Are you 30 or older, do you own or rent your home?

amother

Olive

Sat, Feb 03 2018, 12:51 pm

Bought our first home at age 25.
Paid 375,000, in NJ.

Sold it ten years later for 360,000, after putting a lot of money into it.

Bought something way bigger for 455,000

Decided to make aliyah. Sold it for 520,000 two years later. Also put a lot of money into it.

Now, thrilled to rent in Israel. We suck as real estate investors. Agree with the Beit Shemesh poster. Renting vs buying in Israel is crazy. We pay less than 2k to rent a fairly large home (not in Beit Shemesh) but would be 800,000+ to buy. No thanks.
. Hopefully we can save to buy something one day but for now we rent.

slushiemom

Sat, Feb 03 2018, 2:39 pm

[quote="farm"]2k sounds like a lot of money to be spending on rent. I personally would rather live in a shoebox that's mine than a palace where I'm covering someone else's mortgage. But you obviously feel differently![/quote

our quality of life is so much higher renting a place we would never spend the money to buy... it's not like we don't invest money, we just don't invest it in our real estate. rent as a liability vs owning as a liability (I don't see it as an asset where I live) is way safer.

slushiemom

Sat, Feb 03 2018, 2:40 pm

amother wrote:

Sorry to hear about your sucky house ownership experiences! Fun to find someone who understands where I'm coming from, most people don't get it at all.

where do you live?

amother

Teal

Sat, Feb 03 2018, 11:45 pm

amother wrote:

Now I'm freeking out. I thought ppl around me all rent and can't afford brooklyn prices! Now I feel doomed. 35 and no savings. But I feel blessed so let me go find something else to do than read this 'depressing' thread!!!

Honestly, I think people who own will rather click and respond on this thread than someone who rents.
Most people your age in Brooklyn rent as opposed to own.
That's why there's this whole exodus to Lakewood, most people in their 20s and 30s cannot afford to buy in Brooklyn.

amother

Slateblue

Sun, Feb 04 2018, 1:35 am

amother wrote:

Thanks for that! It's just so unaffordable for independent couples...

amother

Olive

Sun, Feb 04 2018, 6:19 am

slushiemom wrote:

Sorry to hear about your sucky house ownership experiences! Fun to find someone who understands where I'm coming from, most people don't get it at all.

where do you live?

Slushiemom. We live in Israel. So much happier here.
And I agree with whoever said it. We have plenty saved. It's just not invested in a house right now.

amother

Mauve

Sun, Feb 04 2018, 6:57 am

amother wrote:

31. Renting. Just started looking to buy but I don't really think we'll find anything. Live in Baltimore. Looking for something in the low 300,000s at most (I don't know how we'll even pull that off). We're picky about the neighborhood so I'm not so optimistic.

What? I live in Baltimore and we actually have a house under contract now. Our budget is WAY less than yours and there are a lot of homes on the market now in the frum areas. Our budget is under 200k and there are options. Good ones. And this is the winter when its slow! I looked at homes up to 300k for fun on the healthy neighborhoods site and in Glen alone there are a few beautiful homes. The county also has a ton for 300k. Keep looking. I have a wonderful agent if you’d like a recommendation.

etky

Sun, Feb 04 2018, 6:58 am

slushiemom wrote:

Sorry to hear about your sucky house ownership experiences! Fun to find someone who understands where I'm coming from, most people don't get it at all.

where do you live?

I hear you.
We rented for ten years in Jerusalem before we bought, understanding and appreciating the economic benefits of renting vs. buying. People told us that we were throwing out our money on rentals. It is very much not in the Israeli mentality to rent in lieu of buying. We disagreed.
Eventually however, the nesting urge took over. I wanted to feel anchored in a community. I wanted my own home to decorate as I pleased. I wanted my kids to grow up with that sense of security that I had enjoyed in early childhood -of knowing that this was our home for as long as we wanted, for the foreseeable future. I didn't want to deal with landlords anymore.
Often the decision to buy will be driven by emotional needs as much as by economic calculations. It's nice though when there's a confluence of the two parameters.

slushiemom

Sun, Feb 04 2018, 7:14 am

etky wrote:

Totally agree, which is why I realize we might buy a property one day, but we'd only buy it if we had enough funds that we can see it as the purchase of a liability that we're buying for pleasure, not to dump all our money in as an investment. We'd way rather find another solution for renting than do that. As for feeling anchored, I definitely understand that, but I don't have the desire or the expectation that my current location is very long term, and I'm ok with that. The possibility of something new and different a few years in the future is exciting for me, and at the same time gets me to savor and appreciate the great things about where I live while I still live here.

etky

Sun, Feb 04 2018, 7:14 am

amother wrote:

This must be so stressful, to live with such uncertainty, no?
Signed, another poster who lives in Yesha but in legal yishuv.

Many, many yishuvim get started this way. Usually it works out and eventually there's a "hasdara".
Unfortunately it's true that this is not always the case. Just across the road from us is the Netiv Ha'avot neighborhood in Elazar which is slated for demolition in just over a month.
As the amother that you were responding to said, this is very much a political issue.
But then, even in 'legal' yishuvim, such as Efrat where I live, we can never be entirely sure what our future will be. You live with the uncertainty. As you get older, you realize that nothing in life is certain anyway.

amother

Salmon

Sun, Feb 04 2018, 10:07 am

I’m finding this thread so eye opening. We bought our second home (after losing money on our first much smaller one) for a little under 500 at age 33. We were so behind everyone we knew. Now they’re all moving on to their mansions. It’s interesting to put it all into perspective.

amother

Mistyrose

Sun, Feb 04 2018, 2:24 pm

Currently 31 years old. Brooklyn. Gave a down payment four years ago. Was ready to move in only one year ago. Condo. 835k, which is the four year ago price. My neighbor flipped hers before even moving in for 1.2. I'd never be able to afford it today. Barely afforded it then. Borrowed from friends and family and hoping to finish paying it all back by next year. Our mortgage though is the same as a rental would be.