Do you rent or own your home??

[arjay]

Bought my first house at 23, sold my last one at 53. Two of those houses were within a gnats hair of being paid off,but that wasn't in my wife's plans.The kids are grown and the wife is gone.I've been living a free and easy life these last few years.Too bad the money will run out long before I do.

 

[LB75]

Wife and I bought our first house when I was 23, sold it 2 years ago and bought our second last year.

 

[BigDaddy7972]

Unless it's paid for you do not "Own" your home, the mortgage company does. Same as renting only you pay the taxes and do the maintenance. When I retired I "downsized" my house and now only pay the taxes on it. It's all mine, mine, mine........

No it's not. No one in this country actually owns their own home. They merely rent it from one entity or another. A bank or a government. Like a previous poster said, stop paying the taxes on it and see how long you "own" your home. This is a pet peeve of mine and what I believe to be one of the most serious drawbacks in a free society. For instance. Let's say you are a young man just starting out. You get married, buy a home and have children. You do everything you are supposed to do. You pay your taxes on time every single year. Now, fast forward. You are now a senior citizen. Your kids are gone and it's just you and the wife. Times are hard. Your pension fund runs out, your savings account runs dry, whatever. You can barely pay for the food and utilities it takes to survive. It comes down to either the taxes get paid or eating. You decide eating and surviving is more important. The government then takes your house away for failing to pay the property tax even though you have done everything you are supposed to do for years.

I think that once you reach a certain age, say sixtyfive, and have "owned" your home for a number of years you should not have to pay property tax. Or at least the government should not have the ability to take it from you. I know that there would be abuses but that can be addressed and dealt with.I just think it's a damn shame for a man to loose his house because it was pay the tax and die or eat. I am not BTW, a senior citizen or anywhere near sixtyfive. I just think we treat our older folks shamefully.

 

[m1gunner]

In Georgia, senior citizens have their property tax rte cut in half. Do renters get a discount as they age?

If I want a larger piece of property, I can put it in the Farmland Tax Exemption program where the property taxes are severely reduced, a renter of the same property can not do this.

Depending on the economy, the state offers a Homestead Tax Exemption that lowers my property tax by 20% or more, renters need not apply.

My property taxes are less than 8% of what my rent would be, and I can easily cover it by selling a gun if I hit dire straights.

Maintenance (and costs) can be deferred, you can not defer paying your rent, period.

Homeowner with deed = get out of jail free card. My county only accepts cash bonds from bail-bondsmen (costs you cash you will never see again), but will accept a property bond from a resident. This isn't a policy to my liking, but it is the way it is in my county. No, they do not accept a rental agreement as a property bond. I don't plan to stay at the Greybar Hotel, but you never know.

I can not rent a home like the one I have. It has passive solar heating in winter and passive solar cooling in summer. Have never had a total utility cost of over $95 in any month,, including heating/cooling, hot water, cooking, lighting, etc.

I can bolt anything to any floor I want without asking the landlord (gunsafe, waterbed, time travel machine, etc). I can park as many cars/trucks/boats/campers at my house I want. My dog/dogs can stay in the house or in the kennel and run I built for them, no "pet exclusions" to worry about.

Although the market is down right now, the property DOES have some value, and I can sell it at any time for SOMETHING and get some cash, not gonna happen if you rent.

Rent can and does go up, and every place I rented that sold to a new owner had drastic rent increases, or I was evicted.

 

[Diesel_doberman]

I flip houses. So I own. Started when I was 19. I convinced 3 investors to fund my first flip and I lives in it while I worked on it. Then the next house I uses one investor and funded the rest and moves in that house. Did the same for the next house. Then started funding them on my own after that. My wife and I are on are 3rd one. I see them as investment. And she had to until we bought and started this one. She loves it. So it is out home now. And I still flip house but don't move in them. All the homes I have bought have been from the money of the past home. So I own but rent from my self.

 

[Old Corp]

Should be living in a 'paid-for' home now, but don't believe I ever will.

There's this thing called 'divorce', and in it the word 'fair' is a word that means 'best for her'.

That's all I'll say before my BP goes up too much.

 

[johngalt]

My Dad's advice was that a house is NOT an investment, it is an expense. The reason to buy a house is because you want to live in a house. I am single and don't need much space. I also don't have any family nearby and never felt comfortable 'putting down roots', so I have always rented.

So instead of paying a mortgage, I have been saving and investing. When the time comes that I find a place that I am actually willing to call home, I will think about it then.

 

[Diesel_doberman]

My Dad's advice was that a house is NOT an investment, it is an expense. The reason to buy a house is because you want to live in a house. I am single and don't need much space. I also don't have any family nearby and never felt comfortable 'putting down roots', so I have always rented.

So instead of paying a mortgage, I have been saving and investing. When the time comes that I find a place that I am actually willing to call home, I will think about it then.

Not wanting to start a fight but I disagree with your father. If its your business and you know the trades. Well... It's a great investment. Selling one house paid my wife's college debt back.

 

[johngalt]

...If its your business and you know the trades...

A big IF there...

Glad it worked out for you. As has been noted, with taxes and upkeep, I doubt many actually make much.

The value in having your home is in living where you want and having the space to do what you want. Plus you are more likely to have better neighbors.

Another way to think about it: If you consider a home to primarily an investment, would you take out a loan to buy other investments like stocks? I have never heard any financial adviser recommend this. So why is it a good idea to take out a loan to buy a house?

 

[Diesel_doberman]

I don't have loans out. Thats where the first part of what I explained I used investors they take a small percentage of top of what I borrowed. Buy my third forth house it was cash up front at sheriff sales. Most recent was 10,000$ at auction single bidder. Put 25,000$ sold it for 133$ just saying I work alone for the most part and sell with a good friend. So walked away with a little over 90$. Does it happen this way everytime. Hell no. But sheriff auctions go so cheap most the time because no one is allowed to view the property first. (outside only). Even our personal home was a foreclosed home. Have no house payment.

Sorry if I jacked the thread. I'll stop here.

 

[guy22]

Think you own your home? Stop paying tribute to the state and see how long "they" continue to let you live in it.

Yeah, paid off my house last year. Taxs and insurance are almost as high now as my house payment was when I bought it!!!
But a dollar bought more then.

So in a way I'm still renting from the Goverment. Just dropped the banks part.

Guy22