RRC Archives

I moved to england to escape the poor job prospects for graduates in the US. Now if i ever want to make myself feel like I have more money than I actually do I just convert £'s into $'s. Good god i just increased my money by 60%!!!

i hear ya piggy, i'll argue both ways myself depending on a person's circumstances. stupid question and wrong forum anyway on my part, but if you're lucky/fortunate/hardworking/whatever enough then owning a home is a very good idea.

now back to natural disasters and the like...

brent, can i stay at your place when the world goes to shit? i can't cook, hate cleaning and have a generally negative disposition, but i...eh, er...we can play dingleberry!

Brent, I think Pigsteak did a pretty good job of summing up the renting argument.

I'm not sure this argument really applies in a post apocalyptic scenario, but here are my personal thoughts. And keep in mind that this is my personal preference; others may state valid justifications for owning a home.

1. Like Pigsteak said, there is at least a maintenance/upkeep cost to a home, and whatever you're paying in interest is really no different than paying rent. It's money down the drain.

So for example, if you have one of those interest-only loans where you pay off the interest up front, you're essentially 'renting' the place during the period in which you're paying only interest. If you pay only interest for the first, say, 5 years, and sell at the end of those 5 years, you have ZERO equity in your house. Money spent on mortgage interest and repairs does not go toward equity.

2. As Pigsteak also alluded to, and you can find data on this just about anywhere, home ownership - as an investment - yields very poor returns. If you want to own a home to own a home, more power to you. But if you want to own a home to realize investment gains, you've picked a historically weak investment. You'd be better off investing your money somewhere else. And as we've seen in the recent housing bubble, it's not foolproof. Yes, your home CAN depreciate in value. Sorry.

3. Weekends. With more and more of my friends owning homes, conversations typically go like this. Me: "What are you up to this weekend?" Friends: "Well, we have some yard work to do, gonna paint the second bedroom, and I've been trying to install new bathroom plumbing for a while. Might put in some crown moulding if we have time........" Again, if that's what you're into, fine. Climbing on the weekends sounds more appealing to me.

4. Mobility. I can go anywhere with 30 days' notice. It's a lot harder to pick up and move when you have to sell a house.

that being said, I am a home owner.

pigsteak wrote:that being said, I am a home owner.

It my not be the fiscally smartest way to spend your income, but it has its advantages...

Oh, the apocalyptic thing?! Caribe usually makes the most sense. If it's serious, there won't be any survivors in the long term and I'm not sure I want to drag it out. (If you think about the human condition just a 100 or 200 years ago, most of us would already have died a nasty death.) There'll only be another very slow evolution...

Short term crisis? We all just get through them the best we can and hope that humanity is better than most of us believe it to be (which I think it may be).

rjackson wrote:

pigsteak wrote:that being said, I am a home owner.

It my not be the fiscally smartest way to spend your income, but it has its advantages...

Yeah, home ownership and all its costs are a pain. But in the long term owning a home is the only way to go (assuming you are not moving). Try raising a family in a small apartment.....and a large apartments or houses for rent usually cost as much as a mortgage....

Thanks everyone for reinforceing my choice not to own. I thought for sure the - "you're throwing your money away" crowd would chime in.

barnacle ben, i am a mathematical, spreadsheet-making machine. i absolutely guarantee you my owning a home will be MUCH cheaper in the long run (and not even that long) than if i had continued renting. i won't share details over the intardweb, but of course there are several key things that make it true in my own case. like i mentioned though, it is not true for everyone.

ahab, yes, you can be one of my protectors. i am probably more negative than you too just for the record.

rhunt, stop throwing your damn money away! just kidding dude.

edited last paragraph due to sick mofo'ness. if KD calls you sick it can't be good!!!