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The real cost of owning a home

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Re: The real cost of owning a home

#281

Post by I_dream_of_Geni »

thrance wrote: post #174
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,…

> 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 re…

To be fair, there's piles of sh*tty renters too, who abuse the system and ruin the experience for everyone. If you have ever been a landlord, especially in certain market areas, it pays to be that "lazy asshole", otherwise you'll lose your shirt (and more). Ask me how I know....

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#282

Post by Our_Benefactors »

foobarian wrote: post #142
Our_Benefactors wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, you should never sell the car to the dealer and should always make the effort to sell private party, which will often get you 50% or more greater than the dealers best offer.

Yes there are all those arguments. But it's a lot more work for still a pitiful amount of money. Then on top of that after COVID dealer gave me $5k tradein for an Ecoboost car with a leaking cylinder wall, check engine light, missing parts, etc. where KBB was less than that. I really don't get it.

> But it's a lot more work for still a pitiful amount of money

It’s really not a lot of work and if $2000+ for a few hours work is pitiful, I envy your financial position. List on Craigslist at bottom market prices (you’ll still come out way ahead of the dealer), aggressively filter out tire kickers, sell it within 3-4 showings.

The law is very favorable to people being allowed to sell their personal vehicle without jumping through additional regulatory hoops.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#283

Post by gib444 »

SirMaster wrote: post #266
pickleglitch wrote: post #150

The cost of having to live under the boot of a landlord is immeasurable. The freedom of not having a landlord is priceless.

I have been renting 15 years and have never once even really thought about my landlord... I pay them on the portal and if something needs fixing I put in a maintenance request and they get it fixed. That's all i've ever thought about with them.

You're incredibly blessed

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#286

Post by [deleted] »

em-bee wrote: post #96
quantified wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being forced to move in the middle of the school year because the owner want to sell the house kind of sucks, though 5 years of a month-to-month was a bad idea. More landlords are asswipes than not, being able to control your own destiny has advantages. After all, you are paying all of the costs plus a premium for the rental, and you don't even get the paint or floor covering you want, let alone nice things.

that's the nice thing about renting in germany. there this would not work, the owner can sell the house but they can't kick out the tenant. so whoever is buying is taking over the tenant. and while you can ask a tenant to move out if you need the house for yourself, that too has to consider the needs of the tenant. if they have kids in school it is almost impossible to remove them unless you go out of your way to hel…

[deleted]

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#287

Post by craftkiller »

> the total settlement costs were about 3% of the value of the home

> That's $12,777.92 to get the loan.

This is something I don't quite understand when people talk about homes: they just bought a $425,930 home. If they're getting a 30-year mortgage with a 20% down payment they will pay a total of $902k at current mortgage rates. The closing costs are such a tiny fraction of what you're spending. You wouldn't go into a store and refuse to buy a $40 item when you realize you need to pay $3 in sales tax, why would you be bothered by having to pay 3% of the home's value or 1.4% of what you will end up paying in the end?

Same thing with property taxes: my home-owning friends complain about property taxes like they're some huge imposition. OP is paying $515/month in property taxes. My rent has gone up by more than that in the past 3 years that I've been in my current apartment.

That being said, I appreciate this post for the breakdown of all the expenses. I'm considering becoming part of the land-owning elite, so this is useful.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#288

Post by I_dream_of_Geni »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #78
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They tend to just keep increasing it until you leave then just dial it back a little and get someone else in. Far worse than individual landlord that if you're a good easy tenant is gonna prefer you to an unknown, corporate don't care about that.

Yep. This was exactly my experience. You have to leave eventually just to keep monthly rent under control.

Sounds exactly like car insurance. If you don't "move around", they keep pricing it higher every year until you wake up...

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#290

Post by SirMaster »

bix6 wrote: post #39

“Smart” people always tell us to rent. But ask any regular person if they’d rather own a home or rent and they will say own. Who cares about xyz costs or a lower investment return. The entire point is to have a stable base from which you and your family can thrive.

I'm just a single guy, why do I need more than a small apartment which is like 1/4 the monthly cost of a home mortgage payment. I put the other 3/4 of that cost into index funds. Also saves me time not having to do things like mow and shovel which is quite valuable to me.
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