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For all those considering buying vs renting into retirement:
Owning a house is freaking expensive. Last year we spent ~15k on a new HVAC system. I figured this year would be cheaper, since we didn't have any major repairs that high on our priorities. Until this weekend when my spouse realized the pipes to their shower were leaking. Considering the general state of the shower, we're leaning towards ripping it all out and just getting a new one.
Then my spouse fell for a door to door sales person and we ended up getting a quote for new attic insulation. They want >20k for everything or ~13k for their most basic install. While we do need to upgrade our insulation, best case scenario is a payoff in over 16 years, likely way longer as well.
The insurance also rejected our claim for roof damage saying there were just some shingles needing to be replaced which costs less than our deductible. So if we want a new roof, that cost is on us as well.
We've lived in our house for 4 years now, and I think our cheapest year we only spent ~5k on repairs (new tankless water heater install after our old water heater died).
I too have found home ownership to be a money pit, but mostly in a self inflicted way. We bought a 100+ year old house in an expensive neighborhood and elected to do some large renovations. Though we did get hit with some fun (expensive) surprises along the way that weren’t our fault.
How has your experience with the tankless water heater been?
I absolutely love it. Granted I have a ton of hair, so I end up taking fairly long showers. I would quite often run out of hot water when we had a tank. It probably does encourage wasting water, since it takes longer to heat up and then you don't have a sudden influx of cold water to speed you up at the end of the shower.
Yeah, the time to heat has been my only real complaint. I know you can get point of use solutions to eliminate that too but that’s even more $$. Going tankless and remodeling one of the bathrooms to be a wet room was a big value add now that we’ve got two little kids who splash everywhere and have to be dragged out.
Huh, I've owned our house for 9 years now, and my most expensive year was $2k (furnace and fireplace needed repairs)? Most years have needed very little maintenance, like maybe $100-200 for new sprinkler heads and some other stuff. We haven't needed new HVAC or a roof yet, but that's probably coming in a few years.
On the flipside, we save a ton vs renting. Our mortgage payment plus taxes and insurance is more than $1k less per month than renting. So I could do that HVAC replacement every other year and come out ahead. Yeah, we had to put a bunch down, but we've saved more on rent than the down payment in that time (not sure about counting gains if invested though, but I think we're close).
You'll need more in savings with a house, but less ongoing costs. So if you amortize it, it's probably better to buy in most cases. But location matters.