Another thing…renting is NOT “throwing money down the drain.”
The REIC has brainwashed everyone into thinking buying a house is always the best choice. It’s not. Don’t forget all the taxes, interest charges, buying/selling costs, HOA fees, insurance premiums, maintenance fees, Mello-Roos (for certain homes), etc. Oftentimes, people can spend more on these things then they ever would on rent.
For the most part, you are only “building equity” when prices are rising, espeically in the first few years when most of your payment goes toward interest. If prices go down, not only are you not building equity, but you stand to lose everything you’ve put into it — including the down payment, principal payments, and other expenses. Then, if you need to move and have only put 3-10% down, the likelihood of a foreclosure is very high, which is exactly what you DON’T want when you are going through a rough patch in your life. Renting gives you flexibility to move for work, or downsize if you ever need to, which “ownership” does not (especially with a low down payment).
A “special assessment” can appear out of the blue, and your HOA can bill you for tens of thousands of dollars — due now — for some big-time repair/maintenance issues.
I’d like to see people spend LESS on housing, so that they can allocate more money toward savings and spending on more productive endeavours. Many of us have been expecting the economy to enter a depression for a long time. This isn’t news to us. What would be the worst of all worlds is if they DRAG THE DEPRESSION OUT, so that nobody makes it out alive. All of these guarantees/bailouts are not making the problems go away, they are pushing them into the future to be dealt with then. I’d much rather have a very severe depression that lasts 2-4 years instead of a long, grinding recession/depression that lasts 10-20 years (or more).
