Perhaps the most quintessential of American dreams is the dream of home ownership. We are taught, generation after generation, to work hard, save up and put down roots by buying a house. And just like those armchair ballplayers, when we buy into that dream, we’re deluding ourselves.
The Worst Investment You Can Make: Buying a Home
About Tom Leykis
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3 Responses to The Worst Investment You Can Make: Buying a Home
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Geez….In my opinion, this author might be 1 digit shy of a 3 digit IQ? The example of the 350k is his only example, but under 200k homes are where the action is in most states. I do agree that buying now in Calipornia is dumb, unless you’re rich and can stand to lose your down payment.
While its true that dumb people with no construction, electrical, plumbing, landscaping, finishing or electrical skills should never buy a house; house buyers with the right skill-sets and research can still double their 20% down payments with the right focus and elbow grease, with a tax free profit every two years IF they invest correctly.
Why buy a shotgun for duck hunting if you can’t aim? Why buy a performance car if you suck at driving? Why get married if you can’t get it up for the same vagina night after night, year after year? Why buy a house when you can’t do your own remodeling? Why do the same idiots buy high and get foreclosed every 8 years when the real estate market cycles?
For those who are able to do their own work and buy 20% under market there will always be winners. For pussies who buy high, don’t own tools and can’t climb a ladder, or demo their own bathrooms and kitchens without bending over for a contractor who rips their financial balls off; go ahead and rent and make millionaires out of investors who can do it themselves. We need you if you are incapable of replacing your toilet, or tile your bathroom walls…
Spend an hour at Home Depot in the tile isle and realize that you can save $4000 on your kitchen or bath if you are able to remove and re-install your tile IF you have enough energy and skills to do it yourself. Don’t take the first quote for anything unless you’ve convinced your contractor that he’s competing against your own skills, and when he quotes too high; you’ll just do it yourself better and cheaper. You’d be amazed what you can learn by getting 3 quotes and finding exactly what’s wrong and how to fix it.
Are you safe with and do you own power tools? The ‘pack’ the contractors inject into their quotes will pay for 1) your labor, 2) the exact tools you need to do the job, 3) your profit when you sell… unless you’re a mangina who can’t do their own work. Okay you say; you ‘have guys for that’; well that’s the first clue you are a chump when it domes to construction skills, and you need to either make millions to pay for ‘your guys’ to do your work for you, or just rent like Tom says.
I’m on my 9th house, and the other 8 have supplemented my income over the past two decades. Sometimes you have to flee a regional bubble and park your investment in another state. Sometimes your only chance is buying a dump on the best street. Sometimes you spend all your spare time and weekends demolishing a room and living with the crappy eyesore and dust for a few weeks until you rebuild it.
Bottom line: those with balls should buy, and pussies should pay rents. Just my 2 cents.
I love this comment that the writer made about pussiest and true investors I fall somewhere in the middle I did get lucky along with my brother we bought a town home in Seattle back in 06 got the second Mort paid off after 2 years now we’re almost done with the first Mort we have at least 4 more to go it is at 129k on that. originally bought it four 249k now according to our agent we can sell it between 400 to 500k but I want it paid off first at which point it probably will be higher after that’s done were gone I want to move to some place more affordable but also a change of pace I can’t stand Seattle any more
But i did want to say don’t ever get in to the market if you don’t know what your doing do your homework do your research before buying and investing in real-estate I did make some mistakes along the way I paid for them my brother wasn’t effected credit wise so good for him the point is due diligence is key it’s your home not anything else and just be careful act mature or it will bite you bad