Rent or buy?

[jnMissouri]

I think a big one is what if you buy a house and you dont like the neighbors for whatever reason. With renting you can move away but with a house you are more likely to stay in that bad situation. Overall though I say buy a house. Corporations are buying up all the houses and it should be ILLEGAL. Our government needs to step in and ban companies from buying up so many houses.

Im undecided between buying or renting a house. Im leaning more or less 50-50 atm, but my fiancee is gently pushing for buy (with my money of course, she pays for our meals and pays her own way but she doesnt have money to significantly contribute to buy a house, she cant even replace her 10 year old car that keeps breaking down).

Im thinking if I buy a house I apparently like but then once I move in I end up disliking something about it and/or my marriage goes south, Im gonna be stuck for a while with the house and lose some money when selling (the house would be in my mom´s name to protect it in the event of a divorce). If I rent and something happens the contract ends up in a year.

Im sure there are a bunch a pros and cons on the subject of buying vs renting I havent even considered yet. I would appreciate your advice/input bros

Also, of course your fiance is pushing for YOU to buy a house...with your money...and your money will pay the bills, since she can't even afford to buy a decent car to replace her existing old one. Add to that marriage, it's a big pay day for her in the event of divorce....a 50/50 chance...I wouldn't do it.

 

[BeExcellent]

Haha @jnMissouri I feel you.

But if you bought 10 years ago? You’re good.

 

[Apone]

What about interest rates? They're pretty high in the U.S., but not sure about Mexico. That's a big variable if you buy or not.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Rent. Buying is not worth the trouble, it's not a sound investment, and nothing to leave your children (who won't want to live in your house anyway). Plus you don't just buy a home, but you are responsible for the upkeep and if you don't have the proper insurance, you will have to have to have money set aside for (emergency) repairs.

Buying is certainly worth the trouble. The wealthiest make their money in real estate.

OP, have you considered a multi-unit house?

 

[AmsterdamAssassin]

The wealthiest make their money in real estate.

Not by buying a house and living in it.

 

[EyeBRollin]

My tenants don't realize it's actually cheaper for them to rent my houses from me than for me to own. They pay half of what it costs me to own them, when you factor in opportunity costs.

Yikes. @RickTheToad what say you?

Not by buying a house and living in it.

Primary residence yes, not good. However, there are some decent owner occupied programs right now.

 

[AmsterdamAssassin]

Primary residence yes, not good.

That's what I mean. OP was looking to buy / rent a domicile. I don't think he was looking to become a real estate mogul.

 

[jnMissouri]

Haha @jnMissouri I feel you.

But if you bought 10 years ago? You’re good.

Been a landlord 15 years with a deca million dollar portfolio in RE alone. Doesn't count my other stuff. I'm good, lol. Though not all of my houses were bought long ago, I bought four more houses for a tad over 2 mil in 2021. Was going to buy more in 2022 and 2023 but I skipped it.

 

[jnMissouri]

Buying is certainly worth the trouble. The wealthiest make their money in real estate.

OP, have you considered a multi-unit house?

If you have a tolerance for risk and choose wisely, the stock market would BLOW away real estate. If I had put my money into stocks 15 years ago, the right stocks, I'd be worth 100+ million now. RE is SLOW money, but safer...much safer and I'm risk averse. And being a landlord is NOT for everyone. I've met TONS of people who tried it and went bankrupt. One of my tenants actually tried to make it as a landlord and lost everything. This is not a game for the faint of heart. You're taking on a lot of debt, need to manage legal issues and liars, idiots, and other problems like eviction moratoriums that are unjust.

 

[jnMissouri]

Oh, one clarification on an earlier post about having to leave my gf at the time to go make sure pipes didn't freeze...that was on Christmas night!!! She was not a fan...called me 30 minutes after I left asking when I'd be back, called me while I was going from house to house asking for an ETA. It took me a while to get back, she was in bed when I got back. Awake but in bed.

 

[EyeBRollin]

If you have a tolerance for risk and choose wisely, the stock market would BLOW away real estate. If I had put my money into stocks 15 years ago, the right stocks, I'd be worth 100+ million now.

The fvck? No way. RE is more profitable by a mile.

 

[radha]

The fvck? No way. RE is more profitable by a mile.

Most RE investors are highly leveraged. If they had invested in the stock market with that same amount of leverage and had the balls to not sell during a drawdown then they would be wealthier from stocks and would have spent far less time earning the money.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Most RE investors are highly leveraged. If they had invested in the stock market with that same amount of leverage and had the balls to not sell during a drawdown then they would be wealthier from stocks and would have spent far less time earning the money.

No way. Stock market out-earning the market indices are the exception not the norm.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

With the way rent prices are now in many places, I'm not sure how anyone can afford to rent at all.

 

[Mike32ct]

With the way rent prices are now in many places, I'm not sure how anyone can afford to rent at all.

This.

Or if they later want to buy, the high rent could keep them trapped because it would make it difficult to save for a down payment. That’s all by design.

 

[AmsterdamAssassin]

With the way rent prices are now in many places, I'm not sure how anyone can afford to rent at all.

My rent is about about 695 euro, but I pay 350 euro. 100m2 ground floor and 1st floor, courtyard, gated apartment complex. Amsterdam Centrum, close to NEMO/Nieuwmarkt.

 

[jnMissouri]

With the way rent prices are now in many places, I'm not sure how anyone can afford to rent at all.

Most of my houses rent for less than it costs me to own them. The rent barely covers the mortgage unless I bought them long ago and never took money out. Then I have to factor in vacancy, repairs, capex, etc. Add to that that I have hundreds of thousands of dollars of down payment money sitting in each of them that could be making me much more money in the stock market, in the short term it's not worth it. As I said before though, it's much less risky than the stock market and over time the tables turn in the landlords favor.

 

[SW15]

Most houses (at least in the most of North America) exist in soulless cookie cutter surburban dystopias with single family zoning. Just a sea of homes in the exact same socioeconomic class, and literally nothing of interest for miles. I walk through these neighborhoods and it's usually completely dead. There's no liveliness, no vibrance, zero, none. Even most kids aren't seen outside because it's "unsafe". Sure, there are houses that exist in vibrant communities but these are typically in the more dense "historic" regions where these absurd zoning laws didn't exist, and are generally more expensive.

This is all true and these are good points. Additionally, people who live in these neighborhoods are rarely unmarried and childless people. Single moms do live in these neighborhoods at times.

In some ways, home ownership does not make sense for the man who lives alone and is childless.

Nice thing about apartments is that many of them exist in mixed-use walkable neighborhoods with considerably more vibrance and soul. I've lived in places like this before without even owning a car because I could just walk everywhere. Great for pulling women too if your place is within walking distance of bars, restaurants, venues, etc. I had a FWB last year who could literally walk over to my place in 10 min through our small downtown district.

Agree with this and that it is good.

Or if they later want to buy, the high rent could keep them trapped because it would make it difficult to save for a down payment. That’s all by design.

This has been a common experience in the Millennial generation in the USA.

 

[AmsterdamAssassin]

My rent is about about 695 euro, but I pay 350 euro. 100m2 ground floor and 1st floor, courtyard, gated apartment complex. Amsterdam Centrum, close to NEMO/Nieuwmarkt.

I was wrong, my rent is recently lowered. Rent is €588 minus €312 social subsidies, so I pay €276.
Of course I pay taxes and my apartment is estimated at a value of €521.000 (2020).
Monthly mortgage fees for €500,000 home would be around €2000-2500, based on an yearly income of €105,000.

 

[SpartanWarrior77]

I rent where I live and rent out what I own. Like what @FlexpertHamilton said. That way I’m not tied down. The issue with that of course is that rents go up over time.

If I buy I buy in an affluent area in a midsize (for the area) house, where the values are most stable due to demand for the area.

Frankly before my daughters came to live with me a couple of years ago I did a roomshare situation. I liked that a lot. I had a bedroom with en suite and a garage for my car, big walk-in closet and private entrance from the pool. This in a 2M house in a prestigious area (for a fraction of the cost to own), and it was all bills paid.

I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I didn’t have a high schooler or all my stuff out here now.

I could leave for weeks without consequence, something you cannot do easily with a house & yard.

Hmm that's a cool idea about renting a room in a nice big house! Currently renting a 2 br with one roommate and pay less than $800 per month which is unheard of in my area.