2 rentals + the property I live in which I plan on eventually becoming one also.

I’m late to the game. Wish I started doing this when I was 20

This

But if you’re looking for ideas, internet is good. YouTube stuff. It’s never the whole picture, but it’s enough of a picture that you should be able to fill the gaps in.

You know with a VA it has to be primary residence right? And you pay a huge ass funding fee each time you use it. And only one house at a time.

seem to remember doing one with a dude who thought he could dunk

mine is waived. Its like 10-15k in closing costs or taxes etc tho

the entire point of owning a home is to either skip the mortgage at the end of your life or to sell a large home and own something cheaper at the end of your life. Often times a place with 1 story.

Otherwise it is a huge PITA.

erm...

Yeah, elevators.

Disagree? Huge stability with family as well.

yeah, I'm not sure what 'skip the mortgage at the end of your life' means but...

- giant life equity in being able to stay in one place as long as you want...maybe not for some people, but definitely for me and I would think for most people with families

- it may not be the case in USA#1 but in most countries, the $$ value of property only goes up over the medium and long term and it's a significant opportunity to build wealth. I saw JOTS quoting 2% appreciation per year which may mean it isn't the case there but on average, in both the UK and Aus the value of average house has risen by 250-300% in the past 20 years. Given these gains are tax free on primary domicile they are hard to ignore and worth additional annual upkeep expenses and the opportunity cost of income you can make from the $$ you spend on the down payment

Except that any principle you pay off also saves you the interest thereupon. If you have a 4.25% mortgage, that's an effective return of 6.45%, which isn't amazing, but is pretty much risk free. Of course, depending on your local tax code, there may be some tax advantages to home mortgage debt that offset that back the other way, but it's still way better than a 2.2% effective return.

Idk about other places, it’s just a number I read about for the US. For the record, 2.2% over 50 years is nearly a 200% increase. I’ve never verified it or anything but it makes sense as an average for a fairly large country.

The point, though, is that you can get historically 8% gains from the stock market.

But if you want to look at just 00-20, the Dow was in the 10.Xk range in 2000, it’s now in the 29.Xk range in 2020, so roughly a 200% increase.

All in all, basically pick the thing you’re most comfortable with and go with it.

In the US it varies pretty wildly. House where I grew up in Michigan in the 90s is still the same price.

Sometimes if you put all your money into a company that's 1yr out from declaring bankruptcy you can double your money overnight. So I've heard.

That was going to me my reply.

You’re saving 3% to avoid making 8%

If it was the 70s/80s when my parents told me their mortgage interest rates were in the teens, I’d agree. Today though, mortgage rates are absurdly low. Bankrate shows me nothing but 2.x% for 30 year fixed when I just checked.

Feel free to do what you feel comfortable with, there are plenty of legitimize ways to build wealth. I’m merely suggesting an alternative. It’s a riskier alternative, but it will build wealth much faster than simply paying down your debts and saving money

3. giant differences which make the stock market comparison almost irrelevant

try borrowing 10X your deposit to invest in the stock market.

If you somehow can, try doing that at 2 or 3% interest

Plus you pay cap gains on stock market so at least here, you need to earn 40% more in’s rocks than the house needs to gain in value even if you can somehow borrow 6,7,10x your down payment at negligible interest rates

Cap gains taxes in the US are much better for long term, only 10%

Look, I’m not saying don’t buy. I like buying property. It’s awesome that you can get a property for next to nothing in down payment and so long as you pay a small price every month you get to keep it regardless of if its value has depreciated.

This whole point stems from if someone were to buy 1 property to live in, nothing more, what’s a better use of additional funds.

And they complain about my prose.

Ramsey uses a thought experiment when someone wants to invest before paying off the house: Would you borrow against your house at the same interest rate to buy stocks?

I don't claim to have the right answer.

Agreed on both points but like after you retire only having property taxes and no mortgage is a huge boost to your life style.

Absolutely. (And no property taxes here)

I have a brother that’s three days older than me. He likes to get into trouble in Mexico. Apparently he pissed off the wrong people, woke up with his hand cut off and his finger in this mouth. Was told he was accused of stealing or something.

No Mexico for me for a while. At least not at my dads anyway

That’s one long labor

A+ takeaway