3 ms·

Your monthly "rent" isn't fixed though. Most people have both HOA and propter taxes, both which increase year over year. Not only do these rates increase over t

Your monthly "rent" isn't fixed though. Most people have both HOA and propter taxes, both which increase year over year. Not only do these rates increase over time, but as the value of your home (which you often don't own in any significant way) rises, so too does the assessed value. Do they increase as dramatically as rent? No, but they do still increase. Then you've got the 10% or so of "homeowners" with variable rate mortgages. Even if you own a home in a major city you can easily end up paying $1,500/mo in "rents". Buying a home makes sense for a lot of reasons, but general finances usually aren't among them for most people today. What it DOES do is force people to save who might not save otherwise because they lack the discipline to do so.

dragonwriter 11y ago
> Most people have both HOA and propter taxes, Most people may have property taxes, but while most new-built homes are saddled with HOAs, I don't think most homes are. > both which increase year over year. Not only do these rates increase over time, but as the value of your home (which you often don't own in any significant way) rises, so too does the assessed value. Property tax rates often don't increase year over year (in a number of jurisdictions, including California, the rates are capped, and usually at exactly the cap, so the rates do not rise at all.) Assessed value does increase with value increases (though may jurisdictions, including California, limit this as well -- e.g., in California, this is limited to 2% per year, regardless of how much the actual value increases -- making property taxes far more predictable in worst-case behavior than rents.) > Then you've got the 10% or so of "homeowners" with variable rate mortgages. These are easily avoidable.
matwood 11y ago
>Your monthly "rent" isn't fixed though. Most people have both HOA and propter taxes, both which increase year over year. My taxes and HOA increases are minuscule compared to when I was renting. For the most part I have a fixed payment for a place to live going forward.
CamperBob2 11y ago
When I was shopping for a house, I made it very clear to the realtor that an HOA -- any HOA -- was a dealbreaker. I expected him to be surprised, but he nodded and said he'd been hearing that a lot lately.
Grishnakh 11y ago
Oh please. It's easy to avoid variable-rate mortgages. That's like complaining about how buying a new car will force you to have an ignition-kill device installed so the lender can shut down your car remotely and repossess it. Only people with really horrible credit buy cars from places like that. Variable-rate mortgages are a really bad idea, and only a fool would sign up for one. They only exist because some people are fools. As for HOAs, those only exist in some places, especially in southern states. Depending on what city you're in, they're easy to avoid. Besides, some of them are pretty cheap, and since as a member of the HOA you have voting rights (and can run for the board) you have some power over those rates, a lot more than you have over your local government. As for property taxes, those are capped or limited in a lot of places, such as California. So, for those last two points, as with many things, it varies dramatically based on location; you can't make blanket statements that hold true nationwide.

dragonwriter 11y ago

> Most people have both HOA and propter taxes, Most people may have property taxes, but while most new-built homes are saddled with HOAs, I don't think most homes are. > both which increase year over year. Not only do these rates increase over time, but as the value of your home (which you often don't own in any significant way) rises, so too does the assessed value. Property tax rates often don't increase year over year (in a number of jurisdictions, including California, the rates are capped, and usually at exactly the cap, so the rates do not rise at all.) Assessed value does increase with value increases (though may jurisdictions, including California, limit this as well -- e.g., in California, this is limited to 2% per year, regardless of how much the actual value increases -- making property taxes far more predictable in worst-case behavior than rents.) > Then you've got the 10% or so of "homeowners" with variable rate mortgages. These are easily avoidable.

matwood 11y ago

>Your monthly "rent" isn't fixed though. Most people have both HOA and propter taxes, both which increase year over year. My taxes and HOA increases are minuscule compared to when I was renting. For the most part I have a fixed payment for a place to live going forward.

CamperBob2 11y ago

When I was shopping for a house, I made it very clear to the realtor that an HOA -- any HOA -- was a dealbreaker. I expected him to be surprised, but he nodded and said he'd been hearing that a lot lately.

Grishnakh 11y ago

Oh please. It's easy to avoid variable-rate mortgages. That's like complaining about how buying a new car will force you to have an ignition-kill device installed so the lender can shut down your car remotely and repossess it. Only people with really horrible credit buy cars from places like that. Variable-rate mortgages are a really bad idea, and only a fool would sign up for one. They only exist because some people are fools. As for HOAs, those only exist in some places, especially in southern states. Depending on what city you're in, they're easy to avoid. Besides, some of them are pretty cheap, and since as a member of the HOA you have voting rights (and can run for the board) you have some power over those rates, a lot more than you have over your local government. As for property taxes, those are capped or limited in a lot of places, such as California. So, for those last two points, as with many things, it varies dramatically based on location; you can't make blanket statements that hold true nationwide.