Your opinion: Better to rent or own (house) as a career I.T. guy?

Forsaken_GA

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

Some of you guys said you never rent, so I wonder how the heck did you buy the house right out of high school or college in the first place? Did you take a huge risk taking out loans?

Understand, I'm not saying you should never ever rent. The premise of the question in the poll assumes there's a choice. Given a choice, ownership is better than renting. However, if you're not in a financial position to carry a mortgage, or you can't qualify for one, you don't have any choice but to rent.

instant000

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Out of curiosity, are you fully funding a Roth IRA before you do this? If not, you may want to consider it. It's one of the best deals on the planet.

I am aware that this deal exists, but ...at this time, no.

I'm glad that another poster here mentioned "Dave Ramsey" I used to listen to that "Total Money Makeover" guy on the radio all the time.

Once I get my car paid off within about two months, I'll be debt free. Yay!

And, yeah, I would indeed buy a house, but in this area, the property taxes are greater than my annual rent! I can't mathematically justify home ownership. Property taxes keep coming back at you, you can't ever really get rid of those. We have this CPA in the area, Sylvia Romo. She gets you on your car tags, your property taxes, and probably a few other things. I've never met this woman, never been on a date with her, she doesn't have any kids by me, but I'm sending her money all the time -- it's just not right! (She's a tax assessor, but she's probably more famous than the Mayor of San Antonio.)

Now, as far as the logic of buying while the time is right, that much is true, but at this time, I'm not sure if I'll be in this same town two years from now. On a prior post, I mentioned that I've moved like four or five times in the past four years. (So I highly value my mobility.)

Based on the property taxes in my area, home ownership doesn't make sense. (Maybe if I moved out in the boonies, but I don't like driving a long way to work, as that's a major component of quality of life for me, to spend more time away from the office, as I consider driving to and from work as part of work.)

I do get that ownership has merit, and I would probably own, if I was planning to stay in the area ... but I'm not.

So, yeah, to rap it up, no Roth now, but I plan to max one prior to year's end, once the car's paid off, then **** the remainder in Lending Club.

I will agree that when you spend the money towards the house, you are buying something. However, in my case, the property taxes on that something is greater than the rent on something else. it doesn't feel that great to own a house "free and clear" if you're still paying taxes on it.

Or, is there some math trick to the property taxes that I'm not aware of, that suddenly makes owning a house a wonderful idea? If so, I'm easily convinced, just point me to the code I need to read. (Just hopefully not the U.S. Tax Code, I actually read some of that before, it was apparently written by tax attorneys, for tax attorneys, and people say that Cisco/Microsoft Press produces dry material.)

ehnde

instant000 wrote: »

I am aware that this deal exists, but ...at this time, no.

I'm glad that another poster here mentioned "Dave Ramsey" I used to listen to that "Total Money Makeover" guy on the radio all the time.

Once I get my car paid off within about two months, I'll be debt free. Yay!

And, yeah, I would indeed buy a house, but in this area, the property taxes are greater than my annual rent! I can't mathematically justify home ownership. Property taxes keep coming back at you, you can't ever really get rid of those. We have this CPA in the area, Sylvia Romo. She gets you on your car tags, your property taxes, and probably a few other things. I've never met this woman, never been on a date with her, she doesn't have any kids by me, but I'm sending her money all the time -- it's just not right! (She's a tax assessor, but she's probably more famous than the Mayor of San Antonio.)

Now, as far as the logic of buying while the time is right, that much is true, but at this time, I'm not sure if I'll be in this same town two years from now. On a prior post, I mentioned that I've moved like four or five times in the past four years. (So I highly value my mobility.)

Based on the property taxes in my area, home ownership doesn't make sense. (Maybe if I moved out in the boonies, but I don't like driving a long way to work, as that's a major component of quality of life for me, to spend more time away from the office, as I consider driving to and from work as part of work.)

I do get that ownership has merit, and I would probably own, if I was planning to stay in the area ... but I'm not.

So, yeah, to rap it up, no Roth now, but I plan to max one prior to year's end, once the car's paid off, then **** the remainder in Lending Club.

I will agree that when you spend the money towards the house, you are buying something. However, in my case, the property taxes on that something is greater than the rent on something else. it doesn't feel that great to own a house "free and clear" if you're still paying taxes on it.

Or, is there some math trick to the property taxes that I'm not aware of, that suddenly makes owning a house a wonderful idea? If so, I'm easily convinced, just point me to the code I need to read. (Just hopefully not the U.S. Tax Code, I actually read some of that before, it was apparently written by tax attorneys, for tax attorneys, and people say that Cisco/Microsoft Press produces dry material.)

I found some data (from 2009) on average property taxes in San Antonio:
Median real estate property taxes paid for housing units with mortgages in 2009: $2,864 (2.2%)

Read more: San Antonio, Texas (TX) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, news, sex offenders

Taxes may have gone up, but what about the tax deduction you get for having a mortgage? I know that the deduction doesn't merit the mortgage (doesn't give you an "advantage" to having a mortgage), however, doesn't the break you're getting from the federal government balance out with your property taxes? A $150,000 home would net you a federal deduction of $3356.

I'm not trying to argue with you, just some thinking points Your opinion is perfectly valid and the decisions that each of us make are our own decisions!

This thread has given me alot to think about - I've decided not to buy a house for the time being because of starting out a new career and seeing potential mobility as desirable for now.

instant000

ehnde wrote: »

I found some data (from 2009) on average property taxes in San Antonio:
Median real estate property taxes paid for housing units with mortgages in 2009: $2,864 (2.2%)

Read more: San Antonio, Texas (TX) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, news, *** offenders

Taxes may have gone up, but what about the tax deduction you get for having a mortgage? I know that the deduction doesn't merit the mortgage (doesn't give you an "advantage" to having a mortgage), however, doesn't the break you're getting from the federal government balance out with your property taxes? A $150,000 home would net you a federal deduction of $3356.

I'm not trying to argue with you, just some thinking points Your opinion is perfectly valid and the decisions that each of us make are our own decisions!

This thread has given me alot to think about - I've decided not to buy a house for the time being because of starting out a new career and seeing potential mobility as desirable for now.

Oh, I see. I wasn't aware of a mortgage deduction.

I just looked at taxes being 10k+ per year when I looked at where coworkers were living (in the type of neighborhood I wanted to live in) and it didn't make sense to me at the time.

Also, I like to move, (so this is getting into emotional reasons, which cannot be reasoned with) so buying would tie me down more than I want to be right now.

I've said several times before that I would buy a house either
(a) after I'd established my own business
or
(b) after I'd retired from working, and wouldn't be moving around anymore

Turgon

ehnde wrote: »

I found some data (from 2009) on average property taxes in San Antonio:
Median real estate property taxes paid for housing units with mortgages in 2009: $2,864 (2.2%)

Read more: San Antonio, Texas (TX) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, news, *** offenders

Taxes may have gone up, but what about the tax deduction you get for having a mortgage? I know that the deduction doesn't merit the mortgage (doesn't give you an "advantage" to having a mortgage), however, doesn't the break you're getting from the federal government balance out with your property taxes? A $150,000 home would net you a federal deduction of $3356.

I'm not trying to argue with you, just some thinking points Your opinion is perfectly valid and the decisions that each of us make are our own decisions!

This thread has given me alot to think about - I've decided not to buy a house for the time being because of starting out a new career and seeing potential mobility as desirable for now.

Why is potential mobility tieing you down on a house purchase? Assuming you have the capital, rent or buy elsewhere and either sell up the old place or rent it out.

Forsaken_GA

instant000 wrote: »

I just looked at taxes being 10k+ per year when I looked at where coworkers were living (in the type of neighborhood I wanted to live in) and it didn't make sense to me at the time.

If they're paying $10k in property taxes, they either have really bad accountants, or *really* expensive houses.

The mortgage deduction is basically you don't have to pay taxes on the interest you paid that year (and only the interest, not the total payment). So if you're in a 25% tax bracket, you pay the IRS 25% less.

The problem is in order to take the deduction, you have to itemize, and that means no standard deduction. So if you paid $11k in interest, but you're married filing jointly, I believe the standard exemption is around $10k... so you're really not saving much. The interest deduction myth is one of the worst.

What should be of far more interest is whether or not your state/locality has homestead exemptions. Those usually give you protections against things like forcing the sale of the home to cover a debt, and tax breaks. If I remember right, Texas has some of the most consumer friendly homestead laws in the country, the only way to force the sale of the house is to default, and I think there's a flat 20% reduction in property tax (up to a certain dollar amount) on your primary residence.

griffinalice29

First of all there is no way that I could own my house with the current salary and secondly I am not keen to block my money on loan and keep paying for a house which may or may not be of any utility in case I move to a new city.