Comment by larrywright | Hacker News Reader

Comment by larrywright | Hacker News Reader

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I came here to make this same comment - renting forever is probably fine for people who are willing to accept a certain kind of lifestyle, but for most people it's too limiting. Got kids and want a playset in the backyard? Not in an apartment. Want a wall where there isn't one, or remove a wall that you'd rather not have? Again, nope. Want a home theatre with a big subwoofer so you can watch movies at home (one of my favorites). Nope, not unless you want some angry neighbors.

I don't think for a minute that owning a home costs less month-to-month over renting - with maintenance and upkeep, repairs and new appliances periodically, it's probably a break-even at best. But, at the end of it in 20 or 30 years I can sell the house and have that money (to buy a smaller house, or move into something senior-citizen appropriate, or a condo or whatever). With renting, that's not the case.

It also helps that I live in the Midwest, where property prices are not insane. I just sold my first house (made almost $30k over what I paid 18 years ago), and now I'm buying a 5-bedroom, 3k sq ft house in a nice neighborhood... for $230k.

Is it for everyone? No. But there's no way I'd rent, at least not at this stage of life.

The way I see it renting will always be more expensive because you have all of the same costs but you add in one other person to pay: the landlord.

Maybe the landlord can hire less expensive maintenance staff than you can, but maybe they can't. Is it really that different to have the house plumber come down and fix something vs. hiring a plumber from the yellow pages?

The landlord has to pay the mortgage same as you would. Maybe he gets a better rate because he can get some 1%er special equity deal, but fixed loans are like 3.5% so his margin can't be huge. He doesn't get a break on the taxes for the primary residence (although this went away I think?).

Ultimately it's difficult for a landlord to be so much more efficient that he can offer the rents at a lower rate and still make money.

Right, this is another downside to renting - landlords will tend to optimize for cost. So when a refrigerator or dishwasher breaks, it will be replaced with something reasonably priced. In my house, when the dishwasher breaks I can choose to replace it with something inexpensive, or I can spend a little more and replace it with a really quiet one that I can’t even tell is running (BOSCH are whisper-quiet, and totally worth the extra $$).

The rental market isn't based on what it costs to own a home plus a profit. It's a separate market and can often result in rents that are lower than the monthly cost of ownership.

At which point new rental units cease to be built/bought until rental prices rise to make it profitable again.

"Want a home theatre with a big subwoofer so you can watch movies at home (one of my favorites). Nope, not unless you want some angry neighbors."

How is that buy vs rent? Sounds like just house vs apartment?

Yes, that’s what I meant. The GP was specifically talking about an apartment. So yes, this one only applies if you’re not renting a house.

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