re: Is apartment living really all that great?

Can’t quote you right now, not sure on the splits. Generally you pay insurance and taxes in with your mortgage payment. I do my own lawn maintenance, but I’ve been quoted around $40-50 a month if I decided to contract it. Repairs are pretty small since it’s a younger home. If you have an older home, they’re obviously higher

Now I have friends who bought earlier than I did, so they got true starter homes, and they pay less than I ever did on rent except when I had roommates. Two of my friends each pay under $1000 a month on their mortgages, when general BR rent is $1000-1200. And I know they’re not spending the difference in repairs. They’re not huge homes or fancy, but they’re in good areas. I’d budget no more than $2000 a year in repairs, and that’s including long term budgeting for a roof replacement every 15 years and HVAC replacement (unless I was in an old home), so you won’t actually spend that most years

Edit: looked it up and common rule is 1% of purchase price for budgeting purposes. That’s a decent rule, less for a newer home, more for an older home. So $2500 a year is $208 a month on a $250k home. And if you don’t use it, you get to keep the money lol

Rent is actually down in DFW over the last few months. As much as $250-$300/mo at several properties.

Renting is smart for folks who move around a lot, single folks, etc.

However, it builds no wealth for the renter and can be costlier than buying a home under most circumstances over the long-term. After all, their landlords aren't losing money.

For most middle class folks in the United States, home ownership is the most solid way to build wealth, year in, year out, particularly wealth for retirement.

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literally tens of millions of people thought they were taking that safe, traditional route to wealth building in 2007 and it ruined them financially.

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Well, if you over leverage anything, you're incurring a lot of risks. That's where Dave Ramsey is spot on - if you don't owe anything, the world can pound sand. You're a sovereign. The min-maxxers can talk about "making" money with their mortgages all day, but they still owe hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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if they're disciplined

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That works for every aspect of life.

The problem is that while a home may appreciate in value, it comes with substantial carrying costs and liabilities that can also greatly outweigh rent. Housing is often times a necessity that costs like a liability masquerading as an asset. Every situation is different, however, but if you don't plan on selling your house, it increasing in value is a BAD thing because that means your carrying cost of property tax is INCREASING. Housing is a necessity, and it's only an asset when you're selling it, but because it's a necessity, that means you're selling it to buy...ANOTHER HOUSE!!!!

Housing is really only an asset if it's a second home. Your primary residence is nearly always a liability and an anchor for mobility no matter how much it appreciates in value.

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Also, I'm certainly not excusing policies like Dodd Fwank and predatory lending, but if i'm being honest, the folks burned in the housing crash in 2007 were not financial savants duped by a snake oil salesmen. They were gambling. They were the M-F Dave Ramsey callers who now owe 100k to VISA and Mastercard vs. a predatory mortgage lender. It was simply another monetary outlet for irresponsible people to abuse.

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it doesn't take the level of extreme that we saw in 2008 to impact teh normal family's life

take Lake Charles. shite is insane here b/c of the SASOL bubble-boom. people are going to buy houses 15-30% above what they're worth and then when the boom subsides and work dries up, they're left paying a shite-ton more than they can afford

all that i was saying is that this risk increases the actual cost of home ownership v. renting

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Also, I'm certainly not excusing policies like Dodd Fwank and p

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????????
I see what you did there.

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people are going to buy houses 15-30% above what they're worth and then when the boom subsides and work dries up, they're left paying a shite-ton more than they can afford all that i was saying is that this risk increases the actual cost of home ownership v. renting

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Hyperlocally I understand how that may affect people. When factored into the US housing market, should that drop occur the national stats it won’t even move the needle.

I think we are looking at this thread from different perspectives, which is nice. I’m a firm believer in real estate being a hyper local investment market and you have just explained why.

Why would you miss out on generating wealth?

I’m tempted to buy a piece of land and put a nice mobile/manufactured home on it. Housing prices are getting absurd and renting is a waste if you have the income to afford a mortgage.