I see a lot of expensive houses being built in my area. A LOT. And the weird thing is that they’re being bought pretty quickly. Are these people just making more money than me? If so, what are they doing for a living? Or are they just living house poor? How exactly are they affording these places?
Edit: For reference, my neighborhood is starting to become popular (because the other popular neighborhoods have priced most people out of affording places there). The normal price of newer homes here is $700k. My home, built in 1965, which is 2500sq ft on a quarter acre of land, is $500k.
Disingenuous…wow. Sometimes people just disagree and for good reason.
Buying a house is not a guaranteed way to build wealth. Ask those thought bought around 2008 and lost their shirts.
It doesn’t ALWAYS make sense to buy or rent. The honest answer is it depends. A location might be great…NOW. Case in point, Detroit. Lot’s of factories closed down. Or military towns during the many base closures in the 90s.
People buying houses to rent can and do lose money on it.
And nobody ever built equity from renting.
Nobody ever went underwater on a house they can’t sell renting.
Things aren’t always black and white and individual circumstances matter. Sometimes people work on short term contracts and aren’t going to live somewhere for very long. Sometimes people need to move in a hurry and don’t have time to do due diligence buying a property.
As much as some of you may hate it, renting fills a need and isn’t always a bad thing.
The problem with the housing market is part euclidean zoning, part NIMBYism, part capitalism on too long of a leash. It really has nothing to do with rent vs buy.