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The real cost of owning a home

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Re: The real cost of owning a home

#171

Post by [deleted] »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #23
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #12

On the other hand, renting comes with hidden (and some not so hidden) costs too. The main one for me is the inherent precariousness that comes with renting. You don’t know how much longer you’re going to be able to stay in your apartment, whether that be due to rent hikes or the landlord deciding that they want to give the apartment to their nephew or any number of other things. The constant low level stress of knowi…

If you rent from an apartment complex (corporate owned), how big is the risk of being kicked out if you pay your rent?

[deleted]

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#172

Post by jjice »

waffleiron wrote: post #125
zeroonetwothree wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s also a psychological benefit of not having to worry about most problems. Sink broke? Call landlord to fix. Roof leaking? Call landlord to fix. And so on. You never have an unexpected $20k repair show up. And while I agree that it’s nice to customize things to your preferences, this has a downside in that it’s easy to get carried away and overspend. Might as well get the nicer finishes when you are remodeling,…

> Sink broke? Call landlord to fix. Roof leaking? Call landlord to fix Most landlords I've dealt with are an absolute pain to deal with when something breaks. It's often not that easy, maybe in high-cost / luxury rentals. Arguing over what is normal wear-and-tear, while knowing you cannot afford decent legal advice, and you also can't pay for the "unexpected repair" is just as bad. > And you can’t have just your kitc…

I've found that it's pretty much split between if I have a landlord that's just a guy with a few houses vs a property management company. When I lived in a complex (cheaper than my current rent by a mile because it was in NC), maintenance would be over in a matter of hours. When I've had a single guy, it's often days (unless it's a truly urgent issue).

I'm under a guy that just manages 20 or so doors now and he's a good dude, but I have to wait a longer time, generally, like when my heat wasn't working at the beginning of the winter and his plumber had the flu. Luckily it wasn't bad weather yet, but I definitely felt the potential for strain.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#173

Post by phkahler »

bluGill wrote: post #77
jeremy151 wrote: post #49

I am a DIY-er by nature with construction experience, I enjoy it, so when we wanted a bit more outdoor space, we moved from a suburban cul-de-sac to a slightly more rural property on some acreage, and chose an aged luxury home, feeling comfortable generally in my ability to be able to rehab it over time. After all, we're not in any sort of rush, and wanted the kids to experience putting work into the place where they…

> Septic is another ticking clock. When that goes, you're in for 5 digits. But for the length they last it is less than my city sewer bill. Though if my septic fails I'll connect to the city system was the quote I got to do that was about what a new septic costs.

>> Though if my septic fails I'll connect to the city system was the quote I got to do that was about what a new septic costs.

But that's the quote just for the connection. Then you get to pay a sewer bill every month.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#174

Post by thrance »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #110
mholm wrote: post #6

Beyond the financials, the psychological impact of both being able to make greater-than-superficial changes, and having extremely predictable payments for years without worrying about substantial rent increases, is substantial. I redid/improved the bathroom to exactly what I wanted. I renovated the kitchen. I added paneling to the walls. I added a few outlets to rooms that needed more. I wouldn't do these things in a…

There’s also a psychological benefit of not having to worry about most problems. Sink broke? Call landlord to fix. Roof leaking? Call landlord to fix. And so on. You never have an unexpected $20k repair show up. And while I agree that it’s nice to customize things to your preferences, this has a downside in that it’s easy to get carried away and overspend. Might as well get the nicer finishes when you are remodeling,…

> There’s also a psychological benefit of not having to worry about most problems. Sink broke? Call landlord to fix. Roof leaking? Call landlord to fix. And so on. You never have an unexpected $20k repair show up.

Not my experience, at all. All landlords I've had were lazy assholes who did the bare minimum, but never forgot to increase rent on the 1st of January, every single year.

Paying someone else for no other reason than to have the right to a roof is Middle Ages shit, that future generations will no doubt liken to serfdom.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#175

Post by strongpigeon »

jedberg wrote: post #164

The benefit of owning a home is almost always psychological, not financial. If you take the money you'd use for a down payment and mortgage and invest it instead (after paying rent) you end up in about the same place. But the psychological benefits can be huge. You have much greater control over the place you spend most of your time. You can change it to your liking. You don't have to worry about rent increases or ow…

> You don't have to worry about rent increases

I'd also argue there are financial advantages (on top of the psychological ones) to the price stability as you don't have to hedge against your housing cost shooting up as much.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#176

Post by cucumber3732842 »

jjice wrote: post #172
waffleiron wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sink broke? Call landlord to fix. Roof leaking? Call landlord to fix Most landlords I've dealt with are an absolute pain to deal with when something breaks. It's often not that easy, maybe in high-cost / luxury rentals. Arguing over what is normal wear-and-tear, while knowing you cannot afford decent legal advice, and you also can't pay for the "unexpected repair" is just as bad. > And you can’t have just your kitc…

I've found that it's pretty much split between if I have a landlord that's just a guy with a few houses vs a property management company. When I lived in a complex (cheaper than my current rent by a mile because it was in NC), maintenance would be over in a matter of hours. When I've had a single guy, it's often days (unless it's a truly urgent issue). I'm under a guy that just manages 20 or so doors now and he's a g…

There's an uncanny valley between "I own three properties in a 1mi radius and live in one of the units and will swing by after work" and "the company has fulltime maintenance employees" where maintenance is the worst.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#177

Post by zeroonetwothree »

danesparza wrote: post #35

Buying a home is a hedge against inflation. Renting has no similar protections. Your choices are, "Pay the (increased) rent" or "Move"

There are cheaper ways to hedge inflation. Also, people with careers don’t really need to hedge inflation especially.

In 1960 rent was about 10% of median income. Today it’s more like 30%. This might sound bad but in 1960 food was 30% of median income and today it’s around 10%. Prices are always relative, it’s impossible for everything to get cheaper. There’s no reason to assume rent is especially prone to this except that it has been over a certain period. Other periods it has been the opposite.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#178

Post by rwmj »

mholm wrote: post #6

Beyond the financials, the psychological impact of both being able to make greater-than-superficial changes, and having extremely predictable payments for years without worrying about substantial rent increases, is substantial. I redid/improved the bathroom to exactly what I wanted. I renovated the kitchen. I added paneling to the walls. I added a few outlets to rooms that needed more. I wouldn't do these things in a…

This depends on what country you live in, but in the UK renting is (even after recent changes) quite precarious. The landlord can kick you out with a few months notice. They can require regular inspections. They can send workers around to "fix stuff" without you really agreeing to it. Even if you never renovate your bathroom, the security and privacy of owning your own place without landlords bothering you is worth every penny.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#179

Post by jerlam »

jrflo wrote: post #143
someuser54541 wrote: post #3

Aren't quite a few of these concerns alleviated by owning a condo?

Condos come with another problem: you don't own the land. The condo itself is a depreciating asset unless maintained and money is put into the unit and the building. You're also exposed to the risk of the area becoming less desirable, newer condos being built nearby, general economic trends, mismanagment of the property, etc.

Other than "mismanagement of the property", most of these exposures apply to non-condos as well.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#180

Post by zeroonetwothree »

turtlebits wrote: post #166
zeroonetwothree wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some markets they get like 20 offers for a house. You aren’t going to negotiate anything at that point

Then don't worry about the cost of ownership because you're going to make it up in equity.

How does buying for a high price mean you will make it up? If anything it should mean the opposite.
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