patrick.net

Truism: while many --though by no means all-- of the regular Patrick.net bloggers are renters, at some point most of us JBRs would like to become homeowners (something the bulls/trolls frequently like to point out). Aside from that oh-so-powerful "ownership" psychology and pro-ownership cultural bias we discussed in previous threads, there are also valid reasons to choose buying over renting in a sanely valued market: it's generally easier to find detached houses for sale vs. for rent in many areas, or places with a big yard or garage, no pet restrictions, fewer restrictions on remodeling (excepting HOAs & condos) and you can't be arbitrarily evicted --unless you fail to pay your mortgage or taxes of course.

Some renters prefer renting to owning, even when the rent vs. buy equation is balanced, due to moving frequently, preferring more freedom/fewer maintenance headaches, etc. But for this thread, I will focus on renters who --for whatever reason-- would like someday to become owner-occupiers (as opposed to landlords or speculators). Personally, I'd be lying if I said I didn't like the idea of owning a nice, roomy tree-shaded craftsman with a big garden and workshop someday. I might be termed an aspiring "buyer-users" (coined by Mike Dwight). The way I see it, many of us Bubble-aware aspiring BUs are either: (a) looking to move out of Bubble-afflicted areas, or (b) waiting for prices to mean-revert. As I often like to put it, we are needing to see "housing prices reflect economic fundamentals" --namely rents and incomes-- before buying.

But how does one exactly determine when prices are "in line with rents and/or incomes"?

For the more financially saavy among us (Randy H, Peter P, Zephyr, etc.) this means feeding reams of housing data into your personal SPARC parallel processing super-computer and generating results using some insanely complex Black-Scholes stochastic risk valuation derivatives model, which would be virtually incomprehensible to the rest of us.

So what do the rest of us mere mortals use? How do we know when it's the right time/price to buy? How do we know when prices have "mean-reverted" enough to be safe?

Some of us use online Rent vs. Buy calculators. These are great, because they can calculate the P-E (rental) ratio of housing with decent precision. Condos and townhomes make direct buy vs. rent comparisons easy, because they are often physically identical/interchangeable with typical rentals units. Calculating the precise rental-equivalent for detached SFRs is a bit harder (unless you live in an area where many are for rent), but rough estimates are always do-able. Here are some good Rent vs. Buy calculators:

Dinkytown.net Rent vs. Buy
CEPR Rent vs. Buy

Others prefer using Cap-rates. Here's a good Cap-rate calculator:

Owner's Equivalent Rent Calculator

Some prefer even simpler rules of thumb:

What are your favorite "sane housing price" rules-of-thumb?
Discuss, enjoy...
HARM

#housing