I know I'm supposed to want it to keep going up as a wealth generator or whatever.
But like… I wouldn't be able to afford the monthly payments if I bought my house right now and it's scary. Also none of my friends are buying homes, none of them are even renting full places. Just like renting rooms.
So what are your feelings home owners of lemmy?
Housing as a wealth generator is a bit of a lie. Prices going up only benefit people or corporations who own multiple homes or those who rent out their homes, and the few people downsizing for retirement by selling their 2500+ sq ft for a small apartment somewhere.
For the regular Joe you always need somewhere to live, so it doesn't matter if your houses is $100k or $1 million, that money is always going to be tied up in the house and not be spendable.
If anything the prices being high is worse for regular home owners because you're going to be paying thousands more in interest on the mortgage that goes straight to the banks.
Not to mention the property taxes. I would love for my home value to be cut back down to pre-COVID levels. The taxes are eating me alive.
I mean, you could take out a loan against your home's appreciated value, but most people do this to put value back into the house, like remodeling or landscaping. The value isn't totally tied behind the sale of the house itself, but your point still stands.
I always wondered why people never seem to think about this side of the equation.
Your interest rate shouldn't fluctuate with the housing market, unless you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage. Most people choose a conventional mortgage where you're paying interest on the value of the loan you received from the lender, not on the value of the property itself. You can voluntarily refinance the house to get a lower monthly payment if the interest rates go down, but if they go up, you're insulated from the impact except in the fact that you now likely have less mobility because having to pay a 7% interest rate when you are used to paying your 3.5% rate on a same-value house means you can't just sell and expect the monthly price you pay to remain the same.
Your taxes and insurance, on the other hand, do quickly balloon out of control if your property suddenly spikes up in value.