just bought a house and I am freaking out

[KyCardinalFan]

Is no one else going to point out that 50 isn't old?

[Michael]

Homes as an investment is overrated. Unless you are extremely handy, typically it's better to use your excess cash in your early years to invest in the market than buying a huge house or paying off your home early.

[ghostrunner]

Have kitchens changed much since the 70s?

No, but people gotta have those shiny stainless appliances don't you know.

Your worldview is something to behold at times.

Refrigerators up until the 80's at least are generally too small for families. Especially if you buy a lot of fresh food. It's partly why people like my grandparents had a huge freezer in their basement to handle the surplus. We bought a new fridge when we moved in, and got a bigger one because we like to cook and we spent the previous 10 years shuffling crap around small fridges and forgetting stuff that had been crammed in the back. So yes, kitchens are built to handle larger appliances that for some stylistic reason happen to be stainless steel. Our dishwasher has always opened to only a 45 degree angle because it runs right onto this new fridge.

Until recently there were cabinets that hung all the way over the counters, so there was basically no way to prepare food with proper light and headroom. We finally took those out a few months back. The electrical outlets aren't sufficient and there's no room for the kind of appliances people are used to cooking with these days. We want to use the crock pot, we go get it off the shelf. Same for the mixer or the food processor or the blender.

In general, I'd say old kitchens are just too small and not much thought was put into them. People made them work, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a pain in the ass. It's supposedly the most valuable renovation you can make on your home, assuming it's called for.

Also didn't mention I have a bright yellow linoleum floor, which took me about a year to get used to.

[slide_into_first]

I once but a second home in a rural area for $178,000 and sold it a year later for $278,000.

[Socnorb11]

Homes as an investment is overrated. Unless you are extremely handy, typically it's better to use your excess cash in your early years to invest in the market than buying a huge house or paying off your home early.

The thing is, you're going to have to pay to live somewhere anyway, so we're not really talking about an "excess cash" investment.

[ghostrunner]

Homes as an investment is overrated. Unless you are extremely handy, typically it's better to use your excess cash in your early years to invest in the market than buying a huge house or paying off your home early.

The thing is, you're going to have to pay to live somewhere anyway, so we're not really talking about an "excess cash" investment.

Seems like it would depend on the market. For us it was initially about the same monthly payout, about $100 more for the mortgage vs rent. But there are taxes and insurance to consider. Our property taxes skyrocketed around our 3rd year in the house and my mortgage ended up going up around $300/mo (taxes are rolled into the payment) for a while to make up the difference. There was a big stink here about it.

Side note on that - our house was evaluated wayyy too high. I appealed the property tax in 2010 complete with documentation about other housing in the area and what it sold for, and reasons why the house itself wasn't that valuable. Just got a hearing this year to work it out. So there's hassles like that. You pay rent, you don't have to think about anything beyond the payment. Like I said, I'd buy again but it's work.

[Faceman]

Homes as an investment is overrated. Unless you are extremely handy, typically it's better to use your excess cash in your early years to invest in the market than buying a huge house or paying off your home early.

The thing is, you're going to have to pay to live somewhere anyway, so we're not really talking about an "excess cash" investment.

Also, when people talk about homes being an investment, they mean that by buying (instead of renting) many Americans will end up with assets down the road they wouldn't have otherwise had.

If one guy pays $1500 for a mortgage, and the other pays $1000 in rent, the onus is on the renter to be saving the other $500. There are other factors (maintenance, tax deductions, etc) but 30 years down the road, for many Americans, the home will be one of the only investments they have.

If you were comfortable in a $200k house, you would never (or should never) buy a $400k house, and consider the $200k "an investment". You should put that in the market.

[Radbird]

I love our house. Since I work from home I enjoy having a nice, comfortable place. A bit too big for a couple of empty nesters but not ready to downsize yet.

It's more than just a return on investment. Yes, perhaps not as savvy from a strictly financial standpoint as other avenues but once you factor in the intangibles it was worth it for us.

Now if only we didn't have those crappy white appliances.

[AdmiralKird]

I glanced at this topic and thought it said "just bought a horse and I am freaking out." I thought "why would you buy a horse on a whim? Do you have any idea how to take care of it? I'd be freaking out too, and that poor horse..." before noticing my error.

[Popeye_Card]

Homes as an investment is overrated. Unless you are extremely handy, typically it's better to use your excess cash in your early years to invest in the market than buying a huge house or paying off your home early.

Investing in the market at a young age is overrated. Who wants to have a bunch of money when you're too old and sore (or possibly dead) to have fun with it?

I guess I don't really view my residence as an "investment". I do consider my rental properties investments, and I chose to go that path because I kinda enjoy an interactive investment rather than just putting my money into something and watching it sit there (and hopefully grow). My 401k is boring as [expletive]. Meanwhile, it is kinda enjoyable to figure out what low-cost upgrades I could make to squeeze out an extra $100 per month in rental income, or ensure that I maintain tenants.