[cicy33]

Originally Posted by Snave

I'll throw my two cents in. I am in the middle of a house being an investment. Here is my reasoning. If you pay rent for 30 years at $1000 month, then you are out $360,000. If you get a $200,000 loan at 6% on a $250,000 house, then you will pay $431,000 total or (231,000 in interest). At the end of the 30 years, you will have a paid for home which probably has gone up in value. If you continue to rent, the only thing that will probably go up is the price of rent. That means, you will be out much more than $360,000. So, in that regard, a home is an asset. Now, there are other expenses along the way such as insurance, upkeep, etc... so that needs to be factored in. That is how you end up on the liabilty side of things.

Okay, please help me to understand this one. You are basically saying above that the person buying the house is paying double the cost? Isn't that a lot more interest than 6%? Or is it because it is over such a long time to pay it back? Which in that case if you paid it back quicker it would be less, right? I personally agree that right now is a good time to buy houses if you are careful and look for the deals. My reasoning is simple, everyone is selling to avoid losing and selling lower than they should. If you (not meaning you specifically) were to buy say a few houses then rent them out you could make a really nice profit in a few years. I really wish we had the money to buy about 5 houses right now.