r/Money • u/ImCoyyWR • May 03 '24

Is it worth buying a house in 2024, or renting?

25 years old, using my VA home loan. Just curious if it makes sense to buy a home, or wait for the market to subside and just rent?

I’m making 70k yearly, and pre approved up to 240k

Just wondering lol.

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u/Acceptable_Aspect_42 May 04 '24

BUY! NEVER RENT!

2

u/enginerd2024 May 04 '24

Never? Why, it’s not obvious from a Total Cost perspective that buying at these prices at 7% would remotely be worth it

1

u/Acceptable_Aspect_42 May 04 '24

Renting is throwing money away, and rent is usually just as high or higher than a house payment.

1

u/enginerd2024 May 04 '24

I bought in a great market with low interest rates. But rent isn’t usually higher and more now than ever but when it is then that changes things. 20% down payment invested instead, yearly maintenance and upkeep, property tax, usually more shit you buy. It’s not so simple.

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u/Acceptable_Aspect_42 May 04 '24

Think about 30 years from now, if you decided to buy you would be coming up on the last payment, sure you still have property taxes and fire dues and whatnot but those things are significantly less than mortgage or rent. Now, if you rented for the last 30 years, you still have rent due and there's the possibility of the old owner dying and his kids selling your home so now you have no place to go and nothing to show for the last 30 years because you couldn't save any money because you spent it all on rent, basically paying for someone else's house or property and you have nothing...

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u/enginerd2024 May 04 '24

Still oversimplifying this if you ask me, there’s so much nuance. Sure if you buy a house and stay in that house for all 30 years of your mortgage it’s hard to beat. But you’re still not considering the opportunity cost of not being able to invest the difference. Since the average person sells their house after 7 years. Every time you sell a house you’re paying 6%. That’s huge. I could go on but before I bought my house I did a very in depth total cost and opportunity cost analysis and my scenario was a breakeven after 6 years so I bought. With a 7% interest rate I’m betting the breakeven value rent is well north of 10 years which is a long commitment for most