Poll - House value to net worth

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Live And Learn Well, it does matter ... sometimes It's not so much the tying up capital that led me to my small home. It was the ongoing maintenance. Lower ongoing expenses allowed me to retire early.

Yes and no.
Our maintenance is the same as folks in less expensive areas for a similar house. Our house is only 2k sf. We've worked on reducing our carrying costs by improving insulation/windows/roofs/xeriscaping. Our taxes are (artificially) low because Prop 13 keeps it from increasing more than 1%/year.

What's expensive about our house is the dirt it sits on. NOT the house. The house is modest, 50 years old, and the improvements we've put in are to lower the ongoing cost. It's truly a case of location driving the price up... Not the modest house.

[bmcgonig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi Yes and no. Our maintenance is the same as folks in less expensive areas for a similar house. Our house is only 2k sf. We've worked on reducing our carrying costs by improving insulation/windows/roofs/xeriscaping. Our taxes are (artificially) low because Prop 13 keeps it from increasing more than 1%/year. What's expensive about our house is the dirt it sits on. NOT the house. The house is modest, 50 years old, and the improvements we've put in are to lower the ongoing cost. It's truly a case of location driving the price up... Not the modest house.

Similar. I live in the Bay Area so it's around 50%. Prop 13 helps as I've owned it over 20yrs. Since I really don't want to move outside the Bay Area even if I downsize it would still be 35-40%.

I'm very aware that I would be a lot "richer" financially if I lived elsewhere... That's for sure. But then I also look at it as good long term care coverage as well as a nice CCRC entry. That's somewhat of a compensation, but not really 😊

[Choices]

We just sold out in our HCOL area and are now homeless. I used the value we sold for and came up with 19% which is ridiculous! We drift from hotel to hotel....

[Koolau]

During this exercise, I realized that my house value has increased enough since purchase that I'm now in a higher "bracket." Even though my "investable" assets have also increased, the house value has increased more (percentage). I bought at the bottom of the bubble bust and the recovery has exceeded the original bubble. YMMV

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danmar This would be my view. Overall level of NW could have an impact, in either direction. Just because you can afford more real estate doesn't necessarily mean you will want more or have more. There are plenty of reasons why you might have more or less real estate as a percentage of total net worth. Where you live has to be a big reason. Toronto vs Tupelo? Whether you highly value real estate, like W2R or not. Age, dependants Whether you include your pension in NW (I do). Each person decides on their own "sweet spot" Remember averages can be misleading. The average American has one testicle.

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] Love this, Danmar!

[dd564]

I am somewhat surprised by the low numbers on a percentage basis.
My NW (including the value of my home since that constitutes NW) is barely 7 figures.
I don't consider myself in a high cost of living area either.
Evidently there are a lot of really wealthy people responding to this poll.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dd564 I am somewhat surprised by the low numbers on a percentage basis. My NW (including the value of my home since that constitutes NW) is barely 7 figures. I don't consider myself in a high cost of living area either. Evidently there are a lot of really wealthy people responding to this poll.

I suppose that depends upon what you mean by "very wealthy" (which we have had threads on as well.) Certainly, the local housing market makes a big difference. We went from a very low % of NW to relatively high % of NW just by moving to a HCOL area.

"Barely 7 figures" sounds like about a mil, so the median house price in the US on the order of $190K would be about 19% of NW. If you have 2 mil, then it's only 9% of NW. Yes, 2 mil is significantly more than 1 mil, but I guess I wouldn't call it "very wealthy". We could start another poll or thread on what we think "very wealthy" means, but that's usually a very personal opinion so YMMV.

[Happyras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau I suppose that depends upon what you mean by "very wealthy" (which we have had threads on as well.) Certainly, the local housing market makes a big difference. ............... so the median house price in the US on the order of $190K would be about 19% of NW. If you have 2 mil, then it's only 9% of NW. Yes, 2 mil is significantly more than 1 mil, but I guess I wouldn't call it "very wealthy". We could start another poll or thread on what we think "very wealthy" means, but that's usually a very personal opinion so YMMV.

Our Zip code, per Zillow, the median house price is $900k. We own a home valued above the median price, but it is not that impressive. This is why it is really hard to correlate this poll result with HCOL areas.

[dd564]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau I suppose that depends upon what you mean by "very wealthy" (which we have had threads on as well.) Certainly, the local housing market makes a big difference. We went from a very low % of NW to relatively high % of NW just by moving to a HCOL area. "Barely 7 figures" sounds like about a mil, so the median house price in the US on the order of $190K would be about 19% of NW. If you have 2 mil, then it's only 9% of NW. Yes, 2 mil is significantly more than 1 mil, but I guess I wouldn't call it "very wealthy". We could start another poll or thread on what we think "very wealthy" means, but that's usually a very personal opinion so YMMV.

Very wealthy is twice as much as you have, right?

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happyras Our Zip code, per Zillow, the median house price is $900k. We own a home valued above the median price, but it is not that impressive. This is why it is really hard to correlate this poll result with HCOL areas.

Because we own a condo, we're under the average for our area but it's still a lot more "valuable" than the "big" house we used to own. Definitely "location, location, location."

Quote:

Originally Posted by dd564 Very wealthy is twice as much as you have, right?

Sounds about right!

[Surewhitey]

Based on current home prices and not including pension and SS values, we're at 25%. LCOL TX is not so LCOL anymore with all the growth in DFW. When we pull the plug (again), we'll likely cut that in half, reducing property taxes by same %...

[zesty]

0%, I think I will always be a renter.

[pb4uski]

Primary residence = 15.5%
Winter condo = 5.9%

I'm never sure whether to consider the winter condo separate from our retirement portfolio or not... while since we paid in cash we no longer get income from that money what we pay annually for carrying costs is much lower that what renting for 6 months would cost us so it is a bit of a push.

[2017ish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danmar ... Each person decides on their own "sweet spot" Remember averages can be misleading. The average American has one testicle.

Yeah, but what about the average Canadian?

[valid point as to averages, and even to medians, though.]

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2017ish Yeah, but what about the average Canadian?

My son-in-law tells me there are no average Canadians; like the residents of Lake Wobegon, they are all above average.

[BritChap]

21% including cash value of pension: London property isn't cheap, but you can downsize (or even 'upsize') about an hour's journey away for a lot less....which is the plan once I'm FIRED. Or I could buy a castle in Scotland....

[Danmar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2017ish Yeah, but what about the average Canadian? [valid point as to averages, and even to medians, though.]

Pretty much the same I figure.

[MarieIG]

It's lowish, paid off, but I don't live in a mansion.

[2017ish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB My son-in-law tells me there are no average Canadians; like the residents of Lake Wobegon, they are all above average.

Funny, that's what my eldest daughter-in-law says too.

[traineeinvestor]

10-15% - one of the consequences of living in a city (Hong Kong) where housing is very expensive.

We still have about 4 years to go on the mortgage and currently plan to take out a smallish new mortgage for additional investments once the current one is paid off (assuming mortgage rates remain lower than the yield on equities and bonds).