Surprise Z costs

Mecinoid

Not so sure a house is a great investment right now. If they start going back up in price then.... step in. Otherwise, why ride the rollercoaster down. Not sure the ride is over yet.

This comes from someone that owns a house... out of work and has to stay working in his area because to sell his house in a bad market would be a poor move. I know it's relative... But, selling and not having enough left for a down after real estate commisions etc... is killing Americas ability to adjust to the circumstances we are in.

I mean, I'd take a job and live in Oklahoma and live for a lot less than Cali if I had a chance. I'm stuck fighting for the last scraps here in Cali and it isn't any fun I'm telling you.

m4a1mustang

This is definitely a tough market. Housing prices are only one of the reasons why it might not be a good time to buy. Are you sure that the market has bottomed? There's a glut of inventory on the market right now and they keep building new homes... are prices going to rise anytime soon? Might they even fall further?

And like in your situation, you don't want to be tied down to a certain area because you can't sell your house. There are a lot of people that would be able to get a job in another city or state but they can't because their home has anchored them and they can't afford to put it up for a firesale.

And there are people who might be fresh in their career and don't know if they are going to stay in their particular location for long. If I think I'm only going to be in DC for a few years buying a home might not be worth the risk.

Then of course there are people who are perfectly content with the apartment lifestyle. They don't want to be responsible for their own maintenance. Maybe they want to live close to where they work and buying a house that close to the city is just not in the cards financially. As an example, if I wanted to buy a house in the same area where I rent, my mortage would be double what my rent is. I don't want to take on that burden, especially if I am not comfortable with the housing market right now and if I am not even sure if I'll be in this area in the next 5 years.

There are plenty of reasons not to buy a house, just like there are plenty of reasons to buy one. So there's really no right or wrong answer and whether you own a home or not certainly lends nothing to your "credibility" as an "adult."

See what you did, ken? Epic derail. Now bring us some charburgers and cheese fries.

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waaaasabi

Also, if you are in witness protection or have a stalker/stalkers (like moi), you probably don't want to buy a house and settle down in one area for too long

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m4a1mustang

Great point.

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kenchan

well the issue was more about pointing out if one had prior obligations like a mortgage. that's a completely different picture than just owning or leasing an economical $35K car and paying some rent. i didnt think it was fair to the op telling him wat he can or can't buy. he can decide for himself wat's right for him (i hope it's a him. ). that was the intent of the post.

but in my world, car hobby starts from the house with garage, not the car. i mean why have a nice car if you have to park it on the street or some apartment parking structure where wheels get stolen or doors keyed or watever that happens. if you have your own garage where you have access any time of the day, at least you can concentrate on the car, not fixing bs. i like progress, not rewinding to fix bs and waste time. i dont have time for that. another reason why i have a backup steering lock already... i dont like down time.

and i had homemade pizza tonight. charburgers and cheeze fries maybe friday. hahaha

nmjaxx9

kenchan

glad someone shares the same thoughts. lol


yah, i lived in pretty upscale apartment complexes long time ago after college landing my first job 2200 miles away from home...was gated and had 2 levels of assigned parking garage. i rented 2 car spaces. long story short, it didnt work for me for my car hobby. i needed power, access to tools, and a wall to block off all the noise at night and most of these apartments loitering is not allowed in parking areas for safety.

i also had some arse kick the rear bumper leaving shoe marks, hand prints on the glass from people looking inside the car, bird crap?, valve caps stolen, no privacy while detailing the cars.. there were actually cars stolen from the parking garage too. and you'd think shitt like this dont happen in a nice gated community in a nicer part of town. wrong!

i had (still my buddies) friends about 30min away who owned a car repair shop i could use to do mods, but still, just not the same borrowing tools and space cause i didnt have the flexibility with time. not like i can hop on over there at midnight to start a coilover install just because i got back from a late flight biz trip.

i learned very quickly that if i wanted to really get into this hobby like i meant it, i'd want a nice garage of my own that i have access too 100% of the time.

so if someone was asking about the Z for overall operational cost to keep in mind, i think that's a valid question... smart for someone to do research especially if they are money conscious and just starting out. (how's that for getting back to topic? lol... )

mantella87

True kenchan, living in an apartment with a nice car is a serious pain in the ***. At times, almost more stress than it is worth. I live in a nice place, very nice part of town too. I also rent a private garage which helps a lot, but is nothing compared to having a real house garage/driveway (especially when I need to wash my car).

Mecinoid

[QUOTE=
See what you did, ken? Epic derail. Now bring us some charburgers and cheese fries. [/QUOTE]

Lol, Classic. That made me smile .... Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. I love this place the sidebars are priceless.