I've been playing around with yahoo.com answers quite a bit recently, and I came a cross a question asking about the negatives of home ownership. Home ownership has been on my mind alot recently because I may end up buying a house in the next year or two, and I'm not enthused about it. Here are some of the reasons why:
-It costs lots of money to buy and sell a house. Granted, houses have a fairly steady value, but I can't buy it without financing and selling costs are horrendous.
-It costs lots of money to finance a house, starting with the loan origination fees and ending with you paying more than the value of the house in interest payments.
-You have to pay property taxes, which will probably be overvalued due to the housing bust.
-Homeowners insurance is much more than renters.
-Homeowners association fees + HOA's themselves. While it's annoying to have some little neighborhood group tell you what you can and can't do with your house, the scary part is that they can legally seize your house under very petty circumstances.
-Upkeep costs. In my last rental home the sewer drainage pipes under the yard started backing up. The homeowner sent Roto Rooter to find the problem, which they sort of did, and Roto Rooter offered $5000 to dig up a 4x4x4ft patch of yard and fix the problem. The homeowner decided to do it himself, and he did a good job, but I never would have been able to do it. Also, a second hole was required. If I had owned the house (and I would have bought it too if I had been offered that at move in), I would have had to pay $10,000+. Also, every 10-15 years homes need new roof, floors/carpet, appliances, etc.
-Home values will probably be fairly constant for a while due to the housing bust, recession, and the fact that any increase in interest rates will depress the median home price due to more stringent lending standards.
There are many good benefits of home ownership as well, but I'm just being negative at the moment.
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