| ▲ | theptip a day ago | |
Unfortunately, a bit of a one-sided article. The most convincing argument for buying housing is that it hedges you from potential large future cost of living increases. If you can’t afford repeated rent increases then the consequences will ripple through your life. I’ve heard this pithily stated as “you are naturally short housing”. https://thezikomoletter.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/you-are-nat... Another newer argument is that if you think inflation could be much higher in the future, then a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is a very attractive instrument; it’s a government-financed option. May as well benefit from it while it lasts. (If rates go down you can just re-fi.) | ||
| ▲ | barchar a day ago | parent [-] | |
It hedges the cost of living _in that particular house_. However, housing costs are driven by the area's income, so your hedging against something that's likely to benefit you anyway. Otoh renting hedges you against collapsing local incomes, because your rent would then go down, and you could move without being a forced seller. | ||