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I don't quite understand the obsession with homeownership. If a large enough percentage of people rented from property management companies, there would be mor

I don't quite understand the obsession with homeownership. If a large enough percentage of people rented from property management companies, there would be more impetus to have strong tenant's rights laws to protect residents, and people would have more flexibility to move around. Moreover everyone would have an interest in increasing supply to keep their own rent down, pushing prices down toward cost-of-materials and upkeep. As it is people willingly submit to homeowners associations that are in many ways worse than the laziest landlord. I don't see what gets worse by just becoming a nation of renters.

Notanothertoo 5y ago
Not equity building, lack of control, and sometimes the "incentives" are off. For example a landlord wants the cheapest possible appliances. A renter wants features, quality and efficiency.. Also having no agency in the layout or functionality of the home is going to lead us all into misery. I don't understand how people think this is remotely OK.
rootsudo 5y ago
Then you don't have an asset. You paid for the option of living there for the duration of your leas, but you have no control on the property, or your future.
- mylons 5y ago
  a house isn’t a particularly good investment. it’s just the one everyone, in america, makes because they’re financially illiterate. anyone can buy ETFs now with zero commission and zero gate keeping.
  - setr 5y ago
    It’s money you have to spend (shelter is non-optional), and mortgage is definitely a better investment than renting (you’ll get at least some of it back on selling, unless it dips very far) whereas rent is guaranteed to be burnt. And the difference between rent and mortgage as a monthly payment isn’t that far for same-lifestyle, assuming you can put up the standard up-front capital requirements. As far as I can tell, it’s quite reasonable.
    - chii 5y ago
      interest payments from the mortgage can be directly compared with rent, but not the principle repayment portion of the mortgage. > assuming you can put up the standard up-front capital requirements. which is also a cost - just more difficult to imagine as a cost. This cost is called the cost of capital, and is non-zero. If you take the minimum return, which is the risk-free rate from buying treasuries, this can be considered your cost of capital for this upfront deposit. More, if you consider this capital could be invested in the markets for some risk. It isn't always clear cut which wins out, mortgage or renting. For the past few decades, mortgages have been winning out due to declining interest rates, but that might not last.
      - drdec 5y ago
        > interest payments from the mortgage can be directly compared with rent, but not the principle repayment portion of the mortgage. You keep saying this but my mortgage payment for the past six years has been 0. And when I had a mortgage the payment always was comparable with the rent I was paying on a 2 bedroom apartment before buying the house. That apartment would never accommodate my family of four. If renting works for you that's great, keep renting. But don't pretend it's because it is somehow cheaper than owning - it's not.
    - klipt 5y ago
      > And the difference between rent and mortgage as a monthly payment isn’t that far for same-lifestyle That doesn't seem to be true in the Bay Area which has a very high buy/rent ratio because everyone expects housing here to be a great investment. The property tax alone on a townhouse can be higher than the rent on a similar apartment. And property tax, mortgage interest, HOA fees/utilities like garbage and water, are pure expenses like rent, not investments.
      - sgtnoodle 5y ago
        Anecdotally, I live in the bay area and bought a house 4 years ago in a very desirable location, and my mortgage + property tax is cheaper than the equivalent rent would be.
  - _3u10 5y ago
    It may or may not be but rent is an even worse investment.
  - robbedpeter 5y ago
    Life is not all about money or investment. Sometimes it's about stability - owning a home lets you plan for the future in ways that nothing else allows for. It puts you out of reach of all sorts of predatory folks and companies.
    - rootsudo 5y ago
      That, itself is an investment. Stability is an investment. Forecasting is speculation and risk, and stability is to mitigate risk and that is an investment opportunity (or not.)
  - sgtnoodle 5y ago
    Believing people are stupid for owning their homes is a rather interesting opinion, especially with the implication that putting the same money in the stock market instead is smarter. It certainly seems higher risk and potentially more lucrative as a result, but you can't live in an ETF. As someone with both a mortgage and ETFs, I've been pleased with the return on both over the years.
    - mylons 5y ago
      illiterate in finance is ignorance, not stupidity.
  - darkerside 5y ago
    This discounts the power of investing on margin because loans are easily available to people. And it makes sense, because people are more likely to pay back a loan on their home then on a stock. Or, maybe you're right and everyone but you is dumb.
  - jjav 5y ago
    > anyone can buy ETFs now If you're ok with living in a homeless encampment and putting the money into ETFs, sure. Otherwise, you still need to rent so might as well buy.
King-Aaron 5y ago
Unlike paying renting, paying a mortgage is nice because you're paying for something that is eventually going to be yours.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- chii 5y ago
  rent is often lower, or the same, as the interest payments. The mortgage consists of both interest and principle payments, which is higher, but the principle payments can be considered equity, so it cannot be compared with rent.
  - _3u10 5y ago
    Rent is easily comparable to a mortgage, my old rent is $3750, my new “rent” including property taxes is $3040.
    - listenallyall 5y ago
      > I’m $750 a month up on rent and I’m $123,000 up on equity since May. That’s $123,000 in completely tax free income if I sell. All of HN is really happy for you. You're the man! So smart, and handsome too!
    - jjav 5y ago
      Also, keep in mind rents only ever go up (barring a major economy crash) and mortgages only ever go down or stay same. Long time ago when I was renting, my rent (Silicon Valley) was $1200. I bought a very similarly-sized house and my monthly costs went up to ~$3000. So it hurt for a little while. In just a couple years I had refinanced down to a sub-$2000 mortgage and the rent on my previous place was up to $1500. Getting close to even already. Couple decades later, rent over there is up around $5000 and my mortgage has been refinanced down to $800. By the time I'm retired my mortgage will be $0 and rents might be $8000 or more, let's see what future inflations brings. My advice to anyone early in their career, just buy a home as soon as you can. It'll hurt initially for a few years but you'll set yourself up for a lifetime of being better off than renting.
GoOnThenDoTell 5y ago
Sometimes you want to modify the property, renting precludes that
- willis936 5y ago
  I'm not even 30 and have a strong desire for RO water and an EV. Nope, that is for a higher echelon of society.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    If you’re already paying for the electricity and are willing to pay your landlord to have an electrician to install a 14-50R outlet in the parking area, I’d imagine most landlords would take that deal. That’s a cost that you’d pay even as a homeowner. Plenty of people own EVs without owning a house. I own a house, but still almost always charged at work before COVID. As in “I’d plug in at home maybe 2x per year in total, because we mostly use street parking.” Likewise, there are portable/countertop RO systems that can usually be installed with no permanent mods to the building. Given a strong desire for those two things, they seem achievable.
    - willis936 5y ago
      It is absurd to pay to increase the value of a property I don't own and will not live in after a few years. Should I just spend this money every time I move? My work doesn't have EV chargers and I'd need 20 hours of slow charging a day to make up for my commute. Relying on superchargers is reasonable though. I had not heard of portable RO systems before. I'm definitely hopping on that. Cheers.
      - sokoloff 5y ago
        If I added a 14-50R to my house, its value would increase by maybe $100 versus the same house without that outlet. (It could very likely be exactly $0.) Have you approached them with an offer to increase the rent you pay by $25/month if the landlord is willing to fit an outlet that you can plug a charger into? Or by $40/mo if they’re willing to put a 40A capable fast charger in so you don’t have to buy anything but can just use the service you want? Just as you don’t want to spend money for something that you care about using for a couple years but someone else might also later get benefit from, the landlord doesn’t want to spend that same amount of money for something that they don’t even care about at all.
mesh 5y ago
It seems pretty simple, I can spend money to rent a place, and after 30 years (rent), have nothing to show for the money I put in, or I can buy a house (mortgage), spend money for 30 years, and then have an asset I own. Not to mention the freedom to do whatever you want to your home / house without having to ask for permission, or being in a position of putting money into an asset that you don't own.
- paulcole 5y ago
  I think people who parrot this line try to ignore the total cost of their mortgage being quite different from the purchase price of their home, property taxes, repairs, etc. As a lifelong renter, I’ve done quite well by keeping my rent low (my preference is studio/1-bedrooms in relatively dense urban areas) and putting extra money into the market. 30 years from when I started renting, I’ll have quite a lot to show for it! Housing is an expense to me, not an investment.
  - vlunkr 5y ago
    Well studio/1-bedroom isn't really an option for families, and rates go up quickly after that point.
  - A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
    It can be both, but in US real estate historically was seen as a good way to park money. I will venture to say that you are an outlier. I remember renting with my SO. The jumps in rent were getting onerous to the point, when it became cheaper for us to actually buy a place. But again, each situation varies. Before living with my now wife just like you I lived in a small apartment, because that was all I really needed at the time ( and it was very budget friendly ).
    - throwawayboise 5y ago
      Yes, as long as you start with a modest home that you can actually afford, it can work. The mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, on my first home (a small 2-br bungalow) was hundreds of dollars less (monthly) than the 1-br shithole apartment I was renting (shithole because I was trying to save for a down payment). At that point, as long as home values do what they normally do, you can upsize every 5 years or so if needed until you are in a home that really fits, rolling the equity gain in the former house into a larger down payment on the newer house. Mistakes people make: starting with too big a house where they are in trouble immediately if they miss a paycheck. Refinancing and taking equity out to spend on other "things" that depreciate or are consumables like boats, new cars, extravagant vacations, expensive furniture, etc.
themihai 5y ago
Some people don't like subscriptions...still prefer the old good way of owning things.
- _3u10 5y ago
  The classic HaaS model. Great lifestyle business. Easy to get debt financing at rock bottom low interest rates from VCs. It’s completely no code, just post your place on Craigslist.
tuckerpo 5y ago
There's something to be said for privacy, and owning your own slice of the universe to do (mostly) whatever you want with. Not to mention a nice asset and something to pass along to family.
blip54321 5y ago
1) Renters are a captive audience. If you have kids in a school, I can raise rents until I hit your utility cost of moving, which can be high. 2) Home owners are more likely to maintain homes well (and efficiently). 3) We have a nesting instinct. I'm more likely to customize my own home. One I rent is a throw-away.
- wyre 5y ago
  > If you have kids in a school, I can raise rents This is evil predatory landlord behavior. Plz don’t do this.
- Brian-Puccio 5y ago
  > Home owners are more likely to maintain homes well (and efficiently). That property owners aren’t willing to maintain property well if they don’t live there is not an indictment of the renters, but of the property owners. The renters pay the property owners to do this very job.
_3u10 5y ago
It makes financing anything else a breeze. It makes you more money than you earn. Imagine if when you paid rent you got a cheque for twice what you paid in rent. I’m $12,000 in “rent” on my current place and it’s returned $123K, I moved in in May didn’t start paying rent til July. When you’re done with it you can rent it and have someone else buy it for you. The market might return slightly higher but with leverage (mortgages) the returns are unbeatable. In Canada selling your primary residence is exempt from cap gains. When you combine all of these factors with modern zoning and rent control laws you basically can’t lose money. If you buy presale by the time the unit is built it rents for more than the mortgage.
wayoutthere 5y ago
Because I can buy a house today and lock in my housing for the next 30 years at today’s price.. Besides, when you live in a place, you don’t want it falling to shit. A landlord is never going to care about your quality of life the way you do.
peter303 5y ago
I live in Denver. My monthly housing costs of a fully owned home is $600 a month. The house next to me, very similar, is renting for $2400 a month. Do the math.
latchkey 5y ago
I have rented my entire life. I just bought my first 'home' which is a condo (with a reasonable HOA). I bought it with savings and no debt. I feel lucky. I can't tell you how nice it is to not have to worry about rent. How nice it is to feel like if I want to change something about my home, I can and I'm not just improving someone else's capex. How nice it feels to know that I can travel and leave the place empty for a year without worrying about subletting it. You seem jaded.
jurassic 5y ago
Money aside, there's a big difference in lifestyle (some might say quality of life) of homeowners vs renters. There's a lot you can do in a property you own yourself that you simply cannot do in a rental. It's hard to put a price on being able to customize things exactly to your liking. For example I recently had 20 year old thermostat replaced with a Nest thermostat that gives me a lot more flexibility and efficiency in how I heat my home; I never would have made that type of change in a rental. I can paint whatever I want without permission from the landlord. Ditto for having pets. And greater housing security in old age is very appealing. That people will need a place to live even after they stop working is something even the financially illiterate can understand and plan for with home ownership. For my parents who are retired on a fixed income, having a paid off home is the difference between a comfortable enough retirement lifestyle and being stressed a landlord is going to claim an even greater share of their meager income with every passing year. As owners they still have exposure to property tax increases, but that's modest compared to escalating market rents.
- monocasa 5y ago
  Did you know that landlords in a few states don't need to give you notice to show up and enter your home?
- jjav 5y ago
  > And greater housing security in old age is very appealing This can't be overstated. It's one thing to keep up with ever-rising rents as a young professional, but do you want to compete in that market as an older retired person on a fixed income? Or have a paid-off house?
nly 5y ago
The argument for home ownership in a nutshell: if you're spending 40% of your take home pay now on rent, and your pension will pay a fraction of what you earn now, say 40% again, how the fuck will you ever be able to retire? Home ownership is a sensible part of retirement planning
anarticle 5y ago
The quality on homeownership can be several orders of magnitude higher than renting. Every time I have owned the appliances are much better, hardware is better, etc. If you are buying from previous homeowners they often have better maintained properties since someone had to live there longer than a year. Also moving sucks, when your landlord wants to sell you have zero say and a timeline. Homeownership gives you way more control over your life. Control comes with responsibilities, sure.

Notanothertoo 5y ago

Not equity building, lack of control, and sometimes the "incentives" are off. For example a landlord wants the cheapest possible appliances. A renter wants features, quality and efficiency.. Also having no agency in the layout or functionality of the home is going to lead us all into misery. I don't understand how people think this is remotely OK.

rootsudo 5y ago

Then you don't have an asset. You paid for the option of living there for the duration of your leas, but you have no control on the property, or your future.

mylons 5y ago
a house isn’t a particularly good investment. it’s just the one everyone, in america, makes because they’re financially illiterate. anyone can buy ETFs now with zero commission and zero gate keeping.
- setr 5y ago
  It’s money you have to spend (shelter is non-optional), and mortgage is definitely a better investment than renting (you’ll get at least some of it back on selling, unless it dips very far) whereas rent is guaranteed to be burnt. And the difference between rent and mortgage as a monthly payment isn’t that far for same-lifestyle, assuming you can put up the standard up-front capital requirements. As far as I can tell, it’s quite reasonable.
  - chii 5y ago
    interest payments from the mortgage can be directly compared with rent, but not the principle repayment portion of the mortgage. > assuming you can put up the standard up-front capital requirements. which is also a cost - just more difficult to imagine as a cost. This cost is called the cost of capital, and is non-zero. If you take the minimum return, which is the risk-free rate from buying treasuries, this can be considered your cost of capital for this upfront deposit. More, if you consider this capital could be invested in the markets for some risk. It isn't always clear cut which wins out, mortgage or renting. For the past few decades, mortgages have been winning out due to declining interest rates, but that might not last.
    - drdec 5y ago
      > interest payments from the mortgage can be directly compared with rent, but not the principle repayment portion of the mortgage. You keep saying this but my mortgage payment for the past six years has been 0. And when I had a mortgage the payment always was comparable with the rent I was paying on a 2 bedroom apartment before buying the house. That apartment would never accommodate my family of four. If renting works for you that's great, keep renting. But don't pretend it's because it is somehow cheaper than owning - it's not.
  - klipt 5y ago
    > And the difference between rent and mortgage as a monthly payment isn’t that far for same-lifestyle That doesn't seem to be true in the Bay Area which has a very high buy/rent ratio because everyone expects housing here to be a great investment. The property tax alone on a townhouse can be higher than the rent on a similar apartment. And property tax, mortgage interest, HOA fees/utilities like garbage and water, are pure expenses like rent, not investments.
    - sgtnoodle 5y ago
      Anecdotally, I live in the bay area and bought a house 4 years ago in a very desirable location, and my mortgage + property tax is cheaper than the equivalent rent would be.
- _3u10 5y ago
  It may or may not be but rent is an even worse investment.
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  Life is not all about money or investment. Sometimes it's about stability - owning a home lets you plan for the future in ways that nothing else allows for. It puts you out of reach of all sorts of predatory folks and companies.
  - rootsudo 5y ago
    That, itself is an investment. Stability is an investment. Forecasting is speculation and risk, and stability is to mitigate risk and that is an investment opportunity (or not.)
- sgtnoodle 5y ago
  Believing people are stupid for owning their homes is a rather interesting opinion, especially with the implication that putting the same money in the stock market instead is smarter. It certainly seems higher risk and potentially more lucrative as a result, but you can't live in an ETF. As someone with both a mortgage and ETFs, I've been pleased with the return on both over the years.
  - mylons 5y ago
    illiterate in finance is ignorance, not stupidity.
- darkerside 5y ago
  This discounts the power of investing on margin because loans are easily available to people. And it makes sense, because people are more likely to pay back a loan on their home then on a stock. Or, maybe you're right and everyone but you is dumb.
- jjav 5y ago
  > anyone can buy ETFs now If you're ok with living in a homeless encampment and putting the money into ETFs, sure. Otherwise, you still need to rent so might as well buy.

King-Aaron 5y ago

Unlike paying renting, paying a mortgage is nice because you're paying for something that is eventually going to be yours.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
chii 5y ago
rent is often lower, or the same, as the interest payments. The mortgage consists of both interest and principle payments, which is higher, but the principle payments can be considered equity, so it cannot be compared with rent.
- _3u10 5y ago
  Rent is easily comparable to a mortgage, my old rent is $3750, my new “rent” including property taxes is $3040.
  - listenallyall 5y ago
    > I’m $750 a month up on rent and I’m $123,000 up on equity since May. That’s $123,000 in completely tax free income if I sell. All of HN is really happy for you. You're the man! So smart, and handsome too!
  - jjav 5y ago
    Also, keep in mind rents only ever go up (barring a major economy crash) and mortgages only ever go down or stay same. Long time ago when I was renting, my rent (Silicon Valley) was $1200. I bought a very similarly-sized house and my monthly costs went up to ~$3000. So it hurt for a little while. In just a couple years I had refinanced down to a sub-$2000 mortgage and the rent on my previous place was up to $1500. Getting close to even already. Couple decades later, rent over there is up around $5000 and my mortgage has been refinanced down to $800. By the time I'm retired my mortgage will be $0 and rents might be $8000 or more, let's see what future inflations brings. My advice to anyone early in their career, just buy a home as soon as you can. It'll hurt initially for a few years but you'll set yourself up for a lifetime of being better off than renting.

GoOnThenDoTell 5y ago

Sometimes you want to modify the property, renting precludes that

willis936 5y ago
I'm not even 30 and have a strong desire for RO water and an EV. Nope, that is for a higher echelon of society.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  If you’re already paying for the electricity and are willing to pay your landlord to have an electrician to install a 14-50R outlet in the parking area, I’d imagine most landlords would take that deal. That’s a cost that you’d pay even as a homeowner. Plenty of people own EVs without owning a house. I own a house, but still almost always charged at work before COVID. As in “I’d plug in at home maybe 2x per year in total, because we mostly use street parking.” Likewise, there are portable/countertop RO systems that can usually be installed with no permanent mods to the building. Given a strong desire for those two things, they seem achievable.
  - willis936 5y ago
    It is absurd to pay to increase the value of a property I don't own and will not live in after a few years. Should I just spend this money every time I move? My work doesn't have EV chargers and I'd need 20 hours of slow charging a day to make up for my commute. Relying on superchargers is reasonable though. I had not heard of portable RO systems before. I'm definitely hopping on that. Cheers.
    - sokoloff 5y ago
      If I added a 14-50R to my house, its value would increase by maybe $100 versus the same house without that outlet. (It could very likely be exactly $0.) Have you approached them with an offer to increase the rent you pay by $25/month if the landlord is willing to fit an outlet that you can plug a charger into? Or by $40/mo if they’re willing to put a 40A capable fast charger in so you don’t have to buy anything but can just use the service you want? Just as you don’t want to spend money for something that you care about using for a couple years but someone else might also later get benefit from, the landlord doesn’t want to spend that same amount of money for something that they don’t even care about at all.

mesh 5y ago

It seems pretty simple, I can spend money to rent a place, and after 30 years (rent), have nothing to show for the money I put in, or I can buy a house (mortgage), spend money for 30 years, and then have an asset I own. Not to mention the freedom to do whatever you want to your home / house without having to ask for permission, or being in a position of putting money into an asset that you don't own.

paulcole 5y ago
I think people who parrot this line try to ignore the total cost of their mortgage being quite different from the purchase price of their home, property taxes, repairs, etc. As a lifelong renter, I’ve done quite well by keeping my rent low (my preference is studio/1-bedrooms in relatively dense urban areas) and putting extra money into the market. 30 years from when I started renting, I’ll have quite a lot to show for it! Housing is an expense to me, not an investment.
- vlunkr 5y ago
  Well studio/1-bedroom isn't really an option for families, and rates go up quickly after that point.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
  It can be both, but in US real estate historically was seen as a good way to park money. I will venture to say that you are an outlier. I remember renting with my SO. The jumps in rent were getting onerous to the point, when it became cheaper for us to actually buy a place. But again, each situation varies. Before living with my now wife just like you I lived in a small apartment, because that was all I really needed at the time ( and it was very budget friendly ).
  - throwawayboise 5y ago
    Yes, as long as you start with a modest home that you can actually afford, it can work. The mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, on my first home (a small 2-br bungalow) was hundreds of dollars less (monthly) than the 1-br shithole apartment I was renting (shithole because I was trying to save for a down payment). At that point, as long as home values do what they normally do, you can upsize every 5 years or so if needed until you are in a home that really fits, rolling the equity gain in the former house into a larger down payment on the newer house. Mistakes people make: starting with too big a house where they are in trouble immediately if they miss a paycheck. Refinancing and taking equity out to spend on other "things" that depreciate or are consumables like boats, new cars, extravagant vacations, expensive furniture, etc.

themihai 5y ago

Some people don't like subscriptions...still prefer the old good way of owning things.

_3u10 5y ago
The classic HaaS model. Great lifestyle business. Easy to get debt financing at rock bottom low interest rates from VCs. It’s completely no code, just post your place on Craigslist.

tuckerpo 5y ago

There's something to be said for privacy, and owning your own slice of the universe to do (mostly) whatever you want with. Not to mention a nice asset and something to pass along to family.

blip54321 5y ago

1) Renters are a captive audience. If you have kids in a school, I can raise rents until I hit your utility cost of moving, which can be high. 2) Home owners are more likely to maintain homes well (and efficiently). 3) We have a nesting instinct. I'm more likely to customize my own home. One I rent is a throw-away.

wyre 5y ago
> If you have kids in a school, I can raise rents This is evil predatory landlord behavior. Plz don’t do this.
Brian-Puccio 5y ago
> Home owners are more likely to maintain homes well (and efficiently). That property owners aren’t willing to maintain property well if they don’t live there is not an indictment of the renters, but of the property owners. The renters pay the property owners to do this very job.

_3u10 5y ago

It makes financing anything else a breeze. It makes you more money than you earn. Imagine if when you paid rent you got a cheque for twice what you paid in rent. I’m $12,000 in “rent” on my current place and it’s returned $123K, I moved in in May didn’t start paying rent til July. When you’re done with it you can rent it and have someone else buy it for you. The market might return slightly higher but with leverage (mortgages) the returns are unbeatable. In Canada selling your primary residence is exempt from cap gains. When you combine all of these factors with modern zoning and rent control laws you basically can’t lose money. If you buy presale by the time the unit is built it rents for more than the mortgage.

wayoutthere 5y ago

Because I can buy a house today and lock in my housing for the next 30 years at today’s price.. Besides, when you live in a place, you don’t want it falling to shit. A landlord is never going to care about your quality of life the way you do.

peter303 5y ago

I live in Denver. My monthly housing costs of a fully owned home is $600 a month. The house next to me, very similar, is renting for $2400 a month. Do the math.

latchkey 5y ago

I have rented my entire life. I just bought my first 'home' which is a condo (with a reasonable HOA). I bought it with savings and no debt. I feel lucky. I can't tell you how nice it is to not have to worry about rent. How nice it is to feel like if I want to change something about my home, I can and I'm not just improving someone else's capex. How nice it feels to know that I can travel and leave the place empty for a year without worrying about subletting it. You seem jaded.

jurassic 5y ago

Money aside, there's a big difference in lifestyle (some might say quality of life) of homeowners vs renters. There's a lot you can do in a property you own yourself that you simply cannot do in a rental. It's hard to put a price on being able to customize things exactly to your liking. For example I recently had 20 year old thermostat replaced with a Nest thermostat that gives me a lot more flexibility and efficiency in how I heat my home; I never would have made that type of change in a rental. I can paint whatever I want without permission from the landlord. Ditto for having pets. And greater housing security in old age is very appealing. That people will need a place to live even after they stop working is something even the financially illiterate can understand and plan for with home ownership. For my parents who are retired on a fixed income, having a paid off home is the difference between a comfortable enough retirement lifestyle and being stressed a landlord is going to claim an even greater share of their meager income with every passing year. As owners they still have exposure to property tax increases, but that's modest compared to escalating market rents.

monocasa 5y ago
Did you know that landlords in a few states don't need to give you notice to show up and enter your home?
jjav 5y ago
> And greater housing security in old age is very appealing This can't be overstated. It's one thing to keep up with ever-rising rents as a young professional, but do you want to compete in that market as an older retired person on a fixed income? Or have a paid-off house?

nly 5y ago

The argument for home ownership in a nutshell: if you're spending 40% of your take home pay now on rent, and your pension will pay a fraction of what you earn now, say 40% again, how the fuck will you ever be able to retire? Home ownership is a sensible part of retirement planning

anarticle 5y ago

The quality on homeownership can be several orders of magnitude higher than renting. Every time I have owned the appliances are much better, hardware is better, etc. If you are buying from previous homeowners they often have better maintained properties since someone had to live there longer than a year. Also moving sucks, when your landlord wants to sell you have zero say and a timeline. Homeownership gives you way more control over your life. Control comes with responsibilities, sure.