Is homeownership worth the stress and endless furniture building?

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A user excitedly shares their recent experience of buying a house, detailing the challenges of moving in, unpacking, and decorating. They express a mix of fear and joy about committing to a mortgage until 2037, while humorously lamenting the monotony of painting walls in neutral colors. The community responds with congratulations and shared experiences, highlighting the joys and responsibilities of homeownership. Discussions touch on the realities of mortgage terms, with some users advocating for paying off loans quickly to avoid excessive interest. Others share insights on real estate investment strategies, emphasizing the importance of location and market trends. The conversation also explores the challenges of being a landlord, with anecdotes about difficult tenants and the complexities of renting out rooms. Overall, the thread captures the excitement and trepidation of new homeowners while delving into broader themes of financial responsibility and real estate opportunities.
  • #31
Depends on the area...The market is down now in my area, but in general if you want to sell a house around here it will still go pretty quickly.

You have to buy a house in a cheap area, but not a cheap house in a bad market. You want a place that is still cheap but that you know is going to develop a lot over the next 10 to 20 years, so that by the time you sell it, its doubled in price.

Provided one could find a town house for 120k a year, in the next 16 years I could fully own 8 homes and collected 2k rent each month from each house. I am now retired at 38, making 16k a month to sit on my butt. All because I used my brains early in life and didnt buy things like new cars and living on my own. But now I can buy ferraris, go around the world...basically do whatever I please.
 
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  • #32
Moonbear said:
Ugh, that assumes you actually want to live with other people.

Haha I hear you there Moonbear!

I actually know a few people who have rented the rooms in their houses to try to pay off the mortgage faster. For one person it worked rather well, they seem to be able to handle living with 6 other people crammed in the house like sardines. The other one couldn't handle a renter acting like they had bought the place and telling the owner how things were going to be done, in the end the owner had to ask the renter to leave because they just couldn't take it anymore. The other person ended up having damage done to their place by the renter and were not compensated for it, apparently the renter has more rights than the property owner. I think it could work with the right people, it is just hard to find the right people.
 
  • #33
I will never again be a landlord. In the early 80's I bought a house at auction as an investment. It was already rented out and I kept the rent at the very low level that it was at when I bought the place, since there was a young couple with a toddler there and I wanted to give them a break. On the first day of the Labor Day weekend, the well pump failed. I managed to get a 2-man plumber crew there (Expensive!) and they pulled the pump. They were unable to fix the pump and had to order a new one which couldn't be done until Tuesday. Despite my fast action and paying weekend/holiday rates to try to get the water back on, the couple complained and whined, and when they eventually moved out, they stiffed me for the last month's rent. They also left the house in filthy condition.

When we bought our current house, it would have been easy to rent out our old house until we sold it, but I could not bring myself to risk exposure to that kind of creeps again. As it is, a drain line from the upstairs tub split over the winter, despite the fact that a plumber and I had drained and winterized the entire system, with antifreeze in the traps. The split line leaked water over the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom when the new owners first used the upstairs tub. I arranged to have the plumber inspect the pipes and estimate the damage. He said that there was no lasting water damage and that he offered to replace the drain line but the woman said "No, just tape it up. We're going to renovate the bathrooms anyway." A month or two later, she sent my realtor a bill for over $350 for two new mixing valves for the tubs/showers, which I cheerfully ignored. Then a couple of months later, I got a letter from her lawyer trying to extort $8500 out of me for "damages to the bathrooms" that I had "known about" and "covered up". I sent back a nice letter accusing her of extortion and pointed out that she would have to perjure herself if she sued and that the plumber that I had sent to look at the problem is considered a good expert witness by the state plumbing inspector. I almost wish she had sued, so I could have her prosecuted for perjury. Not that it matters, but she is a conservative "Christian" who home-schools their 3 kids while her husband works.
 
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