Owning a home vs renting a place

[youvalss]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

Don't want to change to subject, but I'd love to read some pro's and con's for owning a house vs apartment (condo). Especially in cold cities. Does anyone care to give an opinion?

[KingV2k3]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

Don't want to change to subject, but I'd love to read some pro's and con's for owning a house vs apartment (condo). Especially in cold cities. Does anyone care to give an opinion?

"Pro" for rentals...

One word:

HEAT

Mine is included in the rent, so I save $400-$800 per month versus those who have to pay for it in either an apartment or home...

[KingV2k3]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

Equity is not a myth. At least not for me.

Property tax is deductable by the way. We saved like $8,000 on our income tax this year thanks to owning a home. Owning a home, is a major break on your income tax.

Big difference between SoCal and the Rust Belt, my friend!

Property doesn't hold it's value here in better times than these, and fuel costs and keeping fuel costs reasonable are difficult...

[youvalss]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

"Pro" for rentals...

One word:

HEAT

Mine is included in the rent, so I save $400-$800 per month versus those who have to pay for it in either an apartment or home...

I actually meant OWNING a house vs OWNING a condo. But anyway, yeah, heat is definitely a plus for renting vs owning. I have my heat included too.

[mjb2124]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

Mine is included in the rent, so I save $400-$800 per month versus those who have to pay for it in either an apartment or home...

Holy crap... Are you saying it costs $400-$800 a month to heat a place where you are? That's some bad insulation and windows and/or a very non-efficient furnace. I know gas costs are high, but they are everywhere.

My old townhouse maxed at $200 per month in the very coldest of winters. We moved into an old rental townhouse from Sept-Jan of this past year while our house was being built and we maxed at $350 one of those months (20+ year old windows, very poor insulation and a terrible inefficient old furnace). At the new house we had one of the worst winters this past February that I can remember. Our heating bill was $83 that month - which has been the highest we've had since we moved in. The insulation is top notch, windows are great and the furnace is energy efficient. Those things make a huge difference.

[KingV2k3]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

Holy crap... Are you saying it costs $400-$800 a month to heat a place where you are? That's some bad insulation and windows and/or a very non-efficient furnace. I know gas costs are high, but they are everywhere.

My old townhouse maxed at $200 per month in the very coldest of winters. We moved into an old rental townhouse from Sept-Jan of this past year while our house was being built and we maxed at $350 one of those months (20+ year old windows, very poor insulation and a terrible inefficient old furnace). At the new house we had one of the worst winters this past February that I can remember. Our heating bill was $83 that month - which has been the highest we've had since we moved in. The insulation is top notch, windows are great and the furnace is energy efficient. Those things make a huge difference.

Yeah, the numbers I used were based on discussions with other renters and homeowners in the area...

Sure, it helps to have new insulation, energy efficient furnace, etc...

But it's still expensive...

[KingV2k3]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

I actually meant OWNING a house vs OWNING a condo. But anyway, yeah, heat is definitely a plus for renting vs owning. I have my heat included too.

My bad...mis-read the question!

[Slymm]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

As someone who is thinking about buying a condo. Be sure to include Condo fees into your equation and budget. You may wind up spending just as much if not more that you would if you bought a house.

[youvalss]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

As someone who is thinking about buying a condo. Be sure to include Condo fees into your equation and budget. You may wind up spending just as much if not more that you would if you bought a house.

Well, I'm actually thinking about buying a house (probably next year), but still wanted to hear some opinions. Thanks for the tip, though.

[Jonesy]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

With the GFC and housing market dropping off in the US there must be some bargains around for you guys at the moment?

[Jdurg]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

Pretty informative thread.

I'm still probably a decade away from being in the position to buy a home, but it's definitely something in the back of my head and I'll keep all this stuff in mind.

Even if you're still a decade away, it doesn't hurt to start saving up now. If you can put a good deal of money aside from each paycheck now, by the time you are ready to buy a house you will have a great deal of money set aside with which to make a downpayment on the house. In addition, it will allow you to purchase a nicer house since you'd have a bigger downpayment and therefore the amount you'd need to get in a mortgage will be far less.

When I bought my house, I had $22,000 set aside so that put me in a spot where I could afford a house up to about $210,000. I ended up buying a 1400 square foot Cape style house for $209,000. (Here in New England, housing costs are quite high. I probably could have gotten a house twice as large for that price in other parts of the country). My realtor was really great, and my mortgage agent was superb as well. I was very happy with everybody I worked with in the process, especially my attorney as they walked me through every single process. On the BOATLOAD of documents that I had when closing out the deal, the attorney highlighted every single thing that I would need to use on my taxes the following year to ensure that I got the biggest refund I could get. They even personally delivered a bottle of champagne to me on the day that I moved in. I thought that was pretty classy.

Now I had $22,000 saved up for the downpayment to ensure I put down 10% to avoid PMI, but if I put down that 20% I'd have no money left to furnish the house. My mortgage agent then went through some options I have (which I'm still fairly confused about how it worked, but it did work) and showed me how I could get by with putting down only $8,000 and avoid PMI due to some fancy loans and the fact that my credit rating was astronomically high. I had a friend of mine who is an accountant take a look at it to see if it was going to end up costing me more in the long run, and he said that it wouldn't. So I took the option and only put down $8,000. This allowed me to fully furnish my house, buy a GREAT 42" HDTV, and basically not have to worry about money for a while. This also helped me pay off a few of my student loans completely and fully pay off my car. (Which about 8 months later I ended up losing after being involved in an auto accident thanks to some faulty medication. )

But I just want to reiterate that it is never to early to start saving up and doing your research.

With regards to heating costs, I live in the cold New England which can have some vicious winters some years. I have an oil-fueled furnace/boiler and with my now dead, inefficient boiler/furnace I was refilling my oil tank completely about 4 times a year at an average cost of about $600 each. So at a total cost of $2400 each year, my heating bill is around $200 each month. With my new, more efficient furnace/boiler, I figure I'll reduce that cost to about 60% of what it was before so I'll now be spending $120 a month on heating.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

When I bought my house, I had $22,000 set aside

Holy smokes, what kind of job you got that you were able to stash that kind of bread ? Good lord I am in the wrong profession and majored in the wrong thing in college or something........gee whiz....

[Jonesy]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

Holy smokes, what kind of job you got that you were able to stash that kind of bread ? Good lord I am in the wrong profession and majored in the wrong thing in college or something........gee whiz....

It's not that much really. Just $100 a week for 4 years really.

The wife and I both saved since we both got our first jobs and were able to save $50k as a deposit when we bought our first property about 7 years ago.

You just need to make it a priority and i like to have one of those accounts that automatically takes money out of my everyday account every pay so i don't even see it go and learn to live without it.

Ruffy Ryder you said you are a decade away from buying a house, if you put aside 100 a week for a decade you would have $50 000 and that's without interest etc as well.

[bkrich83]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

"Pro" for rentals...

One word:

HEAT

Mine is included in the rent, so I save $400-$800 per month versus those who have to pay for it in either an apartment or home...

If it's costing $800 a month for heat, someone either has a ridiculously poorly insulated house and ineffecient furnace, or it's the coldest place on the planet.

My wife's family lives in North Dakata of all places, and trust me there is no colder place than that in the US and they don't pay anything near that, and they actually heat the garage.

For me and my wife, in our tax bracket, I simply can not afford to rent. I need the tax break that owning gives me.

If you have the means, I see no advantage at all for renting over owning. Particularly in the long term.

[bkrich83]

Re: Owning a home vs renting a place

When I bought my house, I had $22,000 set aside so that put me in a spot where I could afford a house up to about $210,000. I ended up buying a 1400 square foot Cape style house for $209,000. (Here in New England, housing costs are quite high. I probably could have gotten a house twice as large for that price in other parts of the country). My realtor was really great, and my mortgage agent was superb as well. I was very happy with .

It could be worse. Our first house was 1400 sq feet and it cost us over $550,000.. And that was years before the housing boom.

It's not that much really. Just $100 a week for 4 years really.

The wife and I both saved since we both got our first jobs and were able to save $50k as a deposit when we bought our first property about 7 years ago.

You just need to make it a priority and i like to have one of those accounts that automatically takes money out of my everyday account every pay so i don't even see it go and learn to live without it.

Ruffy Ryder you said you are a decade away from buying a house, if you put aside 100 a week for a decade you would have $50 000 and that's without interest etc as well.

This is basically what we did. Plus work bonuses etc, we stashed and didn't spend, etc.