This sounds nice, Mortgage deduction too. There seems to be a lot of programs for home owners, married folks ect. I pay hefty taxes get 0 back I do take 1 exemption. My coworker got $10k back and she didnt pay that much in taxes all year. She has 3 kids.

they're there...just at unobtanium prices. if i end up staying in california, i'll buy some serious desert acreage and build a completely modern house on it. think large Farnsworth-esque style house.

i know one thing...i will never own a Spanish-style track home. UGH.

I have 3 homes, all paid for. No mortgage.....Have about $350,000 of my money in them.....Even in this depressed market, the 3 are worth about $1,050,000..........Was worth $1.6 mil back in the day......Haven't paid rent since 1972.........

This is only true when you can't earn more elsewhere

if you have some money and you have to choose:

1) pay of debt at x%

or

2) invest in expected value of return of x%-y%,


you should always pay off debt first

if someone is lending you money that pretty much means they are getting money cheaper than you are



edit; y is >=o

If you can, buy the smallest fixer-upper in the best neighborhood that you can.

Good Neighborhoods hold their value better. You can always improve the house if money is good.

You can NEVER leverage a rented place that the landlord owns. One could leverage their home if they have positive worth.


HUGHR I would love to have 18 acres in your hood! I had 8,950 sq ft in Cerritos and that was huge. I now have 17,800 sq ft in Fullerton and it feels nice. I wanted to move to SLO but my family is here. I missed out on 5 acres ( 1/2 planted with producing Avocados) 1 mile off of Pismo in 2010 for 1/2 mil but my wife wouldn't move.

I know someone that's building one out near 29 palms. Completely modern, with a bunch of metal container parts and its totally green. The building dept out there can't keep with all the green stuff, so they got away with murder. They are finishing this thing early summer. They may sell it, but I don't think anyone will buy it.

You can HAVE the high desert! 2 tepms, HOT and 35 mph winds.... or COLD and 35 mph winds.

I read somewhere just recently that if you can rent and invest the extra that you would have paid into a mortgage you'd better be off come retirement. Not smart enough and not inclined to do the sums, but sounds feasible.

The owner is a former client, and ask me to go out there to build thing for him. I wouldn't even go out there to work. Talk about living there, you must be crazy?
Too hot and windy for me.

I haven't met too many sane "Desert Folks" I was very glad that I had my 1911 with me once!

you don't know cold..ha! back home, sub zero days are common. as for the heat...i'll take 110 of desert heat any day over 90 degrees with humidity.

plus it's sunny 350 days a year here, with clean air.

SoCal isn't ideal for me..but i'd rather put up with the desert then the urban/suburban areas.

ok, back to tony's thread....

That's true but most people don't have the discipline to pay the extra into investments.

The old saying is also still relevant. "There's nothing safer than houses"

A lot of people in my community do this, rental houses, my parents too. I don't know if it really works. Buy a house on the cheap, spend time and $$ to fix it up to put it for rent. Most of the time, the monthly rent amount is just a slightly bit more than your loan monthly payment. Then you have to maintenance and repair when the house has problem, of course it is an old house. Then you have to deal with people, the renters. In the past, our experience is more than 50% are the bad one. Sometimes, there are one who lost their job and planned on living for free, while you are still making payment on your loan. And hundreds of other things beside these.
I can't see the profit. Anything I missed?

I'm happily renting. When I divorced I essentially got locked out of the SoCal market. If I wanted to drain my emergency funds I could buy now but then if my situation changed I could be seriously screwed. The whole "gotta buy a house" is part of the American dream but isn't necessarily the best choice for everyone. Right now I could lose my job and still pay the bills for a year +. That peace of mind trumps "owning" at this point. Plus depending on how the boy's college years play out I could see making another career change, and I don't want to be limited by the housing market. ymmv.

+1

if you buy a 30 year mortgage and pay next month's principle each time, you will exactly cut the term of the mortgage in half


if you increase the frequency of your payments (if they'll let you), you can also dramatically reduce the term of your loan.
So you pay 2xs per month instead of once. If you do this from that start of your loan, you can reduce your load from like 30yrs to 23yrs

for the same out of pocket expense each month, in total.

Example: you are supposed to pay $1000 a month. Instead you pay $500 twice a month

your interest rate will make the effectiveness of this vary

Nothing is for sure, like any other business. There are those that have made it work. Look around you, how many apartments and homes are rented?

By owning a home you are putting a roof over your head and building equity at the same time. (assuming a healthy market)

If you have a better way of building equity by all means rent and do so.

Fact is for most people home ownership is and remains the easiest way to build equity.

And its never too late to start.

I did not get a house until I was 40. Sheesh. 15 year loan has lower interest by far.

You go to some banks and lending institutions, and you find out what you re qualified for, and see what is out there on the market. Worst case scenario is that you become like your dead beat friends...

Buy anytime if the price is right.

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Warren Buffett on CNBC: I'd Buy Up Single-Family Homes If I Could