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House -
Buying Real Estate
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Written by Karl Wolf
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Thursday, 22 October 2009 12:30 |
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Page 1 of 3 Now that the real estate market has tanked for three consecutive years, renting doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Until 2007, buying was considered the only financially sane option, a view strenuously espoused by those who profit handsomely every time a house is bought or sold - real estate agents. It goes without saying that you're likely to get a much better deal today than if you'd taken the plunge in 2005 or 2006, when every financial expert and his brother were touting home ownership as a no-brainer.
For nearly a decade, home ownership was billed as a sure path to riches and financial independence. Millions of renters tore up their leases and jumped on the housing bandwagon buoyed by stories of office clerks that bought a $100,000 homes in the nineties and just sat back and watched it appreciate to $500,000 by 2005.
If you go on the Internet, you will find thousands of 'rent vs. buy' calculators. They all do a fairly decent job of comparing mortgage costs to that of renting. Unfortunately their complete focus on the financial aspects overshadows the very fundamental differences between the two. What nobody tells you is the both renting and buying suck. Your job is to pick the option that sucks the least.
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