Do you forever renters worry at all about the future? I can't imagine going into retirement without a paid roof over my head. You think rents are high now - what do you think they will be in a few decades?

Because I WANT to live in the city. I certainly can't afford to buy in the city. I don't WANT to live in the suburbs.

And because no one would ever approve me for a mortgage, especially now that the rules are more stringent.

There are many more renters in the District of Columbia than home owners.

Satisfied with this answer, OP?

Every place I have ever lived would have a mortgage payment waaaay higher than the amount I paid in rent. I also love the freedom and the fact that when anything goes wrong, I just call somebody who takes care of it.

I've made more money on my investments over the last 10 years than my friends who've had real estate. No hassles with property management and maintenance either. I won't be buying anytime soon. Maybe I'll take a lump sum and purchase a house when I retire at 60

Monthly patment cheaper to rent than buy same property; diffeence can be invested with more liquidity.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm *so* glad you asked. I AM tired of paying someone else's mortgage! Satisfied?

+1

Anonymous wrote:We bought our now rental property in 1999 for $$350k. Houses are now selling for $600k. We rent for much less than the mortgage would cost today and make money every month. Most of our tenants tend to be military.

Yes, it is silly for the renters with time machines not to buy. For the test it is more complicated and renting is far cheaper month to month unless we see high appreciation and high rent increases for close to a decade.

We bought our now rental property in 1999 for $$350k. Houses are now selling for $600k. We rent for much less than the mortgage would cost today and make money every month. Most of our tenants tend to be military.

Some friends who own don't understand why I rent but I pay about $5500 per month for a really truly gorgeous place that would cost me at least $8k per month to purchase. I do it because I love renting and see no need to live in something sub-par.

I used to own a house but if I have my way, and I believe I will, I'll never buy again. I plan to rent this place for another year and then move to Rio for about 3 months before I head to Los Angeles. After that who knows. I have no desire to be tied to one place, or think about maintenance. The day before Mother's Day my oven went out in the middle of me making a meal. I called my landlord's property manager and in less than 2 hours the maintenance guy was here fixing the problem.

Obviously some people really like owning. Fine. Keep doing it. I pay a premium for my peace of mind. I invest my money in things other than real estate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duhhh....but not everyone has a downpayment or the income to own.

In my opinion, if you can pay $3k+ for rent, you can buy.

Maybe, but again, lots of people are not paying $3k in rent. I can't believe that's accurate with all the 1 brs and crappy or non-luxury places around here.

I'm a landlord with two homes. Both have rents in the $3K-$4K range. The issue around here is that its hard to find a nice home in your desired school district or distance from work without having a minimum of a $4k mortgage PLUS the 20% down. So someone needs to have at least $160K saved up just for the downpayment. then at least another $50K for the incidentals that come with homeownership - the fun stuff that us homeowners get to enjoy instead of renters....such as roofs, hvac systems, flooded basements etc.

so OP your original question was pretty lame and sounds like it was written by a 20 yr old living in their parents' basement.

Instead of owning a home that's so - so, I rent a fabulous house that I can't afford to own. And pocket the cash. I may or may not eventually buy or build my dream house with it.

Many houses on the market are overpriced IMO. I'm not interested in being house poor AND having to renovate someone's shitty house because they didn't take care of it.

I owned two houses with my first husband. The first one we bought as a starter home when we moved here. It was reasonably priced, but when the economy tanked in 2008, it was hit pretty hard. We sold it for around $30,000 less than we paid, and considered ourselves lucky. The second house, the "forever" house, is gorgeous, but in addition to the extremely high price we paid for it (4 bedroom row house in Columbia Heights), it has needed some fairly serious repairs. When we got divorced, I moved out and into a rental apartment. After several years of dealing with home maintenance issues, it was a relief to have that stuff be someone else's problem. My stove broke last week, and all I had to do was call the maintenance people in my building, who fixed it within 24 hours.

I am remarried now, to someone whose first home was also hit really hard by the recession. He lived in a building like what the PP described - families unable to sell and taking a bath if they tried to rent. Many foreclosures and short sales (including DH's) in that building.

We rent now, because previous experiences of homeownership have left us both feeling fairly sour about the whole affair. Even if we WANTED to buy, finding a 2 bedroom dwelling in DC that we could afford on a HHI of <$120k is pretty impossible. Even assuming that we could find the unicorn that is a 2 bedroom place in the area we live now (where our life is established, our child has friends and a school she likes, etc.) that was less than $500k would require a $50-100k down payment.

Basically, I will think about buying again if and only if one of us inherits a huge sum of money. At this point, saving money for other things is a priority.

Anonymous wrote:We rent for $2k. 2 bedroom close in.

We could probably get a loan with a 10% downpayment right now. Wouldn't be great terms. But then we'd have no emergency savings and if the water heater broke, we'd be up shit creek. So we will went for a while longer.

We rent because we feel we have to.

Ditto, plus we are only in DC because I have a term posiiton with Feds. Will likely move away in two years.

Anonymous wrote:Just curious. Especially with the cost of rent in most DC rentals hovering around 3K a month, what is the motivation for not putting that same money into your own homeownership? I'm in my 40's, & bought my first property in my 20's when I started to feel like I was throwing money away, or putting it in someone else's pocket. I have had the same renters now for a number of years, & they are essentially paying my bills. This isnt meant to be snobbish or argumentative, but just curious, especially with such high rent these days.

Uh, because once I pay my expensive rent I don't have much to put into a down payment fund!

Anonymous wrote:Renting buys you flexibility, which is especially valuable to people early in their careers. If you are chained to a house, you are less likely to move for career advancement or more money.

This has been our experience.