2 ms·
If you're paying someone else to live in a house, then you are on the losing side of the power dynamic.
by MisterBastahrd 6y ago
If you're paying someone else to live in a house, then you are on the losing side of the power dynamic.
- aidenn0 6y agoWhile this is broadly true, it's not universally true. I was far better off renting when I moved to this town. I had a down-payment, but my rent was less than the just the interest on my mortgage for a condo would have been and I likely would have had a commute instead of a sub 10 minute walk. Instead I invested my money and was able to buy a house after the housing crash. For the house I purchased, I ultimately paid about half the original asking price. If you are forced to pay someone else to live in a house, then you are on the losing side of the power dynamic. The above anecdote was in the crazy real-estate market of coastal California. If you generalize for the rest of the country though, housing prices track inflation on average, so if you are leveraged 5:1 you can expect to gross 5x inflation on your house before you account for taxes, interest, insurance, and maintenance. You may end up ahead of the market at that rate, but it's not exactly a sure thing. It's not unreasonable to say that the flexibility of being able to move will improve your lifestyle by more than the difference. OTOH, we can say that 100% of the people who own houses have the means to own a house, but obviously much less than 100% of the people who rent have the means to buy a house, so the point is taken.