Quote:
Originally Posted by nostatic
We rent. My ex still has our house and she's in good shape. In retrospect we should have kept my wife's tiny house in Highland Park that she bought at the peak of the market in '06 but we figured it wasn't going to come back quickly. And now HP is a totally hot area.
I"m renting in Santa Monica because it makes my commute short and relatively painless. And it is a nice area. No way I'd buy here - $1.5M minimum to get a small house. And at my age, I'm never going to pay it off, and not clear that I'd get much equity even given what the market may do.
The reality is that you're only renting anyway. If you're purchasing later in life, "owning" a house is a benefit to your kids, much less so to you. At least when I run the numbers that's how it comes out. The myth of the "American Dream" and the pressure to "own your home" is strong, but making less sense for many these days.
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Yep owning for your kids is damn right.
I thought I never hear this, "I can afford Highland Park". Now they are going to E LA or Lincoln Heights. Another bad area (my wife grew up there) turning much better by the second. Things are moving up rapidly in the fringes of South Central. Scary place to live, but if one can stomach that for 5 years, them can make a few bucks and get the heck outta there, or take that money and buy in Nebraska or...