Renting and ownership can be fairly similar in larger cities (but costs more than owning a house in my state), but when you’re in the rural America, there tends to be a fairly sharp decrease in quality of life despite the fact that rental prices adjust up with housing prices anyway.
I mean, I can still get a half-acre of land and private house for a mortgage payment that’s about the same as the rent on a 2 bedroom apartment. Without having to worry about a landlord, an upstairs neighbor with toddlers. I can do what I want with my yard, even have any pet without an additional “pet fee”.
And rental houses (the happy medium?) in my area are going for exactly what the mortgage would be to buy one today. We’re talking $3000, even $4000/mo. Yeah, current rates are shitty, but that still gets you a $550,000 mortgage (used to get you closer to $700,000). And rent isn’t going down any time soon, but one can likely refinance to a lower rate in 5-10 years
What it means to me is that I’m not selling my house, with my 3% APR mortgage any time soon despite the $200,000 in equity I have from the price skyrocket.
Okay? I mean we live in two entirely separate worlds. $550k in my area gets you 850 sq ft with added condo fees. And of course if you’re locked in (trapped?) at 3% you’re not going anywhere. You can’t go anywhere even if you wanted. If that’s worth the advantage of doing your own landscape maintenance on the weekend, and having to drive everywhere for the simplest of errands, then head on.
Renting and ownership can be fairly similar in larger cities (but costs more than owning a house in my state), but when you’re in the rural America, there tends to be a fairly sharp decrease in quality of life despite the fact that rental prices adjust up with housing prices anyway.
I mean, I can still get a half-acre of land and private house for a mortgage payment that’s about the same as the rent on a 2 bedroom apartment. Without having to worry about a landlord, an upstairs neighbor with toddlers. I can do what I want with my yard, even have any pet without an additional “pet fee”.
And rental houses (the happy medium?) in my area are going for exactly what the mortgage would be to buy one today. We’re talking $3000, even $4000/mo. Yeah, current rates are shitty, but that still gets you a $550,000 mortgage (used to get you closer to $700,000). And rent isn’t going down any time soon, but one can likely refinance to a lower rate in 5-10 years
What it means to me is that I’m not selling my house, with my 3% APR mortgage any time soon despite the $200,000 in equity I have from the price skyrocket.
Okay? I mean we live in two entirely separate worlds. $550k in my area gets you 850 sq ft with added condo fees. And of course if you’re locked in (trapped?) at 3% you’re not going anywhere. You can’t go anywhere even if you wanted. If that’s worth the advantage of doing your own landscape maintenance on the weekend, and having to drive everywhere for the simplest of errands, then head on.