Comments on: What It Cost Us to “Own” Our Home Last Year + A Question I Ask Myself Every Morning

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 20:32:03 +0000

In reply to Peter. Hah! Preach! :)

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 22:27:20 +0000

Great article! I used to argue with people on how your home you live in will never be an investment. But then I realized that if that’s the best investment route they know, that’s too bad. As Robert Kiyosaki says, if it takes money out of your pocket each month, it’s an expense not an investment.
Also, from my own personal experience, owning a home for a longer time is still more expensive than renting. We bought our house over 19 years ago, accelerated our mortgage and paid it off in 12 years, the value is almost double, but if I were to sell it I still wouldn’t recoup all the expenses. And you never truly own your own home. If you don’t believe me and you are one to have no mortgage, stop paying your taxes and see who owns it after a year.
Buying a home to live in is no more an investment than the ones Bernie Madoff was selling.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 17:54:19 +0000

In reply to Sue.

“It was not the home’s fault.” – hah! quote of the day right there.

By: Sue

Sue — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 06:26:15 +0000

No, the principal paid is your equity, your money. Subtract that and see if you can get the same size, perks (how + property management??) and location of the home by renting. I bet you still win. There are too many articles lately without objective base, yes, a home is an assets with a maintenance, same with owning a car, you don’t want to maintain then “rent” a subway, a taxi, a bus etc. Don’t buy if you don’t have an ownership mentality, counting every pennies spent. Lastly, the interest is the cost of capital, the higher the amount the less you actually can afford buying. It was not the home’s fault.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 03:03:09 +0000

In reply to Slinky. All good points indeed :) I tend to forget a lot of those since I've owned for so long... though you still get a lot of that annoying neighbor stuff if you're in a condo/townhouse/etc.

By: Slinky

Slinky — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 19:27:14 +0000

In reply to Steve.

It all depends on what things are more annoying to you – maintenance/repairs/house stuff, or neighbors/landlords/apartment stuff. I’ll take the house stuff any day. I find people in close proximity several magnitudes more annoying than having to get a new dishwasher. No more getting woken up every morning, no more drunken 3am door buzzes, no more waiting a week for the landlord to fix something. No more weird looks if I dare to sit outside in the yard, no more waiting for the laundry machine. No thanks!

Also, I’d pay WAY more money if I wanted to rent anything even remotely comparable to my 3 bedroom/1 bath house on a 2 acre wooded lot. I know people that pay more for a 2 bedroom/1 bath apartment.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:50:53 +0000

In reply to Deborah. Well I'd pick the cash out option and rent all day, every day, but obviously I'm pretty skewed here ;) Either way $400k in equity is a nice "problem" to have!

By: Deborah

Deborah — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 17:43:52 +0000

This is timely. To cash out and rent or to cash-out re-fi and fix? That is the question. We have about 400,000 in equity. The over-priced 1922 “charming” shack needs a new foundation. Cha-ching. The roof is old only leaks sometimes…that we can see. And I could use a little dough for my daughter who is off to college this fall. Oh yeah.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 01:19:31 +0000

In reply to Charissa. Sounds like you know yourself well :)

By: Charissa

Charissa — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 23:07:16 +0000

This post was a brilliant explanation of the pros and cons of renting compared to owning. I am still proudly renting (and getting weird looks every time I tell someone I am not in a position to buy a house). I have had several people pass on a ‘great buy’ on a house for $50,000 or less. I always wonder what is wrong with the house to make it so cheap and how much additional money I would have to sink just to make the house livable. No thanks! I want to become a house owner eventually, but am perfectly happy renting since I would love to save up and purchase a home for cash.