No no no see you pay a mortgage, but you won’t own anything.
Affording a mortgage is the easy part.
Then you have to somehow get your mortgage-contingent offer accepted by the seller when you’re up against cash offers, $50k over asking, with no inspection, no appraisal, unlimited possession, and a free hit of adrenochrome.
You pay a mortgage, just not your own.
This meme is inaccurate. The college grad wouldn't be in the office with them because they already promised the CEOs son the job.
How do we know that's not the CEO's son anyway?
Because CEO's son wouldn't know what word rent means
Cries in middle aged, highly specialized, poverty class worker...
I never understood the obsession with homeownership.
I've owned. It kinda sucked. The things most people think of as "pros" (like being able to renovate) were not that great for me. I'd spend a lot of time thinking about things I could change/improve, and then doing them.
My brain operates differently renting. I don't really care about things like that since its not an option in the first place. It saves me time/money/stress and I spend more time living my life instead of maintaining a property.
Of course there are drawbacks with renting, specifically shitty landlords, but to me there are more pros than cons.
Property ownership is the clearest path for generational wealth. It may suck to own, but you are building an asset and you can hand it off to future generations to have a head start with.
It's a broken system, I am not advocating for it as a good system, but it's the primary reason to own a home.
the thing is - there's a lot of variables that shift the balance towards renting when looking within a time frame, even from a financial perspective.
- how long you can stay in one place and whether that fits your needs both today and in a few decades
- % of down payment and missed earnings if this money went towards another investment
- interest rates
- property taxes
- HOA fees, if any
- likely higher insurance rates over renting
- maintenance costs
In the end of the day, since many variables have a large uncertainty, that's a bit of a gamble. Home ownership tends to win over time, but the longer one looks into the future, the higher this uncertainty also is.
The only hobbies I actually enjoy require space: gardening and lapidary "arts" (gem/stone cutting). I can't buy equipment because I don't have the space to store them and having to move every 2-3 years is not only very difficult when you have more stuff but also really damn expensive.
So there's that, and there's retirement. Having set expenses (aside from taxes) is super important and you'll never have that with renting when you're retired.
Then again who am I kidding, I'm 38 and working in a factory. My retirement will be whenever I decide to buy a gun lol
I'm currently renting a home for space for gardening. Tomato seedlings went out last weekend :)
So there’s that, and there’s retirement. Having set expenses (aside from taxes) is super important and you’ll never have that with renting when you’re retired.
I don't consider my home a retirement vehicle. I save separately for that. But I do understand that for some people, it is, and that's understandable.
Especially if you aren't financially that well off or on a good career track, I think it's really appealing just for the stability it affords. My current landlord has been a pretty good guy for us, but if I owned my apartment rather than renting, I wouldn't have to worry that I'll suddenly need to pay a ton more money if he dies and his kids decide to jack up the rent, or worse, having to uproot my life entirely and move out because of someone else's whims.
I feel the same way. I currently own a home, but I honestly want to sell. For me, it's mostly about the flexibility. I hate not having the flexibility to up and move if a new job opportunity presents itself or I just want to try a new place.
There's also a crap ton of expenses associated with owning beyond just the mortgage, insurance, and taxes.
Homeownership is still cheaper. Every cent that goes towards rent you’ll never see again. At least at the end of your mortgage you have something you can sell to recoup most of what you spent. Or rent it out.
While although taxes can go up your mortgage never will. Your rent will.
My mortgage is $1700. If I were renting this place it would easily be going for $2400 if not more.
You don't have to go all the way to renovating before you see the advantages of homeownership. It shows up even in much smaller home improvements.
A small example: a few years ago my refrigerator broke, and the technician said it's behind repair. My landlord had to buy a new one, and of course he picked a cheap model.
If I was an homeowning instead of renting, I would have bought a much better refrigerator at trice the cost. But I won't pay that much for an appliance I'm not going to own, and my landlord won't pay it for one he wouldn't use, so I'm stuck with a cheap and noisy refrigerator.
And this is the situation with everything that's considered a part of the house. Even if I have the money to buy nice things - I can't have them.
If I was an homeowning instead of renting, I would have bought a much better refrigerator at trice the cost. But I won’t pay that much for an appliance I’m not going to own, and my landlord won’t pay it for one he wouldn’t use, so I’m stuck with a cheap and noisy refrigerator.
Right, I've been on both sides of your example. I've both bought a refrigerator while owning a home (and picked a more expensive model), and I've also had a fridge replaced by a landlord with a cheap model.
Again, for me the renting side of this is a "pro". I will second guess not splurging if I know it is an option while owning. If I rent, I just don't care because its not an option in the first place, and I love that.
Ugh, the whole renovation thing is a pain in the ass. My mom watches renovation shows all day while the house has fallen into smelly disrepair over the last twenty years.
She keeps talking about painting this or knocking out that wall or installing all new fixtures 'so it can be nice for the next people (she's in her 80s and plans on dying there).
I keep telling her that no matter how much money she wastes 'fixing' the place up, the people that eventually buy it are going to gut it and do their own thing.
One little old lady using a total of three rooms in a 4br3b house.
She dreams that I'll settle down and want a quiet place in the suburbs, but I hate the neighborhood and most of the people that live there. If she were hit by a bus tomorrow I'll call the first Cash For Houses scam I see so I don't have to deal with any of that.
/Rant
I absolutely loved my apartment, but I pulled myself out of it because it was just far too much money and I knew that nearly all of that money was going into a hole.
Lived with a buddy for 2 years to save up a down payment, and got a house that's nice - but honestly the renovation bit that I couldn't do with an apartment that I really like is that I put solar panels on it. I wouldn't have that option if I was still in my apartment.
And of course I pay people to mow the lawn, so some money still goes in a hole for sure, as it is with paying mortgage interest. But I have way more control now over how much, and whenever I plan to move I can trade a lot of that money going into the mortgage for wherever I go next, or pass it on.
not paying 1/2 to 3/4 of my salary on rent is a big upside to me. but then again if we are talking about the us, there are probably a thousand fees and ways they siphon your money away anyway.
God I love that show.
Seriously so good all the way through
Just date someone rich. I know a lot of attractive women who are doing something like that.
Step 1: Be attractive. Step 2: If not attractive, rent Face/Off and take notes. Stalk attractive person and swap faces with them when they aren't looking. Step 3: Free rent.
And you have to commute an hour because you won't be able to afford rent where the jobs are.
I love that dude's expression. It's like game theory editing.
Get back the future that was taken from you. Eat the rich
U first
Gen Z owns homes at higher rates than millennials, x'ers, and boomers.
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/04/16/generation-z-is-unprecedentedly-rich
Workforce needs stay mobile these days.😒
