A real house selling exercise.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

DiggerUK wrote: »

Having paid for the house in 2000, we will be 'up' on the price we will get, so long as we don't do anything stupid with the proceeds.

So what?

I bought a house in 1990. Paid off the mortgage in 2007.

I bought a second house when I needed one.... Then prices dipped, now they've recovered to peak or higher in my area. If I had needed to sell when they were down, I'd have lost out. As I didn't need to sell, and prices have now recovered, I'm quids in versus renting since.... Which was the only other option.

That doesn't mean prices didn't crash by 20% or so, before recovering near half that loss, on average....

Just like buying silver in 2000 doesn't mean prices didn't crash near 50% this year.;)

Your arguments centre on the premise that buying property is good....how much worse do things need to get before you sit up straight at the table....keep your elbows off the table...and eat your humble pie...?

If that's what you think then clearly you've never bothered reading my arguments.

My argument merely states a few basic facts.

1) Buying is invariably cheaper than renting a comparable property in anything other than the VERY short term, in the overwhelming majority of places.

2) Most people that bought, even in 2007, are now pretty much at breakeven with those that chose not to buy and rent a comparable property since.... And those of us that live in high rent areas are now well ahead.

3) Pretty much anyone that bought pre-2006 is now substantially ahead of renters. The hpc-ers got it well wrong in that regard, given they've been advising STR/delayed purchase since 2003.

There's a few more, but you get the idea. Buying is better than renting, for most people, most of the time. Sure there are exceptions, but they're not the norm.

Anybody taking on a mortgage at the moment is cruising for a bruising. Anybody renting is paying through the nose. The only people in the safe zone are those like us at Digger Mansions who are mortgage free, and rent free.

That's a financially illiterate perspective.

Whether you pay rent, mortgage, or opportunity cost from the asset value, the end result is you pay one way or another.

At the moment, rent is expensive, mortgage costs are cheap, and safe investment returns are hard to come by.

Mortgage is the smart way to go just now. That may change, but probably not for many years.

But what do I know, I'm bonkers......Aren't I?

Yes.