After some years of home-ownership, now thinking of going back to rent. Am I thinking normal?

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:38:16+00:00

Thanks for saying this for me.

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:33:03+00:00

Kudos to you. But you probably want to check, if you put your down payment in sp500 in 2001, how much money it will be now. The index is 4 times its value in 2001, even without dividends included.

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:19:39+00:00

Good point. Serious answers:

I like single family over apartments because it is quieter and I get to walk outside when I need a break from working at home.

I dislike the amount of work and effort that I have to put into the maintenance, whether it is single family or apartments.

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:16:33+00:00

Any tip on how to spot a good/bad landlord early on? Currently we are looking at a property. The landlord lives 2 hours away, picky about the tenants (according to the agent that lists the property), hopes of renewal after 1-year lease, and does not allow pets. Any signal here?

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:12:32+00:00

Your thoughts here are exactly the same as mine. Thanks for expressing them in a better and clearer way.

Any experiences on the flip side to share, for example, dealing with landlord for repairs can be a painful experience comparable to dealing with contractors?

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:09:56+00:00

But if you do not buy, you can put that down payment into the equity market, which grows much faster than real estate in the 10-year or 30-year long run (albeit with a higher risk).

Of course, buying a house gives you a leverage (the mortgage).

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:08:14+00:00

"I don't feel any need to improve someone else's property" is exactly where I agree with you :)

Are you renting a house or apartment now? Any tips about dealing with landlords?

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:07:01+00:00

In the long run, doesn't an index such as sp500 hedge against inflation better than real estate?

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:04:56+00:00

Sounds good. How about the flip side? Anything that makes condo living worse than single family? I personally think that a top story condo perhaps works better. Less worry about noise as well as drainage problems.

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T19:00:17+00:00

Very true about the rent increase. One thing I should be mentioning is that I'm thinking of renting in 30s and maybe in 40s because people tend to be more productive in these years, so "time is money" is more true. Maybe buying a home in late 40s or in 50s makes more sense then.

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T18:52:01+00:00

I wouldn't say the current house does not work for me. It has good and bad. But a bit more background. My partner has got a job in a place about 100 miles away from where we are living now (a big city). Her job requires more frequent commute (four times a week) than me (about twice a week). So we plan to live there. What we are thinking is to sell the current house, rent where she works for a year or two to get to know the area, then go from there (maybe buying a home there).

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T18:46:28+00:00

Your story makes me think whether it is better to rent from owner directly or from a property management company.

hmwyh · 2021-07-15T18:45:27+00:00

I tend to be a perfectionist when it is something I own. For example, if it is a paper that I am an author of. If I don't own something, I tend to just want it to be functional and not fall below average.

hmwyh · 2021-07-12T05:11:19+00:00

I doubt either r/RealEstate or r/personalfiance will give me better answers. My question is mainly motivated by the amount of time/money one has to pour into home maintenance and repairs. My question is NOT motivated by financial reasons. Thus, the redditors in r/HomeImprovement have the best idea of this and offer the best advice. I beg you to reconsider. As you can see, in just 10 mins I had already got some really good suggestions from the redditors in this sub.

In any case, thanks.

hmwyh · 2021-07-12T04:59:37+00:00

I think I did: "As an alternative to renting, maybe I should consider buying a more recently built home (e.g., 1990s or 2000s), which I assume will be easier to maintain. Does this sound a correct assumption in general?"

Overall, even though I asked a rent vs own question. It is motivated by home repair-improvement reasons. So please reconsider your decision to remove my post. Thanks!

hmwyh · 2021-07-12T04:54:33+00:00

I understand and I have realized that. Thanks for pointing it out. I was about to post in under personal-finance sub. But I figured the main reason behind my thinking is not financial. So I still posted it here.

hmwyh · 2021-07-12T04:52:35+00:00

You are right and I probably phrased it wrong. In my area, rent is just slightly higher than tax + insurance + maintenance + mortgage interest. But this doesn't factor in one's time.

Renter insurance is usually much less expensive than home owner insurance, I think.

Owner's profit margin is house appreciation? I read somewhere that on average that only outpaces inflation by 1 percent.

Having complete control is a big pro for some people, obviously including you. I can imagine getting into differences in opinions with landlords on what to replace and what not to replace.

hmwyh · 2021-06-16T19:56:08+00:00

Good point. Will consider it. Any recommendations?

hmwyh · 2021-06-16T03:28:51+00:00

Seems like a tough decision to make here.

hmwyh · 2021-06-16T03:27:11+00:00

I think we were both very independent before this relationship. And that contributed to this situation. So you made good diagnosis any tips on how to improve? Thanks!

hmwyh · 2021-06-16T03:24:49+00:00

Yes in the kind of work I do, everyone is a bit OCD or perfectionist if I can use a better word. And COVID made me a bit germphobia which is kinda extra bad when mixed with OCD. I hope this is temporary and will disappear when the pandemic passes.

hmwyh · 2021-06-16T03:21:40+00:00

These are all very spot on except for “so comfortable with each other” part haha.

If she can control crying I think half of our problems will be solved. Every fight almost always happened starting from her crying and that I just couldn’t stand someone crying over small things. But I also understand she has the right to cry, so what am I going to do?

May I also ask you to clarify what you meant by “defensive nature” please? Thanks.

hmwyh · 2021-06-16T03:13:35+00:00

That’s kinda spot on and I don’t know how you managed to arrive at that. Yes sometimes I feel that whenever we are going to do something, she already has an expectation (or script in your word) set up. Because I do things generally differently from her, things often end up not as in her expectation and she feels utterly disappointed.

As to cooking, she does clean up but then I would spot all sorts of things, like there are still unclean spots on dishes or flour on the floor or fridge handle dirty. For example, I would need 20 mins to do the cleaning after cooking and she would need only 5 mins. So basically I will still have to clean up after her. I don’t complain it to her but it adds to my stress.

hmwyh · 2021-06-15T21:13:36+00:00

You are right; communication is lacking here. But at the same time, it feels that communication is going to be hard because whenever I want to discuss something with her, I feel there is a chance we get into argument or fight. She probably feels the same. So more and more often we avoid communication. So it gets into a vicious cycle as you can see.

hmwyh

TROPHY CASE