[karlgkk]

Rent? Ever heard of equity? If you make 250k you can afford a nice condo. Right away that blows a huge hole in your math.

Also $1k month on bills? Groceries too?

Judging by your inflated costs for everything, and ann idea that a house (versus more modest accommodations) is what the goal is, you’ve got Lifestyle creep. And, things certainly get a lot easier when your spouse also works.

[assemblyman]

Renting can be much better financially than buying.

Edit: all % numbers are per year

Consider the case of condos in cities. If you were to buy outright, you effectively get a return by not paying rent (i.e. paying yourself rent). Rent is usually ~5% of the condo cost. HOA + property taxes is 2-3% so subtract that from the rent return i.e. net return 2-3% (5-2/3%). The rest of the return is appreciation from the underlying real estate prices. I am excluding maintenance costs because they are negligible in condos.

On the other hand, if you rent and put the entire amount (that you would have paid to buy the condo), you get ~10% per year. To break even between the two scenarios, you would need real estate prices to grow 7-8% (2-3% + 8-7% = 10%).

Beyond this, there are psychological reasons to buy vs rent. Buying - ability to customize the space, peace of mind because of perceived stability etc. Renting - flexibility, peace of mind because of no long-term obligations etc.

A mortgage is an interpolation of the two cases at the cost of the interest one pays. It is noteworthy, at least in the US, that for most people, this is the only time they can borrow several hundreds of thousands at relatively low costs.

[noncoml]

Do you live in the Bay Area?

[reactordev]

Bro, not everyone has daddy to give them the down payment to buy anything remotely affordable in SV.

[karlgkk]

Bro, I can tell you haven’t even tried. Talk to a mortgage advisor.

[reactordev]

I’ve been trying for the last decade boomer. Housing keeps going up and my salary keeps staying the same. It’s to the point where a 30 year mortgage will take me to 80 years old. Where a down payment would cost me a decade of saving and nothing but saving. No life, no food, no other bills.

[karlgkk]

I’m not a boomer and the core conditional of this whole thread is that you make $250k a year. If you’re making $250k and you still think what you just said, you are completely incorrect.