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

[Adam D. Ruppe]

On Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 21:29:49 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> I can't even recall anyone remembering that selling a house 
> costs you a 6% commission to the real estate agent. Poof! There 
> goes a big chunk of your profits right off the top.

This is a peeve of mine. I don't see my house as a financial 
asset, that is I don't see it as something to sell for cash. It's 
value to me is entirely derived from me living inside it.

I saw a politician, President Obama I think, recently say "home 
values are on the rise, which gives more wealth to the middle 
class".... but is that really the case? The market value is only 
transformed into cash by a) loans, which aren't a net gain 
(excepting a lucky investment) because you have to pay them back 
or b) selling it.

...and if you sell it, unless you own multiple houses, you're now 
homeless. And housing prices are up, so getting a new house will 
erase the gains you got from selling the old house! So I don't 
think raising property values makes me wealthier at all.

But I do feel the house is worth it financially because it erases 
an ongoing cost down the road. The sum of my taxes and 
homeowner's insurance are about 1/3 what I was paying in rent, so 
after the house is paid off, it is like erasing eight rent 
payments a year. It'll still take time for that to exceed the 
mortgage cost, but it eventually will, and when that happens, the 
house could have a $0 market value and that wouldn't matter to me 
because it still does what I need it to do.