Homeowner vs. Renter: Why Should You Ever Buy a House (at all)? • Hacker News Board

Re: Homeowner vs. Renter: Why Should You Ever Buy a House (at all)?

#61

Post by mhartl » Mon, May 12, 2008, 9:26 PM UTC

axod wrote: post #17

Surely arguing that renting is cheaper than owning implies that landlords make a loss - which I'm sure is very rare.

It doesn't imply that. Owners and renters have different risk profiles (or ought to). In financial terms, most new homeowners are *highly leveragedC in real estate. Unless you are a skilled speculator, this probably represents more risk than you intended. Landlords absorb this risk, and are compensated for it.

Re: Homeowner vs. Renter: Why Should You Ever Buy a House (at all)?

#62

Post by altano » Tue, May 13, 2008, 12:42 AM UTC

It's harder to rent a nice place than it is to buy one. In general, landlords don't take care of rental units as well as they would their own house, and the same goes for the tenants. Of course, we're just talking percentages, but in the end it makes it much harder to rent a nice place.

Re: Homeowner vs. Renter: Why Should You Ever Buy a House (at all)?

#63

Post by mhartl » Tue, May 13, 2008, 1:53 AM UTC

mhartl wrote: post #61

axod wrote: post #17

Surely arguing that renting is cheaper than owning implies that landlords make a loss - which I'm sure is very rare.

It doesn't imply that. Owners and renters have different risk profiles (or ought to). In financial terms, most new homeowners are *highly leveragedC in real estate. Unless you are a skilled speculator, this probably represents more risk than you intended. Landlords absorb this risk, and are compensated for it.

That was supposed to be highly leveraged. Not sure where that 'C' came from.