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Is buying a house worth it?

It was a long fought battle to a short goal.

The application of the literal definition to words used in abstract conversation rarely leads to mutual understanding or productive exchange of ideas. H.Kissenger

Perhaps on the next board we can share more productive exchanges.;)
 
you must be the change you wish to see in the world...

our exchange would have been much more productive without your hyperbole, swearing and sarcasm, certainly.

alasdair
 
The unfortunate fact of sharing conversation on the internet is the removal of face to face interaction. Therefore it is impossible to determine thru inflection , ones motives or sincerity.
Keeping to broad terms, and simple statements allows for more readers to grasp a "concept". I do understand how this con-volutes conversation, and I can assure you that you sir mistook my generalizations as much as I misunderstood your motive in what I perceived as reaction probing remarks aka: trolling.

Some people say... "I'm Audi!" I do not attempt to stress the point they are not cars.

I will take the first sentence in your above post: "you must be the change you wish to see in the world..." to heart, and give that the consideration it deserves. Besides hopefully contributing to this thread in some manner that thought alone is worth all the distraction endured. That sir I will thank you for.
Like I said sir. Perhaps on the next board. My apology for cursing. That was in poor taste. Gotta roll now... Audi!
 
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alasdairm said:
you're the one whining about being forced to do something nobody is forcing you to do.

whysosrs?

alasdair
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You could argue that the system works in such a way that it is forcing certain things upon you even if you seemingly have a choice upon you.. It's set up to be advantageous for the rich and enslaving for the poor.

Someone said that banks are taking a huge risk in lending the money.. What risk? If they don't pay back the money, which doesn't really exist in real terms, they gain real worth.. The house, the car, etc.. The money they lend is nothing more than a group of numbers on a machine.. which they can add to and take away from at any time.
 
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That is the most important point made here. Kudos!

The system is rigged. The money never existed. It is all based on the repeal of Banking act of 1933, (in 1999) whereby the banks can loan money based on interest payments they have not yet received.

" Glass-Steagall Act was introduced during the Great Depression, and was repealed in 1999, paving the way for banks to invest in nasty things like mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations."
http://rooseveltinstitute.org/new-roosevelt/looking-back-repeal-glass-steagall-or-how-banks-caught-casino-fever

So in real world terms they are benefiting from defaulted loans, by claiming real property in exchange for non existent "cash".

It may seem complex to hear it explained but in reality it is very ample... banks 11 / consumers 0. skunked
 
Smoky said:
It depends ... there are many factors involved. For ME, No… It's not worth it, but I do understand it could be for some.
The house I grew up in in Laguna Beach, after selling the spot on Long Island, is now going for a few million dollars.
It was $ 78,000 when I came into this world. Not sure how much my dad sold it for though. In Sf the prices have quadrupled. at least within 10 years. :\
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Yea, CA real estate is fucking crazy, I know an older couple that lived in Los Angeles, they had a small 2 bedroom home in a decent area, not great, but not bad either, last year, they decided to move here (KY), due to their son having some problems, their CA house was worth about $850K, they moved into a similar smaller home in my hometown, it was roughly $110K!!

I know they didnt like KY though, they went on and on when it started getting cold, then snow, etc. but they stayed, I guess they are used to it now, but they always told me, CA real estate is SOOO high only due to the weather out there, jobs are very hard to come by in SoCal, so I guess he is right, but that much of an increase in price only due to living in a warm climate..?? Damn! I guess that explains why all the poor people living in the ghettos of SoCal, like south central LA, shitty houses, but if they sold them and moved to KY, they could buy fucking mansions for what their little shithole sold for! LOL I guess weather is truly keeping everyone out there!!
 
we live in a materialistic world, not having your own home is considered ghetto and not respected in some parts.
 
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depends where. Is much cheaper to build one instead of looking to buy one. Usually I'd say in Denmark, rent is a lot cheaper now than 2010's. You need to search some basic info about where you wanna live before hand
 
In Canada, we’re used to putting down a 20% down payment. All that <5% or 0% down stuff seems excessive to me.
And for conventional mortgages, one is allowed to make principal only payments on the anniversary date while some mortgages allow people to put money towards principal at anytime.
 
I didn’t feel I owned my property when I was paying the mortgage but rather my possessions owning me. It’s true I get to build home equity and my long-term overall net worth however I held onto jobs that I hated and which were detrimental to my mental health driven only by the need to be able to make my mortgage payment each month.
I wasn’t able to move to another province/city to work better opportunities because I was tied down to my property/mortgage. The property taxes, the maintenance, etc all cost money and time.

It has also been said within the subject of Personal Finance that owning a property if one is self-employed isn’t always great especially if your business is potentially vulnerable to liability/getting sued.

Just my two cents.

Peace.
 
Opi_Kid_Rock said:
I didn’t feel I owned my property when I was paying the mortgage but rather my possessions owning me. It’s true I get to build home equity and my long-term overall net worth however I held onto jobs that I hated and which were detrimental to my mental health driven only by the need to be able to make my mortgage payment each month.
I wasn’t able to move to another province/city to work better opportunities because I was tied down to my property/mortgage. The property taxes, the maintenance, etc all cost money and time.

It has also been said within the subject of Personal Finance that owning a property if one is self-employed isn’t always great especially if your business is potentially vulnerable to liability/getting sued.

Just my two cents.

Peace.
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The best one could do it's working 10-15 years straight with your long-term gf/wife or whatever, renting. Save money big time.
Then buy some land in a place you'd like to live. Start building with your own plan. I would do it with bio-construction but whatever the chance it's better, with standard construction and some people doing it for you it's still much cheaper than buying the home already done.
it's more a long-term commitment and difficult, but IMO the best option.
I won't pay anything to a fucking bank, all have direct or indirect ties with central banks, the Rothschilds and the Bank of International Settlements.
 
Whether it's financially 'worth it' also depends a lot on what the law is like for renters. I can only compare the two countries I've lived in, UK and Germany. I noticed some big differences.

Everyone in the UK seems to be obsessed with buying a house, whereas in Germany that's much less the case. For one, the UK imposed stringent rent and cost caps on developers of public housing well into the 80s. As a result landlords cut back on maintenance and housing quality suffered; this in turn contributed to a certain stigma : renting is for those who can't 'afford better'.
Whereas in Germany, those restrictions were loosened much sooner, so rental housing is generally of better quality and there's no social stigma attached to renting. Many people with high - earning jobs who could well afford to buy are perfectly content renting, because they simply don't see the point of saddling themselves with a mortgage.

Another thing that drives the ambition to acquire your own bricks and mortar seems to be security, and I can well understand this. The law in the UK seems to be MUCH more in favour of the landlord. In Germany it's much more weighed towards protection of the tenant.

In order to be evicted without notice you must have violated the contract in specific ways; in all other instances your landlord is required to give you a minimum of 3 month's notice. If you have what's known as an indefinite tenancy, that is precisely what it is. It's essentially your home, for life if you want, and you have the security of knowing you can't be turfed out on a whim, plus state governments cap rent increases at no more than 15% over three years, so again you don't feel like you need to own a house to avoid the trap of abrupt and / or spiralling rent increases.
So I think things like this are big factors to take into consideration.
 
in my area i pay less mortgage for a 5 bedroom, then a one bedroom rented, it is nucking futs, but cant run to any lord of the land to get anything fixed need be
 
Complaining about interest rates (as others have noted) is futile.

If somebody doesn't want to lend you money on terms that you find acceptable, find someone else who will. Capitalism ensures that if someone can do something cheaper, they will do it. Efficiency wins. So, find the cheapest option. If your complaint is that the cheapest option isn't cheap enough, it probably isn't the right time to borrow that amount of money. Build up your credit rating. Increase your income. Budget, budget, budget.

Whether or not it makes sense to buy a home depends somewhat on your situation. If you want to settle down (or invest) and you can afford to buy, then it makes sense.

It's so expensive to buy/sell/move that (in most situations) you shouldn't buy unless you're going to be living at the property for at least a good couple of years... assuming you care if you take a loss, that is.

It hugely depends on the area, too. Melbourne & Sydney have very solid and consistent real estate appreciation going back 60-70 years. The general rule of thumb in both cities is: it is always a good time to buy. It's hard to lose money... The same cannot be said with as much confidence for other capital cities in Australia.

...

Aside from the financial side of things (which are huge for me, we will pocket maybe 200k in 5 years from our first property but we are also subdividing)... there are more significant advantages.

I'm freer on my block than I am anywhere else in Australia. When I was a tenant, I was living in someone else's house. Now, I can do whatever I want. I can rip up the garden. I can knock down the garage. I can renovate my bathroom. I can have pets inside.

The technicality of having your own land might seem trivial (it did to me, once) but it means a lot.
 
Interest do be like that, and mortgages aren't exempt. But ...

If you rent for 30 years, what do you have?
If you pay your [30-year] mortgage for 30 years, what do you have?

That's the game. Play or don't play. It's not about ALL CAPITAL LETTERS or admiralty fringe on flags. It's just math and bankers.

So "Is buying a house worth it?" comes down to other factors.
If you can get a mortgage payment that's no higher than the rent you're paying, it seems like a limited downside.
If the mortgage cost/month is a bit higher, don't forget the mortgage exemption at the end of the year at tax time. (It's a big one. I didn't think I could afford a home until I factored that into my numbers -- I really just had to get through the first year.)

Even if home prices craaaaash, you've been flushing rent money down the toilet every month.
If home prices go up, you're locking in monthly housing costs now, at whatever mortgage rate is available now (for god's sake don't get sucked into balloon payments).

The big macro factor is if the economy and housing market collapse. Dunno what to say about that one.
 
Just answering the thread title.

Not now. I can’t speak for everyone, but here the cost of a house on average has tripled since 2012. The time to buy a house will be when the market crashes inevitably in the next year or two and total reset. If you buy a house now, you will be crying by 2023-2024. I can assure you. I am both psychic and psycho.
 
Normal.If u got recession the prices of real estate would go down.Many tend to loose their job,not be possible to pay the bills.....if u have enough money-that is the time to buy cheaply.....then when recession is gone the prices would go up....moment for sale
 
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