I’m glad I asked the “how much would it rent for today?” question. That brought interesting comments. Too bad we had some heated discussion… (reminds me of usenet groups in the early 1990s, like the OP, I find it amusing nonetheless).
So, it’d rent for $1800 today? Minus HOA, that leaves less than $1500, which is probably too low a return relative to the purchase price. If the OP really likes the place and plans on staying put for at least 7-10 years, then he’ll be OK.
OTOH, if he’s planning to upgrade to a larger house in the next 3-5 years, he may find out that he has built little or no equity, and that the large P&I+taxes+HOA have prevented him from building as large a nest egg as he could have by renting instead of buying. Plus, he’ll have to pay a 6% RE commission when trying to unload the place (not a big deal at all if he stays long enough).
