"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey

[freebeard]

Thanking yourself?

Rip-off knockoff is another word for workalike.

Propertarianism is maybe Okay with business software but it's actually poison to voting systems. Have you even read Richard Stallman?

[hayden55]

Blytheville, AR seems to be the new land of opportunity now that Biden/Trump started and kept the steel tariffs going. They've built(/increased capacity) a ton of steel mills there in the last 5 years.
They have 3 different Nucor mills, Majestic Steel is coming too, US Steel as well, and Osceola, AR has Big River Steel.
All of those jobs pay crazy well in a town where rent isn't anything.
The engineers that I know that went there started hourly working 55 hours a week making 75-120k a year and then finally got an engineering position and work 40 hours a week making 120-150k.

https://www.kait8.com/2022/01/20/nuc...arting-salary/

[Xist]

To summarize my house-buying efforts so far (aside from research):

In 2012 I made an offer on a townhouse the first day that I looked for anything besides single houses and it failed when the valuation came in far too low.

Of course, it is worth a couple times as much now.

I then wanted to look at another place, but my realtor was out of town. He told me to call his wife, another realtor, who didn't make the time that day, and I knew I was doomed. After we looked at the place she asked what I was studying in college. I responded "Speech therapy and I want to make an offer."

"I'll have my husband do that when he comes home tomorrow."

He just told me that I waited too long.

I wanted to check out this house 23 may 2020 and I asked Zillow to get me a realtor. They got me Dawn Stratton who didn't follow up and it sold in 2 days for $185,000.

Zillow now guesses it is worth $$308,200.

The other night I received a notification for an allegedly VA-eligible mobile home that Mom actually likes. It is somehow both nicer and cheaper than I expected to see in the foreseeable future.

My 2 goals for yesterday morning were to tour the house and get a salvage title for the Camry, but instead I tried to help my friend get a mailbox to establish residency and transfer her CDL.

I asked my realtor to see the property and she promptly asked if I wanted to make an offer. I had my friend drive us there and we walked around, then we performed Formation 14B so she could look through the windows.

I sent my realtor my preapproval letter, she asked me some questions, and at 0030 she sent me a contract to sign, but I was supposed to finish my brother's financial report 10 days ago, and I really need to finish!

[freebeard]

Where are you going to put it?

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

The other night I received a notification for an allegedly VA-eligible mobile home that Mom actually likes. It is somehow both nicer and cheaper than I expected to see in the foreseeable future.

My 2 goals for yesterday morning were to tour the house and get a salvage title for the Camry, but instead I tried to help my friend get a mailbox to establish residency and transfer her CDL.

I asked my realtor to see the property and she promptly asked if I wanted to make an offer. I had my friend drive us there and we walked around, then we performed Formation 14B so she could look through the windows.

I sent my realtor my preapproval letter, she asked me some questions, and at 0030 she sent me a contract to sign, but I was supposed to finish my brother's financial report 10 days ago, and I really need to finish!

So after telling us about how you missed out on great houses due to realtor delays you then turn around at tell us you are too busy to sign the paperwork on an offer for an underpriced home in a hot market?

If this home is really a deal time is critical.

[redpoint5]

I'm seeing a common thread among the failed pursuits.

Past "losses" aren't reason to delay creating a better financial future. I'm always kicking myself for the "shouldas" I missed due to lack of attention on my part.

Today was the expiration of my mortgage rate lock on a refi, and today was the day the loan was funded. I gave barely enough attention to get this completed on time having taken advantage of the better rates 30 days ago, yet having missed out on the fantastic rates from a year ago when I first considered doing a refi. The partial win being better than none.

The process is a real PITA and involves my least favorite types of activities, resulting in me looking for "important" distractions that prevented attending to it, but now I should be set for 30 years.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Where are you going to put it?

It comes with land.

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Mind you these mobile homes can't be relocated.

Originally Posted by JSH

So after telling us about how you missed out on great houses due to realtor delays you then turn around at tell us you are too busy to sign the paperwork on an offer for an underpriced home in a hot market?

If this home is really a deal time is critical.

I will not be in contempt of court.

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'm seeing a common thread among the failed pursuits.

I didn't know to look at sold houses to get an idea of market values.

I should have pushed Mrs. Realtor to see the property and place an offer the same day, but I didn't want to be as pushy as her husband was.

I should have asked Dawn Stratton early on 9 June 2021 if she was going to get me the video tour so I could place an offer.

I have entered all of my brother's expenses for last year. I have a client in less than an hour and I am going to try to get a salvage title for my Camry before the client.

I will look at the paperwork after my client.

[Isaac Zachary]

Even when the market is good buying a home isn't always the most economical choice.

Let's say you have the opporunity to buy a house for $100,000 and the mortgage, plus taxes plus home owner's insurance plus average repair costs plus any other fees like HOA fees is exactly the same as rent. You'd think that the house is building your net value because it will increase on average 3.65% per year in appraised value. So after you're 30 year loan, you now have a house worth over $290,000.

But in order to get that house let's say you had to pay 20% up front or $20,000. However, if you had invested that $20,000 in the stock market with an average yearly return of 10%, you'd have made over $348,000 dollars instead, enough to buy that $290,000 house with $58,000 to spare.

Of course rent is volatile and can increase over time, but so are insurance and repair costs to a degree. Tax costs also increase over time with the greater appraised value of your home.

Another thing too is due to inflation, that $20,000 is worth more now than it will in 30 years. In 30 years the $290,000 or $348,000 would be worth about half of what it would be today. So do you use the $20,000 for somthing else you could purchase and enjoy that money today or wait 30 years for it to hopefully become $145,000 or $174,000 by today's values with the hope you'll still be alive to use that money then?

And what if you need to move? Selling and repurchasing another home isn't cheap. Sadly, if you buy high and the labor market tanks in your area and you have to sell, you will likely have to sell low and then buy high in another area where there is better work, whereas with renting it's usually much easier to move at whim even with yearly contracts.

[redpoint5]

The risks aren't equivalent. The odds of losing all rent money is 100%. The odds of losing less than 100% of mortgage payments high.

Doug can get a nice 5% VA mortgage. If it were me, I'd get the most house I could convince a lender to finance and rent out the extra rooms, paying all expenses using the rental income alone.

That method all but guarantees you will never lose the house if income is disrupted.

Your situation is different being married with children and all, but for someone with no legal dependents, it can be a quick path towards financial stability and then freedom.

Admittedly, being responsible for the upkeep of property is a huge burden, but then again I end up doing all my own maintenance anyhow because I want it done immediately and correctly. The only time I've requested maintenance was when the dryer at the apt was no longer drying clothes. I troubleshot the issue from the dryer first, and determined it must be exhaust blockage somewhere well beyond where I could see. Turns out they had an inappropriately sized bird screen that would collect tiny particles of lint.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

The risks aren't equivalent. The odds of losing all rent money is 100%. The odds of losing less than 100% of mortgage payments high.

Of course. But it's not just the mortgage payments. Putting down a downpayment is a lost opportunity cost that you could have put down somewhere else. It's also a risk.

If a $100,000 home has mortgage payments of $513 per month and rent is $700 but you paid $20,000 in down payment, in the first year you'd have lost $8,400 if you rented but you'd have invested over $26,000 if you bought. That investement is also a risk you could lose in a catastrophic event, and is a loss most people wouldn't be prepared for. The renter just finds a different place to rent if his house is attacked by a neighboring country or something.

Also, in 2008, for an example, I knew people who had to move but owed more than their homes were then worth. So in order to sell, they had to pay. So they lost more than 100% of their mortgage payment.

You also lose 100% of your mortgage payments if you die before you resell your home and never rent it out.

Of course there is the benefit of not having neither a mortgage nor rent after you pay off the house 30 years from now. But a house is both an investment and a risk. And the investment with the downpayment is an opportunity cost that some people may have faired better using somewhere else.

Not that buying isn't the right decision for most people. But it's not the be all end all path to financial security either and could be a wrong choice for some or not make much finacial difference for others.