Do you Rent or Own?

[brainsmile]

Just wondering once again. As a homeowner myself I've seen house prices soar in that recent past. San Diego is definitely pricey. How's the rest of the country doing?

[dbax791]

Own. Financially it makes no sense to rent if you plan to stay in the same place 2-3 years or more - that is, if you can get enough for the down payment and closing costs.

And yeah, my property value has gone up considerablely in the last couple of years.

[Grimm]

I own. I couldn't afford to rent in San Diego!
In San Diego it makes more sense to buy if you are going to be staying for ONE year or more. I saved my closing costs in one year of owning. Plus the tax write off made it worth my while big time.

[whitak24]

i rent.
when i moved to the detroit area a year ago (after graduating from college), i wanted to buy. but i decided to hold off (b/c of unfamilarity with the area, etc). i signed a six-month lease, which expired in august. at that point, however, it appeared that i would be moving out of the state within a year, so i signed a year lease.

[Kim]

Own. My house payment is cheaper than the rent pmt. was.

[jase71]

Rent.

My wife and I know we're moving in 18mos-2 years.

We considered buying anyway... but the major employer in town
is laying off boatloads of people, and will continue to over the next
couple of years as they phase a corporate headquarters into a tiny service office. There's no other business/industry that can even come close to picking up the slack.

It's a great time if you're looking to buy. Loads of houses for sale at very good prices. But if we bought, there's a good chance we'd never be able to sell the place in 2 years when we want to go...

[Memo]

Own. Austin is considerably more expensive than most of Houston, at least downtown Austin. But compared to California, we're cheap as hell.

[chrissy]

I guess you can call it renting. We live on base. Donnie would love to buy a house but the rooms are tiny in the track houses they have going up.

[brainsmile]

I guess it all comes down to whether you have enough for a down payment

[molecularfire]

Rent. I am going to be in school here for another year and a half, at which time, I'll move downtown for another 2 years, so there's no point in going through the effort of buying.

[GraingerGuy]

Hmmm....I live in a dorm room...so I probably rent....:)

[Kevster]

I just became a homeowner. My wife and I looked at what we were spending in rent in the Los Angeles South Bay (Hermosa Beach) and figured out we could buy and pay less per month. So we now have a house that's only a mile away from where we were living before. Now we have almost 3 times the square footage of what we were living in before with a real garage and a huge kitchen (now we get to buy furniture :eek: ). And to top it all off it was in move-in condition with only minor work needed (a few things need to be updated like the dining room lamp and the entryway linoleum - I'm the son of a carpet/wood/tile floor installer so I can handle that pretty well :D )

Now I get to start my photovoltaic solar panel project once I get enough money to make the initial investment.

So many projects so little time...

Kevster

[WhiskeyPapa]

Own. We have 10 acres (2.5 acres lawn, 6 acres pasture, 1.5 acres woods). 3,000 square foot house with new siding, new windows, attached double garage, etc.

All for $138,000. But, you gotta like living in the middle of nowhere (which we do!)

[StonedWheat]

I rent a house in east san jose. I'm stuck in my lease until sept. We pay 2k a month for a nice house in the heart of the ghetto. I see Coolio visit his mom who lives around the corner every once in a while.

[Memo]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
Own. We have 10 acres (2.5 acres lawn, 6 acres pasture, 1.5 acres woods). 3,000 square foot house with new siding, new windows, attached double garage, etc.

All for $138,000. But, you gotta like living in the middle of nowhere (which we do!)

:eek2: My 950 sq/ft condo cost more than that! What state is that in?

[Thunder]

own...
for the first two years of being married, my wife and I paid rent...it's so depressing to shell out money and never see any of it again...renting sucked...

[Jenny]

Rent. We hope to move within the next 18 months or so (after Josh finishes preschool, right before he goes into Kindergarten :cry: ) and will hope to buy then.

[faither]

Originally posted by kb0wwp
Own. We have 10 acres (2.5 acres lawn, 6 acres pasture, 1.5 acres woods). 3,000 square foot house with new siding, new windows, attached double garage, etc.

All for $138,000. But, you gotta like living in the middle of nowhere (which we do!)

In Northern NJ, $138k wouldn't even buy my lot 50'x150'. My interest is piqued...Where the hell are your 10 acres??? :confused:

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by faither


In Northern NJ, $138k wouldn't even buy my lot 50'x150'. My interest is piqued...Where the hell are your 10 acres??? :confused:

There are a lot of places that cheap, even in California. Like he said, though, you have to like living in a rural area.


But for me, for now, it is renting. I don't want to be tied down just now, but if I find a place where I want to stay, it might definitely mean buying.

I hate the idea of renting, because, after a few years, when you figure out how much you've spent, and what you have to show for it, you might shoot yourself.

[eSDee]

Anyone know where you can determine how much your monthly costs are gonna be, depending on your loan and interest rate?

I rent my sisters house, while she's away at UCLA. Not too bad for me I just pay the amount of her mortgage. Nothing more nothing less :)

[Nija]

rent.from mother.

:bawl:

i wanna move out..

[welfareloser]

rent. owned a home for two years and made a nice profit off the remodeling and sale, but not really worth the hassle for two years (i only bought it cuz i thought i would be there for 4 years.)

i'm in a townhouse til august, and movin on up to the east side to rent a house after taht for three more years. only home we could afford to buy here would need work, and we'd rather pay the extra bucks to rent (it's not that big of a difference) than have that much more responsibility piled on.

[topane]

Own. I actually just refinanced my mortgage as well -- got a .75% break on the interest and went to a 20-year (I had 27 years left on a 30-year).

[theorangeone]

rent.

theres no way in hell i could afford to buy anything near where i live.

[topane]

Originally posted by cpugeek04

must suck trying to get a girl back to your moms house then.:P :heh: Well, girls ain't exactly Nija's thing...

[WhiskeyPapa]

Originally posted by faither
In Northern NJ, $138k wouldn't even buy my lot 50'x150'. My interest is piqued...Where the hell are your 10 acres??? :confused:
I am in Western Minnesota. It's a "rural" area, but I am still only 15 minutes away from Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, a few dozen resturants, etc. I'm also only 2 hours from Minneapolis, so I can still go see sports, theater, culture in the "big city" without too much trouble.

Now, if you don't mind going further west of me, you can get even better deals on houses, but then you're really getting out into the boonies.

Here is an aerial photo of our humble abode:
http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.asp?S=10&T=1&X=1658&Y=25032&Z=15&W=1

[aglio412]

Originally posted by kb0wwp

I am in Western Minnesota. It's a "rural" area, but I am still only 15 minutes away from Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, a few dozen resturants, etc. I'm also only 2 hours from Minneapolis, so I can still go see sports, theater, culture in the "big city" without too much trouble.

Now, if you don't mind going further west of me, you can get even better deals on houses, but then you're really getting out into the boonies.

Here is an aerial photo of our humble abode:
http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.asp?S=10&T=1&X=1658&Y=25032&Z=15&W=1

man, reminds me of where i grew up (rural gallitzin, PA)....
here it is:
http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/image.asp?T=1&S=10&H=-779907532&V=411251937&ZLon=-78.60276311&ZLat=40.51807397&W=

i'm living in alexandria, VA now...still renting. i should definitely buy soon though, this $1000 a month for rent is getting really old.

[johnnymk]

Own...I assumed a 30 year VA mortgage which had 27 years left on it. Paid it off after 10 years. No prepayment penalty.. Nice not to have a mortgage at all.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Originally posted by johnnymk
Own...I assumed a 30 year VA mortgage which had 27 years left on it. Paid it off after 10 years. No prepayment penalty.. Nice not to have a mortgage at all.

Then you're the only one in this thread who truly owns their home! Boy, I can't wait until the day I pay off my mortgage...

[whitak24]

Originally posted by EsDeeLoco
Anyone know where you can determine how much your monthly costs are gonna be, depending on your loan and interest rate?
EsDee
here's a few that i found:

rent vs. buy
http://www.1mortgageloancalculators.com/java/MortgageRentvsBuy.html

http://list.realestate.yahoo.com/re/calculators/rent.html

http://www.eloan.com/cgi-bin/rentbuycalc?user=insw

payment calculator
http://list.realestate.yahoo.com/re/calculators/payment.html

http://www.1mortgageloancalculators.com/java/MortgageLoan.html

hope those help you out some

[johnnymk]

The interest rate on the house was 8.5%. Even with the 28% deduction on the Federal Income tax, the equivalent rate is 6.1%.
If I had put that money in the bank within the past couple of years, it would have been somewhat difficult to find anything in the 6% range and I would still have to pay taxes on that. So paying it off early has saved me quite a bit.
And yes, I have all of my cars and my truck completely paid for.
No big bills, no alimony, no child support,.......NADA!!

[chrissy]

Originally posted by johnnymk
The interest rate on the house was 8.5%. Even with the 28% deduction on the Federal Income tax, the equivalent rate is 6.1%.
If I had put that money in the bank within the past couple of years, it would have been somewhat difficult to find anything in the 6% range and I would still have to pay taxes on that. So paying it off early has saved me quite a bit.
And yes, I have all of my cars and my truck completely paid for.
No big bills, no alimony, no child support,.......NADA!!

Well, aren't you just un-American :P

:hihi:

You are living my goal!

[BrewMaster]

rent. i'm a 22 year old college student livign 400 miles from home. my parents own our home if that counts...

[Memo]

Originally posted by BrewMaster
rent. i'm a 22 year old college student livign 400 miles from home. my parents own our home if that counts...

I'm in college as well and my brother is too. We goto the same university so instead of paying for 2 rents, they bought us within walking distance of campus. So I didn't pay for it.....but I own it..kinda...like kb0 said, hehe don't truly own it until it's paid off. I thought it was a good deal. Although real estate in downtown Austin is expensive, if my sister goes to UT in 4 years then she can stay here and after that we can rent out the place. Also guarantees me a place to live while i'm looking for a job after college. And I can't get evicted when I play my music really loud :D :D

[jujubees]

Thanks for those helpful links, whitak24! :)

I rented the entire time I was in school and am still renting now. It'll probably be another five years before we can own, but at least those lean college years are over! :D

[whitak24]

Originally posted by jujubees
Thanks for those helpful links, whitak24! :)
happy to be of service juju :)
i was really trying to avoid doing work today.....