Comments on: Rent Forever, Don’t Buy A Home

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:42:22 +0000

You know he meant share ‘an’ apartment, no need to be a jerk.

By: Johnny Grivette

Johnny Grivette — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:03:45 +0000

How exactly does one “share and apartment”? That makes no sense at all.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:15:04 +0000

The smartest thing you can do is have patience. If you are, for example, able to live with a relative, share and apartment with a friend, or some other arrangement where you can really save a lot of your income, then buying a house with cash is the smartest thing you can do. If, for example, you buy a 165K home on a 30 year mortgage, 5.5% interest, the total interest will end up costing you $172,267. If you are able to refinance to a lower rate or shorter term, you will be able to reduce that amount, but it is difficult. Why not save and without stressing yourself in the long run buy with either a larger down payment or in full. Americans want everything now and disregard the smart approach. This is my opinion.

By: Franklin

Franklin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:16:31 +0000

Have you ever heard of inflation? What’s 3% interest when we have 20% inflation. Get your money out of dollars or lose it.

By: pcallaghan

pcallaghan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:48:14 +0000

This is pretty good advice… I’m currently closing on my own personal property, a single family – got it for same price as most townhomes in the area. Next step is multi-family or townhome place for an income/rental property. One of the guys I coach hockey with has numerous ones and they were thinking of cashing out of one, they did most of the hard work already and the tenants are there and have been for many years.

By: Dahc

Dahc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:10:30 +0000

Thanks, RCG,
homeowners DO NOT OWN THEIR HOMES THE BANKS DO. IS THIS NOT CLEAR??? Unless you can pay cash outright and buy your home, you are basically a renter at the mercy of banks, even if you do so-called “own”.

By: Dahc

Dahc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:03:22 +0000

Andrew,

You are so correct. Peter Schiff had published a report that renters have more wealth than homeowners. And I know people myself who have been renting for years on top of years and are very well, healthy and happy. Homeownership has always been a myth and scam as we have found out with the housing bubble.

By: Dahc

Dahc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:59:50 +0000

Thanks RCG im clearly in your corner on this. It makes perfect sense. And most of the folks on here thats talking about buying are not factoring in the economy right now, inflation or possibly hyperinflation in the near future. And interestingly enough the owners are the ones losing their homes right now, not the renters.

By: Dahc

Dahc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:46:21 +0000

Thank you A Recent College Graduate, I dont think alot of people are looking at homeownership as a huge debt which it is in fact. Our society makes it seem blissful to own a home when in fact is just a way for the lenders and banks to profit from the home owner and still own their home at the same time. If I get a home, it will be cash, other than this, I will rent.

By: Dahc

Dahc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:40:09 +0000

Thanks Stan, this is the very truth.

By: Dahc

Dahc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:23:14 +0000

Anna

You have said a mouth-full. I had mentioned something similar in an early comment. Even as an owner, you are still renting. We can convince ourselves that we are not, but you are renting from the mortgage lender and banks, we really dont own anything.

By: Dahc

Dahc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:18:49 +0000

Real Estate Bubble Hater,

My fiancee and i was thinking exactly like that. We were deciding if it was a good idea to buy or rent and then use the extra money to invest in something…

By: Dahc

Dahc — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:08:26 +0000

Hi Kaye,

Your sentiment are mine exactly. I and my fiancee are thinking of renting a home instead of buying. We just don’t feel comfortable with the market/economy right now. As we have seen, owning is not such a protection after all. And people are delusional to think that just because you “own” a house that its yours. Truth be told, we don’t “own” anything. Even when paying a mortgage, you are still “renting” the space from your mortgage lender and banks. Your house becomes collateral against debt, and there are no guarantees that you will even hold on to it, not to mention a lot of headaches that come with it. As a matter of fact, Peter Schiff in one of his reports said that renters are wealthier than owners, and i believe that. You just don’t get all the headaches as you do owning, especially now. And we’ve been doing a lot of research and most economist are dead set against buying a home right now, they are suggesting to rent instead of buying, which is reinforcing our idea of renting right now.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:16:00 +0000

Houses do typically depreciate, since they’re getting older and more worn. It’s land that appreciates, since the population keeps growing and concentrating itself into the temperate, fun areas.

By: The Skog

The Skog — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:50:40 +0000

Would not most Americans be better off if real estate prices never returned to the bubble prices?

I’m not relying on any statistics or economics education – just intuition. I recall my parents selling a house in the 1960s and being grateful that they didn’t lose too much compared to their purchase price – kind of like when one sells their car. That always seemed to me to be better for people. A new house would cost more than a resale. A resale house might sell for more if it had been improved in some way. Most houses would depreciate to some extent. That seems like that would keep housing affordable and stop the unrealistic notion that one’s shelter is also one’s retirement plan.

For your house to also be a good investment, you have to either sell it and move to something less expensive to get the money, or take out a loan for some of the equity and pay interest on that loan. I don’t know why anyone thinks that’s good for most Americans.

Because people do believe that, a lot of people have become dependent on real estate as an industry. Of course, it is painful for them now with prices and employment related to real estate down, but wouldn’t we all better off if it stayed that way? Don’t all of these artificial attempts to reinvigorate that part of the economy just invite more of the same bad results? Let’s go back to manufacturing things we can export.