4 ms·

Five years ago, I thought about buying a home, and everyone around me was saying "You HAVE to buy a home. Don't THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY by renting. Houses NEVER

Five years ago, I thought about buying a home, and everyone around me was saying "You HAVE to buy a home. Don't THROW AWAY YOUR MONEY by renting. Houses NEVER lose value." While it's obvious that this flawed logic existed five years ago before the bubble burst, I'm surprised at how much of it still remains. I'm surprised that consumers are still trying to play numbers games to justify purchasing homes, but perhaps as the OP suggests, the supply of buyers is less than before. If you want to buy a home for lifestyle reasons, great, but make sure that's clear; there are so many people who are stuck in their homes without a job because they thought they were clever at math. When my wife and I were figuring out what to do with our lives, we decided to put my finding a good job above owning a home. Because of this, I was able to accept a job in NYC and move from the suburbs of Atlanta without worrying about selling a home in a horrible real estate market. We'll consider buying a home after I feel more rooted in the tech industry, but for now, we appreciate the flexibility that renting affords.

pstack 15y ago
A very valid point. As others have stated, buying a home should be more about quality of life and living than making a buck and that has to be on your time schedule; not someone else's. The worst thing you can ever do is buy a home when you're not ready for a home -- and you know better than anyone else if you're ready. When you start waking up in the morning and thinking "god damn, I wish I had a home, so I could . . ." then it might be time to start giving it consideration. For me, I had dealt with a home invasion. I'd lived in my apartment for five years and someone walked in while I was asleep and stole everything (the layout of the apartment was such that I wasn't disturbed by the intruder - if you were in the back bedroom, you couldn't even hear someone banging on the front door). I lived alone. Nobody else had keys . . . except the leasing and maintenance offices. Took $30k worth of stuff. So, I started waking up in the mornings feeling a bit unsafe, wishing I had a sweet surveillance/alarm system, and also thinking about how great it would be to have room for my entertainment system (and get to blast it as loud as I wanted). Also, I kind of still want to get a dog and that wouldn't have worked in the apartment. Enough things started to bug me that I just sat up one day and said "let's go look at houses". Until you are home shopping for those reasons (or similar reasons of your own), then you may be doing it for all the wrong reasons. Maybe because friends are all buying homes. Maybe because you feel like you're still a "kid" as long as you keep renting. Who knows? In the mean time, definitely don't buy into the idea that you have to go for it because people around you are talking about it and you feel like you're missing out. You might be the sanest of them all. I didn't buy a home until I was starting into my 30s. I could have done it a decade before and went so far as to check out homes and even get approved for loans. It just never felt quite right, until last year. And I have been happy that I finally did so, when I did. Well-being accounts for a lot, too. Whatever you may be losing "on paper" with renting, you may be compensated for in peace of mind, right now. You can focus on work and savings and family rather than finding a trustworthy and affordable lawn service, worrying if your boiler is going to make it another year, wondering why in the hell that sink is draining slowly, when it isn't clogged up, wondering how much it would cost to turn that spare room into a sex dungeon. . .
- bmccormack 15y ago
  When we first got married, we lived in an apartment and were feeling a little cramped. We were then able to rent a house for a great rate, but at a price that would have likely exceed a month's mortgage on a 30 year loan. The benefit for us was the flexibility to be able to move to New York when a job offer came along. Now that we're in NYC, our apartment is, um, "cozier" than our previous two dwellings and we have a baby! The flexibility at this point in our lives is really important.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]

pstack 15y ago

A very valid point. As others have stated, buying a home should be more about quality of life and living than making a buck and that has to be on your time schedule; not someone else's. The worst thing you can ever do is buy a home when you're not ready for a home -- and you know better than anyone else if you're ready. When you start waking up in the morning and thinking "god damn, I wish I had a home, so I could . . ." then it might be time to start giving it consideration. For me, I had dealt with a home invasion. I'd lived in my apartment for five years and someone walked in while I was asleep and stole everything (the layout of the apartment was such that I wasn't disturbed by the intruder - if you were in the back bedroom, you couldn't even hear someone banging on the front door). I lived alone. Nobody else had keys . . . except the leasing and maintenance offices. Took $30k worth of stuff. So, I started waking up in the mornings feeling a bit unsafe, wishing I had a sweet surveillance/alarm system, and also thinking about how great it would be to have room for my entertainment system (and get to blast it as loud as I wanted). Also, I kind of still want to get a dog and that wouldn't have worked in the apartment. Enough things started to bug me that I just sat up one day and said "let's go look at houses". Until you are home shopping for those reasons (or similar reasons of your own), then you may be doing it for all the wrong reasons. Maybe because friends are all buying homes. Maybe because you feel like you're still a "kid" as long as you keep renting. Who knows? In the mean time, definitely don't buy into the idea that you have to go for it because people around you are talking about it and you feel like you're missing out. You might be the sanest of them all. I didn't buy a home until I was starting into my 30s. I could have done it a decade before and went so far as to check out homes and even get approved for loans. It just never felt quite right, until last year. And I have been happy that I finally did so, when I did. Well-being accounts for a lot, too. Whatever you may be losing "on paper" with renting, you may be compensated for in peace of mind, right now. You can focus on work and savings and family rather than finding a trustworthy and affordable lawn service, worrying if your boiler is going to make it another year, wondering why in the hell that sink is draining slowly, when it isn't clogged up, wondering how much it would cost to turn that spare room into a sex dungeon. . .

bmccormack 15y ago
When we first got married, we lived in an apartment and were feeling a little cramped. We were then able to rent a house for a great rate, but at a price that would have likely exceed a month's mortgage on a 30 year loan. The benefit for us was the flexibility to be able to move to New York when a job offer came along. Now that we're in NYC, our apartment is, um, "cozier" than our previous two dwellings and we have a baby! The flexibility at this point in our lives is really important.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]