11 replies to this topic

[nimblebear]

In 1998 when I bought my home, my mortgage payment was $1350/mo. Property taxes were $433. Since then I have paid down the mortage quite a bit, and re-fied a couple times. Now my mortgage payments are $945/mo. (5.375 interest fixed) But my property taxes are $666/mo. So in total my monthly payments have almost caught up to the orginal montly payments. $120 more per month, and I will be even. So much for all that effort to lower my overall monthly house payments. What the banks can't take from you, the government will. By the time I pay off my mortgage, my property taxes will likely have tripled. Unless you pay cash(and not interest) , who was it that said housing was an investment ? Even though my house has appreciated 78% since buying, my return on all my money spent is a measly 1.1% per year. If the price on my house declines more than 8% from here, I'm in the hole. People with less equity than me (67%) would be worse off in any declines. Just a frank analysis of owning a home. At least I have a home, and I am thankful every day for that!

Edited by nimblebear, 07 October 2007 - 04:33 PM.

[atlasshrugged]

In 1998 when I bought my home, my mortgage payment was $1350/mo.
Property taxes were $433.

Since then I have paid down the mortage quite a bit, and re-fied a couple times.

Now my mortgage payments are $945/mo. (5.375 interest fixed)
But my property taxes are $666/mo.

So in total my monthly payments have almost caught up to the orginal montly payments. $120 more per month, and I will be even.

So much for all that effort to lower my overall monthly house payments.

What the banks can't take from you, the government will.

By the time I pay off my mortgage, my property taxes will likely have tripled.

Unless you pay cash(and not interest) , who was it that said housing was an investment ?

Even though my house has appreciated 78% since buying, my return on all my money spent is a measly 1.1% per year.

If the price on my house declines more than 8% from here, I'm in the hole. People with less equity than me (67%) would be worse off in any declines.

Just a frank analysis of owning a home. At least I have a home, and I am thankful every day for that!

you need to incorporate the write off you get that you otherwise wouldnt be able to if you were a renter

[bullshort]

If the price on my house declines more than 8% from here, I'm in the hole.

I'm not sure you're looking at it fairly. How much would you be in the hole from a cash flow standpoint if you had never bought the house and instead had rented it all these years?

[JAP]

The average rate of appreciation on a house is 3 - 4% a year. After you adjust for inflation, what have you got?

Edited by JAP, 07 October 2007 - 04:58 PM.

[OEXCHAOS]

JAP is right, housing doesn't typically appreciate all that much. OTOH, you gotta live somewhere, so it is important to include rent into the equation. If you don't own, you will pay rent. It's not exactly a spectacular investment, especially when you consider how illiquid it is and how the gummint buggers you, but it's not horrible, IF you buy right and the issues of home ownership aren't a major hassle for you. Mark

[ed rader]

In 1998 when I bought my home, my mortgage payment was $1350/mo.
Property taxes were $433.

Since then I have paid down the mortage quite a bit, and re-fied a couple times.

Now my mortgage payments are $945/mo. (5.375 interest fixed)
But my property taxes are $666/mo.

So in total my monthly payments have almost caught up to the orginal montly payments. $120 more per month, and I will be even.

So much for all that effort to lower my overall monthly house payments.

What the banks can't take from you, the government will.

By the time I pay off my mortgage, my property taxes will likely have tripled.

Unless you pay cash(and not interest) , who was it that said housing was an investment ?

Even though my house has appreciated 78% since buying, my return on all my money spent is a measly 1.1% per year.

If the price on my house declines more than 8% from here, I'm in the hole. People with less equity than me (67%) would be worse off in any declines.

Just a frank analysis of owning a home. At least I have a home, and I am thankful every day for that!

in 1999 i bought my house for $300k. my payment was about $1900 a month + about $300 a month for property taxes. back then you could rent the house out for $1800 - $1900 because we had less than 1% vacancy in san jose.

i've since refied down to 5.25% and my payment is now $1475. my property taxes are about $380 a month.

i don't pay extra on my house because it's the only bill we have and my wife is still upwardly mobile.

even in this market i could dump my house for at least $625k and i could probably rent my house out now for $1600 a month.

so the way i see it is because i bought my house 8 years ago and shaved almost $5k a year off my payments thru re-fis that i have been paid handsomely to live here.

if you would have bought my house in the past 3-4 years or now under the same terms that we did you'd be able to rent out the house for maybe half of your mortgage.

oh, my house is less than 900 sq ft and is about 60 years old .

ed rader

[atlasshrugged]

In 1998 when I bought my home, my mortgage payment was $1350/mo.
Property taxes were $433.

Since then I have paid down the mortage quite a bit, and re-fied a couple times.

Now my mortgage payments are $945/mo. (5.375 interest fixed)
But my property taxes are $666/mo.

So in total my monthly payments have almost caught up to the orginal montly payments. $120 more per month, and I will be even.

So much for all that effort to lower my overall monthly house payments.

What the banks can't take from you, the government will.

By the time I pay off my mortgage, my property taxes will likely have tripled.

Unless you pay cash(and not interest) , who was it that said housing was an investment ?

Even though my house has appreciated 78% since buying, my return on all my money spent is a measly 1.1% per year.

If the price on my house declines more than 8% from here, I'm in the hole. People with less equity than me (67%) would be worse off in any declines.

Just a frank analysis of owning a home. At least I have a home, and I am thankful every day for that!

in 1999 i bought my house for $300k. my payment was about $1900 a month + about $300 a month for property taxes. back then you could rent the house out for $1800 - $1900 because we had less than 1% vacancy in san jose.

i've since refied down to 5.25% and my payment is now $1475. my property taxes are about $380 a month.

i don't pay extra on my house because it's the only bill we have and my wife is still upwardly mobile.

even in this market i could dump my house for at least $625k and i could probably rent my house out now for $1600 a month.

so the way i see it is because i bought my house 8 years ago and shaved almost $5k a year off my payments thru re-fis that i have been paid handsomely to live here.

if you would have bought my house in the past 3-4 years or now under the same terms that we did you'd be able to rent out the house for maybe half of your mortgage.

oh, my house is less than 900 sq ft and is about 60 years old .

ed rader

900k square feet!!! that would have ended my marriage way sooner than last december

[ed rader]

In 1998 when I bought my home, my mortgage payment was $1350/mo.
Property taxes were $433.

Since then I have paid down the mortage quite a bit, and re-fied a couple times.

Now my mortgage payments are $945/mo. (5.375 interest fixed)
But my property taxes are $666/mo.

So in total my monthly payments have almost caught up to the orginal montly payments. $120 more per month, and I will be even.

So much for all that effort to lower my overall monthly house payments.

What the banks can't take from you, the government will.

By the time I pay off my mortgage, my property taxes will likely have tripled.

Unless you pay cash(and not interest) , who was it that said housing was an investment ?

Even though my house has appreciated 78% since buying, my return on all my money spent is a measly 1.1% per year.

If the price on my house declines more than 8% from here, I'm in the hole. People with less equity than me (67%) would be worse off in any declines.

Just a frank analysis of owning a home. At least I have a home, and I am thankful every day for that!

in 1999 i bought my house for $300k. my payment was about $1900 a month + about $300 a month for property taxes. back then you could rent the house out for $1800 - $1900 because we had less than 1% vacancy in san jose.

i've since refied down to 5.25% and my payment is now $1475. my property taxes are about $380 a month.

i don't pay extra on my house because it's the only bill we have and my wife is still upwardly mobile.

even in this market i could dump my house for at least $625k and i could probably rent my house out now for $1600 a month.

so the way i see it is because i bought my house 8 years ago and shaved almost $5k a year off my payments thru re-fis that i have been paid handsomely to live here.

if you would have bought my house in the past 3-4 years or now under the same terms that we did you'd be able to rent out the house for maybe half of your mortgage.

oh, my house is less than 900 sq ft and is about 60 years old .

ed rader

900k square feet!!! that would have ended my marriage way sooner than last december

i seriously doubt that it was the house that did you in !

ed rader

[pdx5]

If you don't own a house or condo, you MUST RENT! When you add the dollars saved in rent, a house is a terrific investment. The only exception is where property taxes are higher than 2% of appraised value due to overspending local governments.

[Rogerdodger]

As smart as you guys are, it seems like you have missed the REAL LIFE OF EASE.