544 House as an Investment

[Martin Hash]

[brewster]

1- pretty ridiculous to only talk of single family homes and not of owning urban homes in multifamily properties such as a condo. Urban dwellers don't disdain the idea of owning a home, they disdain the car based suburban lifestyle, it's commutes, and the dependency it creates in children.

2- "cheaper than renting" depends on the market you're in. There's a simple metric used in rentals, the GRM, Gross Rent Multiplier, the ratio of your year's rent to the purchase price: price/(rent x 12). Low means buying makes sense, high means renting makes sense. This number has soared in the coastal cities in the last 20 years. It can easily break 20 here for a condo. I would never buy a property that makes so little sense. You could rent the same home, invest the difference you save elsewhere, and never pay maintenance or property taxes. Note there's a big difference from multifamily rental property where GRM's are lower, and all expenses are deductible.

[Martin Hash]

Damn, everybody here’s a goddamn Real Estate tycoon.