• Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There is no sight or wrong answer when it comes to rent vs own. Do what is best for you

    Putting money into your own ownership, versus putting money in for somebody else’s ownership, is a very straightforward scenario examination, to determine which one is better for you.

    • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Yes and no. Ownership is valuable. But the flexibility to live and move with less responsibility is also valuable.

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yes and no. Ownership is valuable. But the flexibility to live and move with less responsibility is also valuable.

        It’s not a matter of responsibility, you’re responsible for making a payment each month, either way, so that cancels out.

        Your paying the same kinds of money out of pocket each month in either case. You might as well own what your emptying your wallet for when you’re done, than not. Wealth begets wealth, it snowballs.

        • prole@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          You’re going to spend (usually a bit) more per month on mortgage payments than rent, so it’s not really “the same kinds of money”.

          • Guntrigger@feddit.ch
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            1 year ago

            Is this true in the US? Its definitely not been true anywhere I’ve lived in Europe. A mortgage has always been cheaper for a larger property, it’s just gathering the initial deposit to buy that’s the hard bit.

            • Mamertine@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              gathering the initial deposit

              In the USA, you no longer need a large deposit. Many lenders will go all low as 3% down. You pay extra fees each month when you are under 20% down though. Since most people can’t afford the 20% down, they’re stuck paying more each month.

              Yes, generally in the USA you pay less to own than to rent if you put the 20% down. The other cost of ownership (maintenance and repairs). If you add those in, owning us still usually a bit cheaper. Renting, however, stabilizes the monthly cost.

              • Guntrigger@feddit.ch
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                1 year ago

                Interesting, I didn’t know about the low deposit requirements. I haven’t really seen it below 10% over here, but it might well be possible.

                It also depends if you’re in cities or not I guess. My first house was in a small city and the rent wasn’t bad there, it was just desirable to buy if possible. The next two cities I lived were capitals and rent is out of control there. Though house prices are too in those situations, so buying a place is usually cheaper but unattainable.

            • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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              1 year ago

              Not true from my experience. When I bought my house rents for similar houses were about $1.2k/mo and my mortgage is ~700/mo (which after taxes and insurance came out to ~$800/mo) but the other $400/mo can be easily eaten by maintenance costs depending on the year.

              But what I haven’t seen pointed out yet is that the mortgage will stay the same for 30 years, property taxes & insurnace won’t grow much, but rents will continue to climb. It’s been almost 3 years and houses similar to mine are now renting for $1500/mo or more but I now pay ~$900/mo for my house due a small tax increase last year that narrowly got passed (and was noted when it was proposed to be the first property tax increase in quite a few years)

              • Guntrigger@feddit.ch
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                1 year ago

                That’s true, I didn’t really think about maintenence costs adding on. Ideally that stuff should add value back to the house so you don’t “lose” it like rent, but that all depends on the housing market forever rising to infinity.

                • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  but that all depends on the housing market forever rising to infinity.

                  It always does. Always. As long as babies are being made, it always will.

                  Every decade or two there’s a crash, but it doesn’t go down that much when there is, and then when it recovers from the crash it goes right back up to what it was doing before.

            • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              A mortgage has always been cheaper for a larger property, it’s just gathering the initial deposit to buy that’s the hard bit.

              What you commented is true in the US as well, unless you live in a very very poor neighborhood and rent.

        • AirlineF0od@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          In understand your point. It costs money to buy, sell, and broker house/mortgage. People have to live in their houses (in a normal economy) for like 3-5 years before even making a break even point on home. Just bought my first house and we’re drowning in interest at the moment. Rents will fall faster when interes rates change than we will be able to refi. BUT it’ll be better for us in the long run.

          • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It costs money to buy, sell, and broker house/mortgage.

            Its true that you need to save up the initial down payment. But in the long run it’s smarter to do so, than renting.

            People have to live in their houses (in a normal economy) for like 3-5 years before even making a break even point on home.

            It’s definitely not a short-term investment, unless you really try to play the real estate market.

            But I’m not speaking towards trying to turn a short-term profit, just not having a short/long-term loss.

            Put it another way, whose mortgage would you want to pay off, yours, or someone else’s?

            Finally, real estate prices continue to always go up, so even if you had to sell short-term where you’ve been paying mostly interest you could probably sell the property for more value to make up the difference.

            Just bought my first house and we’re drowning in interest at the moment.

            All home loans are mostly paying interest up front, it’s not into the later years of the loan when you start paying substantial principle payments.

            A neat trick is to always make an extra small principal only payment with each month mortgage payment, and that can change a 30 year loan to an 18 year loan.

            Just make sure the write in the memo field on your check “principal only payment”, or else the loan company will try to just take that extra money and put it on the interest only portion of the loan (they’re tricky that way).

            Rents will fall faster when interes rates change

            Historically rental costs have always gone up, and not down.

            Did you mean the monthly mortgage payment amount on a home loan?

            BUT it’ll be better for us in the long run.

            Ownership truly is better.

            • Adalast@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              This is all neglecting that after that 18-30 years, you don’t have that payment. Also, if you get a home that is much closer to your annual income, you can pay it off in a much shorter time. With the way properties are going right now that is almost a joke to say, but here I am, living on a dream. Also, having dealt with slumlord landleeches charging me $1k/month for a house that would have sold for $30k five years ago, I can honestly say that I never want to be subjected to a landlord again. Banks may be scummy, but they are heavily legislated scummy. Also, I would much rather be responsible for my house than some asshole. The house has mold, sparking outlets, the foundation is cracked in multiple locations, and huge cracks are forming in all of the walls as the house warps working towards collapse. And when I brought this all to the landlord’s attention they tried to illegally evict me and raised my rent by $125/month. We immediately started viewing new places. My wife is pregnant, and if that baby has a single birth defect I am suing these two into oblivion.

              • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                This is all neglecting that after that 18-30 years, you don’t have that payment.

                I don’t understand this sentence?

                When you’re done with the loan and it’s paid off you don’t have to make any more payments, so I’m not sure what you’re trying to express?

                Edit: I understand now. It was implied in what I was saying, so not being ignored. I was assuming people would know that when a mortgage is done being paid off you no longer have to continue to make payments.

                Also, if you get a home that is much closer to your annual income, you can pay it off in a much shorter time.

                Oh totally agree. I was suggesting 30 because most people seem to only have enough money to make a down payment on a 30-year loan. If you can get a 15-year loan that’s much better.

                I personally always got 15-year loans, because with those loans you end up paying the least amount of interest on. Thirty year loans are horrible, considering how much interest you have to pay versus principal, which is why I would suggesting you try to pay it off faster than the 30 years by paying a little bit extra every month with extra principal payments.

                • Adalast@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  When you’re done with the loan and it’s paid off you don’t have to make any more payments, so I’m not sure what you’re trying to express?

                  I was tacitly contrasting it with renting. After 30 years of renting, you still are going to be paying rent.

                  I personally always got 15-year loans, because with those loans you end up paying the least amount of interest on. Thirty year loans are horrible, considering how much interest you have to pay versus principal, which is why I would suggesting you try to pay it off faster than the 30 years by paying a little bit extra every month with extra principal payments.

                  I was less commentating on the term of the loan and more on the total principal value. That said, for some insane reason, a 15-year mortgage also has a lower interest rate, so it is fundamentally the better option. But even with that, if you make $50k/year and are able to find a livable property for 75-80k, and get the 15-year, ostensibly there is little in one’s way from paying it off in 7 to 10 years. Unfortunately livable houses for that price don’t exist anymore for most of the US and making 50k is still a pipe dream. I don’t even make that much and I have a Master’s degree.

                  • Kelsenellenelvial@lemmy.ca
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                    1 year ago

                    Not for everybody, but I’ve heard reasonable advice of getting the mortgage at a longer amortization period, then making extra payments. When I was looking it was typical to be allowed to increase the payment by 10-20% or to make additional payments up to 10-20% of the initial loan amount each year without penalty. That’s enough to potentially be paying it off in under 10 years without penalty(which is often in the range of 3 months simple interest, so still worthwhile if you unexpectedly come in to some money), but also gives you the flexibility of going back to the minimum payments if your financial situation changes.

                    Renting does make it cheaper/simpler to change accommodations though. Think things like starting a family and wanting to scale the household up from just two people to adding children and down again when those children move out. Renting makes it simpler to move closer to work, public transportation, schools, Etc. as a persons needs change. On the other hand, there’s also a lot of financial benefits to living in your own home: grants/rebates available for homeowners, not rental properties, being able to save costs by doing your own maintenance/renovations, etc…

                  • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    Unfortunately livable houses for that price don’t exist anymore for most of the US and making 50k is still a pipe dream. I don’t even make that much and I have a Master’s degree.

                    If I may ask, what industry are you working in, that you have a master’s degree but earn so little?

                    This is a whole different discussion than the one we’re having about home ownership vs renting, but I don’t think anyone who’s established by the time that they are in their 30s would be making 50k, they would be making a lot more, somewhere past the 100K mark for most professions, in the US at least, major cities.

                    In any case, I wouldn’t suggest purchasing a home if you only had that much income available.

                    Apologies if this offends in any way, it is not meant to.

            • ahal@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              I think you’re neglecting to factor in the opportunity cost of investing that down payment over time. Granted most people don’t have the necessary discipline so I agree a mortgage is a great way to force yourself to invest and probably best for most people.

              But I’m not convinced it’s going to make you wealthier in the long run vs putting all that money saved for a down payment in broad market ETFs and staying disciplined about it.

        • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          It’s not just money. Ownership means taking care of the house, and dealing with the buying/selling process. Would you advocate that university students buy a house for three years then sell again?

          A good rental means you’re paying the landlord to take care of things for you.

          I agree in the long term, since we always need somewhere to live, that personal ownership is better; but if you’re moving a lot, or perhaps depending on your job situation, I think renting is a valuable service for many people.

          • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Would you advocate that university students buy a house for three years then sell again?

            Assuming a university student had enough income, yes, most definitely. But most people buy houses after college, as they are busy paying for/off college first.

            But realize that monthly rent payment is going to be about the same price as a monthly mortgage payment.

            I agree in the long term, since we always need somewhere to live, that personal ownership is better; but if you’re moving a lot, or perhaps depending on your job situation, I think renting is a valuable service for many people.

            Well just realize that you’re losing money by taking advantage of that service, and then, yes, it is valuable service, but also a more costly service.

            Is it more convenient for you to have food already cooked delivered to you? Yes, of course. Will it cost you more money, will you lose more money, than if you went to the grocery store, got the ingredients, brought it home, and cook the food yourself? Most definitely.

            The point I’m making is don’t pay somebody else’s mortgage off, pay your own mortgage off.

            A good rental means you’re paying the landlord to take care of things for you.

            While strictly true, and I do not mean to be insulting, but that is a very financially dumb thing to say.

            As I mentioned previously, you’re giving your money to the landlord so that he can earn more money for himself, versus getting your own property and earning money for yourself.

            Make your money work for you, and not for someone else. You earned that money.

            • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Is it more convenient for you to have food already cooked delivered to you?

              I mean, that’s exactly my point. Services exist to cook and deliver food. Sometimes they’re desirable, sometimes they’re even economically profitable for the customer.

              Housing is different from food, and more important/worthwhile to own. But housing-as-a-service is still, I think, a valuable option to have.

              In my experience, financially it’s also a valuable option.

              Make your money work for you, and not for someone else.

              And yet, money is nothing in itself, unless you’re a true capitalist. You’re giving money to a landlord for him to provide you a service. You could instead invest that money in property and do the work of being your own landlord, and reap the benefits of that too.

              • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                And yet, money is nothing in itself, unless you’re a true capitalist.

                I f’ing hate bots/people who waste my time with nonsense.

                • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  My apologies. Apart from the value of exchanging with other people for what they can provide, and the capitalist dream of having abstract money, money does indeed have intrinsic value.

                  You can wipe your bottom with it.

                  Especially the coins.

      • michaelnik@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Afaik the mortgage market (setting mortgage payments, type of mortgage: fixed vs floating) is one of the more efficient markets. So choosing rent/own might not be such a big dilema.

        Current state (continuous rise of home prices) is, however, concerning. It used to be that USA’s flexibility to move (and refi) was its great advantage (in labor market).

      • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        its kind of not. we own now. its great. everytime we pay our mortgage, which feels exactly the same as when we were paying rent, we are in essence saving that money as we get it back when we sell this place (which is all contigent on how much its worth when we sell etc).

        when we were paying rent, we paid the landperson’s mortgage off month by month, making themmrew wealthy. upkeep is always a part of everything you own.

        • karakoram@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Spoken like someone who has never had a surprise maintenance issue pop up unexpectedly that costs multiple times your monthly mortgage.

          • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            True, you need to be able to afford to home while you’re living in it, but you make all of that up and more when you sell the property.

            Also, your “costs multiple times your monthly mortgage” comment is a rare thing. Usually its just a couple of hundred dollars type of repair, and its a few times in a year.

          • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            fuck are you talking about? you don’t know anything about me or my house. every house, especially old ones like my late 1800s cottage, needs major repairs. people on the internet making presumptions, so nice to be here.

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It was a Lemmy comment. I don’t think you should expect a college course lecture on the subject.

        Ultimately though, the comment stands. You’re either enabling somebody else to be more wealthy, or you’re enabling yourself to become more wealthy. The choice is yours.

          • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You’re either enabling somebody else to be more wealthy, or you’re enabling yourself to become more wealthy. The choice is yours.

            I know you’re just stating an opinion, but that last sentence is downright insulting to me.

            (I’m including above the whole statement and just bolding the part that you included when you did your reply.)

            I meant no disrespect. I personally was a high school dropout from a broken home (and the emotional baggage that goes with that) but was still able to purchase a house, so I know it’s doable.

            Having said that, I wasn’t judging you personally. I wasn’t even addressing you directly. I was just expressing a generic opinion about the pros and cons of purchasing versus renting to a wide audience. If that statement felt like an insult to you personally, then you need to look within.

            I wish you well and happiness.