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 insta

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.