re: What people don't consider when buying a house

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Figure 1% per year for proper upkeep. So on a $300000 home that is $3000 per year. Also figure about $100 per 1000 square feet for utilities. Example: 2500 square foot house in south in August is at least $250 to cool.

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Again, if you're talking about renting a house then maintenance/upkeep are built into your monthly payment. And you are paying the utilities. And more than likely you are responsible for the lawn. The cost is that of home ownership, plus a premium you're paying for someone else's risk, minus the possibility of being on the hook for a new A/C unit.

The only way you save significant money every month renting over buying is if you're in an apartment complex. Nobody is renting you a house that they bought for less than it costs to own.

Rent, young man, rent! I've never understood the inclination for a young man to buy a house when his career is just getting started - maintain your freedom.

I’d rather live with my parents than rent out two bedrooms.

I guess it depends on where you live whether it makes sense. Here in Memphis, it was an obvious choice to buy a condo rather than rent.

This thread is always like a dog chasing its tail. The reality is no one can tell you how much you value you flexibility of not only changing cities but also changing communities within a city. This is where renting has a lot of value that is personally dependent.

In general, my advice is rent when young and not yet married but there are exceptions if someone knows they never want to leave a city or part of town.

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Had a 25 single just buy a 3/3.5 townhouse. Mortgage is 1400 and change. Rents out 2 other bedrooms upstairs for $500/mo and cuts bills in 1/3.

He feels pretty free.

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I've got this one story...the salesman spiel.

I've always heard that typically, if you aren't going to live in the same house for at least 10 years, you are better off renting. You are wasting a ton of money on the interest. I know you can write it off on taxes, but unless you are putting more towards your principal each month, you aren't knocking down the loan amount very much at all. My house payment is 1300 a month and I believe around $200 goes towards the principal and I'm over 3 years into the life of my mortgage. So 1100 a month just in interest and escrow.

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I can sell my house and net approx $50k right now.

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From that perspective now is definitely not the time to buy, because you are probably going to be in the red for 3-5 years. You can still make a little money, if you are willing to buy a fixer-upper and actually fix it.

Otherwise you can expect renting to cost about 120% of what it would cost to own, but you are also saving money to put down on a better house when you do buy.

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I've got this one story...the salesman spiel

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I've got more than one. I've got the flip side that didn't work as well. But anyone who deals in absolutes in real estate matters is overwhelmingly shortsighted and has no choice but to be wrong quite often.

Buying a home is usually going to work out over the long term as the smarter, more effective return on your income. The tax write offs, natural appreciation and building equity aspects are far superior to anything else you’re going to spend your money on at that age.

In many cases the cost of living is equal to or < renting by comparison (many; not all).

What I think was touched on earlier is that this is usually a generational thing but it’s also dependent on what type of career you have. Lots of LSU Grads used to immediately move to TX (many still do). Buying fresh out of college with a degree that dictates travel many not be the smart move.

But I also mentioned generational as others did. Many Millenials think of owning a home as being a ton of work. So is setting up and managing your retirement. So is saving up for a down payment. So is managing a property to rent. So is running a business. Any undertaking in the real world will require a certain level of not only financial, but time commitment as well.

Millenials have a distaste for that. They value a frictionless situation where they can easily pack up and move from place to place. It’s far more about them than about an investment. Which compared to renting, home ownership is always a superior option to.

So do what makes you happy, but just remember...with few anecdotal exceptions, home owning is almost always a superior ROI to whatever you’d be spending the differential in renting on each month.

It pays off annually and long term, and even renting using a property management company can yield monthly benefits via passive income and still allow tax write offs and equity building.

Most people don't consider their new neighbors when buying a house. If you end up with horrible neighbors (like a couple of my friends have, different situations), then you end up wishing you had the flexibility of being a renter.

Might not be what this thread is about but just thought I'd answer the subject line of the post.