What if we just rent for the long haul...

[Anonymous]

We recently moved from NYC (renters) to a pricey suburb in a large city (not DC) where there is NO inventory. The homes that are even on the market are overpriced and/or need so much work/something wrong with them (no garage, busy street, etc).

We are currently renting a SFH while we save more money for a down payment. DH just said to me, what if we just rent for the long haul and ride out the market as long as we can? It just seems like renting in our area is looked down upon... do I just need to get over that? We are trying to make some friends out here, but the people we meet seem very into where we are looking to buy, who our realtor is, etc.

Why is renting so frowned upon?? Maybe we just need to make new friends?

[Anonymous]

We just sold our house and are renting. I'm just trying to catch my breath but I hope to be renting for a few years. I honestly have no desire to try to own a home in FfxCty anytime soon... couldn't afford my current neighborhood even if we did want to buy. It's crazy

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong with it except, you’re right, there’s an irrational stigma. You also need to adjust your retirement savings rates accordingly. You have to account for the fact that you have no equity, and no path to a owning your residence outright.

So if a mortgage means that you would have a $600k house in 10 years, or 20 years, then you need an $600k or $700k invested, beyond retirement savings, where the returns can pay your rent for you.

[Anonymous]

You might need new friends but it's also possible that the tight real estate market is the only "news" where you are. Talking about real estate can be like talking about the weather.

A nice thing about renting is you can move near your preferred school as your kid grows or as you realize they need something different.

[Anonymous]

People put a lot of meaning into growing equity through owning. My family has owed three homes in last 15 years. I did the math and had we just rented same place and put the difference in money - down payment and extra if took to own- into market, we would have a lot more money than we do now. All homes ended up being headache if you asked me.
We didn't overpay any of them, but just simply owning a home costs a lot.
We sold all three, got the equity out and it doubled in this market in two years. It is still going up. The homes would have never appreciated like that. They were not assets.
Most people know real estate, but they don't know anything about market. Being in the market taught me a lot more than owning real estate.
I make $13k to $20k a day easily on the money I have in the market. People still keep asking me when am I ready to buy. No time soon or even never. Seeing the markets move up so fast is more exciting that owning a home. I also love my rental. My landlord is awesome. But also, like PP, mentioned, I can move right next door to the middle school and three years after that, right next door to child's high school.
I got to be crazy to take out cash right now from the market and buy a home with those interest rates.
You have to do the math to see it.
I did get a finance degree, but most of what I know about markets, came from being in the market hands on the last four years.

[Anonymous]

Because we made $50,000 in about 5 years after selling our last house.


Because rent continues to go up with inflation, while our mortgage says the same.


Yes, some houses are bad buys if you need to sell quickly. But if you’re going to be putting down roots, buying offers some big advantages.

[Anonymous]

I have a renter on block and it is a house with $5,000 a month rent. I do know no one talks to them. I think reason is been a rental like 50 years and every three years or so new tenants. Kinda pointless getting to know who ever rents. Rest of block people stay for decades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a renter on block and it is a house with $5,000 a month rent. I do know no one talks to them. I think reason is been a rental like 50 years and every three years or so new tenants. Kinda pointless getting to know who ever rents. Rest of block people stay for decades

This. People were horrible when we rented even when we were paying over 4k a month. I lasted two years and bought (in a different area but nearby). People are sooooooo much kinder.

[Anonymous]

I have a renter on block and it is a house with $5,000 a month rent. I do know no one talks to them. I think reason is been a rental like 50 years and every three years or so new tenants. Kinda pointless getting to know who ever rents. Rest of block people stay for decades

Terrible. Really gives you a dim view of humanity.

[Anonymous]

We are renting an apartment for the long haul. We also own a townhouse that we don’t live in because it’s far away. We rent it out.

I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I’m just navigating this crazy market as best I can.

[Anonymous]

I think it's fine but I am happy with the stability of owning (and at this point the lack of a mortgage vs the possibility of rent increases).

My MIL was renting in retirement but at one point a LL decided to let her daughter live in the house so she ended up buying a place just to avoid the hassle/uncertainty of rent increases and being kicked out for the LL's convenience.

[Anonymous]

Renting is the financially better option right now. People with 30 year mortgages aren't building any meaningful equity, and if you pay cash, you're foregoing easy 5.5% interest in a money market account.

Barring any big changes in the market, we are planning to sell our townhouse next spring, and return to renting in a different area. We just can't make the numbers work on buying, no matter how hard we try. But everything goes in cycles, so when this bubble passes, we'll reevaluate. Might be two years, might be ten years -- makes no difference to us. We have no problems renting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People put a lot of meaning into growing equity through owning. My family has owed three homes in last 15 years. I did the math and had we just rented same place and put the difference in money - down payment and extra if took to own- into market, we would have a lot more money than we do now. All homes ended up being headache if you asked me.
We didn't overpay any of them, but just simply owning a home costs a lot.
We sold all three, got the equity out and it doubled in this market in two years. It is still going up. The homes would have never appreciated like that. They were not assets.
Most people know real estate, but they don't know anything about market. Being in the market taught me a lot more than owning real estate.
I make $13k to $20k a day easily on the money I have in the market. People still keep asking me when am I ready to buy. No time soon or even never. Seeing the markets move up so fast is more exciting that owning a home. I also love my rental. My landlord is awesome. But also, like PP, mentioned, I can move right next door to the middle school and three years after that, right next door to child's high school.
I got to be crazy to take out cash right now from the market and buy a home with those interest rates.
You have to do the math to see it.
I did get a finance degree, but most of what I know about markets, came from being in the market hands on the last four years.

You make something like six million a year and are worried about the costs of owning a home? Somehow I don’t believe you.

[Anonymous]

Renting right now renting lets you save more than buying. What happens when rents hike and all of the sudden those renters decide it's time to buy?

[Anonymous]

You have to do what is best for you. I have rented and owned. We might need to move in near future for spouse's career. Will we rent or buy? Depends.

Will say this, when I rented people were nice to me but I took care of the yard/ house. Not everyone was friendly, but that is life. Not everyone is friendly in the neighborhood where I own a home.

I ended up taking over a lease of a house from someone who if you google them they are top at what they do for their well-paying career. World-renowned. I had no idea who this person was, but my spouse sure did! They ended up buying and we needed a quick rental so took over their lease.

The house was disgusting. They let their animal(s?) poop inside the house (and no it wasn't senior and it was not a one-time thing). They "hired" cleaners to come in and we saw it before and after and even after the cleaners who took a full day to clean it was still completely utterly disgusting. We hired our own cleaners and steam cleaners. We had the property manager come in to go over everything so we would get our security deposit back (heard previous tenants did not get sd back).

We ended up staying an extra year onto the original lease and then purchasing a home. Got our entire security deposit back. Property manager was kind of useless, so maybe the people didn't like the property manager who knows. Maybe they had some kind of medical emergency where they trashed their rental? IDK.

My spouse and I still hear/read about this person (and their family). I recently read about them and I always wonder if they are that disgusting at the home they own. They also have $$, so no excuse imo. Why not hire cleaners once a week? Is it a mental health issue or you treat this property like trash because you are renting it?