Real Estate Today

At the rate rentals are rising if you don't own a place to live be prepared to keep paying very large rental fees, even if it's a bubble real estate is a good asset to hold, even if there are downturns the trend over any given 5-10 year period is an appreciation of value.

I bought a year ago knowing all this money we stuffed into the economy was going to cause inflation, and the Greater Boston area is fairly immune to downturns.

Real estate isninly a good investment if you're making more off of it than you're putting into it. Otherwise it's an expense

Buy land in central or southern Oregon, within driving range of Klamath Falls, Medford, Coos Bay, Bend, or Astoria. Commute to one of those towns and work at one of the titty bars there. Install some solar panels, collect rainwater, slowly build a small home (if one is already there, then cool. But I don’t need it there), and live a hippie existence out in the woods away from people’s nonsense. I’ve camped out on people’s properties in that area and they have a really good thing going.

At least, that would be me if I was actually looking to buy right now.

Well okay, Astoria would be way north Oregon. And those clubs would have to be way researched and I’d have to deal with the major hassle of getting myself on their rosters before making a decision since I’d be pretty “locked” in if I made a decision like moving and buying property somewhere. But that’s what I’d do.

If you could pay 1980s prices for anything that would be a great savings, If you bought your home in the 1990s, it would be paid for now, (assuming a 30year mortgage) and you would only be paying to maintain it, and insure it(yes taxes are part of maintaining) think of how much more disposable income you would have right now, right now the average rent across the United States is over $1600. per month for a one bedroom apartment, my mortgage before I paid it off in 2019, was $850 per month, it's a no brainer.

If I did not already own a home I would never buy right now. Land? Hell yes. Homes? I’m not paying for your 1979 shit box with a $500 monthly power bill. I’d just pay the premium to build new

How about do what you need to do, like buy what would fit you for now, look at it as an expense, not an investment. You can't eat your living room.

SJG

Gimme Shelter [Rolling Stones Cover] - Britny Lobas at The Roost Austin, Tx
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"How about do what you need to do, like buy what would fit you for now, look at it as an expense, not an investment. You can't eat your living room."

^ Translation: He lives in a cardboard box under a bridge 2 blocks away from the burger king dumpster.

At 7% inflation, Rents will essentially double in 10 years. My mortgage payments stay the same. AND will eventually just go away.

Yes, we have had a large run up in real estate prices the past few years, and that rate of run up is not sustainable. But don't look for those prices to ever go DOWN. They may just not rise as fast going forward. If you are able, buy your house. Do not RENT. The difference in renters and owners when it comes to retirement is extremely significant .

Buying still costs more than renting in inflated areas. That money a renter doesn't pay, if he has it, can be used for a lot of things.

If you don't have it, then there is no choice anyway.

SJG

My wife and I agonize over this, our house will be paid off in less than 4 years, and we want to build again but cannot find a lot in an area we like. We also know it will be nice having no payment since we did a 15 year that was a pretty significant payment to race to get it paid off (plus save interest). We’ll probably just spend money saved upgrading the shit out of the house we live in now. I have an unfinished basement so we could do a lot down there.

I think it makes a huge difference how inflated the area you live in is.

Construction costs are pretty much the same everywhere.

And good farm land runs about $10k per acre. Not farmable land can be less than $500 acer.

But where I am land goes for $5.5meg per acre.

And then buying is a cheap as renting if mos to of the money is going to the building. LIke renting a car is very expensive.

But renting just land is real cheap because it is indestructible.

So rending makes sense in highly inflated areas, but not cheap areas.

And always, the place you live is for you to live, not an investment.

SJG

Gimme Shelter [Rolling Stones Cover] - Britny Lobas at The Roost Austin, Tx
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Buying a house is not a simple economic decision. From an economic standpoint, the stock market is nearly always a better return in the long run. And, maintaining a house is expensive and a lot of work.

The average price of homes must be correlated to the average income. But, over the short term, we get rapid price increases in desirable markets followed by the inevitable correction. It’s pretty clear we are on the cusp of that correction in the hottest markets, just like 2006.

But, there are lots of non-economic reasons that home ownership is a good decision. A sense of pride, stability, control, forced saving, and rootedness.

Last year at this time the area I live in was in the top 3 areas in the country in rising real estate values. I would never buy around here now. I would never pay anywhere near what it would cost to buy my house now. They will most likely go down in the future, but not by much. The economy around here is biomedical, medical and technology, so we'll survive the coming recession.

This is rare, but I agree with mark94 and skibum609

SJG

Gimme Shelter [Rolling Stones Cover] - Britny Lobas at The Roost Austin, Tx
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“Construction costs are pretty much the same everywhere.”

This is wrong, you can build a house in Texas for a fraction of the cost in the north east (just one example) and I’m not factoring in the cost of the lot.

“But don't look for those prices to ever go DOWN.“

From 2006 to 2008, the price of homes in Phoenix dropped 50%. It can happen, typically in the regions that have seen prices skyrocket recently.

I own my house! I live in da shit truck!!!

When you have worked a lifetime paying rent or buying a home, there is a great feeling of accomplishment when you finally have that deed. I now live in a 2 bedroom, 2 full bath home with 1547 sq ft. More than enough for me living alone. It is a senior citizen sub division. HOA costs are $150/yr and property taxes are less than $600/yr. I bought it 7 years ago and now its value has gone up 2 1/2 times but I'm not interested in selling. Where would I move to?

“From 2006 to 2008, the price of homes in Phoenix dropped 50%. It can happen, typically in the regions that have seen prices skyrocket recently.”

CRASH!!! I remember in 2008 I could buy a modest but new 2nd home in Floriduh near the beach for not much than an upscale car at the time. I wasn’t even 30 yet. It’s would have been a stretch but I could afford it, but I didn’t do it because I had just built my first home. Regret that decision to this day. Big mistake!!!

I bought my latest house at the bottom of the housing crisis. Its value has almost tripled since then. I paid cash. My property taxes have stayed low because their increase is limited to the rate of inflation. What this means is I can use my income for international travel and strippers.

The main point of the advice the intelligent folks are trying to impart to you younger people, rents will always rise, there are very few leases longer than a year anymore, if you purchase the cost of ownership will remain constant and steady, if you rent no matter how the economy is, your rent will increase every year when you renew your lease, with very few exceptions. Do what you like.

If you're not here already, just forget about moving to Florida.

msn.com

To add on to 25's points, don't make the mistake of thinking the cost of home ownership are 100% fixed either though. Here in Florida, insurance prices rise drastically. HoA fees can change significantly too. Taxes tend to be a slow, predictable increase every year. Then there's repairs/maintenance costs, at least if you want to actually get some of that appreciation people talk about.

I'm not advocating against home ownership, just pointing out it's not all gravy.

The cure for high prices is high prices. When something gets insanely expensive, supply goes up and demand goes down. Usually, this happens gradually, then suddenly. Right now, in housing, it’s happening gradually.

^ That's true, but an awful lot of fixed cost are baked in with ownership, and many of the variables can be mitigated with responsible maintenance, the most obvious difference is you control your own destiny, when you rent, you really are at the mercy of events you can't and don't control.
Listen I'm not saying home ownership is a perfect solution but I look around what's happening here in my own immediate neighborhood, last year you could rent a house here for about $2800 a month on a one year lease, right now, 5 of the seven homes that are rented here have the renters moving, I was told by both the owners and the renters that the homes have already been rented for over $4000 dollars monthly same annual lease,

Lease rates around here, assuming you can even find a vacant apartment, are in line with housing costs right now. renting isn't cheaper. Something will eventually happen to kill the housing market, just like the Mortgage crisis of the last decade and the Savings and Loan crisis of the late 80's, early 90's. My parents owned three homes. Their combined value was less than what I p[aid for my house, which has now tripled in value. The market is insane and insanity never lasts.

Maybe when modern day Hoovervilles start popping up all over the country something will change. Already happening in most major coastal cities, coming soon to middle America

When it comes to investing, the past does not predict the future. Smart Money magazine ( does that still exist ?) used to run an annual report on what funds to buy. They would look at the best performing funds from the prior year and recommend buying into those. Hilarious. But, less experienced investors believe this. Until they get burned a couple times.

We’ve now had a couple years of insane price rises. The lesson a lot of people learn is “ I better get on board this gravy train”. Those of us who owned houses in Texas and Arizona in the 80s and 2006 know better.

Nothing in life is linear. It tends to bounce around from overreaction to overreaction.

Everyone's time horizon is the variable, Tell me any of you folks who are so worried about what happened in Texas or Arizona do any of you happen to have the home you owned in the 80s or in 2006, is that home worth more than you would have lost, had you held on to that property until now..
Like I said time is the variable in any market, take stocks if you sold them at certain points in time, you would have made or lost money depending on that particular inflection point, that goes to the point you don't lose money, or make money, on any investment as long as you have it, that determination can only be made after its sold.Not saying you always make money holding for the long term, some times you need to take a loss to avoid a bigger loss, in the stock market true, but that's rarely the case with real estate.

If your only goal is to build wealth, then rent the cheapest, tiniest apartment, eat rice and beans, and invest your paycheck in the stock market. Over the long run, houses appreciate at 3% ( ignoring the cost of maintaining the house ) while stock appreciate at 10%.

But, sure, in ten years, your house will be worth more than it is now. You can brag about what a smart investment you made.

Owning a house has all sorts of psychic and social benefits. For most people, it makes sense. That’s the reason to buy a home, not because it’s the smartest investment decision.

Thank god I like the place that I bought 25 years ago (when south Florida still had some semblance of affordability) because I definitely can’t afford to move anywhere now. But when I bought my place, back in 1996 I thought the house was way overpriced. That sounds kind of funny now that the value has appreciated literally 10X.

I live in the same general metro area as Skibum.

I bought last year very close to where I rented, and my mortgage plus maintenance costs are substantially less than what my old apartment was renting for.

I predicted inflation. And the economy contracted in the last quarter. Fasten your seatbelts.

My house isn't an investment at all. It's where I live.

Exactly. I'm not going to sweat my balls off in a Phoenix 2-story that was literally framed out in 2 days, 30 years ago. I'll flip one off to someone dumb enough to live in one though. They end up paying less rent than in the apartment they came from, they think they're getting a good deal and everyone wins.

Most of us probably spend a lot of time in our car, where we live and on our mattress. If I was just trying to maximize wealth I'd be living in a van, but who the fuck wants to actually do that lol

Predict the phrase cash is king will be getting thrown out there a little more in the near future. With rates going higher along with the value of the US dollar, that makes it cheaper for us to do overseas business, and fill the void of demand from international markets, hopefully while we adjust the fed’s balance sheets. I know it gets political, but something’s we will be forced to handle collectively, and financial security may be the next war we get in front of proactively, considering what’s happening.

Just hypothetical discusion points, but aren’t they all?

So I’m in the camp if waiting and saving for a larger war chest in cash to keep the powder dry, at least more of cash than you currently have, whatever that amount is…

Americans are moving out of urban counties like never before
finance.yahoo.com

SJG

The Pretty Reckless - Take Me Down (Official Music Video)
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The School of Rock plays Gimme Shelter with Special guest star Orianthi
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^

サンノゼクリープ
San'nozekurīpu

lulz

*** SLAM DUNKED THAT FAGGOT THE San'nozekurīpu ***

I pick C, spend the money on strippers instead.

A house is not an investment.
It is a place where you find stability to eat, sleep, relax and poop in peace.

^ I agree with Candyman.

SJG