what was your #1 money mistake?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:06 - On. The. Money. Literally!

Also, I have no idea what planet the "renting is better" touters are from. Trying to justify some really horrible, inexcusable decisions?

I have heard money experts say the same thing - the American dream of home ownership is a thing of the past and that renting is the future of good investments.

Have fun when your rent goes up 20 percent year over year while the rest of us locked in our housing expenses with low fixed rates below 5%. Inflation is going to make renters very, very sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Have fun when your rent goes up 20 percent year over year while the rest of us locked in our housing expenses with low fixed rates below 5%. Inflation is going to make renters very, very sad.

But the beauty of renting is that you have not signed up for a 30 year rental agreement.
You can change addresses, can leave and go somewhere else
Someone else will pay to fix the plumbing

[Anonymous]

yeah, only you can't sell a YOUR rental but you can sell your house and make a profit!

what a stupid thing to say....this is DC not Detroit!

[Anonymous]

Grad Degree I did not use $80,000 in loans I can't pay and have to defer. A car I could not afford which I which we had to give back to the dealer after three years when DH lost job and not taking my child out of daycare when DH was looking for a job. So still trying to figure out if I should declare bankruptcy for the $20,000 in credit card debt. Too much woulda, coulda, shoulda. Right now I am focused on trying to teach my kids how to be more financially responsible than I was raised.

[Anonymous]

Any attempt to buy individual stocks.

[Anonymous]

Someone else fixing the plumbing is not reason enough for anyone to rent. Anyone knows that!

[Anonymous]

Just in my neighborhood, I've seen many people buy and sell within a two-year time period. So many things made them buying the house a dumb move. 1) In the beginning of a mortgage, you are paying mostly interest. 2) Closing costs. 3) Realtor comission for selling. In the end, these people lost money over renting. DC is SUCH a transitional area that it makes little sense to buy for most people. I say this now after being burdened with a house. I wanted to move away in 2008, but couldn't because of my house. I've learned my lesson. While renting, at most you have to pay a penalty to break your lease. But you can still leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Homeowning is not All That. Find a nice little rental in a good school district, invest your mortgage payment and call it a day.

This is exactly what we hope to do. The american dream of owning a home is completely overrated.

You're saying this because you've obviously never benefited from a strong housing market. DH and I killed on three DC homes. I mean KILLED! 1998, 2000 and 2004, Those days are not gone...yes, it's not 2006 any longer but you can get a great deal on a house in comparison to what you could get 3 years ago! Trust me when I tell you, it does and will come back.

I have lived in the DC Metro my whole life. My parents invested in real estate 30 years ago, and I have helped them manage their "portfolio". I have seen it go up and go down and then go way up again....it's all cyclical. They bought low, paid off all the loans and own everything outright. FWIW - they started out "dirt" poor, I mean p-o-o-r!


Nope - I own - and did well buying and selling two places over last 10 years. I own now an appreciating house. I still don't think it's th end-all and be-all of money management. Much of it goes poof in interest in the first few years. And as shown by many -I think average length of ownership of one house is less than 10 years so you could be stuck. The economy is not so stable. Th home interest deduction may go poof. I just think it's too risky for first time homebuyers who are saving their own cash to afford a place. It could be a different story if mommy and daddy are making down payment - and in the end what the heck do I know anyway - it's just my opinion.

But folks like you should stay out of the market, leave the good deals for everyone else. curious what you're going to say in 5 years. you'll be crying, trust me.

[Anonymous]

Incurring $100K in credit card debt to buy designer clothes and handbags and to go on expensive vacations to keep up with my wealthier friends.

[Anonymous]

Also law school. I earn a little more because of it, but I really should have at least gone to a public state school, not private. The debt sucks.

[Anonymous]

@19:27, someone else will pay to fix the plumbing on THEIR schedule. When I was a slumlord, the property manager made my tenants wait 48 hours to fix up a backed up sink complete with yucky water, all so we could save $50 (I wasn't even told about this until after the fact.) Not all landlords are responsive.

When you own, you don't have to consult your landlord over every little thing and you aren't subject to your landlord telling you, "Oops, you gotta move everything in 30 days!" (and moving ain't cheap in time or money). OTOH, if you have to pay say 15-20% more to buy than to rent a comparable place, it might make sense to rent for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take away the mortgage deduction, I don't care. We only pay $2,000 a year in mortgage interest.

Good for you - I thought this was the money mistake forum? ??

I was responding to 4/29 16:15's post. Read it in context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yeah, only you can't sell a YOUR rental but you can sell your house and make a profit!

what a stupid thing to say....this is DC not Detroit!

I had my house on the market for 9 months and could not sell it. I was already just about giving it away. If somebody had bought it at what I was asking I would have walked away with nothing

[Anonymous]

Where was it located?

[Anonymous]

Not putting up more of a fight (not that I didn't try) to convince DH not to go back to school. Three years later, he makes the same damn salary, but we're out $50K. It still pisses me off to think of the money we could have had in the bank. At least I've done a good job not bringing it up to him.