Congrats to all 2024 college graduates!

I mean these days when I look at a university kid I just assume "wealthy parents" with what university costs.

You pay a mortgage, just not your own.

I'm just waiting for people to start filling the streets

don't know where you live, but where i live people love whining about how they can't afford rent while they go on $5000 international vacations every year.

one of my ex-friends who is a trans anarchist, just did this. they work part time in a bike shop, and yet they can afford a two week long tour of Taiwan. But they will talk your ear off about how landlords are evil and the revolution is coming because they can't afford their rent in one of the nicest areas in my city. irony.

How do we know that's not the CEO's son anyway?

FSM blesses me with low cost noodles every night. May he bless you my brother or sister. R'amen 🙏

Step 1: Be attractive. Step 2: If not attractive, rent Face/Off and take notes. Stalk attractive person and swap faces with them when they aren't looking. Step 3: Free rent.

Seriously so good all the way through

U first

Property ownership is the clearest path for generational wealth. It may suck to own, but you are building an asset and you can hand it off to future generations to have a head start with.

It's a broken system, I am not advocating for it as a good system, but it's the primary reason to own a home.

The only hobbies I actually enjoy require space: gardening and lapidary "arts" (gem/stone cutting). I can't buy equipment because I don't have the space to store them and having to move every 2-3 years is not only very difficult when you have more stuff but also really damn expensive.

So there's that, and there's retirement. Having set expenses (aside from taxes) is super important and you'll never have that with renting when you're retired.

Then again who am I kidding, I'm 38 and working in a factory. My retirement will be whenever I decide to buy a gun lol

Especially if you aren't financially that well off or on a good career track, I think it's really appealing just for the stability it affords. My current landlord has been a pretty good guy for us, but if I owned my apartment rather than renting, I wouldn't have to worry that I'll suddenly need to pay a ton more money if he dies and his kids decide to jack up the rent, or worse, having to uproot my life entirely and move out because of someone else's whims.

You don't have to go all the way to renovating before you see the advantages of homeownership. It shows up even in much smaller home improvements.

A small example: a few years ago my refrigerator broke, and the technician said it's behind repair. My landlord had to buy a new one, and of course he picked a cheap model.

If I was an homeowning instead of renting, I would have bought a much better refrigerator at trice the cost. But I won't pay that much for an appliance I'm not going to own, and my landlord won't pay it for one he wouldn't use, so I'm stuck with a cheap and noisy refrigerator.

And this is the situation with everything that's considered a part of the house. Even if I have the money to buy nice things - I can't have them.

I feel the same way. I currently own a home, but I honestly want to sell. For me, it's mostly about the flexibility. I hate not having the flexibility to up and move if a new job opportunity presents itself or I just want to try a new place.

There's also a crap ton of expenses associated with owning beyond just the mortgage, insurance, and taxes.

Ugh, the whole renovation thing is a pain in the ass. My mom watches renovation shows all day while the house has fallen into smelly disrepair over the last twenty years.

She keeps talking about painting this or knocking out that wall or installing all new fixtures 'so it can be nice for the next people (she's in her 80s and plans on dying there).

I keep telling her that no matter how much money she wastes 'fixing' the place up, the people that eventually buy it are going to gut it and do their own thing.

One little old lady using a total of three rooms in a 4br3b house.

She dreams that I'll settle down and want a quiet place in the suburbs, but I hate the neighborhood and most of the people that live there. If she were hit by a bus tomorrow I'll call the first Cash For Houses scam I see so I don't have to deal with any of that.

/Rant

I absolutely loved my apartment, but I pulled myself out of it because it was just far too much money and I knew that nearly all of that money was going into a hole.

Lived with a buddy for 2 years to save up a down payment, and got a house that's nice - but honestly the renovation bit that I couldn't do with an apartment that I really like is that I put solar panels on it. I wouldn't have that option if I was still in my apartment.

And of course I pay people to mow the lawn, so some money still goes in a hole for sure, as it is with paying mortgage interest. But I have way more control now over how much, and whenever I plan to move I can trade a lot of that money going into the mortgage for wherever I go next, or pass it on.

not paying 1/2 to 3/4 of my salary on rent is a big upside to me. but then again if we are talking about the us, there are probably a thousand fees and ways they siphon your money away anyway.

because in usa culture homeownership grants you higher social status and it's seen as an investment.

renting = lower status, second class citizen, poor

owning = high status, first class citizen, 'successful'

that's it.