Is renting Forever Okay?

[Vinyl Deficit]

give me a scenario where renting is better than buying - over an extended period of time- 5 year plus

Renting is cool because you're not responsible for repairs and such. So assuming you have a good landlord/property management company, it's not such a bad idea. I own, but it'd be nice if when something went wrong I could just call and have it fixed.

Also depends on your age. If you buy a house when you're in your 40's, it's unlikely you'll get it payed off in a timely manner, IMO.

[mhd]

give me a scenario where renting is better than buying - over an extended period of time- 5 year plus

since i gotta run, i'll answer myself, renting may be better if somebody else is paying the bill, like your company, and your dollars are going for higher yielding investments, but, even then, you gotta compare what your roi is on a purchase versus corp housing.

[mhd]

Renting is cool because you're not responsible for repairs and such. So assuming you have a good landlord/property management company, it's not such a bad idea. I own, but it'd be nice if when something went wrong I could just call and have it fixed.

Also depends on your age. If you buy a house when you're in your 40's, it's unlikely you'll get it payed off in a timely manner, IMO.

sorry, but age has nothing to do with it, at least not in the way you present it

[DaveR]

give me a scenario where renting is better than buying - over an extended period of time- 5 year plus

why?

[Fletch]

A personal perspective (It's only my perspective, so.....)

I was in a rent stabilized studio in Park Slope Brooklyn, at $750/month. Landlord says that his tax benefits due to rent stabilization are running out, enabling him to go market rate. I could've fought his market increase, but after 15 years in that smallhole, it was time to pursue homeownership. I did, and so far so good.

I went back to the Slope recently. I found out that my old studio went from $750........to $1300/month! My mortgage + common charges are lower than that, with a much larger spot!

Like I said, it's my personal perspective, and not everyone will have the same scenario.

[travy]

prices will drop 20-40% over the next year so renting isn't such a bad idea in the short term. good deals will start popping up but loans will be harder to get. i'd spend the next 6-9 months saving for the down payment and getting your ducks in a row for the loan process...

[Chuck P]

IMHO there is no comparison to owning versus renting....homeownership for the most part is one of the most sound investments you could ever get into.....

Renters take there money and give it to someone else.....owners are creating a safe shelter for their money that they can/will receive at any time not to mention the equity that could be acquired from purchasing in a good area.......

The benefits of ownership far out way those of renting, it's not even close......

[mhd]

prices will drop 20-40% over the next year so renting isn't such a bad idea in the short term. good deals will start popping up but loans will be harder to get. i'd spend the next 6-9 months saving for the down payment and getting your ducks in a row for the loan process...

bad advice, nah, terrible advice

[travy]

bad advice, nah, terrible advice

really? not for ny'ers who are admittedly a little behind the nation...

[Phyllis Hyman Cherry]

Well for me i don't need a house per se.Im looking into Condo's and Coop's,Which is like home ownership in a way i guess.Ill have like $15,000 to work with hopefully that can be a decent downpayment.

[Vinyl Deficit]

sorry, but age has nothing to do with it, at least not in the way you present it

I figure; Why buy if you probably won't get it payed off. It's the same thing. Plus you have all the added responsability when owning. Owning does afford you some freedoms. Like remodeling and making a place look like you want. Just is the way I see it.

[Armento]

I figure; Why buy if you probably won't get it payed off. It's the same thing. Plus you have all the added responsability when owning. Owning does afford you some freedoms. Like remodeling and making a place look like you want. Just is the way I see it.

The correct way to do this is with serious financial analysis. If this expense is 1/3 or lower of your monthly salary then you should have money to overpay your mortgage, significantly speeding up the payoff.

[House]

completely disagree (big surprise) just about everything you said is flawed, "slow appreciation"?
"money saved by renting over buying" - huh?

money saved by renting over buying =
taxes
insurance
utilities
maintenance
pmi

if you dont spend on those costs (many of which are fixed) you can save that money in an interest bearing instrument

secondly, home values have not appreciated so quickly as to make them a better investment than stocks over the past 20 years

you dont have to agree or disagree with me..look it up, the facts are out there

[mhd]

really? not for ny'ers who are admittedly a little behind the nation...

by your own statement, deals will get better but money will get harder, if that is true you should buy now while deals are good and money is easy, esp in nyc, imo

[travy]

buying at the peak of a bubble is never a good idea:


http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/06/real...tune/index.htm

http://online.wsj.com/public/article....html?mod=blog

http://www.nysun.com/article/67221

[Vinyl Deficit]

you should have money to overpay your mortgage, significantly speeding up the payoff.

That's a novel thought. The economy isn't set up for people like me to get ahead

[travy]

by your own statement, deals will get better but money will get harder, if that is true you should buy now while deals are good and money is easy, esp in nyc, imo

the market is artificially high and jumping on that $450K studio in bed-stuy isn't too smart considering you can probably pick it up for half that in a year...

[Chuck P]

money saved by renting over buying =
taxes
insurance
utilities
maintenance
pmi

if you dont spend on those costs (many of which are fixed) you can save that money in an interest bearing instrument

secondly, home values have not appreciated so quickly as to make them a better investment than stocks over the past 20 years

you dont have to agree or disagree with me..look it up, the facts are out there

What about the long term stability of ownership and the financial offspring that could occur because of it.......

Even in the current market, home ownership is still a sound investment even though there are vices out there were you could receive a bigger return on your money, the risk may be greater as well.....

[DJ Loka]

A personal perspective (It's only my perspective, so.....)

I was in a rent stabilized studio in Park Slope Brooklyn, at $750/month. Landlord says that his tax benefits due to rent stabilization are running out, enabling him to go market rate. I could've fought his market increase, but after 15 years in that smallhole, it was time to pursue homeownership. I did, and so far so good.

I went back to the Slope recently. I found out that my old studio went from $750........to $1300/month! My mortgage + common charges are lower than that, with a much larger spot!

Like I said, it's my personal perspective, and not everyone will have the same scenario.

did you know that the benefits if rent stabilization run out ONLY if you make 200k/yr or more? if you make under that they have to keep you 4-6% rent stabilized increases even if you hit the $2000 mark in rent.

i'm in a scuffle now that necessitated a years worth of research investigation into all this stuff in nyc.

[House]

without that qualifier the statement is flawed, having said that, renting can also be more expensive, or the same, but in all scenarios, rent does not yield a return on investment

if you had read the link i posted this would have been obvious

especially when looking at the data points along the curves, which show the yearly savings along the curve

Colin Powell strikes again

[mhd]

money saved by renting over buying =
taxes
insurance
utilities
maintenance
pmi

if you dont spend on those costs (many of which are fixed) you can save that money in an interest bearing instrument

secondly, home values have not appreciated so quickly as to make them a better investment than stocks over the past 20 years

you dont have to agree or disagree with me..look it up, the facts are out there

great points, but, if a consumer is savvy enough to do such an analysis wouldn't they be savvy enough to find a homeowning scenario that works better than a renting one?

without researching it, i will also challenge your comment about stocks versus real estate, but you gotta factor out the tech boom, obviously you gonna come back with averages, and i'll counter with exceptions, but from 1987 - 2007 i would go with real estate, but energy and tech stocks will prolly skew average returns towards stocks

[ebot9000]

the market is artificially high and jumping on that $450K studio in bed-stuy isn't too smart considering you can probably pick it up for half that in a year...

It's funny, this conversation came up a couple months ago when shit was starting to hit the fan, with some folks on here in the nyc realtor biz. They were of the opinion that deflation wouldn't hit NYC, but I think it will at least to some extent, dunno about a 50% drop or anything, but things have seemed a little out of proportion over the past couple years. Are opinions changing?

Have prices dropped at all in nyc? Any new outlooks for new york? I really don't know, I'm curious if this shit has penetrated the nyc low supply market, or if it maintained its value.

[mhd]

if you had read the link i posted this would have been obvious

especially when looking at the data points along the curves, which show the yearly savings along the curve

Colin Powell strikes again

lol, man, i got my coat on

[mhd]

the market is artificially high and jumping on that $450K studio in bed-stuy isn't too smart considering you can probably pick it up for half that in a year...

you are predicting that nyc real estate will go down by 40-50%?

[House]

What about the long term stability of ownership and the financial offspring that could occur because of it.......

Even in the current market, home ownership is still a sound investment even though there are vices out there were you could receive a bigger return on your money, the risk may be greater as well.....

as DR wrote it depends on the person

I've owned (twice) and rented (as well as currently owning acreage). As I live alone and dont need the added expense of a home I can take all the money i'm saving on a home ( currently close to 2100/month) and place that in a high yeild financial instrument. This means I'm putting 24K yearly into investments with an average return of 8% compounded yearly. The housing market currently dropping at the rate of 10% in most places (except NYC).

Is home ownership great - yes. But not for the reasons cayts are trying to put forward. the fact of the matter is that the home in whic you live is a mediocre investment device even in the best of times. However, it is a source of stability for many