Comments on: Rethinking Home Ownership http://jontillman.com/2006/05/15/rethinking_home_ownership/ part of the problem since 1976 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:42:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Jon Tillman http://jontillman.com/2006/05/15/rethinking_home_ownership/#comment-50 Jon Tillman Mon, 15 May 2006 20:40:15 +0000 http://jontillman.com/2006/05/rethinking_home_ownership.html#comment-50 All good points, and you got me thinking about this even more. First, I should note that when I said rent, I did mean rent a house, not an apartment, for all the reasons you listed with apartment buildings. Additionally we have some lifestyle constraints that we are trying to work within. 1) We have made a promise to never have debt again. We are absolutists about this - mortgage is debt, so we can have no mortgage. 2) We derive no pleasure from spending all of our "free" time chained to a never-ending list of house related TODOs. 3) We have yet to determine what city is the right fit for the ways we want to live. None of this is set in stone yet. We are simply exploring our options, and I guess it came as a revelation to us that the American McDream wasn't our only option. All good points, and you got me thinking about this even more. First, I should note that when I said rent, I did mean rent a house, not an apartment, for all the reasons you listed with apartment buildings.
Additionally we have some lifestyle constraints that we are trying to work within.

1) We have made a promise to never have debt again. We are absolutists about this - mortgage is debt, so we can have no mortgage.
2) We derive no pleasure from spending all of our “free” time chained to a never-ending list of house related TODOs.
3) We have yet to determine what city is the right fit for the ways we want to live.

None of this is set in stone yet. We are simply exploring our options, and I guess it came as a revelation to us that the American McDream wasn’t our only option.

]]> By: edenz713 http://jontillman.com/2006/05/15/rethinking_home_ownership/#comment-49 edenz713 Mon, 15 May 2006 18:45:04 +0000 http://jontillman.com/2006/05/rethinking_home_ownership.html#comment-49 I agree that many markets are highly inflated, and that if you tend to move around on a fairly regular basis buying a house is probably not the right option for you. However, renting isn't such a great deal either. We just bought a house in an area with inflated prices, however our rent (for a much smaller apartment with no land) was the same as our mortgage payment. Sure you don't have to pay for your own repairs, but you also have no control over how those repairs are made - more energy efficient appliances for example. Also, since our apartment was built in the 50's-70's individual units don't have their own water or electric meters. They use some formula that supposedly refelects your usage, but basically if you conserve you just end up paying your neighbor's utility bills. Furthermore, almost all apartments are icky to live in. No matter what you do to it you always are aware that you basically live in a 'filing cabinet'. The other issues with renting include having to deal with customer 'service' for everything (from people who generally don't live in an apartment themselves), including minor repairs, and the effect of common property syndrome - since it doesn't belong to me I can treat it like crap, as well as living <i>right next to, underneath</i> people who are f*#@ing insane and have no concept of common decency or consideration for other people. And after dealing with all that, your money isn't going anywhere. At least with a house, when you sell it you get something back. And I'm not talking about inner-city or college-town crappy apartments, all of the places I've lived in have been (as far as apartments go) very nice. I agree that many markets are highly inflated, and that if you tend to move around on a fairly regular basis buying a house is probably not the right option for you.
However, renting isn’t such a great deal either. We just bought a house in an area with inflated prices, however our rent (for a much smaller apartment with no land) was the same as our mortgage payment. Sure you don’t have to pay for your own repairs, but you also have no control over how those repairs are made - more energy efficient appliances for example. Also, since our apartment was built in the 50’s-70’s individual units don’t have their own water or electric meters. They use some formula that supposedly refelects your usage, but basically if you conserve you just end up paying your neighbor’s utility bills. Furthermore, almost all apartments are icky to live in. No matter what you do to it you always are aware that you basically live in a ‘filing cabinet’.
The other issues with renting include having to deal with customer ’service’ for everything (from people who generally don’t live in an apartment themselves), including minor repairs, and the effect of common property syndrome - since it doesn’t belong to me I can treat it like crap, as well as living right next to, underneath people who are f*#@ing insane and have no concept of common decency or consideration for other people.
And after dealing with all that, your money isn’t going anywhere. At least with a house, when you sell it you get something back.
And I’m not talking about inner-city or college-town crappy apartments, all of the places I’ve lived in have been (as far as apartments go) very nice.

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