Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

shouldigetahouse.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 424 posts

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#131

Post by plank_time »

alach11 wrote: post #2

My wife wants to buy a house, but I'm unable to make life decisions without trying to minmax them. I wasn't satisfied with existing rent vs. buy calculators, so I decided to build my own! I'm not a developer, so I apologize if it's a little rough looking... Some things it takes into account: - The actual rate of return on your down payment and extra costs of a house - Inflation - Itemized deductions on your taxes - T…

Some decisions aren’t mathematical. Sometimes it’s better to make a decision based on whether or not it makes sense for the family as opposed to dollars and sense.

If your wife wants to buy a place, I suggest finding a compromise to figure out how to make both parties happy.

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#132

Post by camjohnson26 »

phkahler wrote: post #76
alach11 wrote: post #2

My wife wants to buy a house, but I'm unable to make life decisions without trying to minmax them. I wasn't satisfied with existing rent vs. buy calculators, so I decided to build my own! I'm not a developer, so I apologize if it's a little rough looking... Some things it takes into account: - The actual rate of return on your down payment and extra costs of a house - Inflation - Itemized deductions on your taxes - T…

>> My wife wants to buy a house... A pilot once shared with me the rule of the three F's. If it floats, flies, or fornicates, it's cheaper to rent than to own. You may substitute a 4 letter word for that last one. Anyway, you got a wife already so thats one. House don't start with F, so buy.

Seems like an oversimplification, usually it depends on other factors like how long you plan to live there.

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#133

Post by codegeek »

mauvehaus wrote: post #119

You get old enough, and you get tired of somebody else making decisions from afar that affect your day to day life with no real consequences to them. Little things like the kitchen layout being moronic and having zero drawers get old when it isn't your choice to remodel or live with it. And while it's nice to say "just move", let's not forget that moving costs a couple months rent and a massive time investment to fin…

In other words, buying vs renting shouldn't only be based on numbers/math. I own a home for 8+ years and I have probably spent shit load of money in maintenance/prop.taxes/repairs that I probably wouldn't if I was just renting but there is no way in hell I am giving up my freedom of doing whatever I want to my home (yes yes there are limits with township/HOA etc). I don't need no landlord to tell me what I can and cannot do with my home for the most part. That itself is worth it for me. And yes there are added benefits like Building equity over years, hopefully having a place of your own to retire etc etc.

Owning your own home is an emotion. It is a feeling that you have a place of your own. You cannot just put numbers on it. Yes don't buy a home if you are 23 and move every 2 years in your car etc. But if you are looking to raise a family, want to settle down in a place, owning a home is almost always worth it as long as you are doing it within your means.

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#134

Post by plank_time »

Finnucane wrote: post #54
kylestlb wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This all depends on geography though. Buying in the bay area and only staying for 2.01 years could get you a pretty hefty ROR assuming you don't remodel anything, considering the supply constraints. Maybe covid & remote work will change that.

Maybe. Flipping is a risky business. Returns are not guaranteed. If you're just looking for a place to live, you should really evaluate it on that basis.

I know something who went bankrupt and got a divorce after flipping condos in chicsgo just before the housing bust. It works until it doesn’t and it’s usually catastrophic.

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#135

Post by gedy »

mauvehaus wrote: post #119

You get old enough, and you get tired of somebody else making decisions from afar that affect your day to day life with no real consequences to them. Little things like the kitchen layout being moronic and having zero drawers get old when it isn't your choice to remodel or live with it. And while it's nice to say "just move", let's not forget that moving costs a couple months rent and a massive time investment to fin…

Similarly I've hated renting from owners doing it for the "investment", where the going rent is typically much cheaper than the mortgage for the property (California). Many landlords think they are giving you some great deal when they are the ones who bought beyond their means..

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#136

Post by vel0city »

silicon2401 wrote: post #38

Based on checking a 500k house with a 50k down payment, this tells me PMI will be about 2k/year for the first 3 years. Is it really that cheap? Is there any reason to not go for a <20% down payment if it allows me to accelerate my house planning by several years, if it only ends up costing around 6k extra?

Yeah, my home was ~$320k, ~10% down, my PMI is $140/mo. The mortgage is written so if the house appraises higher that speeds up the point where PMI is taken off.

Personally I think some people overly freak out about PMI. When you're talking the size of numbers involved in the mortgage and escrow accounts, $140/mo for a few years really isn't that crazy especially if it means you can get into the market sooner in a home you really want. I probably wouldn't have bought the house I'm in now looking at comps in my neighborhood. In a bit over a year comparable houses in my neighborhood are $60k+ more than what we bought at, and Zillow's estimate for my house (take it with a massive grain of salt) puts it a hair over $400k. If we would have waited a year for 15-20% we wouldn't be where we are now.

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#137

Post by toast0 »

anomaloustho wrote: post #49
bachmeier wrote: post #27

There's no way to put this into a calculator, but this decision isn't purely monetary. Do you enjoy having to maintain a home and property? If not, maybe buying a house isn't for you. Even if you hire someone, that can be a massive hassle, you have to worry about being ripped off, ... If you're not settled in your career to where you can comfortably take off long stretches of time during the day, you probably shouldn…

Being in a unique position of renting out properties that I own while simultaneously renting, it seems like some of this is taken a little out of proportion. My net experience is that the burden of dealing with said landlord to get something fixed or maintained is roughly similar to fixing it yourself with equal pros and cons on both sides. Consider a $150 repair for your AC going out in 95F weather, 70% humidity. La…

> Also worth noting that a home warranty program helps a lot with these things both for my landlord and for myself as a landlord.

Not the home warranty programs I've had, which seem to be focused on getting revenue via call-out fees and not doing a whole lot else. Even when the last one replaced an air handler because of a bad fan (seemed like they could have replaced the fan, but I dunno), and gave me a check to replace an oven with a bad control board (no replacement parts), the fact that everything took months to go through made the experience negative for me, even if it was a positive fiscally.

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#139

Post by kube-system »

asdff wrote: post #123
kube-system wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but if you make an offer contingent on bank financing, and someone else makes an offer contingent on nothing, which offer would you choose as a seller? Guaranteed money now? or probably getting money after the bank completes their paperwork? Many people selling a home already have another home somewhere else, and they're not interested in keeping around another empty house to make payments on.

Not all offers are going to be all cash. People still buy homes putting down 5% or less in these hot markets, even if its not as common.

For sure, I'm just expanding on why it might be smart not to.

I bought in a buyers market and still opted to put down as much as I could, rather than as much as I was required, so that I could have a better chance to get my 1st favorite pick. I personally wouldn't want to be in the position to settle on my 15th(+) favorite house. There's a lot of people being forced to make a lot of compromises right now -- will they be happy with their decisions years from now?

Re: Show HN: Should I Get a House? a better rent vs. buy calculator

#140

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jaqalopes wrote: post #128
293984j29384 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you assume it's to rent a house? It's a great time to be an apartment renter in big markets like NYC. I just got 2 months free on my lease renewal and I've seen even better deals out there but I didn't want to move.

Same here in Somerville outside Boston. There was a giant exodus last year due to COVID and landlords are desperate for any warm body even at a steep discount from the former rent.

Completely the opposite here in Seattle. The rental market is bonkers right now, with very little inventory in places where people want to live. That is very different to how it was just a few months ago.
Post reply on HN