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Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

jamesaltucher.com

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Re: Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

#51

Post by joezydeco »

fr0sty wrote: post #42
rbranson wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside of property tax increases (at least in the State of Tennessee), the landlord can't increase rent on you if you've got a lease contract. Things are much stricter in many other states.

I think the GP was saying that the landlord was announcing a 10% increase in rent with only 30 days notice not an increase of rent for the last month of the lease.

Right. Maybe I overexaggerated by saying 30 days instead of 90. But sooner or later you get that notice "Hey, it's time to renew your lease. By the way, it's a 10% increase on the next year. Take it...or start looking for a new apartment. Good luck with the market out there."

Re: Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

#52

Post by sstarr »

justinph wrote: post #18

Life is not all about money! Buy a house because you want someplace to be your own, that you can customize, and really be part of a neighborhood, and not worry about asking a landlord for permission. I bought a house because all the apartments I looked at for the price were dumps, and in a house at least I had incentive to fix the stuff that made it a dump.

Exactly. I'm sure that the author's reasons for not buying a house are all perfectly valid to him, but there are many other people who don't just see their home as a pile of dollar bills with a bed inside.

Re: Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

#53

Post by gr366 »

zeroplus wrote: post #41
gr366 wrote: post #22

The title on the post itself (and the slug in the URL) is "Why I Am Never Going to Own a Home Again" (emphasis mine). In the article, the author states "there are many reasons to not buy a home," and the reasons are from his perspective, which presumably is what his friends are asking for. However, the title here on HN makes it sound like the author is suggesting nobody ever buy a home again — probably not his intent…

Read the article. The author is definitely saying nobody should buy a home again. He structured the article as advice using his own personal experience.

Just because we had different interpretations, you shouldn't assume I haven't read the article.

To me, there is a difference between saying: "From my personal experience, when my friends ask my advice, I present them these reasons for not buying a house," and: "Nobody should ever buy a house."

If nobody bought a house, who would we rent from?

Update: fixed spelling

Re: Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

#54

Post by danzad »

xd wrote: post #9
keiferski wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're renting a $100,000 house for $1,500 a month, you are probably overpaying on rent, no?

In the UK at least, rent is higher than the equivalent mortgage payments at the moment. I pay around 2/3rd the cost of what friends pay for their rented property and this is common across the country. This has been caused by the decline in mortgage lending.

Was that a 100% mortgate or did you put down a deposit?

Re: Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

#56

Post by laujen »

This is a beautiful piece of link bait. His advice might make sense if you live in New York, but it doesn't work at all in most places in the country. If you live in the suburbs you can't find places to rent. If you have kids and care about where they go to school, you don't want to follow this advice. If you live in a city like Cleveland or Detroit or a hundred other Midwest towns where the price of a house can approach $50k, it may not be worth it either.

Re: Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

#57

Post by sbalea »

joshuaheard wrote: post #3

I could easily refute all the points in that article if I had the time. I'll suffice to give this example: "A" buys a $100,000 house, "B" rents a $100,000 house. Both pay about $1,500 per month. At the end of 15 years, "A" owns an asset worth $100,000, "B" owns nothing. You decide.

Not so clear cut. A needs to put something down for the house, let's say the standard 20%. B invests those $20k at a conservative rate of return, say 5%. After 15 years, B has $41579. Also, A will have to pay maintenance costs on the house, which are very hard to estimate. On the other hand, A's house might appreciate, he gets a tax deduction on the interest paid and B's rent might go up over time. My point is there are a lot more factors at play here.

Re: Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

#58

Post by aneth »

How can he make such sweeping statements about the financial implications of buying a home without actually making calculations based on real numbers? Depending on real estate to rent ratios, the calculation varies dramatically.

Re: Why You Should Never Buy a Home Again

#59

Post by TamDenholm »

ericb wrote: post #47
frankus wrote: post #16

The man's got a point. And I say that as a homeowner of nine years. The first point I would make is that unless you're independently wealthy, you're either going to be renting housing or renting money. All else equal, thirty years later you'll own some money or you'll own some property, respectively. The trick is in the "all else equal" part, because given rent versus price ratios, interest rates, and inflation expec…

Another good reasons to own is that when you own a home, no one can kick you out. When you rent, whether you live there next year is at the landlords discretion. A landlord may decide to sell next year, to renovate, to find tenants who never complain, to let their children live there, etc. Also, fixed mortgages stay the same price, but rents rise.

I understand that your point probably is "as long as you pay your mortgage and taxes, no one can kick you out". I think the likelyhood of being kicked out in both instances is extremely low if you continue to pay your rent/mortgage.
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