It depends where you are. It is all local now...Economy wise. This national news of "Depression", Recession, unemployment, etc makes it sound like the entire country is drowning. Not the case. All states have been touched by this "Depression" but not all are in horriable shape. In fact, the southr'n belt, is looking stronger than any other region. Houses here, still have yet to head back to 1990 levels. (Texas). They have come in from 2008 levels, but not by much. So a very small % of people who bought in 08...may be have had their homes loose1%. Things are growing fast around here. Construction on major projects are booming, new corporate Headquarters, business centers, call centers, Microsoft, major Bioscience, new NSA headquarters, small business's fleeing the East and West coast taxes and liberals....even pizza shops are poping up. Once again, its all regional. The Russian Anaylst may have hit the nail on the head when he said the United States could break up this decaded. Split into three fractions. I say, East and West Coast...you want to continue you to vote in Liberals and Socialist, you want to continue to run your local, state, sales, gas taxes through the roof, you want to continue to support the FREELOADERS in your state, .....It's all fine by me because I'm a Damn Yankee. I'm a Yankee who is staying in Texas while the liberals destroy The East and West Coast. We have a fair share of problems...housing not one of them. But 22 states are about to pass imigration reform, Texas being one. We welcome legal imigration, we welcome free thinking, capitalist from the East and West coast, we welcome those who just want to make a decent living and be left alone, with no state tax and very little taxation in general. The rest of you liberal scumbags.....your not welcome.
For the Average American what is the point now of home ownership. So you get a low interest rate loan for a home, and then 2 years later you lose your job or are forced to relocate. Which means they have to sell the home for a loss or foreclose. Renting makes more sense for the average Joe six pack.
What's the cap rate on a rental house? What if you just took the purchase price of the house and put in PFF instead, wouldn't your cap rate with PFF at least equal that of the house, without all of the BS of collecting rent and maintenance?
Wow, after 6 pages of posts no one realized that 20 x $12K is in fact $240K and not $360K. Or at least I think so since I volunteer 3 days/week and do math with some inner city kids. Some of you can blow off the advantages of home ownership but I ask where you can pocket $250K (single) tax free or $500K (married) with zero tax. Renting is nothing more than flushing $$$ down a toilet ... and I've been a landlord, so I understand what it means to be on the receiving end of the rent payments. Buying a house is no different than buying stocks -- buy low and sell high (except here you pocket the profits tax free).
BS, the commissions are a butt-load higher when it comes to real estate, there is far less liquidity, you don't pay property tax on stocks, and there is no need for a property management service if you need to relocate. And if you fuck up with buying real estate, it's pretty hard to keep the damage to less than 5% of your account.
Well, me and my wife walked away with $490K tax free -- after commissions. As someone who's traded full time the past 15 years I can tell you that I've paid taxes on $500K in trading profits so real estate is a no brainer if one has the ability to exploit the system.
Ever heard or an IRA or a 401K? How much tax do you pay on trading profits in those types of accounts?
LOL. You pay tax on BOTH an IRA (Roth or Traditional) and 401K eventually. The real estate is tax free. Please educate yourself.
And if you do a ROTH conversion, how much tax do you pay on trading profits? And I'm still waiting for someone to post the typical cap rate for a rental home purchase.
precisely. Husband and wife get something like $9000 just for signing the form. In most areas, there is little left to deduct.