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Comment by dawg- | Hacker News Reader

I bought my first house at 24 which is apparently rare nowadays. I sold it and made some money. If I had taken my down payment and invested it in a bunch of AMD stock or something I would have made triple the money. But I don’t regret it - there is something so satisfying about owning the place you live. It’s like a sense of self-efficacy and control over your life that is not the same when you rent. I would recommend any young person to go ahead and buy a house as soon as they have the money for a down payment. There is a lot more benefit than just the financial side of things. I grew up a lot in that house. The freedom of owning your place also comes with the reality that anything that happens to it is on you. The house was the biggest personal responsibility I had ever taken on and it was a great overall life experience.

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People who bought houses in different time periods had different experience. See folks who bought in 2005-2006.

Also, for a young person who knows where they are going to be for next 5+ years home ownership may turn out okay. If you have to move for an opportunity the house can become quite the tight noose around your neck.

> A mortgage payment is always less than rent for an equivalent property, anyway.

Not always, though they often track closely to reach other, they can also diverge. If rent is high and home prices are low that could be a good signal to buy.

And you also have to consider what you equity would be doing if it was invested in something other than your house.

It’s true, and maintenance costs can easily erase the difference in any case. I wouldn’t say owning is definitively better financially than renting, but i do think it is better in general.

> > A mortgage payment is always less than rent for an equivalent property, anyway

Yeah, I don’t understand these statements. It is clear that people making them do not have experience is real estate or only have experience in specific markets. There are absolutely many real estate markets where the rent is more than the mortgage, and anyone with enough real estate knowledge to give advice would know this.

> There are absolutely many real estate markets where the rent is more than the mortgage

That's what the quote is saying.

Ahh you are correct! My point is there are many markets where rent is cheaper and there are many markets where mortgage is cheaper. Anyone saying that is only one of those is going to cause me concern.

If that were true then no landlord would be cash flowing if they bought the property with a mortgage.

nothing nonsensical about this. would just mean that most landlords would have to rent out properties they own outright. in such a market a sufficiently large entity could potentially get better loan terms that allow them to build/buy a building and still achieve positive cashflow. or it might be okay with having negative cashflow while building equity over time (to break even in the long run, rent only has to exceed the interest + maintenance). this could even be a mechanism by which rent < typical mortgage payment in the first place.

It depends on what you're comparing. A crappy apt in a dodgy neighborhood or renting a house in a nice neighborhood. If you're renting that house you want to buy then you'll likely be paying the landlord's mortgage and then some. Generally it holds that mortgage is less for same type of property you're renting in equivalent neighborhoods of same geo.

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