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To be more specific, I dont think owning a sfh to rent out should be good. But building an apartment complex should be a good investment. Unrestrict building, a

To be more specific, I dont think owning a sfh to rent out should be good. But building an apartment complex should be a good investment. Unrestrict building, and tax underutilized land.

jimberlage 2mo ago
I think the problem with getting this done in the US is the lack of public transit and the dysfunction in public schools. If you could avoid a $700 car payment and still get to school/job/grocery store on time, a lot of Americans would. But if you can't, and you are paying $700 anyways, why not at least use the fact that you're paying $700/month to travel anywhere and get a bigger parcel of land all to yourself? There's a big incentive to have single-family homes for rent as long as that math is true. And if you can live in a dense area and get around OK, but paying $700/month saves you from $800/month in private school payments, then the math might still make renting SFH better even if the transit is there.
- cpburns2009 2mo ago
  No body is forced to have a $700 car payment. That's a luxury financing $30k+ on a brand new or nearly new car.
  - curious_curios 2mo ago
    Though with gas, maintenance, insurance on top of the car payment, that $700 is probably the floor of car ownership.
    - cpburns2009 2mo ago
      Those will vary vastly depending on where you live. Gas and insurance are high where I live, and even though the environment is harsh on cars (winters with salt), maintenance has never been much.
  - jimberlage 2mo ago
    True (I certainly don't!) but I chose it because I had to do some research a while back and that was close to the average for Americans. [1]: https://qz.com/average-car-payment-by-state#average-car-payment-by-state https://qz.com/average-car-payment-by-state#average-car-paym... [2]: https://www.lendingtree.com/auto/debt-statistics/ https://www.lendingtree.com/auto/debt-statistics/
    - cpburns2009 2mo ago
      That's actually shocking. I've been in tech for 15+ years and have a good income. I've only recently purchased a new car instead of used, and with a monthly payment right by my state's average. Prior to this I never had a payment more than $250/mo.

To be more specific, I dont think owning a sfh to rent out should be good. But building an apartment complex should be a good investment. Unrestrict building, and tax underutilized land.

jimberlage 2mo ago

I think the problem with getting this done in the US is the lack of public transit and the dysfunction in public schools. If you could avoid a $700 car payment and still get to school/job/grocery store on time, a lot of Americans would. But if you can't, and you are paying $700 anyways, why not at least use the fact that you're paying $700/month to travel anywhere and get a bigger parcel of land all to yourself? There's a big incentive to have single-family homes for rent as long as that math is true. And if you can live in a dense area and get around OK, but paying $700/month saves you from $800/month in private school payments, then the math might still make renting SFH better even if the transit is there.

cpburns2009 2mo ago
No body is forced to have a $700 car payment. That's a luxury financing $30k+ on a brand new or nearly new car.
- curious_curios 2mo ago
  Though with gas, maintenance, insurance on top of the car payment, that $700 is probably the floor of car ownership.
  - cpburns2009 2mo ago
    Those will vary vastly depending on where you live. Gas and insurance are high where I live, and even though the environment is harsh on cars (winters with salt), maintenance has never been much.
- jimberlage 2mo ago
  True (I certainly don't!) but I chose it because I had to do some research a while back and that was close to the average for Americans. [1]: https://qz.com/average-car-payment-by-state#average-car-payment-by-state https://qz.com/average-car-payment-by-state#average-car-paym... [2]: https://www.lendingtree.com/auto/debt-statistics/ https://www.lendingtree.com/auto/debt-statistics/
  - cpburns2009 2mo ago
    That's actually shocking. I've been in tech for 15+ years and have a good income. I've only recently purchased a new car instead of used, and with a monthly payment right by my state's average. Prior to this I never had a payment more than $250/mo.