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

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

#301

Post by sjg007 »

hnhousingthrow wrote: post #242
hnhousingthrow wrote: post #188

These calculators don't reflect the reality/absurdity of the current economy. Anecdotal, but I bought a house in eastern California last year for $600k, now Zillow says it's worth $835k. Also, I'll unlikely ever be able to afford a house in the Bay Area, even though I make $220k/year at a company there. Still don't know what I'll do if my employer makes us return to the SF office in a few months. Relatedly, a ~70 yea…

Just to follow up on a deleted comment that thought I was complaining, I guess my point is that decent housing (both renting and owning) has become unaffordable for most people. High-income earners like myself will be okay, if okay means spending half of my salary on rent where I literally step over homeless people as part of an hourlong commute. My greater fear is what happens to the "essential workers", the heroes…

Firefighters make 100k, some teachers do too. Depends where you live.

More over you need someone to buy your 800k house you spent 600k on. It’ll be a remote worker who buys it if the local economy can’t support that so…… hopefully remote work is here to stay.

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

#302

Post by sjg007 »

iancmceachern wrote: post #271
hnhousingthrow wrote: post #188

These calculators don't reflect the reality/absurdity of the current economy. Anecdotal, but I bought a house in eastern California last year for $600k, now Zillow says it's worth $835k. Also, I'll unlikely ever be able to afford a house in the Bay Area, even though I make $220k/year at a company there. Still don't know what I'll do if my employer makes us return to the SF office in a few months. Relatedly, a ~70 yea…

This is our exact challenge. I do well, work in the bay area, but the down payment, not the monthly, is the main hurdle to homeownership.

You have to do the IPO stock option dance.

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

#303

Post by handrous »

hnhousingthrow wrote: post #188

These calculators don't reflect the reality/absurdity of the current economy. Anecdotal, but I bought a house in eastern California last year for $600k, now Zillow says it's worth $835k. Also, I'll unlikely ever be able to afford a house in the Bay Area, even though I make $220k/year at a company there. Still don't know what I'll do if my employer makes us return to the SF office in a few months. Relatedly, a ~70 yea…

> Relatedly, a ~70 year old woman bagged my groceries today and I doubt she's doing it for fun. Seems the accelerating wealth inequality is destroying our society/communities if it hasn't already.

Savings and share-of-total-wealth rates (measured at same-age) are incredibly bad past the Boomer generation, dropping off with each generation.

There's going to be a whole lot more of this starting in about 10 years, when Gen X hits retirement age but can't retire at anywhere near the same rate their predecessors did.

I wouldn't count on inheritance to solve the problem, either. That's all gonna go to hospitals and nursing homes.

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

#304

Post by sjg007 »

ramraj07 wrote: post #172
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…

Eh, almost no one I’ve seen has ever spent less by moving to their own home. They’ll typically end up spending at least half of what they spent as rent just on things other than the mortgage (which would typically be much higher than the rent by itself). Now of course they often would get a larger, nicer place that’s exactly what they wanted, but let’s not kid ourselves that home ownership is somehow cheaper. It neve…

It’s not day to day cheaper but you hope net zero in the end and maybe you make some profit. If you have a down payment to otherwise invest then maybe renting is ok…

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

#305

Post by pimlottc »

cpursley wrote: post #127
pimlottc wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree with the terminology being confusing. Houses can be rented and apartments (condominiums) can be purchased.

In North American lingo, "apartment" exclusively means a multi-family unit that you rent and don't own. If you own a multi-family unit it is a Condo (condominium) and never refered to as an Apartment. I know, confusing.

I live in North America. While this is technically correct, people can and do use the terms loosely as well.

And regardless, you can most definitely rent a house.

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

#306

Post by splitstud »

dragontamer wrote: post #241
missingrib wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are ignoring costs that are truly just lost and don't exist with a rental payment, like repairs and insurance and HOA, etc.

But I'm not ignoring them. I'm currently paying a $1600 / month mortgage, of which $1000 is principal, $400 is interest and $200 is escrow (tax / insurance) in an area with $2000/month rent. So I'm really paying $600 / month for interest, tax, insurance. It's another $1400/month before I get to rent prices. And even with a new roof and new deck last year, I'm no where close to renters prices in terms of actual cost.…

And 10 years from now inflation will have only increased the tax and insurance. In almost any locale, buying is inarguably the better option.

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

#307

Post by pimlottc »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #144
cpursley wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In North American lingo, "apartment" exclusively means a multi-family unit that you rent and don't own. If you own a multi-family unit it is a Condo (condominium) and never refered to as an Apartment. I know, confusing.

Also, duplexes are houses with two units in them vs. a two floor apartment.

That’s entirely dependent on the region. In Chicago, two-floor apartments are routinely referred to as duplex. In Cleveland, a duplex is a house with two dwellings, too and bottom. If the house is split side-by-side, it’s a double. There are other places where these two terms are reversed.

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

#308

Post by splitstud »

spfzero wrote: post #243
ramraj07 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, almost no one I’ve seen has ever spent less by moving to their own home. They’ll typically end up spending at least half of what they spent as rent just on things other than the mortgage (which would typically be much higher than the rent by itself). Now of course they often would get a larger, nicer place that’s exactly what they wanted, but let’s not kid ourselves that home ownership is somehow cheaper. It neve…

You can definitely spend less when your mortgage is paid off. But I'll admit that part of my reason for buying was to prevent the situation where I might be living on a fixed income some day, and having my rent go up every year. That seemed like a good thing to try to prevent. Buying a house requires a high monthly payment, which remains constant over time, and one day ends. Renting requires a high monthly payment th…

You'll be spending less in 3 to 5 years than others pay to lease, and building equity besides.

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

#309

Post by SilverRed »

autarch wrote: post #153
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…

> I'm pretty convinced most people buy because they're either tired of the bullshit that comes with renting or want to buy into a specific school district, not because they're worried about making a return on their investment. Another big factor is noise. A detached house is going to be quieter than most apartments in a shared building. That was the big reason we moved to a house. I'm a light sleeper and noise from p…

This is highly dependent on the building. I have been in houses where all night you hear loud motorbikes and bogans doing burnouts while my current apartment has incredible sound insulation and double glazed windows to the point I wouldn't know other people live here if I didn't see them in the hallway.

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

#310

Post by runako »

ska wrote: post #80
runako wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would make a new factor, so that people can input expected increases for their areas. I would expect many urban areas will continue to see rent increases far in excess of the broader inflation number. Rents may not track home prices due to supply issues.

There are also jurisdictions with capped rent increase amounts, which can be in favor the other direction

Genuinely curious, having lived in 6 major metros across 5 states from coast to coast. Are these jurisdictions anything like common? Where are some of them? I would love to do some further research.

I've heard of rent-stabilized units, but never an area where rent increases are capped.

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