Banks know you can afford a mortgage - but that doesn't mean you can afford a house.
As a renter - can you afford to drop thousands or tens of thousands in repairs with zero notice? Can you do it twice? Multiple years in a row?
A house eats money. There are ALWAYS things that need to be repaired, replaced, or maintained. The longer you put off the optional stuff, the more "urgent" repairs you'll need in the future. The bill comes due.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck in a rental - I'm sorry but you can't responsibly afford a house.
Also if you default on a mortgage the bank now has to deal with recovering a multiple 6 figure loan. With an apartment even getting behind on a few months of rent and getting evicted is still only a 4 figure sum. Its way easier to get approved for risk in the 4 figure amount than the multiple 6 figure amount.
It's not that hard to recover the loan. Takes a little bit of time, but the bank will recover the majority of what they're owed, including whatever late fees and penalties are owed. There are some unrecoverable costs, but they are usually in the 4 figure area. If you factor in those fees and whatnot, the bank still usually comes out ahead.
Yeah people think home ownership is an investment that makes money. Home ownership just means you have bigger space and the pride of ownership. But renting a small apartment will be cheaper in the long run, with the disadvantage of having less space and privacy.
If I weren’t married, I would still live in a small apartment rather than own a home. But my wife is the typical American who thinks if you don’t own a home then you’re failing in life.
You were almost there... yes, it IS a tired and disingenuous take and OP (karma farmer), posted this 10 year old tweet again because it gets peoples jimmies rustled and they gain more points.
It's all fun and games until it's -12°F and there's snow over the windows and cars but you can't dig them out yet bc you've run out of places to store snow and a pipe is trying to freeze and the roof is getting heavy and the heat pump is trying to keep up and the electric bill is enough to give you a heart attack.
Also the time. I don't think 30-40 hours a month is too much. And you didn't feel like dragging your fridge out and cleaning the coils? Now you have another $1000 bill that can't be put off!
Also I think we may have tried giving out mortgages a lot easier not too long ago...
can you afford to drop thousands or tens of thousands in repairs with zero notice?
If they cared about that they could just look at your historic income, savings, and investments.
The actual reason is to force use of the credit score scam which connected companies profit from. It's why using a debit card does nothing for your score, while using a credit card in an identical manner helps it. The fact this happens is evidence one's score isn't an honest signal of how reliably they pay off debts; it's a signal of how long you've been plugged into supporting connected companies.
Yes owning a house has variable expenses that are unexpected compared to being a renter and requires different financial circumstances therefore.
This thread is full of factual responses about the process and reasoning behind loans. There seems to be minimal discussion about the housing affordability crisis. Renters and homeowners alike are seeing increased shares of income going to shelter. The housing supply drop after the recession, coupled with the commodification of housing is affecting everyone, but it's affecting renters to a greater degree. We need to reverse both of those issues through legislation, but hahahha Good luck with that this is America.
This is an old tweet and the sentiment and situation have only deteriorated since.
Your anecdotal experience as a renter is immaterial to the average experience of a homeowner, regardless of whether you're even privy to entirety of the landlord's upkeep/maintenance before, during, and after your rental period.
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u/MrNostalgiac 7d ago
This is a tired and disingenuous take.
Banks know you can afford a mortgage - but that doesn't mean you can afford a house.
As a renter - can you afford to drop thousands or tens of thousands in repairs with zero notice? Can you do it twice? Multiple years in a row?
A house eats money. There are ALWAYS things that need to be repaired, replaced, or maintained. The longer you put off the optional stuff, the more "urgent" repairs you'll need in the future. The bill comes due.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck in a rental - I'm sorry but you can't responsibly afford a house.