Our realtor said a lead paint inspection would be a waste of money, because if you’re buying a home built prior to the 70s, there is going to be lead paint in it, so you’re just paying to find out what you already know.

Uh, who’s paying $7k in interest for a $100k mortgage? Have you seriously not checked interest rates in 7+ years? You can get a 30y fixed at 3.625% at my local credit union. I’m at 3.875%, and my (originally $160k mortgage) interest payments are only $5,500. Even adding our $4,500 property taxes, it’s still nowhere…

Don’t forget unless you’re buying a new home. There will likely be a relatively constant train of expensive maintenance costs every year.

For married couples, the standard deduction is $12600. The point is that you only benefit by the amount you exceed the standard deduction. That entire $7K is not “deductible” if you currently only have $1000 in itemizable (sp?) deductions. None of it if you’re married. Very important to remember this when determining…

Because you get the best of both worlds. I won’t change a radiator, but I’m happy to paint the walls a color I like and refinish the floor because this is still my home and neither of those things are very expensive to do.

Yes, but that’s kind of the point. Sometimes renting is better, sometimes buying is better. The problem is, people in the buying camp insist that everyone who rents is throwing money away. This is what isn’t true.

I have outlined plenty of examples with math, and all of that’s on top of the math that’s in the source article that I have repeatedly referenced and that you seem to keep ignoring. The problem is, every time I give one example, you switch to a different one and then claim that I’m not countering it. When did…

“You are absolutely paying these costs, they’re just not separately stated.”

Many of the largest companies didn’t exist 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago.

“However, the fact remains that you’re losing $1,500/month every month you rent.”

I’m copying and pasting this from another Lifehacker story but the principles apply here too.

I’d recommend reading the source article because it explains exactly why this line of thinking is wrong. The conclusion you’re coming to is that ownership must necessarily be better than renting because you own something, but that fails to factor in a ton of costs (and to clarify, yes it can be better, but that…

I get this question a lot when I say I do a lot of repairs and I honestly don’t get it. I mean, yes, I am aware that if you don’t know what you’re doing, repairs is a risk. But in my case, we didn’t have hot water. I disassembled the furnace, cleaned some dust off the inside, and it worked. It took ten minutes. Now we…

It’s true, being able to change a home how you see fit is an intangible benefit that can’t be calculated. It’s also pretty subjective, though. I’d love to be able to make changes to the home I live in and I know I can’t and that sucks, but I probably value it less than you do (for example, I would almost certainly not…

When you rent, someone else is taking the risk on value lost. You have greater freedom to move and less sunk cost investment.

Yes! People say it’s not rent because you can sell and keep the money you put in. But, it usually becomes a deposit on your next mortgage - you don’t keep it at all.

Mortgage payments are, for the most part, rent on money. Throw money at a bank or a landlord - there’s no difference.