Poll-Do You Rent or Own Your Major Residence?

[Beryl]

Own my house outright. Got rid of the mortgage last year in preparation for FIRE 2 months ago. It is a terrific feeling.

 

[W2R]

I am such a homebody, that I *LOVE* owning my own home. It gives me the sense of permanence that I need and value so much. Selling a home that you own can be harder than giving notice at a rental, but I would still rather own.

 

[Purron]

Own. DH and I have become too funky in our old age for landlords to put up with us.

 

[Brat]

Own a co-op apartment in a building that requires cash payment for shares. Our housing cost since selling our large home and moving here dropped significantly. There is no heaven on earth but we are very content with our decision.

 

[Sue J]

We own our home. Bought it in 1983 and it's been paid for for a few years. It needs updating but we love it and plan to stay. Taxes are low and we can downsize by just not using the 2nd floor (2 BR and a full bath) as we have 2 bedrooms and a full bathroom on the first floor.

When I see so many houses around here for sale for 6-9 months I can see the advantage of renting. I feel for these people who are just stuck and need to move but can't sell.

 

[Zoocat]

I sold my townhome last spring and have been renting a condo since then. I am having trouble finding anything NOT to like about renting, especially because prices have been falling for the past two years. Still, I am keeping my eye on the RE market in case some especially attractive property comes on the market.

 

[Purron]

We own our home. Bought it in 1983 and it's been paid for for a few years. It needs updating but we love it and plan to stay. Taxes are low and we can downsize by just not using the 2nd floor (2 BR and a full bath) as we have 2 bedrooms and a full bathroom on the first floor.

When I see so many houses around here for sale for 6-9 months I can see the advantage of renting. I feel for these people who are just stuck and need to move but can't sell.

Love it, paid off and low taxes? Enjoy the home you love Sue J!

YouTube - Crosby, Still, Nash & Young - Our House

 

[calmloki]

All at the same time? How does one commute between so many places and maintain them?

Or are you putting in improvements before flipping them?

Buying places is kinda what we do - and this such a great time to be buying. I'd rather have a commodity like a house than cash or stock or gold or oil that are inflating in price because the dollar's value is falling. If we can buy a place for less than it costs to build it I see a pretty solid investment. That's the rationalization anyway - the reality is we like buying places - I have less angst buying a house than buying a new $89.97 doodad from Walmart that I know is a waste of money.

We haven't bought a flipper yet, but it could happen, and I'm sure we'll buy different places for us to live in, but maybe going back to a single home. Problem is there are so many neat house styles and locations to live in.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I own my home. It is a spec house I bought in 2004 after selling a much larger, more expensive place, paid off the mortgage on the old place, bought this for cash and banked the rest. I am only 2 miles from my office, and as this was new construction, it has not required much in the way of maintenance so far. Utilities and taxes went down when I moved, and I am glad to be saving on gas, travel time and wear and tear on my car, too.
I also own a second home in FL (occupied by a cousin).

 

[NW-Bound]

If we can buy a place for less than it costs to build it I see a pretty solid investment.

That's what I felt when I encouraged my daughter to buy her first home, a small town home. There's no way one can build a new home, and in such a nice location, for what she paid.

There was no way she could refuse, besides the fact that her dad footed the bill for the down payment.

We haven't bought a flipper yet, but it could happen, and I'm sure we'll buy different places for us to live in, but maybe going back to a single home. Problem is there are so many neat house styles and locations to live in.

I have bought only 3 houses in my life. In fact I still live in 2. That last one, it took us several months to set things up to turn it into a home. At this point, I do not see myself moving and settling in another home. Of course unless it is like my daughter's little town home; we could move in with just the content of my minivan.

 

[boont]

I have a house in San Francisco and another one in the wine country, about two and a half hours north of the City. I also have some other residential properties in Sacramento.

I enjoy the contrasts of city and country life. When I want to change the scenery I move to the other house. It is quite refreshing and renews the spirit.

I do not like living in someone else's property.

 

[Brat]

Humm, daughter was just talking about a dinner at the French Laundry. Tough life!

 

[Nords]

We own about 60% of our major residence, depending on how psychotic the market happens to be that month...

 

[knucklehead 61]

i own all but $776,000.00 of our principal home. it is tough to pay off your mortgage in silicon valley! we plan to sell this place & put the 400k in equity into more stocks / mutual funds & move back into one of our rentals. (we only owe $291,600 on that rental)

 

[Rambler]

We own our home in the US. We have a rented apartment in Tokyo. We do not consider Tokyo our home...just temporary, for the last 12 years.

R

 

[Sandhog]

I used to own a house before my divorce. Now I rent small studio apartment just big enough to lie down to sleep and shower while working two jobs to pay for aftermath of divorce and save for my ER.

 

[Moscyn]

Own my residence. Used to have a holiday home which is not rented but realised that we only stay there one or two days a year and a lot of our relatives end up using the place, so sold that a couple of years back.

 

[rescueme]

I have a house in San Francisco and another one in the wine country, about two and a half hours north of the City. I also have some other residential properties in Sacramento.

Nancy Pelosi - is that U? ...

 

[East Texas]

My wife was the same way and that's why I'm sitting where I am instead of getting things ready to go to work tomorrow.

Long before my retirement I had friends who would trade in their two year old cars for a new one while I kept my paid-for 10 year old car. My friends would gently chide me that I deserved a new car.

I had several co-workers come to work on Mondays wearing new clothes and shoes. They bought new clothes because they felt they worked hard and deserved it. I had three pair of slacks, five shirts, two pair of shoes (black and brown) as my work clothes. They just didn't understand why I would be such a minimalist.

Several of my friends felt the need to move every few years and they always took out another 30 year mortgage. They just couldn't understand why I would choose to live in the same house in the neighborhood. They said I deserved a bigger house.

My co-workers would eat in the company cafeteria every day while I brown-bagged. They felt sorry for me because I obviously couldn't afford to buy my lunch.

Lots of my friends ate out several times during the week. They didn't understand why I stayed home and had meals from the seal-a-meals in my freezer. They said I worked hard and I deserved a treat.

When I retired at 55, these same friends were incredulous that I would take such a risk. After all, if they couldn't afford to retire, how could I? I told them I worked hard, saved hard, and I deserved it.

Fast forward five years. They're still working. They still have little saved. They still consider my financially comfortable retirement as "lucky".

 

[rescueme]

Fast forward five years. They're still working. They still have little saved.

Because they "deserved it"? ...

 

[Jake46]

I own. Paid off the mortgage in 2002. Great feeling.

 

[KingB]

I had three pair of slacks, five shirts, two pair of shoes (black and brown) as my work clothes.

Why do you need 2 pairs of shoes? Black goes with anything.

 

[Dranoel]

Sold the house and contents about a year ago. Happily renting in Costa Rica ever since.

 

[freebird5825]

Own the first house I ever bought (1984). No mortgage as of 1998.

Currently doing a very loose cost/benefit analysis of staying in the house and/or the area. No rush decisions, looking at a 4 year plan, maybe less.
It is a beautiful house and requires very little maintenance, but things like school taxes doing an upward creep, the distance from services, and just plain the desire to live somewhere different are being to "force" us to arrive at a stay/go decision.
Mr B is in "stay" mode right now pending the outcome of his VA VR&E counselor making a decision whether to fund continuing education for him.
I'm in "undecided" mode.

 

[Rustic23]

I put I own it, however, considering the property taxes in Texas, you might say I rent it.