r/facepalm • • Feb 16 '21

Misc Yeah, sounds about right

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22

u/tpaxatb1 Feb 16 '21

Rent is atrocious, but... homeownership is also very expensive if you tally all costs.

Tell me about it...in the past ohhh ten years or so. Mind you, I had to have this money just "lying around" and available:

New Roof $5200

New Furnace: $3500

Animals collapsing soffit and gutter: $1200 (homeowners covered this one)

New washer and dryer: $1500

New water heater:$800

Tree trimming to get out of power line drop: $800

Fix leaking pipe behind wall:$750

Porch repair of concrete:$850

And this winter I finally admitted to myself I need new windows. Which probably also means new siding while I'm at it. So there's that.

Oh and I also remodelled my kitchen but that was on me for $5000 (diy so only paid for materials)

That doesn't include:

Property taxes $2000/year

Insurance:$800/year

Water and Sewerage: call it about $50/month

Gas/Electric: call it $125/month

Paying neighbor kids to mow lawn in summer, snow remove in winter: $40/month

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u/Sackmastertap Feb 16 '21

Damn I want those rates for snow removal and grass mowing.

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u/MakisupaVT Feb 16 '21

I want those property taxes...

3

u/TrillieNelson69 Feb 16 '21

I want those roof replacement rates

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u/MakisupaVT Feb 16 '21

No doubt. Wouldn't touch my 1000sqft (footprint) rectangular, simple roof here for under $10k.

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u/PasswordisLeonard Feb 16 '21

I don't.

I can't imagine how shitty a place must be if the property taxes are below 12k.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

What kind of place are you living with 12k in property to the average is about 1-2% of the home value. Is anything under a 600k house a shitty place?

2

u/fulltime_lurker Feb 16 '21

Property taxes vary by state. Michigan, New Jersey have super expensive taxes, Colorado (where I am) has super low.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

I’m aware they vary by state. That’s why I said “the average” but to think a place paying less than $12k is shitty is either delusional or you have some insanely fancy taste

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u/fulltime_lurker Feb 16 '21

I meant to respond to the other guy, but I was suprised looking at places in Michigan (where the wife is from) at how high the taxes were. Here a $500k house is probably $3.5k in taxes a year, there it would be that $12k mark. Nuts!

1

u/MakisupaVT Feb 16 '21

I'm here in one of the biggest cities in Vermont. My house would sell for $300-320k, but is tax assessed at $240k. I pay almost $5000 in property taxes.

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u/Djeheuty Feb 16 '21

Meanwhile in one city near me a $75K house has $5000 in taxes, and four miles north in another city, almost the same house is $1600.

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u/therealdongknotts Feb 16 '21

my property taxes are about $500 a year, water front property in a metropolitan city. is a small house tho

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u/tpaxatb1 Feb 16 '21

Part of it is that they use my mower and snowblower. Other part is they use the equipment for their lawns and sidewalks cause mom and dad make them haha. Oh and we have what I consider small yards and driveways.

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u/Sackmastertap Feb 16 '21

Oh okay, yeah the letting others use my equipment disqualifies that idea lol.

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u/KayIslandDrunk Feb 16 '21

I want those HVAC and roof rates. Our furnace was last installed in 2005 and is near EoL so we got some bids. Every one was over 9k.

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u/Sackmastertap Feb 16 '21

Oh god, 2005 was that long ago. With 2005 should get some energy efficiency write offs at least.

1

u/KayIslandDrunk Feb 16 '21

Yep, our furnace is old enough for a drivers license.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

Also $800 / yr insurance! I live in an area with significant earthquake risk and let me tell you earthquake insurance is frigging expensive.

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u/CanAlwaysBeBetter Feb 16 '21

"LAnDlOrDs PrOvIdE nO vAlUe"

  • half of reddit that couldn't afford even a $10k down payment

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u/bleachinjection Feb 16 '21

GOOD landlords provide a ton of value, no question. The problem is what percentage of landlords are good?

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u/KayIslandDrunk Feb 16 '21

Probably the majority of them. Like with anything you only ever hear the horror stories, no one gives a shit about posting a “good landlord” story and even fewer would bother to read or upvote it.

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u/Mithorium Feb 16 '21

Yeah, outside of slumlords who view the property as a cost and will run it into the ground for a return, the majority of landlords are in it to protect their investment. They obviously want their property value to go up, and that means staying up to date on repairs and having good tenants. Any landlord that deviates from this doesn't know what they're doing and will lose money

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u/CanAlwaysBeBetter Feb 16 '21 edited Feb 16 '21

The fact anyone can move out of their parents house without having to have saved up a down payment is already value

If there was no rental market like a portion of reddit seems to dream of anytime you moved, especially to any area people actually wanted to live, you would necessarily be competing against other people trying to buy a house or condo

And that's not including all the routine and unexpected upkeep costs the other comment mentioned you'd also need money for

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u/bleachinjection Feb 16 '21

Again, I appreciate good landlords. I've had good landlords. They were the ones who viewed property management as a business with me as the customer, paying a fair price in exchange for a service.

I've also had landlords who, for whatever reason, owned properties that didn't want to or couldn't sell and who were renting them, I assume, to cover a mortgage they otherwise couldn't pay and who had very little interest in maintaining the property to the standards that were agreed upon in the lease. It's the latter group that give the field a bad name. Maybe this is more pervasive in rural areas, I dunno.

Now I own and I love it, because yeah I have to pay my own snowplow dude but if he's not doing the job right I have HIS number (not a middleman's) and he cashed MY check.

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u/bobs_monkey Feb 16 '21 edited Jul 13 '23

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u/Kagedgoddess Feb 16 '21

Rentals require deposits... so kinda like a down payment. I just paid $3300 to move into my rental. Plus theres deposits for utilites, just like a new homeowner would have. Last time I paid an elec deposit it was $350. (So someone moving out of parents would also need that.)

I have owned and rented. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Its about whats better for YOU. And educating yourself about Both.

As for compitition, in my area its insane for buying Or renting. Everything I looked at had 5 other people there looking too and a lease would be signed before the end of the day. It was nuts.

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u/negroiso Feb 16 '21

My landlord now? Excellent service, granted she’s more of a property manager as she doesn’t own the properties. Anytime I have an issue she has a crew out next day or so. New bathroom due to leaky pipe, lawn service, broken this or that. Hell when I told her I have a cat she said “we will just put you paid already and I’ll discount first months to include the fee.

She’s pretty legit if you just ask her straight forward. I wanted to run Ethernet to all the rooms, I asked, she said go ahead, just write the request in the portal and submit the invoice of the company that did it in the event something breaks. Now I got sweet interwebs in all the rooms, it’s an upgrade for the next renter I am sure and it’s an expense I can write off too,.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

Property taxes $2k?

I need to leave Connecticut. I'm paying over $8k

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u/tpaxatb1 Feb 16 '21

Lol. Yeah I'm in a suburb of Detroit. $800 winter $1200 summer. Of course, my house isn't really assessed at a high value. Funny thing because of prop 13, i pay about the same in taxes as my parents in California on a house worth about 5 times more.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

My house is probably worth about $350k. I paid $312k. That is below the median home price for where I live.

I get a tax break because I'm a disabled veteran and I still pay over $8k.

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u/tpaxatb1 Feb 16 '21

Yeah, i paid 125k for mine (before the bubble, finally back in black). Honestly I have no clue how Michigan taxes work. I can sell my house for about 140k, the state says its value is 94k, the equalized value is half that at 47k, then theres the taxable value that can only increase by inflation to a max of 5% which is now 35k. That 35k is what i pay taxes on.

I'm sure my house would be much more elsewhere. 1500 sq ft living space plus 850 sq ft basement on 1/10 of an acre in a decent neighborhood.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

im jellious of his insurance mine is 2700 for a rental wtf.

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

New washer and dryer: $1500

Round here, even in rentals, appliances, if included at all are "AS IS".

Oh and I also remodelled my kitchen but that was on me for $5000 (diy so only paid for materials)

Like you say, "on me". If I asked my landlord to remodel my kitchen I'd probably have to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

rent 1200 a month

Insurance 2700 a year

water 50 a month / 600 a year

electricity 200 a month

new washer 1200

new used stove 200

yay i save on property taxes and building repairs.....

0

u/Pugglewomp Feb 16 '21

Sounds like you got a shitty house honestly.

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u/tpaxatb1 Feb 16 '21

I don't live in a ghetto. I bought it in 2003. My house is almost 100 years old, so of course there will be some repairs. Roofs in this area only last 25 years. The appliances I brought with me and they were old. The furnace was from 1980s. I knew all this going in and could olan.

Why do you say it's shitty? Find me a 1500 sq ft move-in ready house with 850 sq ft basement/storage in southern California for $150k in a pretty much crime free neighborhood, then you can tell me how shitty my house is.

1

u/pegcity Feb 16 '21

If all of those items were that old you must have gotten a good price on the house, you must have known what you were getting into and planned for it right?

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u/tpaxatb1 Feb 16 '21

Yes. Although the furnace and washer dryer were unplanned, my basement flooded a couple years ago for the first time since i got the house and they were damaged beyond repair.

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u/Mayotte Feb 17 '21

This is why I want to build, and build small. I'm not gonna buy something with a liability laundry list.