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You're certainly setting a floor for your monthly housing costs, but there's all sorts of maintenance costs that crop up, unexpected repairs, and ever-increasin
by dublinben 3y ago
You're certainly setting a floor for your monthly housing costs, but there's all sorts of maintenance costs that crop up, unexpected repairs, and ever-increasing property taxes. I don't know any homeowners who would describe their housing costs as "fixed" and stress-free.
- antisthenes 3y ago> You're certainly setting a floor for your monthly housing costs, but there's all sorts of maintenance costs that crop up, unexpected repairs, and ever-increasing property taxes. As a renter, these costs are essentially passed on to you anyway, so there's functionally no difference.
- indecisive_user 3y agoThe difference is in predictability. When you sign a 12 month lease, you know more or less how much you'll spend towards housing for the next year and it's easy to accurately predict a cost ceiling. When you own a home, you know the minimum you'll spend is the mortgage+taxes but in an unlucky year your AC goes out and you get a hole in the roof that insurance doesn't cover and suddenly you've spent 20k that you didn't plan on.
- antisthenes 3y agoOnly if you have the planning capabilities of a 5-year old. A house doesn't have that many things that can go wrong with it that would be unforseen expenses. AC, water pipe leak, appliance breakdown, roof replacement. None of these cost above $8k, and for bigger things there is home insurance (e.g. tree fell on a house). Many of these things can be mitigated with a cheap fix that will last you those 12 months until you have the funds to do it properly. Also, I see this sentiment a lot from people who have no problem dropping a $15-20k down payment on an car, but somehow spending that money for home maintenance is "scary" and "unpredictable".