patrick.net

Nope.

As long as you save in other forms, buying a home or not is not that important. Owner occupied home is not an investment, it is just a tool for savings.

Yep. 40, married with one kid and renting. We are in a good neighborhood with lots of kids the same age as our son living around us. We plan to own someday but I don't see any urgency to buy.

Me2, thought not as age matured. Married with kids and long time renter in good neighborhood and excellent school. Thinking to buy someday.

i'm 40 and I dont own a car. I rent one instead. sometimes renting is more convenient I get to drive around in a shiny new car and pretend to live a lifestyle that I really can't afford
when you're done you just get rid of it.

so I can sort of relate.

Cue the "I'm not married, but I rent" jokes!

I generally fit your description, but definitely feel like a winner. Several of my friends who moved to the suburbs to buy have asked me in the last year how much I pay in rent because they were considering renting their place out and moving back to the city.

In my meantime, my wife and I have saved massively while living in a great place in a great city. First child on the way. Schools may become an issue, but uncertain. Two kids will mean a weird juggle in our place, so another child might mean a choice to move and almost certainly rent elsewhere.

We looked at renting a place closer to her office in Palo Alto, but just couldn't find enough reasons to move to the places(San Mateo, San Carlos, Burlingame) we found.

I'm pretty close - late thirties. Second kid on the way. I actually own two apartments that I rent out (a long way away), and use some of that income to rent a house myself. Much more flexibility this way - I moved across the country for work recently. The rent keeps coming in and I moved when I wanted to rather than after a house sold. I've never lived in the two apartments, and have a good management firm taking care of them.

The main problem with this scenario is my inability to "do up" a rental place... So I find myself facing rental options that are either overpriced or a little worn at times.

mnsweeps says

Deep within I know we are still way better than other financially and socially. Like we go on cruises, travel around, weekend movies and all that but our friends hardly do that.. So i do understand that even though we dont have a home to call ourselves, our lives are more colorful and merrier than other home owners…

Remember the story of the grasshopper and the ant:

The ant works hard in the withering
heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks theant is a fool
and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or
shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

Just some food for thought while you are enjoying your next cruise!

btw, that Grasshopper/Ant story was just to get me to 3 posts so I could post my own topic. It's difficult to know what to do sometimes. I have this constant dialectic within my own head regarding what is the best course of action. I'm a renter, too.

Best wishes,

Sean

no kids, but a few brothers live with me. renting at 42. Fact, I own more of my house, which is zero, than all of my underwater neighbors (which is less than Zero.)
I will save and pay cash or never own.
the security of a mortgage is an illusion IMO. All though, the impact on ones peers, ego, and family is most definitely not. The trick IMO, is to learn to see through the BS.

Sean7593 says

mnsweeps says

Deep within I know we are still way better than other financially and socially. Like we go on cruises, travel around, weekend movies and all that but our friends hardly do that.. So i do understand that even though we dont have a home to call ourselves, our lives are more colorful and merrier than other home owners…

Remember the story of the grasshopper and the ant:
The ant works hard in the withering

heat all summer long, building his

house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks theant is a fool

and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or

shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
Just some food for thought while you are enjoying your next cruise!

Sean7593 says

mnsweeps says

Deep within I know we are still way better than other financially and socially. Like we go on cruises, travel around, weekend movies and all that but our friends hardly do that.. So i do understand that even though we dont have a home to call ourselves, our lives are more colorful and merrier than other home owners…

Remember the story of the grasshopper and the ant:
The ant works hard in the withering

heat all summer long, building his

house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks theant is a fool

and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or

shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
Just some food for thought while you are enjoying your next cruise!

So when you said think about it when you take the next cruise, I am assuming you are thinking that I am like the grasshopper. If thats the case the comparison is not correct. Lets put it this way ..I play and work hard. I usually get a lot of stuff on deals/sales only ...I browse flyertalk.com, fatwallet.com, slickdeals.net and buy things on sale or super sales only.. I have cash to the tune of over $600,000 in bank ( though its earning less interest)... Considering this I would think you would recant the grasshopper/ant comparision..

By the way I just came back from seeing the movie RIO at AMC Universal City with my 6 yr old daughter.. I have not known or heard from my home owner friends of a single such instance. When I tell them I did this outing with my daughter friday evening , they appear expressionless and say nothing..

Civil Partnership and one cat.

Honestly Rent is so much cheaper.

I'd love to buy the place, but, Rent is fine..

robertoaribas says

If you truly have $600K, think about some better investments than banks.

I Recently bought 3 condos in Phoenix for $40K each, that are rented for $800 a piece. Even with factoring in $1000 a year in maintenance, and a months vacancy, they cashflow very nicely. You can find the detailed threads on here, I wrote about them when I bought them.
I am going to look for more this weekend.

Can u link me to your post? You live in az and it may seem easier for you to handle being a landlord..I have no exp in this and not sure how I can work it out from CA.

MnsweepsIphone says

robertoaribas says

If you truly have $600K, think about some better investments than banks.
I Recently bought 3 condos in Phoenix for $40K each, that are rented for $800 a piece. Even with factoring in $1000 a year in maintenance, and a months vacancy, they cashflow very nicely. You can find the detailed threads on here, I wrote about them when I bought them.
I am going to look for more this weekend.

Can u link me to your post? You live in az and it may seem easier for you to handle being a landlord..I have no exp in this and not sure how I can work it out from CA.

Of course he'll help you. He's a real estate house salesman. That's what salesmen do. He will lead you to the promised land in the desert outpost of phoenix. You will make loads of money while you sit in california, in fact he will probably help you load up on many phoenix condos for a commission.

lurking says

Of course he’ll help you. He’s a real estate house salesman. That’s what salesmen do. He will lead you to the promised land in the desert outpost of phoenix. You will make loads of money while you sit in california, in fact he will probably help you load up on many phoenix condos for a commission.

When it comes to "buy now and gimme commish" full-time RE agents, Rob is pretty far removed from them.

I don't get the connection between owning and forming any sort of self worth or image or whatever. I'm single, nearing 40, rent in a pimp place that all my friends are envious of, drive a gorgeous luxury sports car that is paid off, eat out twice a week, take in a concert or sports event with my girlfriend once a week, go out of town once a month, and generally live an enjoyable, awesome life.

I couldn't do any of that if I owned a place in LA in any sort of comparable neighborhood.

Yep, same boat.

In California it's the rational choice.

People who have to drive "cool cars" are suckers in my book. Buying a house would be just another irrational economic decision driven by OTHER people pressure and advertising.

mnsweeps says

I know we are still way better than other financially and socially. Like we go on cruises, travel around, weekend movies and all that but our friends hardly do that.. So i do understand that even though we dont have a home to call ourselves, our lives are more colorful and merrier than other home owners…

Just wanted to vent and see what peoples opinions are..

We are in a similar situation to yours, we didn't sell but we never traded up from our 1200 sq ft sh*tbox in a blue collar neighborhood, owner equivalent rent is VERY low for the Bay Area.

It is never good to compare ourselves to others because there will always be someone else with more or better. Instead just consider what is best for your own selves like the flexibility that comes with financial stability.

In answer to your original question, yes, we are fortyish, with kids, and renting. While this has been absolutely the best choice of the available choices, it is starting to feel sort of dead-end, as I don't actually want to be renting in retirement or paying off a mortgage in my late 60's. So we must consider whether it makes sense to continue living in California, or whether it might make sense to invest in property elsewhere, in a place we like, and hold that for retirement. We do have a cute rental place, and we are able to save a bit, but we don't invest in the rental place as we would in a home, and quality of life stuff is starting to matter. That said, I wouldn't buy the half-million dollar place we rent, on the general principal that (absent hyperinflation), this is not, to me, a half million dollar house.

Eliza says

In answer to your original question, yes, we are fortyish, with kids, and renting. While this has been absolutely the best choice of the available choices, it is starting to feel sort of dead-end, as I don’t actually want to be renting in retirement or paying off a mortgage in my late 60’s. So we must consider whether it makes sense to continue living in California, or whether it might make sense to invest in property elsewhere, in a place we like, and hold that for retirement. We do have a cute rental place, and we are able to save a bit, but we don’t invest in the rental place as we would in a home, and quality of life stuff is starting to matter. That said, I wouldn’t buy the half-million dollar place we rent, on the general principal that (absent hyperinflation), this is not, to me, a half million dollar house.

The theory is that the money you save with renting you should be actually saving, and you end up with more money in the end due to the extra costs of owning a house (tax, maintenance, loan interest). Then you can buy something nice to retire in with cash. Hopefully you aren't going crazy with your money though.

Yes, except for being 28, and with no kids. Ok, so not so much like you except for renting and enjoying the money we're saving. My wife and I would like to buy a home before we have kids but I don't see a problem renting if prices haven't come down by that time. In the mean time we are building up our savings and investments, and enjoying ourselves. In fact right now we're planning this weekend's road trip to Vegas.

You shouldn't feel like a loser, you should feel pissed that your generation got slighted in such a shitty way. Your prime real estate buying years were stolen from you by a housing bubble.

I'm at the point (and you may be too) where my family is growing and a decision has to made about a bigger place with better schools, yada yada. And just like I don't want to waste money on an infalted mortgage, I don't want to spend "extra" on a nicer rental if my goal is to save money to buy a house.

I wish I could take my savings and plunk it down into a house I can buy and live in for the rest of days without worrying that it was the worst financial decision of my life.

jessica says

You shouldn’t feel like a loser, you should feel pissed that your generation got slighted in such a shitty way. Your prime real estate buying years were stolen from you by a housing bubble.

I think a lot of folks share that feeling.

My advice is just save the money and buy something with cash later. Prices will come down and interest rates will rise, and it will be a good time to buy all cash.

I'm 40 and my wife is 36 with a kid on the way and we are perfectly content renting in the Silicon Valley. We wanted to buy a home back in 2007 but were turned off by the ridiculous prices and we wanted to stay flexible in case I had to change jobs. Since 2007, we've saved up a lot of money and got lucky in the stock market so we thought again about buying a home this year because prices have dropped so much but decided to hold of longer because I don't see much appreciation in home prices for the next few years. The reduction in the high balance conforming loan limit http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Federal-Retreat-on-Bigger-nytimes-3995455694.html?x=0 and the large inventory of foreclosures and slow job growth will restrict home price appreciation.

Back when I was 35, it was an issue for me that I didn't own a home, but now that I'm older and wiser I realize I wanted to own a home just to fuel my ego. When I was in my 20's and early 30s I always drove a nice late model European car to impress girls and show off to my buddies. My current car is now 10 years old and I can easily afford a $60k car but have no urge to get buy 1 because I know it's a waste of money.

In my situation, a home has to appreciate at least 5% a year and I have to stay in it for at least 9 years in order for me to be better of owning than renting (based on the NYTimes rent vs. buy calculator. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html