Time to solve the housing crisis... - eviltoast
  • hark@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I had a new furnace put in last year and the cost was less than a month’s rent. Granted, I “knew a guy” but still, the quotes I got from others were two months of rent or less and you’re not going to replace a furnace every year or anything close to that. I’m not renting btw, this was for my own house. I don’t like the idea of being a landlord.

      • hark@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Rent is $3000 a month around here. Mortgages aren’t a fair comparison since there are many factors in reducing that monthly payment. One problem I’ve heard of is people being denied on their mortgage application because they supposedly don’t make enough or have good enough credit so they’re stuck making much more expensive rent payments instead. Check out the rental market near you, it’s likely more expensive than your mortgage payment.

        • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          It is, that’s one reason why I bought a house. But a decent rental isn’t over $2k/ mo here. You could probably find a decent house for rent for $1200.

          The lender said he’d never seen a perfect credit score before me. They approved me for double what I was willing to spend and I only have a factory job. If you can’t be responsible enough to have a decent credit score, then owning a house isn’t for you either.

          • hark@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Back to the original point I was making, that new furnace + installation was than three months of your mortgage payment. People talk about how there are unforeseen costs with home ownership, and there are, but with the money you save paying a mortgage instead of rent, you can save up the money to account for those costs. After all, rent already includes such costs plus profit on top of that. Except for some wildly rare circumstances, no one is renting out property at a loss.

            • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Only $3k for a furnace? No. If I’m changing that it, then I’m going for a heat pump in order to get the tax credits and she on energy in the long run. It’s going to be way more than $3k even for a furnace as my a/c and furnace are over 20 years old and reusing the old a/c system is likely not possible due to the older refrigerant.

              • hark@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                I went with the cheaper option since I plan on moving within the next ten years. Either way, for something that will last 20 years, even if you double the cost it’s nothing compared to the premium paid for rent.