Car prices are still insane.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

Why would you want to live in a high cost city like Aurora when GM pays the same nationally no matter where you live? Work at someplace like the Flint truck plant making GM's most profitable vehicles (job security) and you can pay less than $1550 a month on a mortgage for a 3-4 bedroom house and that house payment isn't going to go up every year.

For me, considering going to Flint, Michigan is like considering going to Beijing. Not that it's a bad recommendation, it's just a place I've never been to and far from the places I know.

I still am not convinced I need to buy a home. Yes, I've complained about the problems from not owning one, like not being free to install an EVSE for whenever I get an EV. (I'm not sure how ethical it would be to drive an EV to build ICEV's. )

But in the end, if I start buying a home now I'll be over 80 years old when I stop paying for a 30 year mortgage, or over 65 if it's a 15 year mortgage. At any rate, there's a good chance I'll be making monthly payments up until the time I kick the bucket or get put in a nursing home, regardless if it's a mortgage or a rental. The wife isn't any younger than I, so same story. The boys, well, one will finish high school this year and the other is not far behind. The time I really could have benefited from owning a house has pretty much passed, which is good, because I can get on with my life and do whatever it is that I want to do with it other than planning to buy a building to call home. Right now, that I'd rather spend these last years of my parents' lives close to them.

[freebeard]

At any rate, there's a good chance I'll be making monthly payments up until the time I kick the bucket or get put in a nursing home, regardless if it's a mortgage or a rental.

There is a certain use case for tepees and yurts. In the modern political environment it's motor homes and house boats. a relocatable dwelling is an interesting design problem. Fuller suggested you might lease housing like you do a telephone (HaaS -- Housing as a Service).

Fuller's first two Dymaxion dwelling units hung on a mast like an upside-down sailboat. Later the Fly Eye dome, made of identical (stackable) fiberglass modules leaving round openings.

Along the way, he divided the remit to housing utilites and housing people. The result was a rectangular shipping container whose walls and roof folded out into a cruciform shape, with appliances, pipes and cables preinstalled. The a 'skybreak' dome (which could as easily be an old barn or warehouse).


i.pinimg.com/736x/d4/d6/31/d4d6317ef748449f80f1dc2c45926bf0--buckminster-fuller-dome-house.jpg

See Baldwin, J. Buckyworks 1996 Wiley pp.156-157. A better world is possible.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

I still am not convinced I need to buy a home. Yes, I've complained about the problems from not owning one, like not being free to install an EVSE for whenever I get an EV

Every complaint you've had about the affordability of housing is solved by owning. Also, so is every future complaint.

The 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house I bought in 2010 still has the same ~$900/mo mortgage ($1,250 with taxes and insurance) as it ever has. I paid $217k for it then, and it's appreciated to over half a million now. I still owe like $100k on it, so I've got $400k in equity.

The enormous house we're currently living in went up $150k since we purchased a few years ago, and our ~$3k/mo mortgage/taxes/insurance will never really increase.

It's a hedge against inflation, and that's practically the only tool the government has to pay for things these days. The Inflation Reduction act isn't going to do anything to curb inflation; that requires not spending money we don't have.

Owning property isn't just about being able to install an EVSE, it's absolutely fundamental to financial stability.

Those on this forum who don't have much walking around money share the common attribute of not owning property.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by freebeard

There is a certain use case for tepees and yurts. In the modern political environment it's motor homes and house boats. a relocatable dwelling is an interesting design problem. Fuller suggested you might lease housing like you do a telephone (HaaS -- Housing as a Service).

A dream come true would be for us to get a (restored 1970's GMC) motorhome and travel the country, not being tied to one single place.

[freebeard]

Coincidentlly, today in Pontiac, MI:


https://justacarguy.blogspot.com: today in Pontiac Michigan, it's GMC Motorhome Day!

I gave it my best shot with the Clark Cortez. Couldn't hang onto that one either.

[JSH]

As redpoint said the key thing about owning over renting is that you lock in the largest part of your housing cost for decades. A mortgage is the equivalent of rent. Rent only goes one direction - up - relentlessly year after year. A 30 year fix mortgage is just that - fixed for 30 years and then the "rent" part of the monthly budget disappears forever.

Houses may or may not appreciate in value but the primary purpose of a house is shelter not an investment.

Reading through my grandmother's diaries she was SO happy and proud when she bought her trailer home. She finally OWNED something of her own instead of renting and moving all the time. However, she made the regrettable decision to put that trailer home in a trailer park instead of on her own land so she really didn't get away from renting. From the day she moved into the park until the day that she died that lot rent went up and up squeezing her very modest budget.

She never truly owned her home nor felt the financial security of knowing that she had a place to live no matter what.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Every complaint you've had about the affordability of housing is solved by owning. Also, so is every future complaint.

The 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house I bought in 2010 still has the same ~$900/mo mortgage ($1,250 with taxes and insurance) as it ever has. I paid $217k for it then, and it's appreciated to over half a million now. I still owe like $100k on it, so I've got $400k in equity.

The enormous house we're currently living in went up $150k since we purchased a few years ago, and our ~$3k/mo mortgage/taxes/insurance will never really increase.

It's a hedge against inflation, and that's practically the only tool the government has to pay for things these days. The Inflation Reduction act isn't going to do anything to curb inflation; that requires not spending money we don't have.

The future is not always as clear as you hope. Mine blindsided me a couple times to really make a mess of my finances. But, I think I'm still better off for owning the home than renting.

My modest home (3bed, 2.5bath) was a stretch for me and my wife to afford at $400k in 2016 when we bought it. And while its cost has been more stable than renting, it's not entirely flat. This varies by state, but my taxes were about $4000/yr to start with, and it is about $8000 this year.

Since then I've gotten divorced, so my household income plummeted. The cost of the house is challenging (being over 50% of my take home pay), but I don't have a lot of options to save money by downsizing and staying local, so I'm kinda stuck until my kids are both 18.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

As redpoint said the key thing about owning over renting is that you lock in the largest part of your housing cost for decades. A mortgage is the equivalent of rent. Rent only goes one direction - up - relentlessly year after year. A 30 year fix mortgage is just that - fixed for 30 years and then the "rent" part of the monthly budget disappears forever.

Houses may or may not appreciate in value but the primary purpose of a house is shelter not an investment.

True. But is there anything with waiting for the time being while things like kids growing up, parents getting old, and rent is still affordable at the place I live (coincidentally, a paid for mobile home on a rented lot in the cheapest trailer park in the county)?

When the kids are moved out and my parents are dead, then I can see moving somewhere else for the sake of locking in a fixed housing payment. I wonder if there are any places that sell one bedroom or studio apartment type homes for cheaper.

In Flint I found a few single bedroom places for $20k to $35k. Most were built in the 20's, but this one was built in 1955 according to Zillow:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...73936679_zpid/

It looks like a horrible place to live as an amateur radio operator though with those power lines right there.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

True. But is there anything with waiting for the time being while things like kids growing up, parents getting old, and rent is still affordable at the place I live (coincidentally, a paid for mobile home on a rented lot in the cheapest trailer park in the county)?

The cost of renting vs owning usually depends most on duration. A person that will only be in the area for a year isn't going to come out ahead by paying the closing cost overhead of buying a house. Generally though, a person living in a single place for 5+ years will be ahead purchasing than renting, because the lost rent money would exceed the lost closing costs and other expenses.

Unfortunately, you own the thing that depreciates (mobile home), and not the thing that appreciates (land).

Your situation isn't as costly as someone that owns neither, but you're not putting money into the thing that appreciates in value, and there is no cost stability since the landowner can increase rent (or tell you to move).

An informed analysis of your financial situation can't be done without getting into the nitty gritty details. My speculation is that you'd be financially ahead purchasing a house/property if you could own it at least 7 years, but my uninformed speculation is not something to act on.

It looks like a horrible place to live as an amateur radio operator though with those power lines right there.

If you want to find 'reasons' to not secure financial stability, your creativity will never disappoint.

[freebeard]

...she made the regrettable decision to put that trailer home in a trailer park instead of on her own land so she really didn't get away from renting. From the day she moved into the park until the day that she died that lot rent went up and up squeezing her very modest budget.

Same here. The monthly rent is now more than half what I paid for the unit to begin with. But still every direction out is uphill financially. The house in the background :



...Is where I raised my son. I first purchased it on a land sale contract, After my divorce I refinanced on a VA loan. When I was unemployed I had to let it go back to the VA (a popular thing to do in 1980); where it sold to a young couple who rented it out, and I moved back in as a renter.

When he was seventeen I asked her to make just one child support payment and she sued to take custody. I was so dismayed, I moved to Beaverton and became a successful tech support agent.

No different that 'owning' a home if you don't pay the taxes. My 'Airstream' is on the county tax rolls so no tags.