Housing

A lot of friends and colleagues are buying one, and indeed I think it’s a good investment if you have a family and need a larger dwelling that you plan to stay in for a long time. Paying a mortgage is a good way to be forced to build wealth, but it’s certainly not the only way – low-cost index funds, retirement funds and certificates of deposits with automatic deposits are other ways to build wealth.

While rent is an expense that is forever gone, you have to live somewhere. But lower-rent apartments can be quite affordable, allowing you to save and invest elsewhere. Plus a small rented space is going to be cheaper to heat and light, and the benefits to having access to public transit to get to work and walk-able neighborhood rather than having a car. Costs like utilities, transportation, repairs, mortgage fees and interest are non-recoverable even if you own your own house. Indeed, running my own numbers, I can’t find a way I would gain wealth faster owning a home with all the related expenses before renting.

While I concede I’ll probably stick around in New York State for a while longer, maybe a decade or so, I just can’t see setting down roots locally. Albany doesn’t feel like my home, and I’m not interested in community or local politics. I want an opportunity to reboot my life at some point, try a new community on for a change. I’m also not that interested in owning a fancy house, I’d rather have more land and not a fancy house. And I don’t want land for purposes of profit to sell it, but to use it for homesteading, hunting, and wildlife observation — any building should be just ancillary to provide housing but need not be permanent or appreciating in value.