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RentingForHalfTheCost says

I have rented for 14 years and have enough now to basically not need a mortgage if I desired

If you had the same payment as your rent every month - what would stop you from doing all that anyways?

At this point, 14 years later you either would have paid the house off (if you put the extra money in the principal) and would live rent free OR you would have all your dividend stocks AND a house that is at least 50% paid off = equity.

Yeah, I agree about the moving around and checking out areas, we did the same thing.

SubOink says

If you had the same payment as your rent every month - what would stop you from doing all that anyways?

Yes, if that was ever true around here, but for me it hasn't and continues not to be. I have always rented under the home ownership costs. The difference was basically what I invested and basically paid off a house in 14 years (100% equity). If I had tried to do it with owning I would only have about 40% of the house paid off. That is a huge difference.

If I had been lucky enough to move here in 1992 or earlier then it would have been different, but I wasn't. Take what you are given I guess.

Thanks Bgama and Tony, Phoenix is off the list, especially when there a 1000 small towns that:
Offer nice homes for less than 100k
Have their property tax under 1k/yr (have control of expenses and pensions)
Have reasonable weather

I thought I had heard "everything" when I first moved to PA and was told stories of people needing to move because of high property tax (which only go up -- a lot) in this part of the state -- big problem. Last year I was in the credit union getting a fantastic rate 2% cd and spoke to a manager to find out whether homes for sale were being priced anywhere near appraisal and the tax issue came up. She said some the loans they were making were for people needing to pay their property tax. The "savers" can never save enough in this current environment...

robertoaribas says

That being said, anyone active in this market can feel price increases in the sub 150k sector for sure. above 500k is still quite problematic, but then again, that isn't my world.

Will you consider consolidation in the future. If so, How many units do you feel will cover the extra expenses of management, maint. etc..
6 Plex, 12, 24. Kinda like comparing computer memory eh ?

Are we posting every business deal we do on Patrick.net now?! I have lots of exciting stories if we are...

m1ckey6 says

Are we posting every business deal we do on Patrick.net now?! I have lots of exciting stories if we are...

Tell us your success stories. It's good to hear somone is making a profit.

RentingForHalfTheCost says

Luckily my parents lost their house to the crazy interest rates of the 80's back in Canada. Unlike here, you cannot lock in a fixed rate for 30 years, or at least you couldn't back then. You get a 30 year mortgage that is refinanced every 5 years. You can easily see how people can lose their home in an increasing interest rate environment then, as my parents did.

Not sure if you really feel that it was 'lucky' for your parents to have lost their home. Anyway, just moved to the US from Canada and the loan interest terms are much the same. Most folks still lock in for 5 years, you can pay a higher interest rate to lock in for up to 10 but that is about the max term. Everyone is vulnerable to future interest rate hikes. Unfortunately, with the current price levels of real estate in Canada, and with prices still going up but incomes stagnant at best, the danger is obvious and worsening. If/when interest rates go up, most of Canadian mortgage holders are at severe risk of losing their homes. In addition, all of these mortgages are backed by the government itself, so Canada's entire economy and economic health is at risk when this happens.

Buster says

Anyway, just moved to the US from Canada and the loan interest terms are much the same. Most folks still lock in for 5 years, you can pay a higher interest rate to lock in for up to 10 but that is about the max term.

No.