One thing I see over and over again on this sub is people thinking they need to buy a house because they are "wasting" money on rent. This is a fallacy and not the right way to think about rent. As human beings, there are several things we need to survive, including food and shelter. Paying money for rent is no more a "waste" of money than paying for food is.
While it is true that when you buy a home a portion of your monthly mortgage payment will be going to principal, and therefore you are paying yourself in some ways, however, the cost of home ownership is significant. Some of the lesser known costs include the lack of flexibility, stress, the risk of home price declines, home maintenance, real estate taxes, and HOA fees.
I recommend looking at the following calculator for a better idea of the true cost of home ownership.
Also keep in mind that this does not account for opportunity cost of being able to move (i.e. you find a job in another state that you can't take because you're underwater on your home or the burdensome costs to move [closing costs]).
Submitted May 26, 2017 at 02:11PM by KeepJerseyDirty http://ift.tt/2rZjacr
