I looked at a home in 2003. It was a piece of crap selling for $178,000, so I didn’t buy it.
That piece of crap house is now probably worth $600,000.
It didn’t make sense then, and it doesn’t make sense now. There’s other ways to make a lot of money other than real estate. I’ve done quite well on the markets over the last decade or so.
I like the idea of putting an entire well looked after studio flat under someone’s name in my will.
But the whole maintenance thing is what scares me the most, you never know what could happen in a studio flat and how much it would cost to repair. That’s something I need to think about. What if there’s a burst pipe and the ceiling collapses etc.
I don’t deal with any problems as I pay £1,300 a year to pay for maintenance, and the association for the flats deals with it. I am always too paranoid to go to the AGM meetings, but they do a good job mostly.
Mortgage payments are much less than rent. I pay £450 per month plus the provision for maintenance as per above. Better than lining someone else’s pockets
If I fall ill, I have a contingency. All about saving that money to cover your ass if you have to have some down time. The only problem is you have no option but to pick yourself back up again and solider on no matter what
I am in England
Pro is you will be investing to a property that will have some value at the end. Renting, as above, you’re lining a landlords pocket rather than having money put aside into your property
It really is a no brainer. It took me 8 years to save a deposit large enough to buy. I live in Southern England, and even flats are hellishly expensive
Try and get something if you can, the banks will make sure you can afford it anyways, as they don’t just give anyone money nowadays after the crash
You need to find a guy who has tools and is handy. Idk…. Unless you know how plumbing/electrical/structures work.
I learned before I bought my house. I learned what to look for/what to avoid.
I did about 6 months research of what would be a reliable home to live in
Also, it helps to work the realtor a bit. They will walk all over you if they know you’re a first time home buyer and niaeve about the process.
There’s a crap load of money in real estate transactions and everyone will want to be your best friend.
Again on the realtor agent:
-my first house I bought I had to fire my first realtor because they were too pushy. My 2nd house I bought I almost had to fire my agent AGAIN because they were so lazy
I think theres a big difference between buying a house and a home.
You will always need a home to live in, regardless of whether you buy or rent. They are both liabilities if you had to sqaure them up on paper. If anything, buying a house is more of a liability.
The working class is misguided by the propaganda marketing of banks and financial institutions. Most are working for an employer earning a salary. Most do not own anything, all they doing is making the banks rich through debt ( Comparison to throwing away your money renting ) I think that people have got this illusion that buying a house to live in is some form of long term asset and investment that is going to make them financially free. No one owns a house until its paid off for. If you got a 30 year mortgage that house is far from yours and when it is paid off for, congrats, you now have a few walls and a garden thats just sitting there, deteriorating which is just costing you more money. I suppose when it is time to retire people sell their houses and say we dont actually need alot anymore so we going to downgrade and live off the tiny profit they have actually made off the house, doesnt seem to go so well if you look at the general status. In the end i think most people actually lose money.
Again, the rat race is a disastahhhh, before you know it, you so caught up in it you dont know how to get out of it. Fuuck the banks.
Yes there’s a chance that I might. Whatever I decide upon, it will be okay, either way..
I mean, a home feels like a home when it feels safe and secure.
If the money I receive from the government is not as much as I’d hope, and which could always change to more or less, then I’d be in a flat that does not feel like this (safe and secure), necessarily. And this is not brilliant as a lone elderly person, who has risk of psychosis, whom the landlord can also evict at the end of contract to who knows where else.
I worked at a bank (while in and out of psychosis, might I add ) and the instances of predatory lending are out of control.
People would be enticed for whatever reason to take lines of credit out on their home based on its equity. This means that your house becomes one giant credit card and your limit is essentially the equity you’ve already earned out of it.
Of course there are ways to play the game with a Home Equity Line Of Credit-- using your home’s equity to make home improvements to then further increase the home’s value is one way for sure.
But most people just use their equity to pay off maxed-out credit cards and diminish their built-up equity buying stupid shiit.
It’s extremely easy to find yourself underwater, and fast, too with a HELOC.
I dunno… I was at this bank for two and a half years, and saw a lot of questionable tactics regarding home lending. Like I said though, there are ways to play the game, but you’ve got to be savvy as fuuck to know the rules so you don’t get screwed over.
Sadly, this is the kind of thing they don’t teach you in school, and many people wind up making terrible decisions that will affect their quality of life for the next 30 years or so.
Normally banks are ok but I have come across one or two that have distained apathy for their customers, low life’s kinda.
I own my house outright, no mortgage, I bought last year, never thought I would be able to without a partner or family help but I have. God blesses me. I worked very hard in life in lots of jobs but now I’m on disability.
I’m renovating to sell as I need more space and quiet, well you only live once and it will be nice to continue journeying. There are extra overheads owning rather than renting like with gas and water you pay for access to the water and gas supply and the bill of how much you use, whereas with renting you just pay the usage bill. Council rates, electricity, however I don’t have an electricity bill as I installed solar panels, home and contents insurance, fire, flood, theft, willfull/ accidental damage etc
It’s been a lot project managing trades people to do renovations, I can sleep all day some days. I am almost finished however I have a tradesperson that is delaying the last bits of the project I can’t do myself and it’s irritating me no end. In fact I’m really upset about it. The rest I can do diy.
I don’t think I ever want to renovate again, however sometimes it can be a wise choice if your a homeowner.
It also gives you things to do.
I love the banks. I’m can put $3,000 down on a house (3% interest rate) and average 8.5% return on investment on my money in the markets. My yields from the market are enough to cover my mortgage.
It’s like living in a Free house. Kind of ~ lol
Someone said on this forum before that it is expensive to have bad credit or be bad at math. Lots of truth to that statement
i live in a cheap house/trailer. it will be mine in a couple years. i didn’t have to go through a bank, it’s rent to own property from my father, he is my neighbor, it’s nice having a roof over your head that is your own, but like a lot of other people have said, it’s work maintaining and your on the hook for emergency expenses. i will continue to live here until mom and dad die, and then im going to get a apartment somewhere in the world. i’ve never been one to dream about my own house, i mostly fantasize about my dream locations, whether renting or owning.
I lost a lot on one of my houses I bought but now it’s worth more.
I am a veteran so I bought all my houses for no money down and I pay no or little taxes. Renting just doesn’t make sense. If I had to pay 20% down I would probably still be renting. I think that’s most people’s obstacle to buying.
My rental house brings in $1000 a month profit even after paying the mortgage and if I sold it I could make more than $100,000. The longer I hold onto it the more it will be worth.
I have a home warranty on both of my houses. It’s about $600 a year for each one but most repairs are covered. It’s worth it. All appliances, electric and plumbing are covered. All you pay is a $75 service call when someone comes out. I have gotten a new ac system, a new dishwasher and two new hot water heaters for only a couple bucks.
I own my own home. I bought it in 2014 and remodeled it. I bought one that was priced low and did a 15 year mortgage. My mortgage would be about 600 a month if I did a 30 year mortgage. I only bought because I knew that I wanted to live in the same place for a while. If you think you might move it is probably not a good idea to buy. I get a lot more space than I would out of an apartment and I have a small house. I wouldn’t mind a larger house. I thought it was also not horrible to get a low cost apartment and put the extra money in investments. My house has appreciated in value a lot since I bought it. I want to rent out the basement for some extra money.
I’ve bought houses, sold houses, and have rented them out to people.
Buying houses, if you have the money, is either easy, difficult, or almost impossible depending on whether it’s a buyers or sellers market. Same goes for selling houses.
As far as owning a house is concerned, it is always expensive. An older house will often be a money pit and a brand new house can be too if you are unlucky.
As far as renting houses out, I find that if you are going to do that, you better be a jack of all trades and do all repairs, maintainence and tenant selection yourself because all property management companies eat you alive. That’s what they are in the business to do. And if you’re going to select the tenants, you better do super thorough research on them.
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) and the instances of predatory lending are out of control.
way too much skill needed of a type that I don’t possess and way too much reliance on people