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Serious question - why does everyone act like renting is throwing money away but buying is always smart?
I bought a house in Austin 4 years ago and the foundation cracked, the AC died, and I had to replace the roof. Total cost was around $28k. My friend rents a place down the street and her landlord fixed everything in 2 days for free. I'm not saying buying is bad for everyone, but I think the whole 'renting is a waste' thing gets repeated way too much without looking at the real costs. Anyone else stuck paying for expensive repairs they didn't expect?
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jakeb251mo ago
Respectfully disagree with the whole renting vs buying thing being one sided. Yeah repairs suck and $28k is rough, but in 4 years you probably built like $60k in equity while your friend's rent went up twice. Nobody talks about how your mortgage payment stays mostly the same while renters get hit with $200+ increases every year or two.
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grant.sam13d ago
Respectfully disagree" is a polite way to put it but yeah I'm with you on that. I bought my first place back in 2018 and my buddy rented a similar spot down the street. He's been kicked out twice because the landlord sold the place and now he pays like $500 more than what I lock in. Meanwhile my property tax went up a bit but nothing like his rent hikes. What really caught me off guard though was the flood I had in my basement last spring. Cost me about $4k to fix and I was kicking myself for not buying a house on a hill or something. But looking back, that was one bad year and my neighbor who rents had to move out twice already because of rent increases. You can't really win either way can you, just gotta pick your poison?
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betty_palmer1mo ago
And that's exactly what people miss when they crunch the numbers... I've been in both spots and the rent increases really sneak up on you, @jakeb25. My mortgage has barely budged in 7 years while my buddy's rent jumped almost $400 total in that same span. You can't put a price on that kind of stability, even when a big repair bill comes knocking.
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