Every July; Seems like it's 'free 5 days rent' month, and I'm sick of it

bigred177 said:
Coming from Texas, I understand high property taxes. I've heard people say this before but it confuses me. The landlord that owns the property has to pay those same taxes, so they're being passed on to you anyway. I don't know of many landlords who would charge less than their mortgage+taxes.
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I'm paying $675 for a largish efficiency that's partly a converted attic. That's about the lowest rent you can get for anything in VT. Not sure but I may also be getting a cut rate as the owner is a colleague. But do the math, that's $8100/year, well above the lower end I quoted for property taxes. In fact, I'd guess that when you factor in maintenance, it probably pays for his taxes and not much more.
 
In that sort of a situation I can understand it. It sounds like he still lives there? In that case it's just offsetting some of the cost of his ownership. But, say, someone renting an entire house where the landlord has a mortgage+taxes+hopes to actually make a little money I don't know how people can justify that financially.

I know there are other reasons for renting as talked about above, but people who rent a whole house saying taxes keep them from buying doesn't make sense.
 
Also, in this age of interest rates being at 60 year lows on mortgages, it would take some odd circumstances to make me rent ...
 
txflyer said:
Also, in this age of interest rates being at 60 year lows on mortgages, it would take some odd circumstances to make me rent ...
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A mortgage *is* rent. Just a different landlord who lets you do all the work maintaining their place and they'll give you the title in 15-30 years. ;)
 
denverpilot said:
A mortgage *is* rent. Just a different landlord who lets you do all the work maintaining their place and they'll give you the title in 15-30 years. ;)
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Property/Real Estate Taxes are just rent too, so even when you pay off your mortgage you still pay the government landlord.
 
bigred177 said:
In that sort of a situation I can understand it. It sounds like he still lives there? In that case it's just offsetting some of the cost of his ownership. But, say, someone renting an entire house where the landlord has a mortgage+taxes+hopes to actually make a little money I don't know how people can justify that financially.
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Not sure if he still has a mortgage, I don't think he's been there very long. My guess would be no, based on the rate he's charging me, but then again, as I said, I'm a colleague so I might be getting a cut rate.
I know there are other reasons for renting as talked about above, but people who rent a whole house saying taxes keep them from buying doesn't make sense.
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I agree, and in VT, it seems most people rent houses as a temporary measure, and usually share it with another family (there are VERY few small houses here). The cost of renting a house is anywhere from $1500 to $3000 per month (from what I've seen - the upper end is probably much above that). Most families rent a small apartment. When I was looking, I saw one place, about 2/3 the size of my Michigan condo and thus very small and cramped, from which a couple with 3 kids was just getting ready to move out. Impossible to move around in, dishes piled sky high in the (very small) sink, floors littered with laundry. $800/month.
 
txflyer said:
Also, in this age of interest rates being at 60 year lows on mortgages, it would take some odd circumstances to make me rent ...
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Not sure if this sounds odd to you, but I won't really know until the end of this coming academic year whether I'll be here long term.

It would actually take some odd circumstances for me to buy on a mortgage anyway. Odd, as in interest rates a lot lower than they are today and/or a likely return on my investments of much higher than I ever expect to see in my lifetime. As DP said, mortgage is rent-to-own. I paid cash for my Michigan condo, and expect to do the same here, if it comes to that.
 
With the interest rates where they are, and the prices of housing doing what they are doing for the past 5 years, it's a decent investment if the location is chosen well. Suburban Detroit might be a bad plan. Katy TX, S Seattle WA, and a few other choice spots are doing juuuuuuuuust fine.
 
Often times it makes mathematical sense to rent. The average person only stays in a home six years. Which means that a whole lot of people are staying less than that. Which means that a whole lot of people would have been better off financially if they had rented.

This is a great calculator to see where the break-even would be for a particular situation.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...VREMARK&kwp_0=22227&kwp_4=146076&kwp_1=161536

Of course there are reasons other than money to make the decision. Available rental inventory is a big one in the US, for example. Maybe the house you want simply isn't available except by buying it and you're willing to pay a premium even though you know you will only be there three years or so.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
Well....I have seven rental homes and try very hard to weed those out with my highly sophisticated screening process.

....and that's not my experience.:goofy::D

Acceptable reasons to rent:

* Young couple saving to purchase a home
* old/retired couple who don't want up keep hassles and worries
* transients new to the area will rent for several years before purchasing
* transient military types....don't want the hassle of buying and selling
* couples shacking up.....don't always want to purchase.


I've had several of each from this list and all were great tenants......:rolleyes:
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No argument there. People can be good tenants and still not manage their money well. My not managing their money well, I mean continually paying rent instead of using for a mortgage, and possibly not having much money in savings/investments because they live paycheck-to-paycheck. Hell I lived that way through college and my first few working years afterwards, but it was because I hadn't started making much money at that time. A lot of people who rent also have $30K+ new vehicles as well. It's all in what your priorities are.
 
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