Hidden costs of homeownership

Hidden costs? These costs are not hidden unless you're a naive homeowner who thinks home prices will always double or triple every ten years. There are costs to owning a home as well as owning a car. How often do you have to replace a roof or a water heater? Maybe once every ten years? If you rent, your landlord will definitely pass on the cost of wear and tear to you, and that includes carpet, water heater, kitchen applicances, plumbing, etc. And let's not forget the landlord needs to make a profit from you after taking into account all his other expenses like mortgage interest, insurance, property taxes, and hiring a property manager or maintenance man.

Let's face it...renting is for the birds. It's OK if you're single and you're not ready to settle down or you change jobs a lot. A year ago I rented a one bedroom apt for $1400 and I had to sign a rental agreement detailing what I was not allowed to do. I was not allowed to have my kids running around the building and I was not allowed to make any noise after 9pm. In my own house nobody can tell me what I can or cannot do.

Renting does not make financial sense long term. If you rent an apt for $1500 a month for ten years, it would cost you almost $200K. Of course a few years ago buying a home was not a good move. But now owning a home makes more sense since mortgage rates are so low. It's great if you have the cash and as long as you don't borrow too much because the total interest would kill you. In case you haven't heard, rent is going up big time. And why not since many homeowners are scared to death about buying a home fearing home prices would decline further? They're telling everyone else to rent and not buy. Doesn't that sound like a bottom? "Buy when there's fear; sell when there's greed" also applies to housing.

Old man nailed it. In this country, land of the free, you own nothing. Any of the government factions (local,state,county,​federal) can take it from you. In Connecticut, if you're the "right" company or corporation, you lose "your" property as those people in New London did when Pfizer, a private

business in the drug field, decided that they wanted the homes of these people for expansion of their business. After they got the land, they changed their mind and decided not to build. The people whose homes were taken lost  and had to move.

All this happened even though no one owed back taxes or had "distressed property".

Add in: esclating property taxes, fees for firefighting services or garbage pick up, water and sewer fees or if have a well or septic tank, the costs of maintaing them; lawn/landcaping costs, if land becomes or it becomes known to be contaminated by industrial wastes even from generations ago killing the property's value or causing illness; legal liability costs if someone gets hurt on your property and if you make enough claims, higher home insurance rates; maintaining or cutting down trees or damage to your or other's property if they fall or break up in a storm or due to rot; failure to make sure work done in the past or in your possession was done to code or in a safe matter of if not, when try to sell you can't get a certificate of occupancy; There is a lot more that this article notes that should make many reconsider owning their residence.