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Ownership beats the hell out of renting. The key is owning something you can afford. The problem is people buy homes automatically thinking they will rise in v

• njarboe 8y ago
  Without 30 year loans and low down-payments, areas where the rent is much lower than the cost of owning a house (like the Bay Area) would have much lower housing prices. Many fewer individuals would be buying and the investment firms would not be pumping up prices on a bad investment.
• nobodyandproud 8y ago
  You see this anywhere. Take NYC's outer boroughs. Same block. Buildings built at the same time. The owner-heavy condos are in far better shape than the ones that are mostly rented. There is a huge social benefit to ownership.
  • crazygringo 8y ago
    I live in Bed-Stuy. I just don't see this pattern at all. You can own your own home and not invest in maintenance too because you don't have the money, while landlords need to attract renters. I don't see any compelling evidence there's a trend toward live-in owners maintaining higher quality.
• closeparen 8y ago
  People who buy as their financial situation improves will naturally experience lower-quality rental housing and higher-quality ownership housing. That demand pattern shapes the housing stock, so ownership units will be nicer than rental units on average. But luxury apartments can be very pleasant, and price-competitive with ownership. In San Francisco these are very popular, servicing the legions of tech workers who have $3000+/mo to rent but not $5000+/mo to own.
  • nradov 8y ago
    Real luxury apartments barely exist in San Francisco, and the few that are available go for significantly more than $3000/mo.
  • jjeaff 8y ago
    $3000/month luxury apartments in San Francisco? Please send links.
• crazygringo 8y ago
  Why does ownership beat renting? I live in an apartment in NYC. It's great quality and easy. I have total financial stability: I know exactly what I'm paying in renting this year. And little time commitment: something breaks, the landlord comes and fixes it. It's predictable and I don't need to think/worry about it. Whereas my house-owning friends in NJ suddenly need to shell out $5K to fix something I never heard of, and another $2K on maintenance of whatever, and it takes all weekend... sounds like a nightmare to me.
  • snowwrestler 8y ago
    Your rent includes your landlord’s costs for financing, for taxes, for repairs. Unless it’s controlled by the government, your rent will go up as those costs go up. When you take out a fixed-rate mortgage, it locks the finance cost, which is by far the largest component, for the duration of the loan. That is better financial stability than renting, and a good inflation hedge. Repairs in a house are not that unpredictable. Every part of a house has a expected lifespan, and part of buying a house is getting an inspection that tells you where along that lifespan everything is. And again: you’re paying for repairs either way.