91–100 of 151 posts
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Principal repayment is a savings account if and only if real estate never declines in value.
True. But on the other hand, I'm not factoring any upside relating to increase in value. See my edit in parent about risk.
I'm from Australia but now live in NYC and I've been debating the question about whether to buy or rent. It's amusing to me to see a big red circle on this graphic for NYC. I can understand why. NYC is a special case in many ways. For one thing, from a purely financial perspective, your best bet is to find a rent stabilized apartment that is well under market value and then invest your money elsewhere, possibly on bu…
I'm from Australia but now live in NYC and I've been debating the question about whether to buy or rent. It's amusing to me to see a big red circle on this graphic for NYC. I can understand why. NYC is a special case in many ways. For one thing, from a purely financial perspective, your best bet is to find a rent stabilized apartment that is well under market value and then invest your money elsewhere, possibly on bu…
Are you figures in real terms or nominal terms? If nominal, then sentences like "where once you could build a house for $80k, now anything less than $150-200k is unrealistic" are unsuitable for building an argument upon.
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Your numbers seem to be a little off, unless we are talking about places that are closer to bronx or buildings that are falling apart. In midtown, that 1BR will run you ~$2,500 to rent and close to $1 million to buy. Maintenance fees should also be higher, at least $800.
I lived in NYC during 2009-2010 and looked at a number of rental 1BRs under $2000 in Chelsea/Flatiron/Murray Hill & that area around Gramercy that isn't really Gramercy. I wouldn't say the buildings were falling apart but they did have dated architecture, and not dated enough to be classic. (think 70s/80s). Likewise, I thought it would be a good time to buy, and there are a lot of 1BR Maintenance fees were indeed alw…
I have come to the conclusion that buying to occupy is no longer a rational decision. Consider a grid. On one axis, housing purchases are cheap or expensive. On the other axis, the local economy is vibrant or moribund. Hence: * Cheap + Vibrant: Basically doesn't exist. * Cheap + Moribund: Bad place to buy, you're tied to a high-risk location. * Expensive + Vibrant: Purchase cost will eat up the advantage of the local…
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A third risk (technically subsumed by 1): your local economy tanks, driving down both your income and the value of your house. Buying a home to live in is a form of un-diversification.
A fourth risk: Fed raises interest rates then your monthly mortgage payments cost more than renting and hopefully not more than you can afford.
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Hey mate. Interesting perspective. without knowing your financial situation, I'd suggest to keep working in the U.S. and invest in housing back in Australia. Both are great prospects but you might be able to buy 2 houses near the beach in Australia (say Perth / Adelaide) for the price of one in NYC. In a way, it gives you diversification that NYC doesn't. Also buying walking distance from the beach gives you that sec…
Amusingly, there are media stories here in Australia about people working in Australia and buying property in the US. Might have the details wrong, but one woman had sold an investment property (in Darwin maybe?) and bought five apartments (in Florida, I think?) in the US with that money.
I'm from Australia but now live in NYC and I've been debating the question about whether to buy or rent. It's amusing to me to see a big red circle on this graphic for NYC. I can understand why. NYC is a special case in many ways. For one thing, from a purely financial perspective, your best bet is to find a rent stabilized apartment that is well under market value and then invest your money elsewhere, possibly on bu…
Hey mate. Interesting perspective. without knowing your financial situation, I'd suggest to keep working in the U.S. and invest in housing back in Australia. Both are great prospects but you might be able to buy 2 houses near the beach in Australia (say Perth / Adelaide) for the price of one in NYC. In a way, it gives you diversification that NYC doesn't. Also buying walking distance from the beach gives you that sec…
Sure, just like all those condos in Miami... There is no economic law that says that properties near the beach can never go down in value!
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I agree. I just ran the numbers for SF. Based on mid-point of Trulia's buying and renting price ranges ($750K to buy, $3.25K monthly rent), I get the following annual real costs: buying: ~$24K renting: ~$36K That is based on the following assumptions: 40% margin tax rate, principal repayment is not a real cost (it's a saving account...) 15% down payment (renters invest the equivalent amount in a 3% annual return fund…
> you can always go back to renting in 5 years For definitions of "always" where the real estate market never tanks and houses are easy to sell.