Buy or Rent?

SeaBreeze said:
Larry, I think in your position I would rather rent than buy, makes sense to me because of health and age-related reasons you don't need your own home to maintain, etc. Best of luck in finding a three bedroom home that suits your needs in your area.
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The problem now is finding a house to rent. There don't seem to be any in Woodlake, There are plenty in Visalia which is 15 miles away.
 

treeguy64 said:
Except when you realize that your life isn't much fun without work, work, work. I have friends who travel. They love it. For me: Been there, done that. I have friends who like to sit around their homes reading, eating, watching TV, sleeping. Yeah, I've done that, too. It drives me goofy, after a while. I like the physicality of the work I like to do. I fully understand that my body will slow down, eventually. Eventually, my mind may want to do those things my body can no longer do. I'll deal with that when that time comes.
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So do we...love working around the house and property. To us that is what is making life productive and fun now. Like my mom said "I'd rather work away than rust away".
She did too, right up till the end. Know a neighbor that has had several heart operations and gets out there playing with his "motors" and working around his property nearly every day.

Loves anything with a motor...he's a wiry little guy that works and works. He's over 80 and we wonder what he would have been like if he would have stopped working and sat in a recliner with one hand on his heart. Bet he would have been on the other side by now.
He has a zest for life and does say he "misses his horses", because he sold 10 acres to now downsize to 4 acres...don't you just love guys like that? They are an inspiration to us all.
 
Seniors renting is not the same as young people renting. We have worked all of our lives to have money to live on. Seniors are not saving for a home like young people are. Retirement years are the reward years. A three bedroom will not be cheap depending on where the OP lives. I would just it down and do the math. A quarter million for the sale of the home is a nice start for rent money. My advise to the OP is do a thorough job of looking in to the place you want to rent because you don't want to rent a place full of young folks blasting the stereos all night. Good luck.
 

fmdog44 said:
Seniors renting is not the same as young people renting. We have worked all of our lives to have money to live on. Seniors are not saving for a home like young people are. Retirement years are the reward years. A three bedroom will not be cheap depending on where the OP lives. I would just it down and do the math. A quarter million for the sale of the home is a nice start for rent money. My advise to the OP is do a thorough job of looking in to the place you want to rent because you don't want to rent a place full of young folks blasting the stereos all night. Good luck.
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So true, if we were to sell now, we would probably rent. As it is, our big place never had a mortgage and there's vibs in "them there walls" and lovely land, so we've riding it out here and son knows it all. Now if it were a regular home in a reguar subdivision or whatever that has sold, you got it fmdog!
 
If the truth be know regarding work in the world, it would be as so: Most working people in this world get 4 weeks holidays. In the USA, 2 weeks is the standard for new employees. Go figure!
 
Renting is best if you want to have the freedom to move whenever (don't sign a long term lease) but you're at the whim of the landlord to raise the rent, make lots of rules, or throw you out when the lease (or month) is done. Owning a condo, you have the same cons and pros of BOTH owning and renting. Owning a home gives you freedom to live as you please (if no HOA) but it ties you and your equity up and depending on the market it might take a long time to sell if you want to leave. Only you can decide what is best for you under your circumstances.
 
This has nothing really to do with @rkunsaw's situation, I just remembered this anecdote about the many perils of renting.

There were two Italian brothers that were close. One bought a two family house and moved to the second floor. The other brother offered to rent the first floor. He was happy there and the brother charged him a decent rent. Through the years he did a lot of remodeling safe in the belief that he would live there forever. Then the other brother saw how lovely the apartment was and how much he could charge for rent to a stranger and kicked him out. He had no legal recourse since he wasn't asked to do the remodeling and it was all voluntary.
 
PVC said:
This has nothing really to do with @rkunsaw's situation, I just remembered this anecdote about the many perils of renting.

There were two Italian brothers that were close. One bought a two family house and moved to the second floor. The other brother offered to rent the first floor. He was happy there and the brother charged him a decent rent. Through the years he did a lot of remodeling safe in the belief that he would live there forever. Then the other brother saw how lovely the apartment was and how much he could charge for rent to a stranger and kicked him out. He had no legal recourse since he wasn't asked to do the remodeling and it was all voluntary.
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Not sure why their ethnicity was important to this story.
I lived in Little Italy, in Chicago, during my last two years in college. Italian folks are very big on family ties, sometimes including another "Family." I find it incredible that one brother would kick another brother out of his place for the sake of making more money on the rent. Something else must have been going on, if this is, in fact, a true story.
 
treeguy64 said:
Not sure why their ethnicity was important to this story.
I lived in Little Italy, in Chicago, during my last two years in college. Italian folks are very big on family ties, sometimes including another "Family." I find it incredible that one brother would kick another brother out of his place for the sake of making more money on the rent. Something else must have been going on, if this is, in fact, a true story.
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It's a true story and I mentioned they were Italian exactly because "Italian folks are very big on family ties". Italians are also ''furbo'' (clever, cunning) and they like making money. The house owning brother just got greedy after a few years and realized how much more rent he could charge from a stranger.
 
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I love my home but will probably end up in rent. My hubby just turned 81 and I am 74. I notice he does less and less and my son and I are now doing most of the up keep.
You mentioned your wife's daughter moving in. Nice that you will have her there. If it were me I wouldn't want to saddle her with maintaining the house as you both get on in age.
 
I've rented a few times in my life but only for very short periods. The only good things I see about renting is the freedom to move as soon as the rent contract expires (month, lease) and the fact that all of your equity is available to you and not tied up on the property. As to the rent, when you own a house you're also paying taxes, insurance, house and yard maintenance. For now I plan to age at home and pay for help when I need it, then play it by ear as time goes on. I hope I die before ending up in a nursing home.
 
When we bought a condo townhouse in 1987, I gave away the lawn mower and I have not missed it yet. The association did the landscaping, exterior painting and roofing. I just do the simple little jobs on the interior and not many of them anymore.
We own our present condo and I have not made a mortgage payment in 22 years.
 
Manatee said:
When we bought a condo townhouse in 1987, I gave away the lawn mower and I have not missed it yet. The association did the landscaping, exterior painting and roofing. I just do the simple little jobs on the interior and not many of them anymore.
We own our present condo and I have not made a mortgage payment in 22 years.
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One of the things I hate about condos is the assoc fee. I had a townhouse for a short while and complained about the $90 fee I had to pay every month. A few years later I looked it up and it had gone up to $125 a month. Of course, that paid for water, trash, front landscaping (very small gravel area with a hedge lining the front), roof maintenance, and painting of the outdoor trim (brick walls). I'd rather contract for the best rate or do it myself if possible. I had a niece with a swanky condo and she paid like $300+ a month fee. How much has your fee gone up those 32 years?
 
Manatee said:
When we bought a condo townhouse in 1987, I gave away the lawn mower and I have not missed it yet. The association did the landscaping, exterior painting and roofing. I just do the simple little jobs on the interior and not many of them anymore.
We own our present condo and I have not made a mortgage payment in 22 years.
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Have a friend in Delaware that owned a house for years...sold it and bought an end unit nice big condo in golf course community. Now she is trying to find another house as she detests "all the noise" and the jacked up condo and assessment fees.

Good that you have a nice complex, with a good condo board. Think they are probably hard to find. Condo fees can run from 300 - 600 a month and then still hit you with yearly assessments, like where we stayed each year on the beach in SW Florida.
 
My hubby is 57 and I am 59. Long story short when we separated a few years ago, our house went into foreclosure and we both got apartments. I had a very hard time adjusting because I was use to being in a house. We got back together after being separated for 3 years and worked on our credit score and was approved for a mortgage. My husband wanted to own again.. I was not sure but glad we were able to be homeowners again. Its a very nice house. Hubby does not like cutting grass so he hired a lawn company. He has our front yard looking very nice.

My thought is, we have to pay to live somewhere so why not pay on a home that we may/may not own one day. Apartments are very expensive in my area..some people are paying mortgage prices to live in an apartment. I do not foresee moving again. Also, I can turn up my music a little and don't have to worry if its too loud for my neighbor in the next apartment. :ROFLMAO:

Weigh your options and do what's best for you.
 
PVC said:
One of the things I hate about condos is the assoc fee. I had a townhouse for a short while and complained about the $90 fee I had to pay every month. A few years later I looked it up and it had gone up to $125 a month. Of course, that paid for water, trash, front landscaping (very small gravel area with a hedge lining the front), roof maintenance, and painting of the outdoor trim (brick walls). I'd rather contract for the best rate or do it myself if possible. I had a niece with a swanky condo and she paid like $300+ a month fee. How much has your fee gone up those 32 years?
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My hubby and I had a condo years ago.. It was nice.. Our condo fee started out $125, when we left, it was up to about $225...I am sure its up to $300 by now. I remember when the Association ask all condo owners to pay an additional fee of $1,000 to help pay for repairs they had to do when we had a pretty bad storm. I will not own a condo again...the fees are AWFUL. When we started looking for another home.. we both agreed, no home with condo fees attached. We looked at one house..was not a condo but had a condo fee attached. My hubby really like the house but I was like NO. We end up getting a home that we like a lot better without condo or HOA fees attached.
 
I prefer renting as people always forget about the real costs of owning: maintenance, insurance, taxes (which go up at the whim of government officials); and the biggest of all - the interest you pay on a house makes it cost at least twice the cost of the house. Plus, a real consideration for me is that you never own a house, it owns you. It takes away your freedom to pick up and move when you want to. All of this is quite subjective and is based on my personal experience.
 
Marlene said:
I prefer renting as people always forget about the real costs of owning: maintenance, insurance, taxes (which go up at the whim of government officials); and the biggest of all - the interest you pay on a house makes it cost at least twice the cost of the house. Plus, a real consideration for me is that you never own a house, it owns you. It takes away your freedom to pick up and move when you want to. All of this is quite subjective and is based on my personal experience.
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Everything you said about renting is true. But, there's two sides to every coin.

Houses go up in value (most of the time, anyway). With renting you end up with nothing. Homeowners are treated with better credit (banks consider them more stable). You can do whatever you want to the interior, and the exterior if there is no HOA. Taxes do go up, they also go down during recessions (mine did, anyway). Landlords can and do raise rents, many do it every year.

Renting is good for people who like the freedom of moving (you), those who can't afford a down payment on a house or don't have the credit, and those who don't want to worry about maintenance chores. I've only rented 4 times in my life, for short periods, and hated handing out that rent check and being told rules to have to follow. I own a house and when I'm too old to do certain things, I'll just hire someone after getting the best quote. I plan to age in place.
 
We chose own since we've owned all our lives. Selling and getting back all we spent plus a profit worked for us. We are in the last home due to our age & the choice to live where we wanted to spend our retirement years. We bought close to stores, health care facilities should we have an emergency.

No worries about fees or if a neighbor will be careless and cause destruction. Understanding that failure of things like the heat pump/ac unit or the water heater will happen. The offset to that is we have no mortgage. No mystery landlords increase rent to cover expenses.

There is no one solution fits all. Our situation works for us because we knew what we wanted & planned for it. Last is knowing our heirs will sell & split the profit. What better way to leave life than a parting gift?
 


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