Rent or Buy?

[marina628]

I like the idea of somebody else paying off my mortgages which is why i have 5 investment properties.I own 0% reits and have done very well over the years with my RE.In 2015 my mortgages start burning with maybe 25% cost to me with all expenses including taxes considered.

[Square Root]

Reits have done very well also. Much more liquid and the fairly high yields can pay your debts down too. Much easier as far as I'm concerned.

[cannon_fodder]

Charlie - another risk is geographic in nature. Unlike many REITs which spread their holdings in different cities and provinces, an individual is more likely to concentrate in a small geographic area.

I could imagine that being an RE investor in Windsor or Oshawa wasn't a lot of fun seeing entire plants, and supplier plants, close thus bringing down the value of housing significantly.

[zylon]

http://reddeer.kijiji.ca/f-real-esta...s-W0QQCatIdZ37

In the category of "apartments, condos" rentals there are 366 ads.
217 offering; 149 wanted. I am amazed at these numbers.
Never have I seen so many "wanted" ads. Has anyone seen offering/wanted ratio like this in their area?

Houses for sale: 1077 offering; 43 wanted

Condos for sale: 114 offering; 2 wanted

I interpret these numbers to mean that more than a few people favour renting vs buying (?)

[Causalien]

Can't do it like that.
People who want to buy browse and contact seller.
People who wants to sell post ads.

The ones who post a wanted ad are usually someone who already has something going and are just fishing. They are not desperately in need of housing. The ones who are in need will contact the seller the moment the ad went online.

[zylon]

Good point.

I haven't checked the prices, but it's likely that the renters posting "wanted" ads are just looking for something cheaper than what's being "offered".

[sags]

A recent study showed that even after the collapse of housing prices, renting in the US was still cheaper than buying in most locations.

More interesting is the fact that so many Americans have turned away from home ownership.

Prices have fallen......from 30-80%, depending on location, mortgages interest is tax deductible, Americans can lock in a mortgage interest rate for 30 years,.......and yet the collapse of housing prices has affected them so deeply, that Americans still won't buy.

Perhaps credit worthiness has something to do with it, and despite all the hoopla about more positive data reported, for many Americans the main street economy is still very bad.

People are still unemployed and too many Americans are reliant on one form of government support or another.

Still though............those Americans who do have money aren't investing it in real estate.

Once the shine is gone..............it may take a long time to return.

Effects from the Great Depression left an impression on a whole generation of Americans. The Great Recession may be having the same affect.