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Yes, which is always why I always cringe when I see how many people in their 20s and 30s believe that home ownership is a bad idea. The willingness to rent for

Yes, which is always why I always cringe when I see how many people in their 20s and 30s believe that home ownership is a bad idea. The willingness to rent for life in order to live a high density, urban lifestyle is going to come back to haunt them when they get older. It's good for me as a landlord but I hope people my age start rethinking their position on home ownership.

billmalarky 12y ago
Cringe? Really? By living in a high density urban area many people are able to invest more per year than they bring home after taxes living in the midwest.
leviathant 12y ago
I was resistant to buying a house here in Pennsylvania, but my wife's from Sydney, Australia, and was gobsmacked by how inexpensive real estate is here. By 26, we had bought a small house in the Philadelphia suburbs about three blocks from a train station and renovated it over the course of a few years. We were able to purchase a larger house in Philadelphia proper, and rented out the house in the suburbs - which covered the price of that house's mortgage and subsidized the newer house's mortgage. Aggressively paying down the first house, it's now paid off, and is just straight income, and we're more than halfway done paying off the mortgage on this house. This year, we actually dumped our investment account for a sizeable property in an amazing spot (on the waterfront, where the historic district meets the trendy hipster district), with commercial space on the first floor, an apartment on the second floor, and we'll be financing the expansion to a third floor by selling off the other two houses we have. I'll be living in a new-construction home above a performing arts space that I own outright, paid for by a second floor apartment I'll be renting out, in a high density, urban environment - because my wife and I bought a house when we were 26.
enraged_camel 12y ago
I don't rent for the urban lifestyle. I rent because it gives me tremendous flexibility when it comes to where to work. If I bought a house somewhere, I would be stuck in that place for close to ten years. Sure I could do remote work, but that is still not as common-place as regular in-office work, so I would be shooting myself in the foot in terms of job prospects and therefore earning potential. Home ownership was a no-brainer back when people got a job out of high school or college and worked at that job for decades, got regular raises, then retired with a pension. Nowadays though? Job hopping is the only reliable way of increasing one's income, and "right to work" is very common which means you can lose your job one day just because someone decided they no longer want you. Not to mention the economic downturns. What did we see during the most recent recession? People lost their jobs first, then they lost their houses because they couldn't pay mortgage anymore. Barely six years have passed and yet people are already losing their minds again about home ownership. Does home ownership have its advantages? Absolutely. Is it the right choice for everyone? Hell no.
- pzxc 12y ago
  Not to nitpick but the distinction is important: "at-will employment" is what means your employer can fire you at any time for any reason (or no reason), "right to work" refers to the idea that in some states unions cannot force non-union members to pay fair share fees.
s73v3r 12y ago
I can't afford a home in the place I want to live. I'm not going to live somewhere I don't like simply to own a home.

billmalarky 12y ago

Cringe? Really? By living in a high density urban area many people are able to invest more per year than they bring home after taxes living in the midwest.

leviathant 12y ago

I was resistant to buying a house here in Pennsylvania, but my wife's from Sydney, Australia, and was gobsmacked by how inexpensive real estate is here. By 26, we had bought a small house in the Philadelphia suburbs about three blocks from a train station and renovated it over the course of a few years. We were able to purchase a larger house in Philadelphia proper, and rented out the house in the suburbs - which covered the price of that house's mortgage and subsidized the newer house's mortgage. Aggressively paying down the first house, it's now paid off, and is just straight income, and we're more than halfway done paying off the mortgage on this house. This year, we actually dumped our investment account for a sizeable property in an amazing spot (on the waterfront, where the historic district meets the trendy hipster district), with commercial space on the first floor, an apartment on the second floor, and we'll be financing the expansion to a third floor by selling off the other two houses we have. I'll be living in a new-construction home above a performing arts space that I own outright, paid for by a second floor apartment I'll be renting out, in a high density, urban environment - because my wife and I bought a house when we were 26.

enraged_camel 12y ago

I don't rent for the urban lifestyle. I rent because it gives me tremendous flexibility when it comes to where to work. If I bought a house somewhere, I would be stuck in that place for close to ten years. Sure I could do remote work, but that is still not as common-place as regular in-office work, so I would be shooting myself in the foot in terms of job prospects and therefore earning potential. Home ownership was a no-brainer back when people got a job out of high school or college and worked at that job for decades, got regular raises, then retired with a pension. Nowadays though? Job hopping is the only reliable way of increasing one's income, and "right to work" is very common which means you can lose your job one day just because someone decided they no longer want you. Not to mention the economic downturns. What did we see during the most recent recession? People lost their jobs first, then they lost their houses because they couldn't pay mortgage anymore. Barely six years have passed and yet people are already losing their minds again about home ownership. Does home ownership have its advantages? Absolutely. Is it the right choice for everyone? Hell no.

pzxc 12y ago
Not to nitpick but the distinction is important: "at-will employment" is what means your employer can fire you at any time for any reason (or no reason), "right to work" refers to the idea that in some states unions cannot force non-union members to pay fair share fees.

s73v3r 12y ago

I can't afford a home in the place I want to live. I'm not going to live somewhere I don't like simply to own a home.