Money and Finance
- California Housing Bubble 2.0 In Pictures - By Mark Hanson
Fantastic, everybody made some good money in the past 18 months thanks to the Fed’s aggressive monetary policy — or, to be specific Twist, QE3, and QE4 — which dropped mortgage rates from 5.5% to sub 3.5% almost overnight in late 2011. This...
- Yale Professor Robert Shiller: Is This Housing Boom Going To Last? I Think Not
Found via ValueWalk. It sounds like Shiller overall still thinks housing is attractive, though prices are vulnerable and can't continue rising at this pace. He basically thinks house prices are about normal right now. He mentioned a bump up in prices...
- Go To Lowe's To Improve Your House But Not Your Portfolio... Yet
Peter Lynch told us to "buy what you know". Now I've never worked in a Lowe's before, or retail of any kind for that matter, but I much prefer Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW) to The Home Depot, Inc. (HD). At the Lowe's near my...
- Having Some Fun In Austin!
Hi Everyone, One of my goals this year was to save as much as possible but to live life. My wife and I have a goal of traveling as much as possible before we have kids. A few reasons for this: 1. It will be cheaper. 2. We...
- My First Stock Purchase
After I read an interesting back to 1989 story of DivHut about his first stock purchase I looked back and thought about my first stock purchase. I think I bought my first stock in 2003. I did not know much about investing and did not...
Money and Finance
Is a House Really a Good “Investment”? - by Cullen Roche
The Bottom Line
Don’t worry. This post isn’t intended to wreck the “american dream”. None of this analysis means that buying a house is a bad idea. You have to live somewhere and this analysis does not compare the specifics of renting versus the specifics of buying a house outright, buying a house with a mortgage or using the property as an income source. The analysis is simply intended to put the total costs and real, real returns in the right perspective for those of us who buy a house with a mortgage and live in that home (as most people do). In my personal opinion, I view buying a home as a less expensive way to live than the option of renting (but I guess you could make both arguments depending on where you live). Plus, there are numerous intangibles involved in owning your own home that make it a wise purchase. But we should stop thinking about housing or talking about it like it’s an amazing “investment”. Whether you rent or buy you are experiencing an expense. The real costs of that expense will depend on your specific situation. But in both real returns and real, real returns (including taxes and fees) the returns are unlikely to be anything to write home about. And certainly not what I would refer to as a good financial “investment”.
- California Housing Bubble 2.0 In Pictures - By Mark Hanson
Fantastic, everybody made some good money in the past 18 months thanks to the Fed’s aggressive monetary policy — or, to be specific Twist, QE3, and QE4 — which dropped mortgage rates from 5.5% to sub 3.5% almost overnight in late 2011. This...
- Yale Professor Robert Shiller: Is This Housing Boom Going To Last? I Think Not
Found via ValueWalk. It sounds like Shiller overall still thinks housing is attractive, though prices are vulnerable and can't continue rising at this pace. He basically thinks house prices are about normal right now. He mentioned a bump up in prices...
- Go To Lowe's To Improve Your House But Not Your Portfolio... Yet
Peter Lynch told us to "buy what you know". Now I've never worked in a Lowe's before, or retail of any kind for that matter, but I much prefer Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW) to The Home Depot, Inc. (HD). At the Lowe's near my...
- Having Some Fun In Austin!
Hi Everyone, One of my goals this year was to save as much as possible but to live life. My wife and I have a goal of traveling as much as possible before we have kids. A few reasons for this: 1. It will be cheaper. 2. We...
- My First Stock Purchase
After I read an interesting back to 1989 story of DivHut about his first stock purchase I looked back and thought about my first stock purchase. I think I bought my first stock in 2003. I did not know much about investing and did not...