Not 100% but for the most part, it's true. There are times and conditions where it makes sense to rent BUT long term, it's a big lose/lose. I've owned, I've rented. Went from owning to renting to owning again.

If you do find yourself having to rent, try to go as cheap as possible without getting in a crime infested area. That can be tricky. Rented an apartment for what came out to be almost $1600/mo and it was a waste. Steer clear of income limited apartments. Go to those that require your income to be at least 3x rent and they don't accept government assistance.

My uncle rented the same apartment for about 20 years and not a rent protected state so rent went up every lease. Had enough cash he could have easily put a down payment on a house. Then when he finally moved they tried to charge him because the apartment was overdue for remodeling and "wear and tear was beyond the normal lease" or something like that. Lawyer he knew clapped back at them and they backed down but it was crazy. He would have a house almost paid off if he had bought back in the day.

where is brad?

he can justify paying 2k/month for a 300 square foot condo

or allocating capital to a career change + wishing to immigrate somewhere might just be better than locking the capital to a down payment of a property in a specific city

Why do people claim to be renting a "condo "
Imo you may As well call renting a condo renting an apartment

When I hear someone say they live in a condo, to me that means they own it

PMI is a waste

It may be better to just pay the PMI in this environment. It's not high enough to offset the opportunity cost, and it goes away on its own pretty quickly.

While I was renting a $400 closet and putting all my extra money away in Bitcoin, you were busy pissing your money away on a house lul.

That should fall under the job hopping area if it wasn't clear.

legit, here are some things that have helped me navigate through London UK costs:

-- Flatshare with 2,3 more people: this is easy as I am very busy and use only oven meals (I chuck it in the oven and go away) so not much use of the kitchen (just 5 mins of putting some protein vegetables together with oil and spices). I also live with co-workers on the same work programme as me so I get along. But I work on start-ups, my 9-5, plan a career change so I don't have time for anything else.

-- Hybrid distancing: my work is a central-ish area (like most) so very expensive to live there so what I do is 45 min commute. This consists of 20 mins tube (which is only 2 zones so the cost per month is low) and 25 mins walking.

Why walking? Because the UK has no serious winter (unlike half of the USA) and it is such a good way to squeeze in some form of exercise without thinking about it. The world is getting obese and the USA is the pinnacle of it.

Obviously, various permutations exist, such as:

Even cheaper real estate, more commute time

No public transport, more walking -> a) cheaper real estate, more commute time or b) more expensive real estate, less commute time

IMHO, the combo I do* is perfect giving a nice balance of important stuff one should consider.

*Pre-Covid

-- I choose the commute direction and zone depending on where there are less crime and diversity (unless it is Asian diversity).

renting now and sorta feel that.. I do not see myself here long term and the property taxes here in NJ really cant be ignored in a own vs rent scenario. I have a roommate to help offset costs, really helps bolster the saving for my eventual departure from this ****hole.

Why do you stay in new jersey? Do you work in wall street?

if this thread has shown anything its that rent bros have done quite literally 0 research into buying a property and some how still know they're right lmao

Pretty much this

You could gather than from the first page alone lmao

They think they aren't paying their landlords property taxes hahaha

no it isnt, the stock market has done better than the housing market in the last 100 years

There's no reason not to diversify and take advantage of both

I'm doing 20-25% ROI on my properties while also taking advantage of some tax benefits

Obviously still have money in the market as well

You can claim rent on tax returns?

Lol

But who the hell out there that is truly wealthy rents an apartment!

Doesn't account for the money you lose on rent that would otherwise be building equity

Claiming that the stock market is better than owning a house = cope for not quite being able to afford a house


And this is coming from a renter who is trying to get his foot in the door owning soon

You won't see too many millionaire renters

They exist, but they are definitely not the norm

Yea, I can totally picture Jeff Bozos renting an apartment in the barrio /s

If you're stuck renting, might as well invest in the stock market.
Then when you've saved enough, buy a house with it.

But then you have people saying you shouldn't invest in stocks if you intend on buying a home in the short term (<5 years) and to put it all in CDs, Bonds, or a Savings Account.

Lol if I'm going to shove $500,000 into a savings account and earn 0.0005% on it. If you don't put it into ****ty investments, it should come back up after a temporary recession unless you believe there will be another great recession type event soon.

Yeah exactly. But if an opertunity came up to own ...you bet your ass im trading my investments in for it

Lol . How can people even claim that renting is better ?

Does anybody worth a significant amount of money rent ? Nope.

People who rent cant afford to own a house ...its that simple. Or they move around alot.

If they were worth for 3m -5m , I bet their ass wouldn't be in apartment regardless of what the stocket market is doing .

And not to mention the rental market is complete BS where I'm at

Brb good luck finding something reasonable priced without a bunch of roaches and mice running around

Another reason why apartments aren't as good = putting up with bad neighbors

Also

When the management company drops those notices of entry by ...and then you got compete strangers walking about your home

To me apartment is cool if you're young or not staying in location long term .
But the ultimately goal should be to own , easier said than done .

I remember making a post on here a few years ago, where I had just bought my home after renting that apartment and I posted that "even if you have to buy a ratty trailer out in the woods in Alabama it's better than renting." It wasn't even about money, it was about having my own space.

No time to read all the posts, but I will say this....

I own 5 properties and will comment on the house I live in solely...

I bought my house for $457,500 a year and a half ago (regional NSW). It is now valued at $540K.

People who say rent is cheaper are just incredibly uneducated about property. Renting may be cheaper when compared to buying initially, but wait a few years and the rent will easily exceed mortgage repayments (mortgage repayments will remain the same for the life of the loan, given no interest rate rises), whereas rent rises half-yearly or yearly.

Just LOL at renting.

Too many people? LOL

What do you think you can sell it for?

Some people aren't even trying to understand. Sucks for you.

This. Depending on the local real estate market, renting can make more sense than buying. In fact, San Francisco and Manhattan are two of the only places where real estate has beaten index funds over the past 30 years

He just said it's valued at 540k. So probably that, or higher, not knowing how his value came in