codswallop said:
I don't get the Australian fascination with owning your own house. If you want an investment, go for shares. If you want to live in the same place for a long time, get a long-term lease. If you want to save lots of money over a long period of time, open a savings account or put more money into your super fund.
evlcookie said:
For me wanting to own a house is more about the backyard and my goals for the property than anything else. I want a kickass backyard, fruit and veg with maybe some herbs and who knows, why not throw in a pond down the track (ok probably not that) but i want it to be my backyard in my house. I wouldn't want to put in all the effort and know it's going to increase the price of the property for the schmuck who owns it that isn't me.
If all you wanted to do was live in a house and didn't give a crap about it or anything around it then owning one seems a little silly at this point in time. Although i've seen apartments in say the city going for $290k but it's $2300 a month in rent, It's cheaper to buy the bastard and pay off the loan than it is to rent it, god knows why.
Fredescu said:
Super funds and shares aren't really any more or less safe than property over the long term. Over the short term, I guess shares have already had their their crash, whereas property is still considered to be very overvalued in Australia. No one can really predict what will happen next, though. There's no guarantee that the financial sector won't fuck up again and send shares down the drain again. Also some crazy shit could easily happen to some industry and gut your share port folio.
Owning your own place is nice because you know you will never get the rug pulled out from under you by a landlord wanting to sell, and you can do what you want with it. Long term leases are so rare for residential dwellings that they might as well not exist. They're really more a commercial property thing. Also, as cookie said, depending on where you want to live, a mortgage could work out cheaper than renting.
If you're wondering why people are mad about property investment over other forms of investment, it's mostly to do with the crazy amount of tax breaks property investment gets. Interest earned in a savings account is pretty heavily taxed.
Almost everything I would have said in those replies. I've been renting for a long time and I've been kicked out on 2 occasions by owners wanting to move back into the house. I don't like living in a place where there is no certainty beyond the Rental Agreement. Where I'm forced to cough up more money and like it or find anouther place to live if the owner suddenly wants more money.
I want to be able to hang up a picture, paint the walls, remove carpet, repave the sides of the house, landscape the garden or any number of other things. If I'm renting I have no control, no freedom and a feeling that my time is limited.
However, that's me. I know people that have spent their whole lives renting. Had kids while renting. It doesn't bother them in the slightest. For me, I'm willing to pay extra money per week for the piece of mind that I will always have a home to come back to (barring any disasters, obviously).
I agree, however, that if you're after an investment, there are more efficient ways to go about it. Unless you pay off a home way in advance of the mortgage period, you will never make money on a house. A $500k home will end up costing someone $1.2mil after 25 years, so unless you sell it for over that you have made a loss. If you where to place $500k into a bank account over that period of time, however...
For me, though, it's worth it
