The Great Debate....Mortgages

With the low rates and the tax breaks you get as a home owner, you are literally borrowing the money for "free"
 


It will still be cheaper than rent right now

Depends where you live. Prices aren't fucking crazy here in this part of Wisconsin like they are in other parts of the country. Renting a moderator priced apartment here is way #winning over buying a house.

Since the average mortgage length is 25 years, I find it hard to suggest you should get a mortgage, unless you plan to move out of it sooner rather than later. How often do you make that length of investment? Renting is a lot more predictable, period.
 
Cardine, I would love to hear a little about your investment strategy. Nothing personal but just general info (mutual funds, cd's, stocks.) I have serious trouble getting a return north of 5% which is basically the current norm for fixed mortgage rates.

I recently paid off a large piece of my mortgage after running an amortization chart. I literally went from paying $800 in monthly interest to $100 overnight. Seemed like a no brainer with the investment situation I mentioned above.

My investment strategy is put money back into my own company.
 
So you're renting but with the added risk of property price and interest rate fluctuation. Why not just rent it then?

Because at the end of the day I'd rather have my $1300/month go towards something that I own, in a situation where I have good chances of making money on a sale or at least break even, vrs throwing $1300/month on an apartment where I'm at the mercy of other people for almost everything and have nothing to show for it in the end (I know, "nothing to show vrs having debt" thing). Just to put it in perspective: I was building 2 in the community, there are now 15, and it's not fully built yet. Price hasn't changed at all.

The small shit like the apartment complex not replacing the air filter in my AC unit driving the power bill up an extra hundred bucks a month, mixed with other things is just annoyance to deal with. It's just small shit that adds up and drives me nuts.

Don't know, maybe I just have a different perspective on shit.
 
Its a pretty simple formula. If the cost of your mortgage (including interest, insurance) is less than the ROI you can make on your money then get the mortgage. If you suck at making money on your money then buy the house outright.

There is a certain feel good feeling to knowing your house is "paid for outright" but lets be honest you never really own it with property taxes so you still have to get up every morning and go to work.

I own 7 homes (rentals and personal home) and 3 are mortgaged even though there is cash in the bank to pay them off. Mortgage rates are disgustingly low, and I can invest my money in my own business and make far more. Plus I like having big cash on hand for when sweet opportunities arise. Never forget opportunity costs.

"Luck is when preparation and opportunity meet"

If you own your home outright you'd be somewhat of a fool not to stick it in a trust. A homeless man could catch his nutsack on a rusty nail sticking out of your old wooden fence while he's jumping your fence to steal your water hose and sue you for every penny you've got, including the value of your home.

If I find someplace I really like I would probably just buy it out right and get a rock solid trust made up.

mortgages/loans are great as well for real estate to use as leverage against the property you are buying to help you break even much sooner on your investment then if you were to pay in cash for the property
 
If you have the cash to pay for the home outright (and that means that the house is 25% of your "true" net worth or less) you buy it outright. If the house costs more than 1/4 of your net liquid worth you get a mortgage. It's not that difficult.

I don't really see the debate here unless you have a shit credit rating, in which case you probably aren't getting a mortgage anyway.

As far as losing your property goes, if you have good homeowners insurance that should take of any accidents that happen on you property.

If you're worried about losing your house because your business gets sued, you're structured incorrectly. It's not that difficult to make sure your personal assets are separate from your business assets here in the US. That's precisely why multi-member LLC's and other small business classifications, were created, and why Trump is still a millionaire (billionaire ???), even though he has filed bankruptcy on multiple businesses. Even if it means giving 1% of your business to your neighbor who you barely know, the asset protection it can give you is more than worth it.

A mortgage isn't a debate, it's a choice.
 
ORLY? You never heard of repossession? Don't pay your property taxes and guess what happens to "your" house.

In most cases if you have a mortgage you are paying taxes and insurance through escrow anyways. Also in most states if your taxes aren't paid it goes to a tax lien sale and you usually have 2-5 years to repay to whoever bought the lien. Only a dumb ass would not pay those couple of grand to lose their home worth tens of thousands/hundred(s) of thousands.

As far as having a mortgage? Nothing wrong with it per se. Just a matter of how one feels about debt. Continue paying a low interest rate or pay it off and save yourself tons of money over the life of it which could be better invested.
 
Because at the end of the day I'd rather have my $1300/month go towards something that I own, in a situation where I have good chances of making money on a sale or at least break even, vrs throwing $1300/month on an apartment where I'm at the mercy of other people for almost everything and have nothing to show for it in the end (I know, "nothing to show vrs having debt" thing). Just to put it in perspective: I was building 2 in the community, there are now 15, and it's not fully built yet. Price hasn't changed at all.

The small shit like the apartment complex not replacing the air filter in my AC unit driving the power bill up an extra hundred bucks a month, mixed with other things is just annoyance to deal with. It's just small shit that adds up and drives me nuts.

Don't know, maybe I just have a different perspective on shit.

Yeah, I can see your point and owning is good, but property taxes sucks. From a purely risk diversification point of view, you're also more exposed both logistically and legaly. But owning can many times be cheaper than renting, particularly now with low interest rates if you can find a decent price. Don't know, would preferably own more than one property and use the other(s) to finance the one I lived in.
 
I think there are pros and cons to renting and owning a house. I actually rent my house. I write my landlord a big old fat check at the beginning of the year (gives me a month free for doing this) and don't worry about it for the whole year. For me it just makes more sense to rent. The main reason being, I can make a much greater ROI by investing back into my businesses. I can turn $10K into a residual income that possibly will pay me forever. That $10K investment into a home may return very little over time, and in some cases may actually lose me money.
 
You need to put 20 - 25% down on your house, and also remember to have enough cash flow, maybe have 1 year's worth emergency fund ready for any house costs, roofing, plumbing, and things like that, if you don't have that much covered, you will shoot yourself in the foot.
 
I just built a new home and with the banks lending money up here in Canada at prime -7 why would I use my own money? 2.3% interest is nothing and the the value has gone up close to $50g from what I paid in just under 1 year. Renting is a fools game, all you are doing is paying someone else's mortgage for them.

Just make sure you buy smart, buy property that lots of others want and is easy to flip, not some fixer upper piece of shit that no-one wants even if the price is good.

I have been looking at prices in the US, hell you can buy 10 nice home for the price of one up here now... buy a few while the market is ripe.
 
You need to put 20 - 25% down on your house, and also remember to have enough cash flow, maybe have 1 year's worth emergency fund ready for any house costs, roofing, plumbing, and things like that, if you don't have that much covered, you will shoot yourself in the foot.

Guess that depends on your credit... I put about 3% down. As for the repair cost's I built new so it comes with 10 year new home warranty... I dont buy old stuff that needs roofs and plumbing and such, besides don't you have insurance to cover that sort of thing? I do even on the new home.
 
Renting is a fools game
everyone i know who owns is either underwater or already took their medicine. renting is only a fools game if 1) the economy/market is extremely stable for the next several decades, and 2) you know you never need/want to move. nobody in the united states fits that profile.

anyone renting in 2008 was sleeping in someone else's horrible investment at 1/10th the cost.
 
The only reason to buy a house is if you have a wife/family or don't like to travel much. For a single person, renting is almost always a better deal financially - even if you pay for your house with cash like I did.

Few first time home buyers realize just how much money they'll be spending on a yearly basis just to keep the home (Property taxes, maintenance, repair, lawn/garden stuff). There's a reason the market takes off when housing data says that homes are selling and it's not just because of the home-sales themselves its because everyone knows that those who buy houses also buy tons of other things to go in those houses and to repair/maintain that house. Home owners are mega-consumers.

And if the home buyer is honest with themselves they have to admit that they NEVER OWN ANYTHING AT ALL. You don't own that property, the government lets you rent it.. that's why you pay taxes on it even if you have no mortgage. "Home Ownership" is kind of a big joke and this is coming from someone who owns two of them. The gov will always tell you what you can/cant do on 'your' property and you get to pay them a yearly fee for the right to say you 'own' it.

It's too close to call what is the best thing to do financially and depends highly on your situation. But renting is definitely NOT a fools game and definitely IS the right choice for many people. If i were single I'd prob do it just because I'm a cheap bastard who likes to keep shit simple in life.
 
When you guys are speaking of a "Trust" are you referring to a living will trust? I'm trying to understand what the advantage is of having paid off property in the "trust". Like how it is protected in the trust.
 
Who cares...you only get back 30-40% of what you spend so its a negative ROI


Typically you get $0.00 as a deduction for a personal rental.

I'd rather own my own house outright but a mortgage has some advantages over renting.

i am making some major renovations to my house, things that I want that the house did not come with. If I rented a house/apartment I probably wouldn't be able to make renovations or would have wanted to if I didn't own/have a mortgage on the place.