When I was renting I was paying $600 per month that I never saw again. Now me and my little brother own a 3b 2b and one of our friends is a roommate. I think im like 6 months in, and the mortgage is $1042 a month and $392 is going to equity. Its a 15 year loan so the amortization schedule should ramp up pretty quick. The roommate pays $600 in rent which we could probably jack up but hes a good roommate so thats pretty valuable. Since I gave my little brother the master bed and bath I get a little more of the roommates rent.

Doing the math I pay $521 to the mortgage, but then get back $315 in rent. So I have a $206 mortgage payment, and get $196 back in equity. Without taking into account appreciation im $10 off from basically living free. Should only take a couple months until im generating revenue. Might add a little extra to the equity payments just to speed things along just a little bit.

Now im considering turning the attic into a loft and moving into it and getting a roommate for my current room. From there I would probably be pulling in $4-500 per month and me and my brother could probably get started on property #2 and maybe move to #3 soon after. If we werent young and single with a little bit of extra cash it would be a little bit harder. Renting gives some mobility but it just burns up cash.

That, if not more. The house across the road sold for that amount and it isn't as nice and we've put in solar panels as well. Demand for housing is going nuts atm.

Dat property tax

Luckily the rentcels pay that for you

I'd venture the same people who think that renters don't pay property tax are those who advocate for large increases in the minimum wage.

Some places it sucks more than others. I'm paying 1600 a year. That's less than what a months rent would be for a house like mine. If you rent, they roll the property tax into your rent. If you rent your property you don't have homestead exemption.

My house has a mother in law suite. The basement is basically a large 1 bedroom apartment, could be two bedrooms. I could rent it out. SRS thinking about it.

How the fuk is it so low?

yes it has

well when house prices are way ahead of wage growth, rentcel life for me

Live in Georgia. Homestead exemption. Plus, they make the value of our homes way under market value. House is worth between $250-300K but they tax it based upon about half that. Of course democrats have more control now so lets see where that goes when they start trying to give free breakfast to the kids in school (even a second breakfast) and funding for secion 8 and other bs programs for entiteld POS's.

That really does explain everything. My path trends south.

Thanks OP

Probably in a state with low property taxes

My rentals range from $1300 to $1800 a year

I'm 25, completely debt free (paid off student loans and car loans). Net worth is roughly $75k ($46k retirement, paid off car worth $15k, $12k emergency fund, ~$3k in non-retirement).

What am I supposed to do, sell my car, cash out the non-retirement, and use up all my emergency fund money to have like $30k for a down payment on a $150k condo and nothing else? lol nope.

Gonna keep renting, and simultaneously put somewhere between $20-40k a year, as able, into non-retirement until I can liquidate the non-retirement and buy a nice ~$350k for $70k down. No car selling, or emergency fund disruption, necessary.

I think it's fine to rent in your 20's. 30's though you should probably consider changing it up.

Well obviously in your situation with only about $15k liquid, renting is the only solution. But good plan, keep saving and then buy when you are able

You would oppose a 5.00% down payment?

Boys

I've had a LOT of apartments. I've been at the wrong end of tenant dealings. I've seen what has gone wrong with buildings.

Renting
Is
Chit

YOU CANNOT GET THE MONEY BACK

My first house sold for $30k over what we paid, after living there for three years. My second current home could easily sell for more than that. This is in a podunk state.

Invest and profit as you need to make a down payment, while you rent.
Don't be in a hurry when you have the money. THAT house for sale will show up eventually.

I would never oppose the smallest down payment you can get away with, but I do think you should have money in reserves for potential repairs, separate from your normal emergency fund

these threads always make me think. i own a home and only rented with an ex girlfriend in a literal shoebox so i have no concept of most of this shiit. but my mortgage is no joke 770 a month and the rent around here if you aren't living in an area where you will be robbed consistently is starting at 900 dollars and up. seeing how wild things in bigger cities are from these threads absolutely blows my mind.

With good credit, couldn't you strap yourself temporarily and hope for the best? As in, blow the whole wad on a downpayment, start saving to re-establish the emergency fund, and just have available unused credit line in the mean time in a worst case scenario where you need free cash above what you are earning, say a major repair or something.

With credit so loose, it's pretty easy to get a 0% interest deal for 12-15 months without even paying a fee (opening a new acct). At most, even existing cards you hold usually will give you 12+ months for a 3% balance transfer fee which is equivalent to a 3.0% APR for a full year paid on the backend.

If you didn't raid the 401k for the minimal down payment, you could also loan against that in the case that you needed a roof repair or something.

Where is this??? I've lived all over the country, and rent has never been cheaper than a mortgage. Things like property taxes just get rolled into rents by landlords, you're not saving any money there.

My mortgage, property taxes, and insurance are just under $1k. The closest apartment to me starts at $1.7k for a studio.

I do sympathize with everyone trying to build up a down payment. It's brutal. Seriously look into buying a condo or something else small with a 1-5% down payment loan. Use the equity on that as a down payment down the line on where you really want to live. You'll get there way faster than just renting.

I don't see prices coming down either with the amount of money being printed right now.

Your first home doesn't have to be your dream home. Of course, it's scary buying now because you don't know what the market is going to do but, buy a starter home. Maybe one that needs repairs and updating but you can live with it. Do something simple while you learn about being a home owner. There is more to it than you might think. Pay more than the mortgage says, maybe make it a goal to have it paid off in 10 years or less. It can be done. Build equity. Hopefully it will gain in value durring this time. Then when you are ready, you can sell it, and use that money for a bigger nicer home that you really want, and what's more is you'll have the mortgage history to prove you can do it. If the value drops, you can always rent it out. It's your home, your choice.

Lol at counting a 15k car into your net worth

The median net worth of an entire family below 35 in the USA is below $15,000. At 25, with the vast majority in student debt with almost no assets, that is a good thing to have.

You could, it depends on other factors. How much income you are bringing in, what's your tolerance for risk, what is the condition of the house, etc

It's not a bad idea, I just generally don't like being overleveraged

Say you were pulling in $85,000 and looking at a house for $275-300k and for the hypothetical say there is a 0.00% chance of job/income loss. $500 in other debt service payments between vehicle and student debt.

In that scenario I think you can get away with it, and like you say you can take advantage of other low/no interest options like credit cards in the event you do have to shell out 5k for a repair. Your payment should be in the low to mid $1000s every month depending on your state/taxes, so you should easily be able to build an emergency fund up anyway

Yeah seems to be about $1,400 - $1,500 a month all in w/ initial monthly PMI included where I've looked. I'm paying $1320 a month for very basic non-luxury 2nd floor 2 bedroom apartment with 20 year old appliances and an almost non-existent kitchen.

I'm on WFH for the foreseeable future, so my choice now is to blow the wad on a down payment and buy a house now or move back in with my parents for a 9 month stint or so and stack all the extra cash into a down payment. My concern is that even saving nearly 100% of my income at this rate, the housing market may appreciate more to the point where I'd lose vs. just buying now, even vs. not paying rent for that period.

With that income I think you'd be fine tbh

OP is right.


When you own rental property you can:

Write off the depreciation on the building: 10k per year
Write off all improvements you do 5/10k a year
Gain equity and appreciation
Raw dog your tenants when their late on rent
Mog any girls "boyfriend" when he comes over to your building trying to see "his" girl