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Totally agree that the edge cases are important. But people spend too much on owning equipment for them that would make more sense to rent. Take the dining roo

Totally agree that the edge cases are important. But people spend too much on owning equipment for them that would make more sense to rent. Take the dining room example. A quick search says it costs ~$20,000 to build a dining room, so let's say a house with one costs $10,000 more than a house without. So by foregoing a dining room, one now has an extra 10k that they can spend however they want. But that DOESN'T mean that they can't spend it on throwing parties! I'm pretty sure that even spread over many years, 10k dollars can produce a lot of fun times.

Affric 3y ago
Yeah but I can live with a gross car covered in shit that children drop and I get the convenience of a car whenever I want. I never have to pay some peak season pricing. Owning things means you get to be your own master. That is worth different things to different people. I know couples without kids who only rent cars but that number goes way down for people who have kids.
- makk 3y ago
  > Owning things means you get to be your own master. Tell that to fixed income folks who are priced out of the houses they own due to property tax increases.
  - cableshaft 3y ago
    That's pretty much unique to homes (well, real estate in general), and that's because there's pretty much no way to own the land your house is on, at least in the US (maybe there's some really rural parts where it's possible, not sure). Can't really think of anything else I own that has anything equivalent to a property tax.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      Where I live I do have excise tax on my car but that’s pretty small potatoes—maybe a couple hundred dollars a year. Also registration, inspection.
- lukas099 3y ago
  Cars are daily-use items for most people, so not in the frame of discussion. Unless you only drive your car like once a year or something, in which case yeah you might be better off renting.
nemothekid 3y ago
This math doesn't make sense. You would only have to use your dining room 2-3 times a year to come out ahead; whereas most people likely host in their dining rooms 12 - 48 times per years. Even at once a month, over 10 years, you aren't going to find a rental place for $83. From this post, I'm not sure if you have underpriced dining rooms are exceedingly cheap, or if you are unaware how much a rental place actually costs. My parents have a rather nice dining room that they host every major holiday in and they still spent more than 10k in the last ~2 years alone for family gatherings they did away from home. Edit: Reading through the thread I've come away with the feeling most people are just talking past each other with no frame of reference for how the other lives. There are people it seems coming from cultures centered on weekly/monthly gatherings that are bewildered that someone would consider a dining room superflous.
- lukas099 3y ago
  I just looked up how much it would be to rent at the closest park to my house (and yes alcohol is allowed). It starts at $25/hour and goes up to $50/hour for a grand ballroom holding 120 people.
  - nemothekid 3y ago
    Yeah, I've realized that culture just isn't translating. I think dinner party was the wrong word to use because it has primed the conversation where people are imaging the only use for a dinner room is hosting an evening ball. I know a group, where 8 people + a dungeon master meet weekly/bi-weekly to play DnD. It's a little on the larger side but this would be "dinner" party size. Of course they bring food and drinks as well. It would be a little ridiculous (and expensive) for them to rent a grand ballroom every weekend. Similarly there are plenty of people I know who look forward to college football and hold similarly sized game days with themselves and significant others. Again nothing special, just 6-12 people ultimately watching tv. Food is brought, and drinks are had, but they aren't having a "rager". Renting a park every weekend to watch college football every weekend would be expensive. The fact that you would think to rent a park for these kind of things just leads me to believe we are talking past each other. We are missing significant cultural context on the utilities of these rooms. If you don't watch sports or don't play DnD I can see how the idea of needing a dining room is superfluous. And most people would't throw away their friend groups in order to invest $10k on the S&P. At that point, why even have the money?
cozzyd 3y ago
It might cost that in some cookie cutter subdivision, but in the city it would cost significantly more than that (try finding a 2br condo with a dining room in a big city...). Not to mention furnishing the room and the extra property taxes per year.
wiseowise 3y ago
I haven’t met a single person in life who would’ve said “damn, I wish I had less space”.
- lukas099 3y ago
  Well first of all, it's not "I wish I had less space" but rather "I wish I had the goods and experiences I had to forego in order to obtain and hold onto this extra space". But anyways you're missing the point. For instance my house had a 'dining room' when I bought it, but I made it into something that I use every day (music studio/band practice room). The conventional part of me would have just kept it a dining room, and used it maybe once or twice.
  - wiseowise 3y ago
    Ok, I indeed misunderstood your point then, because I did the same to dining room, lol.
- lmm 3y ago
  I said that at my last place. It was a pain to clean and I wasn't getting any benefit out of the space (admittedly that might have been different had it not been lockdown and I'd been able to invite friends around).
- caskstrength 3y ago
  I don't have the experience of living in US-style McMansion, but I think I would loath to do all the necessary cleaning, repairs, mowing the lawn, etc. I really don't want to spend most of my weekends doing that.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
tzs 3y ago
In most cases I don't think it will be that simple. The cost of a dining room is not necessarily paid in money. You might for instance find two houses that are the same price where one is a bit bigger because it has a dining room but it is also on a smaller lot. If you choose the first house you are paying for the dining room by accepting a smaller lot.
ta1243 3y ago
The $10k extra the dining room costs when you buy it in 2025 is worth $15k when you sell in 2035. You'll have paid $400 a year in interest, but you'll have made that in appreciation alone. $10k would get you about $500 a year long term (5%). $500 a year doesn't go far, and that assumes you don't use the dining room for any other purpose than a couple of parties a year.

Affric 3y ago

Yeah but I can live with a gross car covered in shit that children drop and I get the convenience of a car whenever I want. I never have to pay some peak season pricing. Owning things means you get to be your own master. That is worth different things to different people. I know couples without kids who only rent cars but that number goes way down for people who have kids.

makk 3y ago
> Owning things means you get to be your own master. Tell that to fixed income folks who are priced out of the houses they own due to property tax increases.
- cableshaft 3y ago
  That's pretty much unique to homes (well, real estate in general), and that's because there's pretty much no way to own the land your house is on, at least in the US (maybe there's some really rural parts where it's possible, not sure). Can't really think of anything else I own that has anything equivalent to a property tax.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Where I live I do have excise tax on my car but that’s pretty small potatoes—maybe a couple hundred dollars a year. Also registration, inspection.
lukas099 3y ago
Cars are daily-use items for most people, so not in the frame of discussion. Unless you only drive your car like once a year or something, in which case yeah you might be better off renting.

nemothekid 3y ago

This math doesn't make sense. You would only have to use your dining room 2-3 times a year to come out ahead; whereas most people likely host in their dining rooms 12 - 48 times per years. Even at once a month, over 10 years, you aren't going to find a rental place for $83. From this post, I'm not sure if you have underpriced dining rooms are exceedingly cheap, or if you are unaware how much a rental place actually costs. My parents have a rather nice dining room that they host every major holiday in and they still spent more than 10k in the last ~2 years alone for family gatherings they did away from home. Edit: Reading through the thread I've come away with the feeling most people are just talking past each other with no frame of reference for how the other lives. There are people it seems coming from cultures centered on weekly/monthly gatherings that are bewildered that someone would consider a dining room superflous.

lukas099 3y ago
I just looked up how much it would be to rent at the closest park to my house (and yes alcohol is allowed). It starts at $25/hour and goes up to $50/hour for a grand ballroom holding 120 people.
- nemothekid 3y ago
  Yeah, I've realized that culture just isn't translating. I think dinner party was the wrong word to use because it has primed the conversation where people are imaging the only use for a dinner room is hosting an evening ball. I know a group, where 8 people + a dungeon master meet weekly/bi-weekly to play DnD. It's a little on the larger side but this would be "dinner" party size. Of course they bring food and drinks as well. It would be a little ridiculous (and expensive) for them to rent a grand ballroom every weekend. Similarly there are plenty of people I know who look forward to college football and hold similarly sized game days with themselves and significant others. Again nothing special, just 6-12 people ultimately watching tv. Food is brought, and drinks are had, but they aren't having a "rager". Renting a park every weekend to watch college football every weekend would be expensive. The fact that you would think to rent a park for these kind of things just leads me to believe we are talking past each other. We are missing significant cultural context on the utilities of these rooms. If you don't watch sports or don't play DnD I can see how the idea of needing a dining room is superfluous. And most people would't throw away their friend groups in order to invest $10k on the S&P. At that point, why even have the money?

cozzyd 3y ago

It might cost that in some cookie cutter subdivision, but in the city it would cost significantly more than that (try finding a 2br condo with a dining room in a big city...). Not to mention furnishing the room and the extra property taxes per year.

wiseowise 3y ago

I haven’t met a single person in life who would’ve said “damn, I wish I had less space”.

lukas099 3y ago
Well first of all, it's not "I wish I had less space" but rather "I wish I had the goods and experiences I had to forego in order to obtain and hold onto this extra space". But anyways you're missing the point. For instance my house had a 'dining room' when I bought it, but I made it into something that I use every day (music studio/band practice room). The conventional part of me would have just kept it a dining room, and used it maybe once or twice.
- wiseowise 3y ago
  Ok, I indeed misunderstood your point then, because I did the same to dining room, lol.
lmm 3y ago
I said that at my last place. It was a pain to clean and I wasn't getting any benefit out of the space (admittedly that might have been different had it not been lockdown and I'd been able to invite friends around).
caskstrength 3y ago
I don't have the experience of living in US-style McMansion, but I think I would loath to do all the necessary cleaning, repairs, mowing the lawn, etc. I really don't want to spend most of my weekends doing that.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

tzs 3y ago

In most cases I don't think it will be that simple. The cost of a dining room is not necessarily paid in money. You might for instance find two houses that are the same price where one is a bit bigger because it has a dining room but it is also on a smaller lot. If you choose the first house you are paying for the dining room by accepting a smaller lot.

ta1243 3y ago

The $10k extra the dining room costs when you buy it in 2025 is worth $15k when you sell in 2035. You'll have paid $400 a year in interest, but you'll have made that in appreciation alone. $10k would get you about $500 a year long term (5%). $500 a year doesn't go far, and that assumes you don't use the dining room for any other purpose than a couple of parties a year.