Is buying a house a waste of money for a single man

[Trainwreck]

We are told that home ownership is the American Dream and path to prosperity, but I’m not seeing it.

1). I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that I’m not going to get married or have any kids, and buying a house seems kind of pointless for a single mobile male.

2). Houses are expensive and require hefty down payments, but they don’t put a single dime in your pocket at the end of the day. Yes, you can hypothetically rent out rooms, but that’s mostly chicken **** talk people say to justify buying a house and I’d rather rent what I own, not. Live where I rent. Plus, there’s more to it which can go in another topic.

3). You lose mobility. The only thing holding here is a lease that I can just pay 2 months rent upfront to break. A mortgage is a lot harder to break out of.

4). You have to pay your own maintenance and repairs. Ewww

5). The only houses I could afford would be in some bum **** Egypt beyond the pale banjo area or be some pioneer living some ghetto. Rent wise, I can afford to live downtown in a prime area or an inexpensive cozy suburb.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Wait for the crash. Put your money into US dollars, Gold, and Bitcoin until then.

 

[Chev.Chelios]

you can buy a house and resell it for profit..

or you can buy a house and somebody else gains profit from your dime..

market is bad as the new and used car business.. buy retail and it loses value fast, get screwed over buying an overpriced used car from a sleeze etc..

or know what your doing and whatever you buy make sure it's a good investment.

but yeah fvck marriage, live smart

 

[Spaz]

Town house or an apartment is always a good buy. It offers plenty of benefits, just make sure you buy a newly built.

 

[mrgoodstuff]

Equity. A house can have mortgage similar to the rent you were going to throw away.

 

[Mike32ct]

If you have stable job or business in a certain location, then buy. You can at least recover some of the money spent as equity.

But if your career requires you to be mobile, then perhaps not.

I have a house, but I don’t view it as an investment. With mortgage interest, property taxes payments for life, insurance, and repairs, I don’t necessarily expect to come out ahead. But at least I could sell and recover a decent amount of the money if I needed to.

 

[bigdave17]

I bought my first house at 24. It's a 2000 square foot townhouse but it's super nice (Perfect for a bachelor)

IMO, a house is a great way to build long term wealth. I bought my house at 243K and now it's worth 300K. I'm gonna pay it off in the next 3 years and I will only have to pay property tax/association fee (basically meaning I have a 2000 square foot place and I have to pay 600 a month for it)

Renting is ****ty because there is no equity and you never build wealth. If you want to get wealthy, you need to become completely debt free

buy a house, pay it off ASAP
buy a decent car, pay it off ASAP
have no debt
throw the max 18K per year at your 401K
invest the rest of your money


you will be a millionaire by 40-50

 

[marmel75]

If you were smart buy a duplex, live in one side and rent out the other and it will pay your mortgage so you live rent free.

 

[skinnyguy]

It’s more of a mental thing to know that you own a home. Yes it’s really expensive and if you live on a coast your down payment will be huge. I’d buy a condo but not a two story home.

 

[MatureDJ]

If you are not mobile - or even if you are, and want a "home base" - then, depending on the local housing market, it is a very good deal. Just make sure to get with as little of a downpayment as possible, such as through an FHA or USDA loan. This means not buying in an expensive market.

 

[marmel75]

It’s more of a mental thing to know that you own a home. Yes it’s really expensive and if you live on a coast your down payment will be huge. I’d buy a condo but not a two story home.

Depends where you live. In a lot of places houses are very affordable. If you live in a place where prices are 750K for a one bedroom shack, the simple advice I'd give is move. Its almost impossible to make enough money to offset these prices and its not worth it for what youd get. Where i live you csn get a nice 4 bedroom house for 160-200K and a mansion for like 350K.

 

[R.U.G.]

I live in the NYC suburbs. I was paying dumb money renting for years for a 1000 sq. ft. box apt with paper thin walls and sh!tty neighbors. I bought a foreclosure and fixed it up. I can certainly get my original money spent back; jut not sure on the upgrades that I did for better efficiencies and security. However, I like being able to do what ever the fvck I want to do in and on my plot of land (that's legal). There are some drawbacks. I have a pool and the liner had to be replaced (5K) after 16 years. I had to replace twice two grinders within the septic tank (4.5k). Upgrade some appliances as they died due to age. Also had to finish the basement (25K). Installed more efficient lighting with timers and smarten up the house with Alexa. Insurance is also around 1.5k a year and prop. taxes go up each year.

It depends on what you want and like. For an apt. in my area, it would be about 2k a month. My prop. taxes and insurance are about 2.1k a month for a house 3 times the space with peace and quiet.

Really depends on what your want and like. If you're going to be there for a minute, then buy. If not, rent. Rent is not really throwing money away, as the landlord is paying for the items I listed above or similar upkeep. You need to run the #'s.

 

[The Duke]

My house has more than doubled in value the past 14yrs. The loan will be paid off in 4yrs and I won't have to pay anything but property taxes. I keep my loan going because I still get a good tax benefit and my interest is very low. My mortgage is less than what a lot of people pay for a good apartment in the suburbs. Definitely cheaper than what people pay in the city.

I wonder how the people who want to rent their entire life are going to afford the rent after they retire?

Do you want to be your own landlord and reap the benefits, or help someone else get rich?

 

[R.U.G.]

My house has more than doubled in value the past 14yrs. The loan will be paid off in 4yrs and I won't have to pay anything but property taxes. I keep my loan going because I still get a good tax benefit and my interest is very low. My mortgage is less than what a lot of people pay for a good apartment in the suburbs. Definitely cheaper than what people pay in the city.

I wonder how the people who want to rent their entire life are going to afford the rent after they retire?

Trailer park? God knows if they will hav any savings.. Many people just live for the hear and now.

 

[Poonani Maker]

My home has doubled literally since 2010, the Lowest direst point of the crash in an excellent location. I could care less if re crashes as I'll be back to what I paid for it except for the 50K in bank interest I had to pay. Interest rates the markets are so f'd up right now I wouldn't dare buy now but young'uns are telling me, "I can't wait that long." Dumbas5es

 

[Von]

We are told that home ownership is the American Dream and path to prosperity, but I’m not seeing it.

1). I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that I’m not going to get married or have any kids, and buying a house seems kind of pointless for a single mobile male.

2). Houses are expensive and require hefty down payments, but they don’t put a single dime in your pocket at the end of the day. Yes, you can hypothetically rent out rooms, but that’s mostly chicken **** talk people say to justify buying a house and I’d rather rent what I own, not. Live where I rent. Plus, there’s more to it which can go in another topic.

3). You lose mobility. The only thing holding here is a lease that I can just pay 2 months rent upfront to break. A mortgage is a lot harder to break out of.

4). You have to pay your own maintenance and repairs. Ewww

5). The only houses I could afford would be in some bum **** Egypt beyond the pale banjo area or be some pioneer living some ghetto. Rent wise, I can afford to live downtown in a prime area or an inexpensive cozy suburb.

Great points.

I work in Wealth Management... All studies shows that there is ''no different'' in wealth between Home Owner and Renters.... based on the understanding that Renters will save the extra-money that aint used ''for mortgage and housing''' but 80% of renters don't save.

Buying a Home to make money is a baby-boomer idea... for 2 reasons:
1) They lived the ''reduction of interest rates'' which made their house value go up
2) 80% of baby boomer retirement money is in their home, they have to sell to get access to the cash

In the field of my practice... I see so many young couples buy a house/condo at 45% of their budget (the maximun permitted by Canadian law)... you have to keep in mind Canadian taxes on income can go up to 52%.

So 75% of the people who buy (home owner: condo,duplex,house) use up 95% of their income.... it leaves them with 5% for groceries,fun,urgency,babies etc...

If you buy a condo or house.... it's to start a family (my opinion) with no goal of making money out of it other than having your capital back in X years.

The avantage of home-owning is that it's a forced investment ... The money you pay in mortgage to ''own'' is forced saving. Ask yourself this: If you didn't have a 2000$ monthly mortgage, would you put 2000$ in monthly savings?

If you want to make money in home-ownership:
1) Buy a rental property (marmel75 idea) but accept that you'll have to manage tenants (which can be a pain in the ass)
2) Buy when the market crash (and it will crash like in 2008)
3) Make a strong study of the market (evolution of the district, location, services in the area)
4) Buy underevaluated house and renovate them (like flipping): You buy something that is ''ugly and cheap'' and renovate it to ''nice and cool'', often the renovations + buying low will cost less money than if you bought ''new-fresh construction''
5) Watchout the construction dates, environment standards (some places have environmental contamination or some stones that destroys house fondations)....
Ex: A condo unit in Montreal from 2009-2015 was following ''municipal-government laws'' but in 2016 the construction wasn't ''legal anymore''... so a 6000$ bill per tenants/owner was sent.... All because of a political (corrupted) change.
Ex2: In the 1960's in suburban Montreal, many ''family home'' were built on new clean land.... 10 years later in the 1970's new constructions were outlawed on these fields because they found ''pirith stone''.... The field were full of that mineral that infect houses fondations and make them collapse.
6) Have a mortgage - reimbursement strategy that saves you ''interest''
7) Buy atleast between 1 to 2 times your ''borrowing power'' so that your real-estate is 20-25% of your budget.
8) Avoid dumpsters and ''shady deals'' (an example: bankruptcy sells - the owners went bankrupt for a reason... it could be their house context)
9) Take your time and study the market and skills to renovate a house by yourself (home improvement is costly.... its the service/hiring that cost and not the material)
10) Buy with others (have others invests with a simple capital return commitment - or have roomates/renters)

In short, Housing is like Stock Market... buy at the good time, sell at the good time... hard to predict... except Housing isn't has ''moving'' has stocks (Housing you need a buyer and seller and that takes more time than a 1 day stock transactions)

In short again: Don't expect your house to be a ''living investment for money''.

If you want real estate to be a income source: Rental properties and Knowledge/Passion are key

Market Analysis:
In our Modern Western World, rental cost are has high has mortgage payment now (but with renting you can avoid taxes, maintenance, services, water/electricy).

Rental Cost for budget used to be 26% now it rose to around 50% (so similar to mortage)

Renting is flexible and can save you money in short-midterm wise due to ''avoiding the maintenance cost of a house''

House Taxation goes UP with House Value Raise... in Vancouver some people can't afford their taxes for their paid house because the Taxation is higher than their retirement pensions (Guy bought house at 250 000$.... he has a pension of 45 000$ a year from governement... Guy is debt free and mortgage is done for years.... House is worth now 6 millions CAD $$$$.... Tax per year now is around 100 000$/year.... Guy doesnt want to sell his house cause he wants to die there (like alot of retiree) but the increase in value, made it impossible for him to pay the taxes that he need to get his house)

House price annual returns adjusted for inflation is 6% over 25 years.

Stock market annual returns adjusted for inflation is 7% over 25 years

Stock have lower management cost than house...

House has capital gain exemption (so its alot of tax savings at sell)

House might take time to sell, Investment is more fast.

Buy for yourself.

Personnally: I am gonna rent until family/baby time and business becomes stable. Than first get either a rental property and have renters or buy a family home.
However, I will get a rental property one day for sure... duplex/triplex to allow easier management

Being rich = Having no debt and especially no mortgage

 

[corrector]

We are told that home ownership is the American Dream and path to prosperity, but I’m not seeing it.

1). I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that I’m not going to get married or have any kids, and buying a house seems kind of pointless for a single mobile male.

You have to be defeated in your mind in spirit then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Do not accept that fact. Use affirmations contrary (i.e. I am going to get married, I am going to have kids, I'm going to marry a good girl who won't cause me any grief later in life, etc....) You can acknowledge the fact, but don't accept it and admit defeat and resign to fate. Look at your name "Trainwreck", is that really how you see yourself?

So, what is the deal with you anyway? Black women do not like you and are choosing thugs instead of a good guy like yourself? Have you tried pursuing other types of gals? I think what happens if you are Black, but somehow come across as too White (how you talk, how you think or express yourself), then maybe that's the problem. People may have certain stereotypical expectations, but if you vibe off differently, it could throw some people off. For example, people would consider myself Black if they know I have a Black mother, but I do not have have the slightest interest in Black music, (although I like Black movies), so some people may be thrown off by that who like Black men and have expectations.

2). Houses are expensive and require hefty down payments, but they don’t put a single dime in your pocket at the end of the day. Yes, you can hypothetically rent out rooms, but that’s mostly chicken **** talk people say to justify buying a house and I’d rather rent what I own, not. Live where I rent. Plus, there’s more to it which can go in another topic.

It's about the principle of owning something.

3). You lose mobility. The only thing holding here is a lease that I can just pay 2 months rent upfront to break. A mortgage is a lot harder to break out of.

You can sell the home.

4). You have to pay your own maintenance and repairs. Ewww

You can DIY and save money.

5). The only houses I could afford would be in some bum **** Egypt beyond the pale banjo area or be some pioneer living some ghetto. Rent wise, I can afford to live downtown in a prime area or an inexpensive cozy suburb.

Well if the homes you are buying do not have investment potential then I agree it's not a good buy for you.

 

[marmel75]

I live in the NYC suburbs. I was paying dumb money renting for years for a 1000 sq. ft. box apt with paper thin walls and sh!tty neighbors. I bought a foreclosure and fixed it up. I can certainly get my original money spent back; jut not sure on the upgrades that I did for better efficiencies and security. However, I like being able to do what ever the fvck I want to do in and on my plot of land (that's legal). There are some drawbacks. I have a pool and the liner had to be replaced (5K) after 16 years. I had to replace twice two grinders within the septic tank (4.5k). Upgrade some appliances as they died due to age. Also had to finish the basement (25K). Installed more efficient lighting with timers and smarten up the house with Alexa. Insurance is also around 1.5k a year and prop. taxes go up each year.

It depends on what you want and like. For an apt. in my area, it would be about 2k a month. My prop. taxes and insurance are about 2.1k a month for a house 3 times the space with peace and quiet.

Really depends on what your want and like. If you're going to be there for a minute, then buy. If not, rent. Rent is not really throwing money away, as the landlord is paying for the items I listed above or similar upkeep. You need to run the #'s.

People in big cities are so out of touch with how 85% of the rest of the country lives...I have a 2000 sq foot house, 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths a good sized yard, paid 112K for it about 15 years ago and is now worth about 170K and continues rising...taxes are fairly high but the cost of living is really low here and my interest rate on the mortgage is under 4%. A comparable house in one of these cities would likely go for 500K+ or more, in San Francisco likely 1.3 million. Its ridiculous. I would never move to a place like that, the salary difference doesnt even come close to making up for the cost of living difference. People are basically just paying the interest on a 1 bedroom shack in a lot of these places and not even touching the principal.

I considered dumping money into the mortgage to pay it off early but at under 4% it makes no sense to do so when I can take that money and invest it wisely and make 8-12% back on it even in the worst times.

 

[Mike32ct]

My house is small, but I only did a 15-yr mortgage. Eleven years down, only four years to go

 

[marmel75]

Great points.

I work in Wealth Management... All studies shows that there is ''no different'' in wealth between Home Owner and Renters.... based on the understanding that Renters will save the extra-money that aint used ''for mortgage and housing''' but 80% of renters don't save.

Buying a Home to make money is a baby-boomer idea... for 2 reasons:
1) They lived the ''reduction of interest rates'' which made their house value go up
2) 80% of baby boomer retirement money is in their home, they have to sell to get access to the cash

In the field of my practice... I see so many young couples buy a house/condo at 45% of their budget (the maximun permitted by Canadian law)... you have to keep in mind Canadian taxes on income can go up to 52%.

So 75% of the people who buy (home owner: condo,duplex,house) use up 95% of their income.... it leaves them with 5% for groceries,fun,urgency,babies etc...

If you buy a condo or house.... it's to start a family (my opinion) with no goal of making money out of it other than having your capital back in X years.

The avantage of home-owning is that it's a forced investment ... The money you pay in mortgage to ''own'' is forced saving. Ask yourself this: If you didn't have a 2000$ monthly mortgage, would you put 2000$ in monthly savings?

If you want to make money in home-ownership:
1) Buy a rental property (marmel75 idea) but accept that you'll have to manage tenants (which can be a pain in the ass)
2) Buy when the market crash (and it will crash like in 2008)
3) Make a strong study of the market (evolution of the district, location, services in the area)
4) Buy underevaluated house and renovate them (like flipping): You buy something that is ''ugly and cheap'' and renovate it to ''nice and cool'', often the renovations + buying low will cost less money than if you bought ''new-fresh construction''
5) Watchout the construction dates, environment standards (some places have environmental contamination or some stones that destroys house fondations)....
Ex: A condo unit in Montreal from 2009-2015 was following ''municipal-government laws'' but in 2016 the construction wasn't ''legal anymore''... so a 6000$ bill per tenants/owner was sent.... All because of a political (corrupted) change.
Ex2: In the 1960's in suburban Montreal, many ''family home'' were built on new clean land.... 10 years later in the 1970's new constructions were outlawed on these fields because they found ''pirith stone''.... The field were full of that mineral that infect houses fondations and make them collapse.
6) Have a mortgage - reimbursement strategy that saves you ''interest''
7) Buy atleast between 1 to 2 times your ''borrowing power'' so that your real-estate is 20-25% of your budget.
8) Avoid dumpsters and ''shady deals'' (an example: bankruptcy sells - the owners went bankrupt for a reason... it could be their house context)
9) Take your time and study the market and skills to renovate a house by yourself (home improvement is costly.... its the service/hiring that cost and not the material)
10) Buy with others (have others invests with a simple capital return commitment - or have roomates/renters)

In short, Housing is like Stock Market... buy at the good time, sell at the good time... hard to predict... except Housing isn't has ''moving'' has stocks (Housing you need a buyer and seller and that takes more time than a 1 day stock transactions)

In short again: Don't expect your house to be a ''living investment for money''.

If you want real estate to be a income source: Rental properties and Knowledge/Passion are key

Market Analysis:
In our Modern Western World, rental cost are has high has mortgage payment now (but with renting you can avoid taxes, maintenance, services, water/electricy).

Rental Cost for budget used to be 26% now it rose to around 50% (so similar to mortage)

Renting is flexible and can save you money in short-midterm wise due to ''avoiding the maintenance cost of a house''

House price annual returns adjusted for inflation is 6% over 25 years.

Stock market annual returns adjusted for inflation is 7% over 25 years

Stock have lower management cost than house...

House has capital gain exemption (so its alot of tax savings at sell)

House might take time to sell, Investment is more fast.

Buy for yourself.

Personnally: I am gonna rent until family/baby time and business becomes stable. Than first get either a rental property and have renters or buy a family home.
However, I will get a rental property one day for sure... duplex/triplex to allow easier management

If i could go back 20 years and do it all over again I would lived as cheaply as possible and started dumping money into my 401K, IRA's and other stock/bond funds...if i would have been able to do what i am doing now in regards to that i would have already retired.

As it is now if things stay on track by the time i am 63 i should have well over 2 million in retirement/savings and I am done working at that point...Maybe do some consulting work on the side

Young dudes. Be smart. Invest your money so you can retire early. Dont try and get rich quick. Slow and steady wins the race. Thoroughly understand the concept of how compound interest and dividend reinvestment works.

Dont be like me and not realize how dumb you were in your early 20s when you hit your late 30s...you dont get any do overs. If you do it right pretty much anyone with a decent income can retire by the time they are 45.