this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
177 points (97.3% liked)
Housing Bubble 2: Return of the Ugly
234 readers
317 users here now
A community for discussing and documenting the second great housing bubble.
founded 3 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Keep in mind that when you own you're one surprise away from suddenly having to spend tens of thousands...
We rent an apartment and own a cottage we bought for peanuts (50k in 2020) and last time we went we realized we've got carpenter ants, that potentially means having to raise it higher off the ground, tearing down part of it and rebuilding the section we tore down... I'm expecting about $10k when all is said and done and if I do everything myself?
Now imagine owning a house that you can barely afford and there's water infiltration in the basement and you need to spend 30k for new French drains or realizing you need to spend 70k for big work on your foundation or 20k on your roof... Leave it as is and the expense will only get bigger and bigger... What do you do?
What do you do? You sit in a house comfortably to ponder your future actions.
People who rent get kicked into the street to the searing heat or freezing cold and then they get criminalized for being homeless.
Not to diminish the woes of homeownership, but owning your own house already puts you in a tier of privilege that instantly disqualifies you from criticizing the people who are days away from sleeping in their car or under a bridge.
You don't "sit in a house comfortably" if there's water coming in, you're potentially exposing yourself to mold as well.
Renters protection laws are the issue then, but it won't make people financially able to own a house and having to spend money you don't have on your house can make you end up on the street as well, the difference being that you will also have to go bankrupt in the process.
Bruh, lmao, my husband and I have been paying off new siding and new plumbing since October 2022. It's costing us $2600/mon to live in a 3 bed/2 ba 1500 sqft home in a neighborhood that does not rate that much.
(To be clear, we had planned on the siding, the plumbing happened to be a surprise in the same month we were getting the siding done).
We also replaced all the windows & traded out the sliding back door for a French door in 2022 (pre plumbing fiasco. Also planned.)
In 2022 we spent $60K alone between those 3 projects. Over the years we've also done the roof/HVAC/Water Heater/Foundation, new flooring and new counter tops.
And now? We've just secured a rental and we're selling this bitch. I'm so over home ownership. I'm over the saving and saving and saving and saving and saving for months only to have some $20K cost crop up out of nowhere and just wipe it all out. I'll gladly pay someone more than the mortgage/property taxes to handle that shit, so I can put my savings away in a HYSA or something and not need it until worst-case scenario: our cars break.
HUGE PRIVILEGED DISCLAIMER: Were both active duty military, so we don't have to worry about Healthcare costs wiping us out. YES, I wish that was available to everyone. YES, I vote for socialized medicine. Just wanted to throw it out there that I'm aware that others have concerns that I don't have.