Election 2024: Dark Brandon to the Resucue!

[aparch]

Bicycle?
moped?
uber?

have you checked a comparison for costs?

Has being away from the US caused you to forget that the entire US isn't as densely packed as Newberry Street?

RaceBoarder lives in the suburbs of Chicago, which are notoriously car-centric and pedestrian/mixed-use unfriendly. He lives where it's 1/3 big box stores, 1/3 industrial trucking warehouses thratening to move if they don't get a tax break, 1/3 farmland being sold for the next industrial trucking warehouse tax break.

Bicycling/Moped use costs time. Time he cant afford to lose because he's working side jobs to cover his expenses. Uber would be asinine because he would be spending more money to travel to all his jobs he's working to cover his expenses. As it is, RaceBoarder likely has the best paying job in the area.

"He could move to get a bigger paycheck!" you wail. Sure, but now he's going to have to either wipe his savings or go into debt to move, find a more expensive house, and land the better paying job.

Back to why RaceBoarder feels trapped. Because Reagan! And capitalism. And corporate greed. There's a whole lot of reasons for this double helix death spiral and simultaneous growth this economy has. The pandemic really helped fuel it. People stopped going out. People only ordered the necessities. Demand dropped, so producers cut back on their production. (Including oil production, but that's a separate rant, kinda). People learned they saved money by working from home. Prices remained stagnant. Then the US opened back up. People started to demand things again. A lot. Because they went months without it. Producers didn't want to expand production (because that costs *them* money) so they raise the prices and/or cut product size down to reduce demand. (Like oil) Inflation rockets because in demand items are raising prices (thanks again the finance wizards here for explaining it more in depth to me). Wage demands go (rightfully) up because people have learned their value. So the fed raises rates to also drive demand down.

What does all this mean? That someone like RaceBoarder gets a decent pay increase at his job but gets fu**ed on the flip side when *everything* increases in price because the 1% want to buy the extra large private Caribbean island and not just the large island. And then, the people in Government who support the island buyers want to give the island buyers a tax break for buying islands and blame people like RaceBoarder for not being able to buy his own island.


TL;DR - Mookie your hot take was hot sh*t. And f*ck Reagan.

 

[St. Clown]

Honestly- and I know everyone will tell me I’m an idiot- I’m over home ownership. I’m selling my house- second time I’ve sold- and both times, I’ve had horrible timing/luck. I do all the things one should do to get ready- spend a ton of money cause I’m not handy- and then end up selling for tens of thousands less than expected. I have friends who have listed ****boxes that flood when it rains and they get multiple offers opening weekend. It’s all timing.

I say this because- the reason I’m selling is the cost of everything. Taxes and insurance doubling. Trying to handle everything on one income while also trying to save for retirement. Need a new roof? 10-12k min. Driveway? 6-7k min. Furnace or ac, you get the idea.

renting won’t be cheap, but I don’t enjoy home maintenance and I’m never doing this again.

Sorry, I might’ve just strayed into manplaining…

I won’t pretend to know anything about your friends or your prior house, but you’re selling a house that’s around or north of $550k, if memory serves. I could probably sell it for $340-360k, even with these higher mortgage rates, but you and I are in different markets. If your friends are more in my state of housing, then yeah, what you’re saying is probable, based upon what I’m seeing around me. There’s a distinct difference in the velocity of selling houses in our two markets.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

It’s more interest rates than prices, hence my comment on timing. When rates were super low everyone was buying and everything sold.

of course my home is different than one in another city under 400. But I’m in a highly desirable location for many and one of the few options under $1M (vastly under a mil to be exact)

the first house I sold- was under 400 in a nice area. But it was the fall and no one was looking.

last year, the idiots who bought it from me listed it in the fall….for 100k more than they paid me while doing no work to it- and it sold for asking right away. That’s what I mean by timing and luck

 

[RaceBoarder]

Here's the thing DGF:

You may not be able to justify the ongoing cost, sure. But however long you owned the house, you built equity in that property. More than likely, that equity is the single biggest asset you have to your name. Just being able to do that puts you lightyears ahead of anyone who is stuck renting over that same timeframe. I'm fairly certain you aren't underwater on your mortgage. You get an active return on the investment in the property. Renters get nothing on the cash they put in. That's the difference between our situations and the biggest difference in people who own vs rent.

 

[jericho]

It’s more interest rates than prices, hence my comment on timing. When rates were super low everyone was buying and everything sold.

of course my home is different than one in another city under 400. But I’m in a highly desirable location for many and one of the few options under $1M (vastly under a mil to be exact)

the first house I sold- was under 400 in a nice area. But it was the fall and no one was looking.

last year, the idiots who bought it from me listed it in the fall….for 100k more than they paid me while doing no work to it- and it sold for asking right away. That’s what I mean by timing and luck

we just sold our home, a 3 BR 1 Bath 1,017 SF home about 8 min north of downtown Albany for 87k. More than we bought it for. We put on a new roof a couple years ago, new windows about 8 years ago, sump pump and free hot water heater. That’s all we put into it other than a paint job. DGF is correct, timing and luck

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Here's the thing DGF:

You may not be able to justify the ongoing cost, sure. But however long you owned the house, you built equity in that property. More than likely, that equity is the single biggest asset you have to your name. Just being able to do that puts you lightyears ahead of anyone who is stuck renting over that same timeframe. I'm fairly certain you aren't underwater on your mortgage. You get an active return on the investment in the property. Renters get nothing on the cash they put in. That's the difference between our situations and the biggest difference in people who own vs rent.

I get that. And I’m now going to be switching to be a renter, for all the reasons I mentioned

The equity isn’t my single biggest asset actually- my retirement accounts just barely outpace it after 20 years of contributions.

my point wasn’t to say I’m the most unfortunate person in thr world. It was to point out that a single person can really get drained on maintenance and taxes/insurance and you aren’t even guaranteed all the supposed equity if you sell at the slightly wrong time.

i rented in Europe, nyc and Minneapolis for all of my 20s and part of my 30s so im well versed in paying others mortgages

 

[Handyman]

Until the market cools it makes sense to rent if you find a good spot and price. Buying now will make most people house poor especially on one income. Now is not the time to "invest" in housing.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Until the market cools it makes sense to rent if you find a good spot and price. Buying now will make most people house poor especially on one income. Now is not the time to "invest" in housing.

Honestly, it's kind of the ideal time to get out. Supply WILL increase rapidly soon. Pricing will come down. There's a fairly substantial chance DGF is selling high.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Honestly, it's kind of the ideal time to get out. Supply WILL increase rapidly soon. Pricing will come down. There's a fairly substantial chance DGF is selling high.

Just fair til some landlords find out they can’t continue to insure their properties at reasonable rates and then find out they can’t get renters when the rent is tripled to cover it.

townhomes and condos are going through it now and most people I know are getting substantial homeowners increases. Not really the right thread so I’ll stop there but I agree with dx that supply will start to increase and some of it will be people who can’t keep up with taxes and insurance

 

[ScoobyDoo]

It's insanity right now. I am so glad I am grandfathered in since 1998 when I bought cause I wouldn't want anything to do with this market right now. As it is Taxes, Insurance, and upkeep are literally insane anyway.

 

[dxmnkd316]

You know what my favorite part of today is going to be?

Joe Brandon getting smart pictures taken with glasses and putting it next to president dumbass looking right at it

 

[unofan]

Until the market cools it makes sense to rent if you find a good spot and price. Buying now will make most people house poor especially on one income. Now is not the time to "invest" in housing.

If mortgage + expected repairs is cheaper than rent, then you'd still be better off buying even if you're house poor, all else being equal. But if course there's plenty of other factors like whether you expect to move, whether you can afford the expected repairs, etc.

And I'm still of the opinion you should treat your primary residence, like a car, as simply your hosting and not an investment. Then you can stop worrying about the housing market's up and downs.

 

[Handyman]

Just fair til some landlords find out they can’t continue to insure their properties at reasonable rates and then find out they can’t get renters when the rent is tripled to cover it.

townhomes and condos are going through it now and most people I know are getting substantial homeowners increases. Not really the right thread so I’ll stop there but I agree with dx that supply will start to increase and some of it will be people who can’t keep up with taxes and insurance

Me too...I actually meant to add that.

 

[Handyman]

If mortgage + expected repairs is cheaper than rent, then you'd still be better off buying even if you're house poor, all else being equal. But if course there's plenty of other factors like whether you expect to move, whether you can afford the expected repairs, etc.

And I'm still of the opinion you should treat your primary residence, like a car, as simply your hosting and not an investment. Then you can stop worrying about the housing market's up and downs.

It has taken me years to get my SO to think that way. I'm not planning to move again for quite some time so what our house is worth means little to me. This is my home, not part of my stock portfolio.

 

[Slap Shot]

I've finally been able to convince my wife that if/when we move back we will rent and not buy regardless of the market and rates. Even if we didn't own two parcels and one house in Thailand I wouldn't get back into ownership at my age.

 

[rufus]

we just sold our home, a 3 BR 1 Bath 1,017 SF home about 8 min north of downtown Albany for 87k. More than we bought it for. We put on a new roof a couple years ago, new windows about 8 years ago, sump pump and free hot water heater. That’s all we put into it other than a paint job. DGF is correct, timing and luck

House like that would go for a quarter million or more easy in my town. And I'm in sticksville.

 

[Slap Shot]

In news that is shocking to no one:

Trump’s $175 Million Bond Is Even Shadier Than It Look

“The legal document from Knight Specialty Insurance Company doesn’t actually promise it will pay the money if the former president loses his $464 million bank fraud case on appeal. Instead, it says Trump will pay, negating the whole point of an insurance company guarantee.”

 

[Handyman]

They also lied when they got the bond reduced...that guy had offered to cover the whole amount (which they turned down) and the lawyers neglected to tell the court that which would have prevented the bond from dropping.

I told you guys he will always find a way to not have to pay. The civil courts have no clue how to deal with this guy.

 

[Handyman]

Corporate media really is pushing the "Biden is screwed" narrative today.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

It has taken me years to get my SO to think that way. I'm not planning to move again for quite some time so what our house is worth means little to me. This is my home, not part of my stock portfolio.

You’re aware of the Uber successful family member I have that lives near Jeff and Bill.

they told me once they view homes as a savings account. I think that’s the old mentality. I’ve now come around to where you and uno are.

when you look at Americans retirement figures, the amount of people who are millionaires only through unrealized equity in their homes is staggering. That “future wealth” may not exist for them all.