DConf 2013 Day 3 Talk 1: Metaprogramming in the Real World by Don Clugston

[Walter Bright]

On 6/11/2013 2:20 PM, Adam D. Ruppe wrote:
> On Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 20:51:58 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
>> Owning a home has lots of nice advantages, but saving money isn't reliably one
>> of them.
>
> I agreed with you until last year, but the very low mortgage interest rates and
> fitting in principle prepayments into my budget tipped me toward the other side.
> (Then the landlord jacking up the rent and giving me a bad attitude on a short
> notice inspection pushed me into calling the bank immediately - this is the
> biggest of the other advantages IMO, not having to deal with a landlord anymore!)
>
> But, like with a lot of things, there's no substitute for doing your own math
> before making a decision.

Yes, not having to deal with a landlord is one of the nice perques. On the other 
hand, there's another landlord you can't get away from - the property tax people 
and the zoning people and the permit people. You never really own it. If there's 
an HOA, better read those covenants very, very carefully first.

I own the house I live in, I find it worthwhile for me. But I'm not under any 
delusion that it's some great financial investment. I've previously owned 4 
houses, and lost money on two of them (one of them pretty badly). If I sold my 
current one today, I'd lose a nice chunk on it.

Renting can be nice. For example, if your life circumstances change, or you just 
want a change of scenery, you can just walk away from it.