Owning a home

Ive been hearing a lot of finance influencers talking about how owning a home is a waste of money....I thought to myself how? You buy low and sell high! Im currently in that position. I have a ton equity built up. I have some problems in the house but even if I sell as is, i will still make a nice profit. The problem is all the markets around me are high too! So I can rent for a high price or buy a home for the equivalent sales price of my current home or a little higher! So whats the point? Is that just how it works?? You eat shit or pick up your life and move somewhere else? I have the option to make improvements and repairs right now also...I dont know what to do.
 
Defaulted on a mortgage when I was young. Rented all my life. Never actually owned a property. There's upsides and downsides.
 
These influencers sound like they're spewing the "you will own nothing and be happy" bullshit.
I hate owning a home. Its bullshit. Ive only just now after 7 years in it got money to do stuff to it but not even all of what I need to do. The city ordinance and codes keep you from doing what you want. The bank ultimately owns your property until you pay off the loan. I literally see no point in "owning" a home now. I guess it just now comes down to the fact that it the cheapest option since I have five kids...if I didnt have em Id live in a van
 
I hate owning a home. Its bullshit. Ive only just now after 7 years in it got money to do stuff to it but not even all of what I need to do. The city ordinance and codes keep you from doing what you want. The bank ultimately owns your property until you pay off the loan. I literally see no point in "owning" a home now. I guess it just now comes down to the fact that it the cheapest option since I have five kids...if I didnt have em Id live in a van
wants and desires have a lot to do with the decisions we make. If you feel you are best off not owning a home, that is fine, but it ultimately comes down to what you desire and what you value.

If having equity or owning property is not high on your priority list, then it's gonna be awfully hard to justify owning a home. I do believe that city ordnance and codes are lots of bullshit, to an extent. I hate HOA's because I hate that I am paying someone else to tell me how I have to use my money and what I can and cannot do to maintain or improve my property. Frankly, it's horseshit, but having the equity is certainly a good thing. We all want to accumulate wealth
 
wants and desires have a lot to do with the decisions we make. If you feel you are best off not owning a home, that is fine, but it ultimately comes down to what you desire and what you value.

If having equity or owning property is not high on your priority list, then it's gonna be awfully hard to justify owning a home. I do believe that city ordnance and codes are lots of bullshit, to an extent. I hate HOA's because I hate that I am paying someone else to tell me how I have to use my money and what I can and cannot do to maintain or improve my property. Frankly, it's horseshit, but having the equity is certainly a good thing. We all want to accumulate wealth
That was my original issue. It feels like im not accumulating wealth because the markets around me are high. So if I sell it will go right back into a house.
 
That was my original issue. It feels like im not accumulating wealth because the markets around me are high. So if I sell it will go right back into a house.
This is true. The only thing you could really do to make money would be to move to another, less expensive area. Or make upgrades to your house, keeping in mind that you want to do the highest ROI upgrades, and then you could buy another house that is a good deal and fix it up. It really is a balancing act, but not impossible to do.
 
Ive been hearing a lot of finance influencers talking about how owning a home is a waste of money....I thought to myself how? You buy low and sell high! Im currently in that position. I have a ton equity built up. I have some problems in the house but even if I sell as is, i will still make a nice profit. The problem is all the markets around me are high too! So I can rent for a high price or buy a home for the equivalent sales price of my current home or a little higher! So whats the point? Is that just how it works?? You eat shit or pick up your life and move somewhere else? I have the option to make improvements and repairs right now also...I dont know what to do.
Absolutely, I gained equity in two year because I bought in an area where prices are rising so fast.
But there's no way to take advantage of that really cause I'd just be buying something else with an inflated price unless I wanted to move to a shit hole area.
So ya, I feel ya, I guess we'll see how it plays out.
 
Ive been hearing a lot of finance influencers talking about how owning a home is a waste of money....I thought to myself how? You buy low and sell high! Im currently in that position. I have a ton equity built up. I have some problems in the house but even if I sell as is, i will still make a nice profit. The problem is all the markets around me are high too! So I can rent for a high price or buy a home for the equivalent sales price of my current home or a little higher! So whats the point? Is that just how it works?? You eat shit or pick up your life and move somewhere else? I have the option to make improvements and repairs right now also...I dont know what to do.
You strictly talking about buying to flip homes, or also owning your only home instead of renting? Buying a house was the best decision I ever made.
 
The theory is that if you invested say $100,000 at the age of 25 at 7% and added $5K per year every year for those 35 years.

You will be sitting on $1.8 million dollars when you are 60 years old.

House construction, at least modern home construction, no one tells you this, but in the United States is total dog shit.

Older homes were made with older slower growing trees, heavy lumber, heavy plywood. The homes built today are particle and wafer board.

Same thing goes for vehicles, over priced pop cans with too much gadgets.

This is why I urge people not to spend lots of time in school going into debt and instead find a job, make money and get your money invested quick and then you can work a shit job investing as you go along, live modestly and you'll be able to retire.

Americans are working themselves to death, spending money trying to look important in their endless degrees, big homes, fancy cars and they're rolling into retirement completely fucked.

Also a home is a anchor around your neck if you're working age. They got you by the balls, you got bills to pay and the boss knows this and they know it's not gonna be easy for you to pack up and leave. This might be why they check your credit report when applying for a job, they want to make sure they're hiring a proper slave.

Renting is looked down upon, but if you're a single dude and the boss knows you rent, they'll get you that raise because you can tell them you'll be gone tomorrow if you don't pay up. I did this lots of times when I was younger and I always got my raise.

When you're older and close to retirement, build yourself a small energy efficient well built home, away from the noise and traffic and enjoy your life. However don't think in this job market that you are stable, anything can happen and you can be let go and if you don't have a house you can just move in a few days and have another job, if that doesn't workout, you move again and have another job......the important thing is you don't have to take shit off anyone.
 
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My first real estate investment was a 5 unit mixed use commercial (3 units) and residential (2 units) building.

I lived in one of the residential units and put my company in one of the commercial units. The rents from tenants in the other 3 units covers the mortgage payments and other building expenses and even leaves a small profit of cash flow.

I still own this building but i moved overseas to where life is cheaper. I now rent my personal unit as an airBnB thats almost always fully booked and generates up to $3000/month in income. My current living expenses here in SEA are like $600/month so just the income alone from my airBnB covers my cost of living. Keep in mind i still have my business operating in one of the commercial units as well.

This. Is. The. Way.

Buying multi unit buildings is the best path in real estate. Even a duplex is okay but a triplex or fourplex is better. Have others pay your mortgage, its great. I just sit back and the equity plus skyrocketing real estate prices makes me richer each year.

I highly recommend getting multi unit real estate if at all possible. In OPs situation he could sell the house, buy a multi unit building, live in one of the units and rent the rest having the rents cover his mortgage costs. Of course, he has 5 kids so his situations alot more complex as it might be very hard to find a suitable multi unit building that could fit his large family so may not be a reasonable option for him.
 
Keep hold of that property for as long as you can pal - unless you hate living there or in that area. Its the one asset thats guaranteed to make you money in the long haul, in fact a tonne of money. I've owned my own home for 13 years now and in that time its gone up £150k in value plus I have payed off a huge chunk of the mortgage. Sure its all relative to the other properties around you but it also makes you can generally progress up the housing ladder in terms of where you can live and size of the home. I could never live in someone elses home and be living under their rules, if you live in an apartment building like I do you have no ground to stand on should issues arise if you are merely a rental tenant. If we have problem tenants in here such as noise and anti social behaviour for example we can group together as permanent residents and have the tenant evicted within a month. I couldn't put up with inspections either with them coming into your home when you are out and having a root around. Also if the landlord decides they want you out you are given so many months warning and then you are out - hump your stuff somewhere else son Lol Even applying for credit and loans being a property owner makes a huge difference in terms of making you a more credible client.
 
And the city owns the land that your house sits on and will sell it (auction) out from underneath you if you fail to pay the property taxes on it.
The US is crazy for things like that, we just have something called Council Tax over here to cover Police, refuse and other services. They love to sting you for Healthcare too which we get for free.
 
I avoided buying a house for a long time for various reasons. 5 years ago we bought a beautiful townhouse on a golf course (it’s an HOA but we approve everything unless someone is trying to do something stupid that would bring down other peoples home values) and started building equity really fast since we got it for a good price.

Then in the beginning of Covid my friend/neighbor sold their townhouse for an ungodly amount of money in one day. Little did we know the market was about to explode. So we figured let’s give it a shot. We had a bidding war immediately and sold in 3 days with a profit of $135k after 3 years. So then we were able to buy a huge house we couldn’t have afforded otherwise had we not owned a home and sold for a profit.

For work we opened my mobility and hoping to get promoted while the housing market is still hot and we’d be moving south. My company pays for everything so we’d clear well over $300k with the sale.

There’s plenty of advantages to owning a home and many ways to keep costs down. I saw a few people say a downside is a town not allowing this or that… well if you’re renting you can’t do anything at all to your place.

Someone else said it’s a waste of money. Renting is a waste of money. You pay all that money and 1) own nothing in the end . 2) pay off someone else mortgage so they can build wealth.

Just my .02 cents
 
Owning a house is overrated. It all gets old, and who wants to mow the lawn on a weekend when you’ve worked all week and you could be out on the lake instead?
 
Ive been hearing a lot of finance influencers talking about how owning a home is a waste of money....I thought to myself how? You buy low and sell high! Im currently in that position. I have a ton equity built up. I have some problems in the house but even if I sell as is, i will still make a nice profit. The problem is all the markets around me are high too! So I can rent for a high price or buy a home for the equivalent sales price of my current home or a little higher! So whats the point? Is that just how it works?? You eat shit or pick up your life and move somewhere else? I have the option to make improvements and repairs right now also...I dont know what to do.
Most people do not know how to figure the cost of living in a home. They just see a higher appraisal after having owned the home for a while, and they think, "Oh, look, I made money."

They never factor in things like costs of maintenance or to upgrade or repair (have you priced a roof or HVAC system lately?) or the costs of landscaping and so on.

They never factor in their property taxes or interest cost.

And they never factor in inflation.

They never factor in closing costs for a mortgage.

They never factor in the realtor fees when buying or selling at the end (both would need to be subtracted).

Homes generally do not turn out to be good investments unless renters are paying the home down for you. To live in? It's just a consumption item.

I love it, though, when folks just compare the cost of monthly rent v. the cost of a monthly mortgage and overlook the downpayment and everything else listed above, or the fact that they do not have any money set aside for a roof or a furnace . . . they are usually better off renting, but you can't explain it to the kind of persons that actually have car payments and compare only the cost of rent to the monthly principle and interest cost on a 30 year mortgage.
 

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