New England B.S. Thread

Ahhh, home ownership is overrated! After many years of owning, I'm actually pleased as punch to be renting right now. It's quite liberating actually, but I'm getting a bit too comfortable with it. It's not a good long term plan.

 

I hated renting when I did it. Like pissing money down a well, paying somebody else's mortgage. Obviously home ownership isn't for everybody, but as somebody can do all of their own maintenance instead of paying somebody else, it's well worth the time investment to me.

Edit- It always killed me at the end of the year to think about the $2500 in rent I'd paid that I'd never get back, instead of putting it into a mortgage which (at that time) was almost guaranteed to be a wildly profitable investment. Then the housing bust came around and even though it meant that I wouldn't be able to make as much $$ flipping a house, there were suddenly tons of them out there that were a LOT more affordable.

 

Did you miss a 0 there? I'm paying close to $25,000 a year. Damn...

 

One of the houses I rented during college in Pittsburgh was $200/mo per person. House in total was $800/mo. And that was only 6 years ago.

 

For rent?!

No, at the time I was splitting a $400/month apartment with a buddy of mine. Then splitting a different $400/month apartment with the GF. $400 split two ways for 12 months =$2400

My current mortgage is still way, WAY lower than your rent, though. $700-ish per month including the taxes and insurance, so around $8500-$9000 per year.
2200 square feet, a little under 3 acres of land, garage, etc. Living in the country and buying foreclosures has its benefits.

 

Fair enough. Now that I've moved in with the girlfriend my rent has gone down. But recently it was right around $2000 a month for a one bed right by the T.

 

Location, location, location!

 

Yeah living right outside Boston, within walking distance to the T, with off-street parking, and a nice sized apartment = $$$. For the one bed apartment it was $2000-ish. My building is all engineers and tech. If I was living away from the city my truck would be looking a lot better by now!

 

I rent a fairly spacious house in the hill country of NH for $800 a month. It's cheap. Most people within an hour and a half of Boston are paying more than that just towards the interest let alone the prinicple of thier mortgage note. The boiler went down last winter, I called them and they replaced it that day, on a weekend. The water heater went, it was in before I got home from work. I could care less what the lawn looks like and not one single weekend needs to be spent at home. At this point in my newly single life, it's pretty fucking awesome renting. Having my costs fixed is nice too. I'm saving way, WAY more than I ever did when I owned a home. Lots of people think that renting is throwing money away, not as much as you think if you actually do the math on what you are compelled to spend money on. When I owned a house I spent more on lawn fertilizer in a year than one months rent where I am now. I spent almost $800 every spring on the semi-annual plantings. Fuck that noise. And then there are the people that give me a hard time about not building equity when they have a 2nd and 3rd mortgage on thier hosue. LOL, those people will almost never not have a mortgage, they might as well be renting.

 

Yeah I stayed in the same building, just moved from a one bed to a two bed and added her on the lease. So that has freed up some cash for truck stuff

 

What the hell...
I spent around $300 getting my gardens set up, and probably another $300 on the fencing/gates around the front yard. And then the mower cost $100, I think. Beyond that, I haven't spent a penny on yard/lawn maintenance in the 5 years we've been here

 

House prices right now are insane in this area. My brother is about to put his house on the market for $115k more than he bought it for 5 years ago. He hasn't made any improvements to it, either.

He would make out like a bandit if he wasn't buying a new (bigger) house.

 

My mortgage payments, property taxes, home insurance, electricity, oil, and even cable and internet all combined don't approach that number!

 

Bought my Craftsman hydrostatic lawn tractor with a brand new Vanguard engine on it for $250.

A friend has a landscaping business, a client gave it to him with a blown engine, he put the Vanguard on it and realized he couldn't really use it because it wouldn't hold up to that amount of use and it was taking up too much space.

 

That would be just rent for me. Heat and hot water are included, but I pay electricity, internet, and renters insurance all on top of that. No property taxes though. I've got that goin for me, which is nice.

 

My yearly property taxes are about $2500, which sounds like it's right around your total monthly housing expenses!

 

Yea I'm not a hedge fund manager or anything but I think we are on the high end of the housing slope. So many for sale signs it's sick. Sounds like the top end of the bubble to me.

But as far as homeownership... Who's going to fix the front steps, and the window frames and get the heating system cleaned out and running. This Guy F*ck me. I'd rather spend $$ on toys or pad my savings.

 

Drill presses. Who's got em and what type? The good and the bad. Go...

 

I'm sure I can rig up something that can drop down off a half swingout - slide out and lock into place and be sturdy enough to hold a small grill

I've been watching these myself - considering buying one off CL. They have some decent ones on there.

 

8" Craftsman 1/3HP bench-top drill press:
The good - I got it used (cheap), in nearly brand new condition, it does what I need it to do (drill perpendicular holes in my skis to mount bindings), I can take it off the bench when I'm not using it and put it on the floor in a corner.
The bad - Haven't found one yet but I'm not pushing this thing hard at all.