Please vote in this poll using the sidebar.
What's your #1 reason for wanting to own a home?
- financial investment (10%, 25 Votes)
- stability (52%, 130 Votes)
- interior design / landscape freedom (30%, 75 Votes)
- keep up with the Joneses (2%, 4 Votes)
- renting is for losers (6%, 18 Votes)
Total Voters: 251
This poll will be active and displayed on the sidebar through 12.06.2008.
bt » Nov 30, 2008 at 10:51 am
Missing option: secure a decent place to live for senior years, when the 101k will barely cover food + utilities.
geon@yahoo.com » Nov 30, 2008 at 11:09 am
How about “Getting your spouse of your back.: :)
Olaf » Nov 30, 2008 at 12:13 pm
None of the above: The only reason we’re buying is because rental houses in Seattle tend to be run-down and depressing. We rent a very nice apartment, right now, but need more space. I really wish we could find a nice house to rent — in-city — but they’re all just dumps.
So I vote for this option: Lack of appealing SFH for rent.
Joel » Nov 30, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Stability is the reason I want to own a home, but it is also the reason I rent right now.
Ben » Nov 30, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I think that the options on this poll are not enough for me to describe my motivations.
I just had a kid and more will be on the way. Yes, you can find houses to rent but options are way more limited than with apartments. How can you be sure that the landlord won’t sell from under you? I own a townhouse which is relatively new construction, and a lot of cheaper housing that ends up as rental is a step down in comfort.
Given that I don’t want to throw my money away, I am sticking it out where I am for now. Prices are coming down. But when I go to buy, it will be because you can get a far nicer place to live if you buy. Can’t we have an option on the poll for that?
Emma Anne » Nov 30, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I guess it is a combination of stability and being able to have things the way we want them. I like owning our house. But not enough that we would have bought more than we could afford, or in a collapsing bubble.
paul » Nov 30, 2008 at 2:50 pm
You failed to list “to keep the wife happy” as a reason, as only this could be my choice.
Sniglet » Nov 30, 2008 at 4:54 pm
There are lots of reasons people buy homes, but very few would take this step if they felt that the value was going to drop substantially in the years after the purchase. Precious few buyers are disinterested as to what happens with the market price of the home they own. With cars or consumer electronics people fully understand, and accept that the things they buy will lose market value quickly, but very few are willing to accept that when it comes to housing.
This gets me to my main point: most people buy homes with the belief that the prices will remain stable or at least appreciate. Things are going to get VERY interesting when this firmly held belief is shattered in the coming years as deflation continues to tighten it’s grip.
By the way, I have published a podcast about deflation at http://www.surkan.com (for those who didn’t see my reference to it on older threads).
Captain Kirkland » Nov 30, 2008 at 6:45 pm
haha…to those who said ‘my wife’.
That is the only reason I would even consider it right now. Luckily, I’ve been able to keep my wife informed enough that she is firmly in the ‘its smart to rent’ bracket…but its been an uphill climb. I recommend showing your significant others what is going on in CA and reminding them it can (and probably will) happen here.
David Losh » Nov 30, 2008 at 7:19 pm
The only reason to buy Real Estate is to own and control an asset.
There is a saying I have about Real Estate home buyers. When a woman comes in to buy a house and says she has $10K to put down you can assume she has $20K. When a man tells you he has $10K he has $5K and a car payment he’ll forget to mention.
As long as we’re generalizing; women are smarter about money.
kfhoz » Nov 30, 2008 at 9:52 pm
We were happy renting the same apartment unit for 10 years, and would still be there except for the housing price run up. Renting, while thinking you have the option to buy a home or even a dream house sometime in the future is OK. When prices kept going so hard that they were accelerating ahead of our savings rate we bought so as not to get shut out. That was Spring 2005.
We bought a tiny little house even though we could have bought something much more expensive.
EconE » Nov 30, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Because try as I might, I just can’t seem to convince any banks to give me a HELOC on a rental.
;o)
Lamont » Nov 30, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I need a three car garage to fill up entirely with scuba junk…
I also would like a hot tub, particularly tonight…
That’s all that I’m missing right now from renting…
Bits_of_Real_Panther » Dec 1, 2008 at 6:49 am
#1 above was the most prominent reason for me as well, securing a place to live in retirement. A mobile home for that sounds perfect today but now I have options in case the world goes Mad Max in the next 25 years.
Also, four years ago buying was better value than renting in north SnoCo where my job was. Today not so much but the gap is closing from the insanity of summer ‘06.
stephen » Dec 1, 2008 at 7:57 am
This gets me to my main point: most people buy homes with the belief that the prices will remain stable or at least appreciate.
you mean :-)
This gets me to my main point: most people buy homes with the belief that the prices will appreciate or at least remain stable.
Sorry couldn’t resist.
We didn’t believe that in Jun 07′. We absolutely knew it was likely to go down. With us it was a question of how much. We hoped for no more than 10-15%. Didn’t really care as we had moved 5 times in 4 years and were absolutely done with that. Sucked to have to buy a house in an up market and tried to do the best we could but had zero intention of sitting in rentals another 4 or 5 years while this thing sorts itself out.
Hindsight is great but we don’t really regret it at all. It’s been a great couple of years and it’s a fine place to be stuck for a while :-)
stephen » Dec 1, 2008 at 8:00 am
The above post is miune, I have no idea why it says anon other than the fact that I did edit it duting the ajax count doen edit???
patient » Dec 1, 2008 at 9:03 am
Yet another one in the missing category of keeping the wife happy.
WestSideBilly » Dec 1, 2008 at 9:52 am
… because landlords frown on installing an in-ground lift in the garage? :-D
Joel » Dec 1, 2008 at 11:12 am
Oh cry me a river. I’ve moved 8 times in 4 years.
seattlehousebuyer » Dec 1, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Didn’t really care as we had moved 5 times in 4 years and were absolutely done with that.
Oh cry me a river. I’ve moved 8 times in 4 years.
Joel,
Why so harsh to the comment made by Stephen?
Joel » Dec 1, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Was it really that harsh? I’m just trying to one-up him.
stephen » Dec 1, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Wow, 8 times in 4 years, definitely feel one upped :-)
Everyone is at different points in their lives. We owned from 96-03 in Duvall and by 07 we were tired of the whole renting routine and had a string of bad luck with flaky landlords.
My sister-in-law has a great house she’s been renting for several years on education hill in Redmond. Still paying the same low/reasonable rent she has been paying since she moved in. Nice house, good landlords and low rent, I think staying put makes total sense.
davisb » Dec 1, 2008 at 8:35 pm
1) Stability…it’s unpleasant not knowing where you’ll live next year because you never know if the landlord will raise rent beyond what’s reasonable for your budget.
2) Because if you stay put for 10+ years you usually come out ahead owning.
That being said, the day where I’ll be stable enough in my career that I’ll be able to commit to staying put for 10 years is very far off.
Pat » Dec 2, 2008 at 8:03 pm
No landlord. Stability of monthly payments. I can do to the house as I like!