Category Archive: ‘Tips, Advice & Links’

Additional Expenses of Homebuyers

Buying a house just gets you started – there are the other goodies too.  In the tony coastal regions, add a zero to these numbers!

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07132017_home_buying_behavior.asp

An excerpt:

Specifically what do home buyers purchase?

The biggest ticket item for new home buyers is sofas, spending an average of over $700, 60 percent more than spent by buyers of existing homes and 6.4 times more than spent by non-movers in a year.  There is also a large effect on purchases of living room (other than sofas), dining room, and kitchen furniture with new home buyers spending $687 on living room chairs/tables and another $345 on kitchen and dining room future, outspending existing home buyers 12 to 1 in both categories and non-buyers by 5 and 9 times respectively.

The differences in spending patterns are similarly large when comparing spending on window coverings. New home buyers spend 10 time more than existing home buyers and 4 times more than non-buyers.

The biggest outlay in the appliance budget of new home buyers are for laundry equipment, landscaping equipment and computer hardware/systems. They outspend both existing home buyers and non-buyers on all of these and on big-ticket items like refrigerators and televisions as well.

The high level of appliance spending may seem surprising given that many new homes come equipped with them.  However, she cites a survey by the Home Innovation Research Labs found that two-thirds of new homes built in 2015 came without laundry appliances and 36 percent had no installed refrigerator.

Also unexpected, new home buyers spend almost as much ($3,729) as existing homes buyers ($4,085) and outspend non-moving owners ($2,232) on property alterations and repairs, but they spend on quite different things.  Existing home buyers and non-movers spend more on various repairs and replacements and on kitchen/bathroom renovations and purchase and installation of new systems while new home owners spend on outside additions and alterations, including new driveways, walks, or fences.

The analysis further shows that home buyers don’t compensate for their higher level of spending by cutting back on other things like entertainment, travel, restaurants meals, etc. “This confirms that home buying indeed generates a wave of additional spending and activity not accounted for in the purchase price of the home alone,” NAHB says.

Food for Thought

Everyone loves Tony, and he is prolific at using social media to inspire people.  I respect what all three guys said below, and I’ll add: Do something!

LINK

For generations past, home ownership was a significant rite of passage that signaled stability, commitment, and, often, prosperity.

But, in this as in so many other cases, millennials are different.

As of 2015, adults under age 35 made up 19 percent of U.S. households but less than 10 percent of homeowners, according to a report released by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Entrepreneur and bestselling author Tony Robbins says that, while millennials might be missing out on the social upsides of home ownership, real estate is not the best investment they could be making.

“One of the weakest performers [is] your own personal real estate, because it doesn’t provide much income,” Robbins says. “It’s an inflation hedge. You do a little better than inflation, and you can have your own home, so there’s a psychological, emotional benefit.”

Instead, millennials in a position to buy property should be considering how to do so in a way that will provide them additional cash flow, he says.

“If you can own real estate, real estate with an income is the one [form of] real estate that’s more valuable,” says Robbins.

Opinions on the imperative of millennial home ownership vary.

Self-made millionaire Grant Cardone tells CNBC that home owners are forced to continue to spend unceasingly, and that he regrets buying a house at age 30.

“Unless you have 20 million bucks in the bank, in cash, you have no business buying a house,” says Cardone.

In personal finance classic “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” author Robert Kiyosaki notes that houses should be viewed as a liability, as opposed to an asset, and points out that it’s not a given that a home will appreciate in value.

“I am not saying don’t buy a house. What I am saying is that you should understand the difference between an asset and a liability,” Kiyosaki writes. “When I want a bigger house, I first buy assets that will generate the cash flow to pay for the house.”