re: Help me convince family members not to buy a house right now

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Actually I have done plenty. A 30 year mortgage on a 130,000 loan in todays market will run your note about 800 or so a month. You can buy a 3 bedroom 2 bath house for that price. Now how many 3 bedroom 2 bath houses can you rent for that price? Are you gaining any equity by renting? Also, you are able to deduct your interest on your tax return.


What exactly are you gaining by renting a place?

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Actually you've done little other than read a few articles. Here's a real world example:

Mountain View, CA 1500 sq ft 3/2 starts at 1.2M
Rent....$3200 - $3600/month range

Do the math Mr. Genius.

You can buy houses in Detroit for $1....so how does that factor into your formula. You can always massage a number to meet a preconceived opinion...but that doesn't make it correct.

Now, let's go back to your example:
Who pays for M&R?
Who pays the Taxes?
Who pays for lack of occupancy months?
Who pay for insurance?

Deducting taxes/expenses is not a straight line tax break...or don't you know that? Also, care to discuss recapture of D&A at the time of sale?

Fact is home ownership is NOT always a good financial decision.

I thought ALL bankers must die

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Also, care to discuss recapture of D&A at the time of sale?

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On residential property?

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That's why I said look at 10 years.

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Which 10 years. The one period that proves your point?

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Also, I'm pretty sure this guy that started this post was not referring to one of the 3 areas that you referred to. Over 50% of the foreclosures are made up of just those 3 states.

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You didn't qualify your statement. You asked for just one example. You're all over the placing trying to win an unwinnable argument.

Yeah, no that's fine, you just didn't say anything about converting it into a rental before. Kind of hard to know that without saying it.

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I completely disagree with this. Why not buy a house right now?? There aren't many times that you can lock in a 4.5 interest rate. Also, if your monthly note is not going to change, then they should be able to afford it.


I would NEVER encourage anyone to rent. You just as soon have a bon fire with your money b/c that is all you are doing is throwing your money in the garbage.


The only thing that I would discourage is the house with a pool. As the other person said, the utilities are sky high along with the homeowner's insurance. Also, a pool does not make the house worth any more. It can actually hurt when trying to sell the house.

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Generally agree. Certainly in the vast majority of cases.