by ahh »

jimbokun wrote: post #215
ahh wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This works once you have a (supportive) partner. It requires living in nice rural communities where you will never, ever meet a new person, though, so if you start it single you'll stay that way forever. So I'm in a major metropolitan center, burning cash at a way higher rate, so I can hopefully find a wife. If I'm very, very lucky, that wife will want to move with me to rural Colorado. Sadly, this insane plan is abo…

"It requires living in nice rural communities where you will never, ever meet a new person, though..." Or Pittsburgh. Note where it ranks in the list of highest home ownership and cheapest rents. (I live here, and there aren't as many tech jobs as SF or NYC, but maybe more than you would expect.)

You missed the point: the city is necessary for finding a partner, not a job. Remote working, at a bare minimum, lets you be employed anywhere. You need a critical mass to have any chance of dating (unless you're extraordinarily desirable, or already have one when making the choice of where to live, like the comment I responded to.)

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#269

Post by [deleted] »

jimbokun wrote: post #215
ahh wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This works once you have a (supportive) partner. It requires living in nice rural communities where you will never, ever meet a new person, though, so if you start it single you'll stay that way forever. So I'm in a major metropolitan center, burning cash at a way higher rate, so I can hopefully find a wife. If I'm very, very lucky, that wife will want to move with me to rural Colorado. Sadly, this insane plan is abo…

"It requires living in nice rural communities where you will never, ever meet a new person, though..." Or Pittsburgh. Note where it ranks in the list of highest home ownership and cheapest rents. (I live here, and there aren't as many tech jobs as SF or NYC, but maybe more than you would expect.)

[deleted]

Re: The Rise of Renting in the U.S

#270

Post by Finnucane »

paganel wrote: post #143
Finnucane wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We bought a house in a 'tech hub' (Cambridge) during the crash--it was a little scary at the time, but worked out well for us. Our current costs are about half the going rents in the area. Prices have gone up so much in the last few years we probably couldn't afford our neighborhood now. But deciding to buy or rent (assuming you have a reasonable choice) often involves a lot of personal factors beyond the purely fina…

You also have to factor in a possible divorce, as in you have to ask yourself "what happens with the house/mortgage payments if we split up in 10 years?". Truth be told there are a lot of variables that we decide to just gloss over when taking decisions which will affect us financially for the next 2+ decades. Not sure why this happens, we're otherwise pretty rational creatures.

Or you could hope your marriage lasts. The reason we gloss over the variables is that if we tried to account for every possible variable in life, we would never get around to doing anything, and there would still be uncertainty. At some point you have to make an actual decision and move on.
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