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      12-13-2019, 10:27 PM   #82
Flacht3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Humdizzle View Post
i don't get the house equity thing...

sure it goes up for you, but if you're planning on staying in the same area and keep the same job, then houses have gone up for everyone. So its a wash. And the market cycles: it may go up for a few years and then it'll come down. I don't know too many people who said 'oh look the equity is up, lets sell and move somewhere else and use that profit for a supercar!
I think it's more of a "better to have the equity" than "not have the equity" scenario.

Let's say your rent is a moderate $3k. After 10 years, you'll have spent $360,000 with nothing to show for it. At least with the equity, if and when it's time to move you can at least roll that over.

If you're moving somewhere cheaper (i.e. I sell my house for $2M in San Francisco and retire in Arizona and buy a place for $800k) I pocket that $1.2M. If I'm just renting forever then I'll have $0 to show for it and STILL have to pay rent.

If you're savvy, maybe you do move every few years if opportunity strikes. I made a nice return on a few condos because I was opportunistic. To me it's less about the equity, more about leveraging the return on your downpayment when opportunity presents itself. Then roll that over into something bigger, rinse and repeat. Easy way to snowball your money but YMMV.
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