[zx10guy]

Not sure how prevalent this is around the country. My beach/vacation home is a single family detached but is classified as a condo. This house works well for my lifestyle and use. The condo fees I pay cover trash, lawn/landscape maintenance, and anything exterior related. I've had some exterior repair items on my house which I had the property management company take care of. So I only carry insurance on the house from the walls in. This arrangement is nice as I just show up to my house and don't have to do anything on the outside. Well, I do have to do some weeding as I have a paver patio where some grass and weeds have grown between the pavers.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by AlpineWhite_SJ

IT sales can be rough and extremely political based on who is leadership. I did sales/marketing/channel ops for most of my post-college career and it's extremely company dependent on how they handle remote workers. Always good to have some HQ people you trust keep a pulse on how things are going at the factory.

PS - In the Bay Area where a lot of firms are located, the move to remote is largely viewed as necessary and sustainable for the next 1-2 years. Some companies have done work from home indefinitely, others have said definitely through calendar year or two. Just so you have a feel for things around here if your company is based here.

While I'm on the sales side, I'm technically focused. The company I worked for 2 employers ago did not see me as that. They viewed everyone along the sales chain to include the onsite engineers as sales people first and foremost. While I was very successful with my clients/customers and was able to exceed my sales quotas on a consistent basis, the culture there didn't care that my success was centered around my ability to be very technical and relate to the customer on that level.

My previous employer was better but still not the best in terms of fostering an environment for technically focused sales engineers. My current company on the other hand is my current panacea. They value technical people and have built their sales model around ensuring there is a significant amount of technical prowess. Where as the other two employers were top heavy with account executives, it's actually reversed with my current employer. One of the big differences is that the prior to employers are publicly traded. My current employer is not and is actually larger than my previous employer in both physical foot print and annual revenue by a large margin. It's also no coincidence my current employer has consistently made the Fortune 100 best companies to work for.

[zx10guy]

I said this before when the topic of looking at the home you live in as an investment. It's interesting this standard is applied to a place you have to live in. But it's not applied to the next biggest expenditure a person can make....their cars. People will have no problem dropping mid to high 5 figures on a product which will depreciate and they'll have to replace after a few years if they don't get tired of the car before then.

[Mardio]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

I will never not own a house again. I enjoy customizing stuff and I actually enjoy yard work as well. I don't plan on seeing even 10% appreciation on my house as my area doesn't really have that dumb shit happen here, houses are still really affordable, probably because land is also plentiful.

I've never heard appreciation on a home being called "dumb shit", well that's a first.

[Zara]

I think that renting is good for people who don't like being confined to one spot for a long time, but me personally I don't see the point of throwing away money on rent when you can be paying off your own mortgage. In the end just sell the place or rent it out if allowed.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by King Rudi

I bought my home 6 years ago in May. I do enjoy living in my home, but if I had to do it over again; I would have bought a condo. Although I do have a girlfriend and it seems as if it's more work than a marriage most days, I live alone and work 50-55 hours/week. Add gym time, girlfriend time and work that needs to be done around the house just to maintain....there simply aren't enough hours in the day for it all. I'm seriously considering selling my home and getting a condo. I despise only having 2 days off a week and those 2 days are spent doing home repairs, gardening, landscaping etc. Would be different if I spent more time at home to actually enjoy my home; but technically it's nothing more than a box to keep my stuff and where I go to sleep, shower and change clothes. In order to be in the place I am, it requires sacrifice; that sacrifice is sleep and constantly rushing from one thing to the next just to get it all done everyday. There is no time for relaxation or to even sit down for a bit. My friends and I have all agreed for years, home ownership is not what it's cracked up to be. I did pay cash for my home. If I had to finance, I would just rent and let the owner deal with the headaches. I still feel like the "American Dream" (go to school, make good grades, go to college, get a degree, get married, buy a house, have kids, etc.) we were sold years ago is bullshit. In my experience, the grass is greener on the other side, but once you see how much dedication goes into making said lawn as green as possible, unless you have the time to devote, it doesn't stay green long.....and if you work and have a personal life, you don't have the time.



This.

On the yard work/landscaping, I had to suck it up and pay a landscaper to clean up my yard this year. I had doing yard work with a passion. Not only because I don't care to do the work, but I have allergies.

On the home maintenance/repairs front, I've managed to keep that sane by buying new construction. All of my homes so far have been new construction. My primary home has allowed me to escape any major repairs/maintenance till recently having been built in 2001. I know I'm staring at replacing the roof and the HVAC soon. Just did the hot water heater.

In my other reply, my vacation home is classed as a condo so all the exterior maintenance is taken care of by the property management company. This house was also bought new construction and was built in 2012. I've had some annoying things come up which I fixed myself but overall, no major issues to deal with. In some ways, this house is built better than my primary home even though they're both from the same builder. So I expect the same if not better history.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by JustinHEMI

I own my home but I hate being a homeowner. I hate maintenance, lawn care, etc.

I was brought up by parents who refused to spend a dime to use local "trade" workers for anything. I can do carpentry, electrical, repair a furnace/boiler, plumbing, landscaping, pour concrete, and helped lay a foundation over a weekend once. Heck, I did a DIY central AC install two years ago!

When we bought our house, I carried that same mindset for the first 10 years. Then, I realized that I had become a "house hostage" with an insane routine maintenance list. It took a 7-week hospital stay to make me wake up and realize that paying local "trade" people is not a bad thing! This is our second year paying a local small business landscaper to take care of the lawn, and three years of paying a self-employed neighbor to plow the snow. Guess what? The world didn't tilt on its axis, and the sun didn't supernova!

Our copper pipes are being eaten alive by the clear liquid that comes out of our well, and I *really* want to yank all of the copper out (for scrap) and install PEX everywhere...with plastic fittings and a centralized plastic distribution manifold with individual per-fixture shutoff valves. Not being able to physically do that kind of work any more, I asked my DW to check around the local trade web services and get me a quote to shotgun replace the whole house in one shot. We live in a small, one floor house with basement access, and I am at the age where writing the check is much easier than doing the work myself.....

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Guess what? The world didn't tilt on its axis, and the sun didn't supernova!

Yeah, but murder hornets and flying snakes

[thez99]

I’ve owned my own places since I was in my early twenties, yes I had a bit of help from my parents early on but yes, gaining a good footing on real estate is a work-your-way-up kind of process unless your fuck ugly rich and can automatically afford a rich house. I started with a 2 bed condo with no yard at $86k, then to a townhome 3 bed at $135, then to a 3 bed house right outside raleigh, then to a nice 3 bed for $180. Timing was around 2-3 years at each but each property appreciated a certain amount. I never sold at a loss by any means, and honestly if your stupid enough to buy and then sell at a loss then you belong in an apartment full time anyhow. Real estate is an investment solely because you have the opportunity to make the value grow or decline based on how you take care of it and improve. You can’t expect just automatic massive equity profits in a home unless you say bought a home in an area right at the beginning of a planned urban setting that later became very popular and you sold later on for a great profit. My house somewhat had this in raleigh because of its location etc. but I wouldn’t move back there.

We’re moving to asheville currently where the cost of living is generally higher but we will have an apartment for the first time in almost 2 decades. Mainly because we want to be sure the move is good for us and also because we’d like to purchase land and build after versus buying another home

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by Mardio

I've never heard appreciation on a home being called "dumb shit", well that's a first.

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/18/78926...housing-crunch

https://yr.media/news/californias-ho...oung-teachers/

Just the first results, but not isolated to teachers and students/TAs. If you think ridiculous appreciation is a good thing you must just already own and not be looking to buy.

Pretty sure I have heard it called dumb shit in Canada as well where the government has even stepped in to quell the ridiculous increase spurred by international investors that do not even live in the properties they are buying.

[Colodano]

Since I split with my wife, I rent, but would like to own again.

The idea of homeowners taking pride and care in properties versus tenants is very valid, and part of why I would rather own.

Personally, I would prefer to be paying into something that I will "own" as opposed to paying the rent to someone else, or a company, that is making a profit on what I pay. Yes, you do have maintenance costs as things wear out, but that is just built into what you are paying someone else as well.

I do like to do handy tasks, yard work etc, and that is something that I want to spend my time doing, but if it isn't your thing, easy to buy a condo or apartment instead.

The idea of looking at owning a home vs the investment idea, is honestly a bit baffling to me. From how I see it, you are always going to need a place to live, so that monthly cost is going to either be a rent payment, or mortgage payment. If you rent, it is gone...forever... But if you buy, you are paying into something that you will either own outright at some point, aside from prop. taxes, or you can sell it and hopefully make money on it. Yes, the down payment might be able to make you some money if invested differently, but enough to cover all that rent that is going into someone else's pocket as well?

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

Yeah, but murder hornets and flying snakes

Well they better watch out for my demon boston terrier mix, spawn of satan himself.

I'm glad I bought my house, even though I had to replace the AC and the roof (everything else is minor stuff) over the past 9 years, I'm still up over $150k (accounting for the repairs) if I were to sell it. Even if I wasn't though I enjoy upgrading and "customizing" the house to make it my own, which I'm guessing is not something you would do in a rental. In addition it's almost paid off (would of paid it off this year, but hoarding cash instead) which would then make one less thing to worry about.

I guess I just like knowing if the shit hits the fan I don't have to worry about shit. My house is paid, cars are paid etc. That being said this is not CA and my house doesn't cost a million dollars sooooo.... not sure what I would do if I lived somewhere where a basic townhouse was $800k. Probably move.

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by Colodano

Since I split with my wife, I rent, but would like to own again.

did you have to sell your M?

[Colodano]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

did you have to sell your M?

Nope, still have her. Did sell my Subaru and Truck though.

[BimmerDimmer6]

Originally Posted by Colodano

Nope, still have her. Did sell my Subaru and Truck though.

Poor subie. Was cross trek?

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by Colodano

Nope, still have her. Did sell my Subaru and Truck though.

sold two of my vehicles as well

[SSW]

One reason for buying a house (instead of renting) and carrying a mortgage (that you can afford) and making the payments on time (of course) is that it can increase your credit score over time (after an initial credit score hit).

See: https://www.investopedia.com/article...dit-scores.asp

Buying can also be less costly (after taking into account the tax benefits) and there are the intangible benefits of just owning your own home and being able to do w/it pretty much whatever you like (w/in the limits of zoning laws and any HOA restrictions).

Just depends on your specific financial situation and desires but given the very high cost of renting in the Bay Area and the historically low mortgage rates, this is one of the best times to evaluate whether it is better for you to buy instead of rent.

[Colodano]

Originally Posted by BimmerDimmer6

Poor subie. Was cross trek?

Nope, and old bugeye WRX. Had it for 12 years and 150K miles, driven all around the US and Canada, went through many modification stages, did track days and rally school in it, all kinds of fun. Guy that bought it from me blew the engine two months later, which sort of surprised me, as it had a super solid tune on it, but he admitted he was hooning it.

[KenB925]

Originally Posted by SSW

One reason for buying a house (instead of renting) and carrying a mortgage (that you can afford) and making the payments on time (of course) is that it can increase your credit score over time (after an initial credit score hit).

See: https://www.investopedia.com/article...dit-scores.asp

Buying can also be less costly (after taking into account the tax benefits) and there are the intangible benefits of just owning your own home and being able to do w/it pretty much whatever you like (w/in the limits of zoning laws and any HOA restrictions).

Just depends on your specific financial situation and desires but given the very high cost of renting in the Bay Area and the historically low mortgage rates, this is one of the best times to evaluate whether it is better for you to buy instead of rent.

Indeed, and your mortgage locks in you monthly payment.

I bought a fixer (not something I want to do again) in 2003, I have not pulled out much money (a little bit to help with a down payment on another house). You couldn't rent a 1 bedroom apartment in my town for what my mortgage is.

Unfortunately my wife is hellbent on moving, and this house is now way too high maintenance to keep as a rental (hardwood floors, pool, outdoor kitchen etc).

[PoorLurker]

I don't think you mentioned your lifestyle and where you are with that. If you could float it, I'd live in a the most affordable place you can rent while purchasing an investment property.

I know a girl who bought a place right after college. She had a 3bd/3ba place and rented the other two rooms to friends. She had one room that was a revolving door for friends who were moving to the area for jobs. I think a total of 5 different friends lived in that room during her ownership. The other room was rented to someone who is her closest friend. (Funny side note: that person also owned a condo and rented it out while living with her)

For years she was able to collect about $1500/mo (total) from her friends.

It could be risky being that she was new to her career but it paid off.

Personally, young single people should enjoy the flexibility that renting provides. Find yourself and find what matters to you while having an investment property.

Second story:
My dad said he will never own a house again in his life. Though he is super handy and even added a second story to his house completely himself he found comfort in being able to call the front desk for repairs. Each year he would move somewhere new within the greater LA area (from downtown to Santa Monica, Venice, Redondo)

In terms of "financial loss" that comes with not owning real estate and renting, he looked to receive retirement in other means. After he retired, he has been living abroad for the past couple of years prior to covid. When his visa was not renewed and he could not go to his new destination he had to "settle" in St. Thomas and spends his days scuba diving.


Many ways to skin a cat and a lot depends on how much risk you are willing to take, financial security, stable job, income, etc.

I have a friend who has been able to increase his level of risk because he knows his family situation/finances will not become impacted because his "get out of jail free" card would be his parents.

[PoorLurker]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/18/78926...housing-crunch

https://yr.media/news/californias-ho...oung-teachers/

Just the first results, but not isolated to teachers and students/TAs. If you think ridiculous appreciation is a good thing you must just already own and not be looking to buy.

Yea - being a teacher in SF/Oakland seems like an unwise thing to do unless you have family money or a partner who can help increase household income. That rent is ridiculous!

Originally Posted by KenB925

Indeed, and your mortgage locks in you monthly payment.

I bought a fixer (not something I want to do again) in 2003, I have not pulled out much money (a little bit to help with a down payment on another house). You couldn't rent a 1 bedroom apartment in my town for what my mortgage is.

Unfortunately my wife is hellbent on moving, and this house is now way too high maintenance to keep as a rental (hardwood floors, pool, outdoor kitchen etc).

Bad thing about moving up is the increased cost of property taxes. Even if you carry equity from one home to another, you are still faced with a large increase in property taxes.

A friend I know just had a house in his neighborhood close escrow that increased his networth by a couple hundred thousand practically overnight. If my friend sold his house to "cash out" took that equity and applied it to a new house, he'd basically be paying 1% of that $200k per year in taxes. So he just added nearly $200/mo to his debt for...the....rest...of...his....life (or until he sold)

Yes- the $200k nicer house may appreciate more but there are always many variables to look at

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

Yea - being a teacher in SF/Oakland seems like an unwise thing to do unless you have family money or a partner who can help increase household income. That rent is ridiculous!





Bad thing about moving up is the increased cost of property taxes. Even if you carry equity from one home to another, you are still faced with a large increase in property taxes.

A friend I know just had a house in his neighborhood close escrow that increased his networth by a couple hundred thousand practically overnight. If my friend sold his house to "cash out" took that equity and applied it to a new house, he'd basically be paying 1% of that $200k per year in taxes. So he just added nearly $200/mo to his debt for...the....rest...of...his....life (or until he sold)

Yes- the $200k nicer house may appreciate more but there are always many variables to look at

There were stories of homeowners around the DC Metro area that got hit with the very thing you're talking about with property taxes during the first housing boom. The timing of their county to reassess the property valued happened right at that moment. Many of the homeowners found that they couldn't afford their homes overnight due to the explosion of assess value of their homes from the market frenzy.

I seem to recall because of this many of the local municipalities implemented changes to cushion the shock in future reassessments.