Renting vs. Owning a Home, by State

Re:Renting vs. Owning a Home, by State by wink on Saturday September 02, 2023 @04:17PM (#37365139)

Not everyone thinks purely in how good of an investment it is. While there are of course downsides, there are advantages, like just decorating and building out stuff just how you like, and not having to ask your landlord. Also people who are more risk averse towards stock markets (Hi, I'm German) will probably prefer a house/flat over some stocks.

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Re:Renting vs. Owning a Home, by State by bachmeier on Saturday September 02, 2023 @04:56PM (#37365455)

> Also people who are more risk averse towards stock markets (Hi, I'm German) will probably prefer a house/flat over some stocks.

The risk averse might prefer renting in that case. It can be quite a shock to find out that you need to pay $15,000 to replace your roof after a storm goes through. The ups and downs of the stock market don't require you to make a large payment on short notice.

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Re:Renting vs. Owning a Home, by State by jjav on Monday September 04, 2023 @01:50AM (#37377511)

> The risk averse might prefer renting in that case.

If your risk averse window is only short term, that might make sense.

If you think of housing risk over your lifetime, renting is the worst because now you have this huge uncertainty over how much housing will cost in 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now. How much will it cost in retirement 50 or 60 years from now (for someone in their 20s) when you have no income anymore? Will rent increase so much you'll be homeless in old age?

If you're risk averse, buy a house and make housing costs quite predictable for the rest of your life.

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