opinion, renting, USA

Ye’ olde rent vs. buy argument

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39 Comments

Donald pointed out this discussion over at the SeattleBubble blog about 10 reasons NOT to buy a home:

  1. Renters don’t have to fix leaky plumbing, pay for a new roof, or buy major appliances.
  2. The moment you sign the closing papers, you lose ~10% of your home’s value.
  3. Better job offer in another city? Hope you can afford to sell…
  4. Lousy neighbors move in next door? Too bad, you’re basically stuck!
  5. Your down payment and equity are anything but liquid.

Read the rest of the list at SeattleBubble.com.  One interesting thing to consider is this list is based on a theoretical situation where home prices are at reasonable levels and supported by local economic fundamentals.  In a hot housing market where prices only go up and people fight for the right to overbid on a teardown in a bad neighborhood it’s always a good idea to buy instead of rent.  Always.

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Immigration Adviser Rochester

This is my first time pay a quick visit at here and i am really
impressed to read everthing at alone place.

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Jacey

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Janess

auto insurance >:-] auto insurance quote wtsnek

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Magdelina

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Jorge

if i had a reward card with a 15k limit then sntiyag under 30% every month should be fine. but right now i can easily go over the 30% and even max it out every month but still pay the full balance but by doing so will hurt my credit. its easy to say just request a higher credit limit but that takes time to build up with a new CC. how can i keep using my reward card to the fullest without hurting my credit?

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fixie guy

32 oneangryslav2 Says: “… he wrote that Vancouver that was destroyed by real estate.”

Garth hasn’t anything yet. Watch what happens when the bottom cards are kicked out.

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Anonymous

The big question: What to pay first? Mortgage, kids’ education or retirement?

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/mortgages/question+What+first+Mortgage+kids+education+retirement/6420728/story.html

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oneangryslav2

@patriotz: Amen, brother patriotz! As a native Vancouverite (who is in his early 40s), my angst over the bubble here in Lotus Land is not because I can’t (i.e., wont) own real estate in my hometown, but because of the ancillary negatives of the bubble. Garth Turner, (whom I read but of whom I am certainly no acolyte) said it well a couple of days ago, when he wrote that Vancouver that was destroyed by real estate.

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zrh2yvr

Well – – I will say that I find Ian Watt (at least recently) has been pretty straight forward with what’s happening. In the past year he was pretty clear to people that flipping was over. Now he is talking about the great “standoff”. This is what precedes a fall in prices. His blog is good to hear because at least he is an insider in the industry and he is stating straight up facts with some decent commentary. . .

Well – – I just saw that there are no stats today. So – get the recalc on the projections now to only include 19 market days this month.

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jesse

@Apocarypse Mao: Ian calls the “standoff” between buyers and sellers. Do you know what would suck, like really… suck… is if buyers stopped buying even more.

Watt’s calling it: prices are unlikely to rise much from here for the rest of the year unless sales pick up big time. Here’s a sneak peak: inventory leads, prices lag.

Where would we be without Ian Watt? Our lives would truly be less enriched.

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Apocarypse Mao

Ian Watt is noticing sales down in downtown:
“Downtown Vancouver Condo Sales Down Almost 25% in 2012”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdtxhzy0Iy8&feature=plcp&context=C4ad25f2VDvjVQa1PpcFPzPG4HEy27ghs2V8lcIxuEP75ysfg4u74%3D

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Patiently Waiting

A for-profit business creating jobs in Vancouver? Imagine the horrors of it happening in the backyards of our idle rich.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Casa+Vancouver+residents+fight+plan+turn+historic+mansion+into+seniors/6432092/story.html

Lovely old building, btw, soon to be enjoyed by many more people.

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Bob Arctor

Could we go back to hiding comments voted down past -10?

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YLTN @ Work

@AlmostPerfect: you’ll be distressed buying a SFH with strata fees!!,WTF? Your responsible for alll your own maintenemce and 200+/month strata…forever?

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Patiently Waiting

@jojojo: BTW I’m fairly certain Chris Bryan is a homeowner because he wrote about becoming one a little while back. Like a couple years ago, IIRC.

So he might be legitmately screwed if he doesn’t soon sell the cubbyhole condo he probably bought. I suspect his newfound angst is due to being stuck on the bottom rung of the property ladder. Probably like many in his age group.

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patriotz

@jojojo:
There’s a LOT more to it than just house prices.

The real problem is that Vancouver, which used to be a city that earned an honest living, has now become a cheap hustler. RE speculation, Asian money, and drug trafficking are all facets of the same problem.

No Canadian city has gone downhill over the last generation like Vancouver.

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jumpin in

Great series of recent articles:
http://canadabubble.com/

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jojojo

@Patiently Waiting Says: April 9th, 2012 at 10:27 am “Dear Vancouver, We’ve known each more than 40 years, yet I feel we’ve grown apart. I don’t know when it happened. It started out so well.” http://www.newwestnewsleader.com/opinion/141972533.html Almost sounds like he’s ready to leave.” I loathe these kinds of articles with a passion. They’re so self-centred and display far too much drama queenery. What city HASN’T changed almost beyond recognition in the last 40 years – his initial timeframe – or even the last 25 or so years (since Expo, which he identifies as the start)? Yes, houses are expensive right now. In future they will not be so expensive. This guy and many others (me included) just happened to reach house buying age during the biggest housing bubble ever. That sucks. Stuff happens to many people at many different times… Read more »

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Bob

I gauge the local RE market as proportional to the FORECLOSURES on VCI postings …+/- the basement suite dweller factor.

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Extremely rich,confident and proud, Van house owner.

@cico:
Yeah, Bear will be so dissapointed that the expected downturn will not materialized in 3033,so mass self-extermination will be common in bear camp while the bull camp prospers to fullest extent of their wallets can contain.Cheer summer will a good yr again

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cico

@interesting: are you suggesting more suicides to come?

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jumpin in

Regarding rent versus buy:

I really like the simulator inside the MLS robot.
The robot saves me a huge time (no need to search the MLS any more) and to organize my preferences,
follow some properties, and access some extra info.

I registered through Gina http://www.ginarossi.ca/robot-mls/
and I have been happy so far.

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N

@patriotz:

I see. Thanks. I did, in fact, never think of it like that.

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PRC

Murder/suicide came after man lost $200,000 at casinos Richmond Review 3/4/12

http://www.richmondreview.com/news/145986045.html

_________

No loss there….

Our pathetic justice system failed to take care of them on their “controlled substance” charges (aka grow ops)

So karma stepped in and took them out….

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