"victor" wrote in message
news
Ok, ok, ok. My friends and family keep nagging at me to stop renting
and buy a house. I'm so sick of them droning on about points-this and
closing costs-that. But the more I think about, the less sense it seems
to make for me. Here's why:

1. "You'll save a fortune on taxes." True. But the property taxes
will pretty much cancel out any savings you got on the income taxes.

You're indirectly paying for property taxes when you rent. The cost is
included in the rent, where it's non-deductible on your Federal tax return.
There's at least the possibility that you'll be able to deduct property
taxes on your return if you buy.

2. "You're throwing rent money down the toilet." True. In all
likelihood, your mortgage payment will be twice your rent.

That depends on what you buy and what you were renting. In my personal
experience, the mortgage payment - principle, interest, taxes, insurance,
and PMI - totalled less over the ten years I was in that house than the
total rent over those then years would have been had I stayed in my last
apartment. And that was before taking tax effects into account. And when I
sold the place and paid everything off, I got all of that money back.

By the time
you pay it off, you'll be drinking Ensure, wearing Depends, and too old
to maintain the house. Then you'll be wanting to move back to ... AN
APARTMENT! By that time, an assisted living apartment.

If you're lucky, you'll live long enough to be drinking Ensure and wear
Depends whether you buy or rent. If you bought, at that time you can sell
the place and use the proceeds to finance that assisted living apartment.
If you rent, you're going to have to save up that money in addition to your
rent.

And let's be
realistic. You're NOT going to be like those power couples in Money
magazine who claim they're going to pay off the mortgage in 5 years and
retire in 10. Yeah, right.

Probably not. But I don't see how that leaves you any worse off than if you
rent, where you'll be making those monthly payments for the rest of your
life.

3. "It's one of the few things you buy that appreciate in value."
Assuming that you find someone who is willing to pay your inflated
selling price. Assuming that the neighborhood doesn't go down the
tubes. Assuming that the new house you buy will end costing as much as
you think it's going to (not!). Too many assumptions.

If you buy and some years later you decide to sell, you generally get at
least some of your money back. Not always, granted. But in a statistical
sense, residential real estate is the second soundest investment in America.
The first is stocks.

4. Maintenance. I'm lucky if I have time to clean my apartment, let
alone a house. I've worked customer service for plumbing, HVAC, and
home maintenance companies before, and I hear how much people pay for
this stuff. In an apartment, it's all FREE.

NOTHING is free - the price is included in your rent.

In the end, I suppose it's a matter of personal preference. But I do
wish my home-owning friends would cut out the holier-than-thou attitude.

Practice what you preach.