On 6/11/2013 2:20 PM, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 20:51:58 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
Owning a home has lots of nice advantages, but saving money isn't reliably one
of them.
I agreed with you until last year, but the very low mortgage interest rates and
fitting in principle prepayments into my budget tipped me toward the other side.
(Then the landlord jacking up the rent and giving me a bad attitude on a short
notice inspection pushed me into calling the bank immediately - this is the
biggest of the other advantages IMO, not having to deal with a landlord
anymore!)
But, like with a lot of things, there's no substitute for doing your own math
before making a decision.
Yes, not having to deal with a landlord is one of the nice perques. On the other
hand, there's another landlord you can't get away from - the property tax people
and the zoning people and the permit people. You never really own it. If there's
an HOA, better read those covenants very, very carefully first.
I own the house I live in, I find it worthwhile for me. But I'm not under any
delusion that it's some great financial investment. I've previously owned 4
houses, and lost money on two of them (one of them pretty badly). If I sold my
current one today, I'd lose a nice chunk on it.
Renting can be nice. For example, if your life circumstances change, or you just
want a change of scenery, you can just walk away from it.
