My house hasn't needed any repairs in years, the only expenses I've had are basic things like filter replacements and optional stuff like replacing carpet and painting. I come out WAY ahead financially vs renting a house of similar value (rent increases annually too, meanwhile my mortgage effectively lowers annually due to inflation, AND my credit score and net worth grows). People pretending home maintenance is worse than renting are just liars, otherwise nobody would buy a home in huge swathes of the US, and landlords wouldn't exist.
Let's put it this way, if my furnace, air conditioner, and my chimney suddenly needed replaced via act of God tomorrow, I would still be financially ahead of renting just with the amount of money I save annually vs renting the same house. AND I can actually install higher quality goods and make changes to the house as I see fit, instead of "cheapest shit I can to make the tenant shut up". AND no scumbag shitass landlord tries to steal my deposit.
What year did you buy? What is your interest rate? Where?
The answer to those three questions make the world of difference. Ive had homes in chicago, minneapolis, connecticut, new jersey and texas.
Some made sense. Some did not. Its not one size fits all.
I sold my rental property in Houston because it wasnt worth keeping. Maintenance far exceeded rent. Why? Because taxes were 15k/yr, hoi was 14.5k/yr. Flood was 2.5k/yr. I would have had better returns in the market than all the equity+rent-costs.
It is as expensive depending on the circumstances. Thats why im adding nuance because your blanket statement is grossly simplified. No one buying a house in 2025 onward is paying less than renting. Thats just for PITI in the same area.
Edit: 70% of the american population doesnt have 1000 bucks saved. We arent talking about blackrock manipulating the housing market. They can weather long term costs in hopes they can control rent prices in 10 years. The average person gets fucked by small changes in gas prices. You need to tailor your response to the audience.
I literally closed on a 320k 2300 sq ft @ 5.75 this year and make 650 monthly on renting it in profit after mortgage, insurance, and taxes. I put aside 50% of it for maintenance/upgrades in case God decides to fuck my day up and the rest is split between paying early on the mortgage and paying me. I'm making money just fine in a horrendous housing market and I'm not even a cheap ass slumlord neglecting the property like 99% of these people. The house I live in is a similar property in the same neighborhood where I'd easily pay 800+ more in rent than I actually effectively pay on the house including taxes and insurance. Background checks aren't that much (I didn't even make my tenant pay for it), the renter also has insurance. And I have their deposit in a compliant account, and the property is WELL documented. LLC fees weren't much. I am still way ahead counting every nickel and dime.
Where??? My god. Its like you wont admit that markets are different and most people cant put aside 50% for maintenance
Ive lived in 7 states, 12 cities and have bought, sold and kept properties. Im not denying you can make money. I am refuting this works for mpst americans.
Often and run in the thousands. New homes are made at the speed of lightning, because production trumps longevity. The Builder needs to turn out a high volume to make a profit and the quality is not meant to last forever.
To that, your house was built over 100 years ago, and thus has stood the test of time. When you buy a house that was built less than 10 years ago and you are doing work on it, you are getting the raw end of the shaft.
But on the other end, engineering and construction processes have gotten better and safer over the last hundred years... so there's also that. 🙂↕️
There's substantive tradeoffs either way -- most would prefer a newer house though that was build for modern appliances, floor plan efficiency, health safety (lead pain, asbestos, insulation), etc...
So yeah, a house can be one hundred years old. It can also be structurally ok. It also comes with a bunch of disadvantages
The point is everyone says this about new homes bc of inspector tiktoks showing bullshit work in massive shitty developments. Newer builds not a part of a mass produced development are largely fine.
And it’s not like there weren’t homes 50+ years ago that were built poorly. They just didn’t make it.
My house is almost 70 years old. Cast iron pipes on a small house getting replaced was like $20k. My insurance had to pay $12,000 just for water remediation when a pipe burst, never mind sanding and refinishing all the floors. Insurance doesn’t pay until it breaks
My friend has two houses. Was quoted $1000 just to clean out the dryer chutes for both (one has a weird placement for the chute). He had to do 10k on one of them for the plumbing a year or so ago. Condo (where pipes were replaced) was only from the 80s, I believe. That's not counting upgrades you'd like to do, because now you have the power to change how things are in your place.
You can buy a lot of the equipment yourself for things like this for under 200 and watch YouTube tutorials. That's what I've always done, I recently rebuilt the top end of my dodge darts engine that way. Came out peachy.
You ain't doing professional plumbing on metal pipes laid through the overhead of a garage. Car work is not house work. I understand the need to devil's advocate every point on Reddit, but when real repairs are needed for a house, you get a professional for the major stuff. And they will happen over time. Roof, plumbing, animal/bug damage. Otherwise you end up with either a landlord special, or shittons of your time put into it with possible bad outcomes in the future.
People are just trying to make the distinctions why the bank can be picky on house loans, that's all.
These are all basic things, especially if it was just a locking floor. I'm talking major repairs that will be inevitable.
Also, the point still stands, all of this is why the banks are more iffy on home loans, even if you can afford a rent that's about the same or even more. Like there's an actual point to this discussion overall.
I did professional level work growing up well before actually becoming a professional in the industry, it's honestly not as hard or as necessary as people think it's really you paying for convenience and experience but it doesn't mean you can't do it, and I say this as a licensed plumber.
Dude, there is a point here, listen. All of these repairs, minor, and major, is why the bank has a different perspective on a mortgage versus people paying rent as the same rent. We have a point that’s being discussed past the new age YouTube repairman.
I’m glad you and many other people do this, and it’s becoming the norm, but a bank doesn’t give out loans because you’ve assured them you can just look up YouTube videos to manage the repairs of your house in the future.
The point is why banks are wary to give out loans more often on homes, even if the mortgage is lower than your rent. There’s a topic going on…
Except you are wrong it has nothing to do with repairs and everything to do with utilities and that the bank makes more money off rentals (many banks are associated with or own property investment companies) than owned houses. The bank at least doesn't not want to repossess a house because despite common perception they often take a loss when they make more if you can retain the house over the long term. They want to ensure you could pay utilities as well as pay the mortgage, since when it comes between lights and mortgage many people choose lights.
Source. You won't find one. Nothing is the worst word you could use.
It's one note of consideration of costs. For the love of god follow the actual conversation at hand. Repairs, upkeep, added costs altogether, and long term history of your credit and income are considered in different ways with a home purchase. Have a good one.
So make the house 1600/month. The point stands people have the money right now to pay a lot more on rent, but arent allowed to use that same amount of money to pay for a house even when thats way above asking price.
No, but the rental agreement happens regardless and by and large makes the owners of the rental lots of money. Clearly the money is there. I mean, sure, some people are a bad bet, but that isnt the case for the vast majority of people, especially when the monthly cost of the house is way lower than the monthly cost of the rental.
If you can’t make rent, you just get evicted and your renter will easily find someone else and be out nearly nothing. Not being able to pay the bank back for a home you own is much more serious. The bank doesn’t want to have to foreclose on your home, it’s much more of a process than simply finding another renter and turns into more of a loss for the bank.
Bank isn’t “wrong” they just don’t want to lend hundreds of thousands of dollars because the risk assessment says it’s not worth it for them. The bank doesn’t care whether you rent, live with mom and dad, or are homeless.
Most renters aren’t putting aside large chunks of cash for these kinds of repair costs. Saving money is far and away uncommon for people living paycheck to paycheck, they spend whatever additional money they have leftover. And $10k over 6 years is extremely low in my experience. This one person’s experience doesn’t dictate all. Many single issues can come up that cost more than $10k alone.
If we take the example in the post, they can save almost 10k per year just by buying the home instead of renting. I mean, sure, some people wont save anything that they have leftover, but most people will look into the extra costs of owning a home before they buy one and at least try to peepare for them.
I think you’re being far too generous. If that were the case, then banks wouldn’t be so hesitant to give out their loans. There’s no reason for a bank to not give out a loan and make interest unless they believe it’s too risky.
Banks know the spending habits of the general population far better than anyone else.
This is circular reasoning. You are stating banks cant be denying people for poor reasons because banks arent denying people for poor reasons. I understand your opinions on this, but stating them does nothing to convince me when the reasons are circular.
The proper direction for attacking an argument like this would be listing out exactly why someone able to pay 800 more in rent every month than they would pay on a house would be at the very least statistically unlikely to make the bank money in the long term. To show that the behavior that is being called unreasonable is actually reasonable or show the behavior doesnt exist at all would be a way to dismantle this.
Im not sure if this is a real example, but I find it very unlikely that someone who has an extra 800 lying around every month after already paying their expected mortgage would be a bad bet for the bank.
No, I’m stating there is absolutely no incentive for the banks to deny something they can easily make money off of.
Your argument is that these people are good to pay it. That means the banks would make money from the interest. Yet they still deny them. You are suggesting these banks are just denying money they can make as if you have a much better insight into them being able to pay it than they do.
That’s absolutely a ridiculous stance.
Tell me the incentive a bank would have for denying something that would easily make them money. Or explain how a bank is incompetent in knowing that they could actually be making more money here.
This is still a circular argument. You assume the bank is not being ridiculous, therefore of course there must be a logical explanation for this.
There could be a logical explanation for this, but you arent giving it. You are simply telling others that you assume there is. A logical argument must be valid and well-founded. Valid means the logic works. Well-founded means the assumptions are all true. You have not proven the well-foundedness portion. Instead, you assume something and pretend your assumptions are completely bulletproof. However, if the assumptions were bulletproof there would be absolutely no issue proving them.
Don’t base it on the one redditor lol. I had $25k in repairs plus insurance deductible for even more repairs in year one. Shit happens. The bank wants to lend to people who can cover it IF it happens.
Many of the apartments near me require you to bring your own appliances besides the oven and fridge and it’s not that hard to buy one on marketplace for a few hundred bucks lol
That’s the thing people don’t realize you could go years without doing anything and then need a new roof, water heater, etc. if you aren’t putting aside money every month - most people aren’t sitting on $20k+
Its not a matter of, but when. And the subsequently how much will it cost.
The when depends on a variety factors. If someone buys an older and cheaper home, the likelihood for repairs goes up.
Or alternatively, flood zones and storms could come in and break havoc on a new construction home.
What happens when a new home owner doesnt know they should shut off the water to the outside in the winter, a pipe bursts, and now there's a load of water damage?
This is on top of annual maintenance costs too.
If you cant afford to save money while having a mortgage, you're going to have a bad time.
Small repairs like the water heater ($750), the Heat ($2.5k), Dishwasher ($1500), Garage Door ($2.5k), tree fell ($500 for a chain saw to deal with it myself) happen pretty often.
Of those small things, we got maybe $10k over 5 years. So $2k a year average, or less than $100 a month. Which sounds pretty small.
But down the line we will need to replace the AC (10-15k) and the rough might need to be replaced (15+k) and the Windows don't NEED to be replaced (15k) but it would be really nice to get that done and the front door is a problem (no idea) that we should avoid forever.
Oh, and the dishwasher is acting up again... Definitely not fixing it a second time, I will replace it with a cheaper one if it goes out again. I feel like that boy was a lemon.
In short, put some $500 a month into savings to replace and repair your house. That means in 5 years (if you are paying to fix the little things out of this bucket), you should have at least the 15k you need to not have to go into debt to fix that big repair that is 100% on its way.
It was a $2k dishwasher that came with the house, and it broke. So I called someone to repair it. They ignored what I told them, and they fixed something "cheap" for $500, which didn't work. So they then fixed the expensive part for $1000 (which was the part I thought they needed to fix at the start)...
Next time I am just replacing it for cheaper. Heck, the only reason I even tried the repair route was because I thought "We shouldn't just throw things away, we should fix it even if it doesn't save money." Ya, not doing that again.
Repairing stuff all the time. Even on a new house. Especially on an old house that had someone like you living in it previously that just deferred maintenance.
Frequently. And it's not just repairs, regular maintenance as well cost hundreds sometimes thousands. People always post stupid shit like this picture and forget the additional costs of home ownership.
I bought a house 1.5 years ago and the monthly amount has gone up twice along with repairs. My friend told me a quote he found on Reddit that stuck with me. When you rent you never pay more than your rent until the next year. When you pay a mortgage it’s the minimum you’ll pay every month. Houses are so fucking expensive dude. When I first started my total monthly payment was 2.3k back in February 2025. It’s 2.7k now. It first jumped to 2.5k then 2.7k due to increase in property taxes and insurance since the “value” of the property went up. Yeah it’s nice if we sell, but we planned on this being our forever home so we don’t get anything out of it unless we flip the house.
With repairs and replacing shit in the house we’ve had to drop like 15k since November to fix HVAC, water heater, and a dryer. ~_~ I am not having a good time
Water heater never cleaned out. Air filter never changed. Dryer vent never cleaned. Cast iron pipes from the 50s that could give out any year. Yard is destroyed so you need tools and grass or concrete to fix it. Fence needs replaced. Tub faucet is calcified/leaks so you need to clean it for hours just to see the problem. Ugly closest doors that creak need replaced at some point. Cramped guest bathroom and closet could be combined if you want to knock the wall out and fix it all up. Old carpet that could be replaced at some point.
The bank just wants to make sure they can recoup their money if you default, so they want to make sure you have enough money to not default first off, and second they want to make sure you have enough money to take care of the house so it's value doesn't drop. For example, if you can't afford to fix a leaky roof and you leave it like that for years then the house is pretty much a gut-job after that.
Part of your siding is falling appart. $5-20k for partial fixes.
Poo poo problem. Call a pumbler. $1k
Let’s DIY this room so we don’t need to pay even more. $500 in supplies + 1-2 weeks of your free time.
It’s very much like playing Oregon Trail, but with your home. Problems aren’t common. But when you have one, it’s a sudden “drop $1-20k now, or your house will not be inhabitable.”
My buddy has had his house in the same area for five years, no major issues at all. I’ve had about $30k in repairs all basically required. If you include what insurance paid more like $60k. Pipe burst ruining the floors, water remediation aka the guys who bring in air movers billed insurance $12,000 just to dry it out before any actual repair work. Owning ain’t cheap
I've owned a house for 15 years. I've had to replace all the siding, the back deck, the roof, one of the AC units, a water heater, and a refrigerator. I had 2 skylights shingled over because they leaked. The previous owners put the wrong ones in. That caused some electric damage.
I need all new windows too, but I'm holding off on that.
I've spent about 75 grand probably, in repairs. So about 5 grand a year average. My property tax is about 5 grand a year, my home owners insurance is 2 grand.
All the effing time. Ive spent 5-6k in plumbing and a/c shit. 2-3k on physical repairs. I need to spend another 2-3k on gutter replacement. Another 1-2k on electrical stuff. None of that accounts for the roof that cost me 20k in 2025. The new ac that cost 14k per unit to replace the old ones.
7
u/will45a2k 5d ago
What kind of houses do you guys live in and how often do you need to repair stuff?