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The real cost of owning a home

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Re: The real cost of owning a home

#811

Post by epolanski »

dividefuel wrote: post #315

Beyond financial costs, I was caught off guard at how much time home ownership took up. House maintenance and projects have taken up most of every single weekend of mine for the past few years. Part of it is simply that I bought a house with more space than the places I usually rented. More to clean, more to maintain, more things that can go wrong, etc. But the biggest thing is that I'm the only one in charge of main…

+1, my SO was so hard to "have our place", that we essentially dedicated two years of our lives to it (from finding the place, negotiating, legal stuff, renovations, etc).

It gave us two extremely stressful years, you're just not prepared for it.

And yes, we have way more things to think now than we used to.

It's going to financially pay off when I'll be close to 60 (I'm 38).

I'm not saying I wouldn't do it again, I like my house, but sure I'd be much wealthier (hell, I sold my investments in 2021 to buy it) and care free.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#812

Post by cucumber3732842 »

lostapathy wrote: post #691
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seemingly he can do every trade. He's under the building doing plumbing or electric one day. Landscaping the next. Doing this is basically illegal in modern day. The requirements to get even one trade license, much less more than one, are set up to make it uneconomical unless that trade is your full-time profession. Who can justify doing a multi-year full-time apprenticeship in each trade when they expect to spend…

The other trouble is that every handyman thinks they have a great handle on everything but have at least one blind spot where they do really, really stupid stuff.

More often it's just that the situation changes with time.

Like someone will work with existing shared neutral aluminum circuit spaghetti because that seemed right when the scope was narrow. Maybe they're just throwing an outlet on the opposite side of the wall for someone's CPAP machine. Maybe they're actively avoiding putting it on the bedroom circuit because of which window the A/C goes in. Then the scope grows, circumstances change and the specialized solution is no longer optimal.

Then the next owner shows up and has to troubleshoot something and between hindsight and the smug know-it-alls on /r/everytrade (seriously, the internet is great at driving off people with wisdom and experience) they pronounce the prior guy to have been an idiot.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#813

Post by kccqzy »

rahkiin wrote: post #762
kccqzy wrote: post #612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of psychological drawbacks as well. Consider for example that the fence between your house and your neighbor has become dilapidated. But your neighbor thinks it is fine and will not pay for a replacement. What do you do? Replace the fence without cost sharing? Argue with your neighbor on the condition of the fence? Or even after your neighbor has agreed, the act of selecting a mutually acceptable con…

Instead you rent, and your landlord agrees that it is fine. So now you look at a shitty fence. Which you could have done when owning the house too

Well no. If you have home insurance, your insurance provider can deny you coverage based on the dilapidated appearance of the house. If you have renter’s insurance, it only covers your own belongings and won’t be affected. And as a renter you can use it as a tool to negotiate for a lower rent; good luck negotiating a lower mortgage payment or property tax.

Furthermore if neighbor relations deteriorate you can always move; as a homeowner you are still stuck with an expensive asset with large transaction costs after you move.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#814

Post by cucumber3732842 »

obloid wrote: post #713
laughing_man wrote: post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plumbing isn't all that complicated, really. There are things you have to understand, but a little research will take you a long way. I only call the plumber when I don't have the equipment I'd need, like cameras and snakes.

If you're comfortable doing DIY a lot of equipment can be rented at your local Home Depot or similar store. I had a clogged sewer line and rented a drain snake for the afternoon. Much cheaper than calling the plumber. The thing I won't do is roof work. Too scary.

>The thing I won't do is roof work. Too scary.

And that's why you're still allowed to DIY it.

If schlepping packs of shingles onto a 150deg roof was as easy as pulling wire or laying pipe (heh) they'd have trade groups and lobbyists convincing the government to keep you from doing it yourself just like the lower altitude trades do.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#815

Post by satiric »

grantith wrote: post #683
raydev wrote: post #663

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you keep it from filling up with weeds in any reasonably grass-friendly climate? I just pay someone $50/week to mow my lawn and I pay zero attention to it. If we have a mini-drought and the grass turns brown, oh well.

Kill your lawn and let the native plants take over.

If you kill the lawn, won't the invasive plants take over?

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#816

Post by guilhas »

> I bought my home in Auburn, WA for $321k, and sold it a few years later for $333k. After all the costs to buy and sell it, I probably lost...

I was renting around 10k a year, that is -50k in the bin every five years. Even if I make 0 profit selling my house I am already up +50k. I pay less monthly and works like a savings pot. It is a lot of work. But whatever way you math it, renters are just paying someone else's mortgage

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#817

Post by SirMaster »

pickleglitch wrote: post #804
SirMaster wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I rented for somewhere around 20 years before I was finally able to buy a house, and I hated every minute of it. I've had a landlord (in Arizona) tell me that it's normal for an air conditioner to only be able to reduce the temp by 10 degrees. I've had a landlord decide to convert the complex into condos and tell me I would have to let potential buyers into my home before my lease was even up. I can't even remember a…

Like anything I am sure there are good and bad experiences.

I mean both my pay and rent go up by about 3% each year, barring some position change, but 3% of a 100K salary is $3000 more a year. 3% of a 650/mo rent like I pay is $230 more a year. So not even 10% of my raise is eaten by the rent increase.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#818

Post by lorecore »

tootie wrote: post #807
lorecore wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moving around a lot incurs its own costs. Time, transportation, movers, deposits (which you're unlikely to get fully returned), new furniture... I think it's an additional "hidden" cost to renting that doesn't get talked about much.

The cost of moving from owned home to owned home is far higher. Brokers, lawyers and all the associated closing costs can be huge. And you still have to pay movers and worry about new furniture.

Yes, but you decide when to move from your owned home. My point is landlords can and do cause moving “churn” when you rent above and beyond when you’d move voluntarily.

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#819

Post by jvvw »

thelastgallon wrote: post #615

Owning a home is as much responsibility as having infant which never grows up, can never be potty trained. There are thousands of things that need to continuously monitored and maintained. Time, money, mindspace and the stress are the huge operational costs of owning a home. Property taxes, insurance and repairs/maintenance, these three are increasing YoY will cost 3X the initial cost over a 30 year mortgage. There i…

Having owned a house for two decades (well two houses because we moved) and having two children, I would say that owning a home feels like a doddle in comparison :-)

I haven't done the sums to compare expenses, but when they are young childcare/lost earnings is definitely more than insurance/repair/maintenance costs (and tax, although in my country you pay tax as a tenant too).

Re: The real cost of owning a home

#820

Post by throw393847 »

mc3301 wrote: post #575
groby_b wrote: post #518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He's under the building doing plumbing or electric one day. I believe I've encountered that guys electrical work, and it ain't sage :) (I.e. there are a few of those "fix it all" guys, but they're not always code compliant. They do get stuff done, though)

Plumbing: plumber. Electrics: electrician. Most other things (besides obvious big things like foundation, drainage, roofing, load supporting areas) can be done with a good "fix it all" kinda person, or (with patience) youtube.

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