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Is it worth to buy a house?

    1. You can lock in your housing costs for 30 years

    Housing is the largest expense for most people.

    If you buy a house, you can lock in that cost for 30 years. The average home has gone up about 2% a year (which I think is lower than inflation) so if you buy a $200,000 house and live there 30 years, you are paying about $800,000 but your house will be worth $1 million. So the cost of living there will not go up.

    Of course, if the value of your home goes down then it's possible that could happen to you too. But historically, home values have gone up more than inflation.

    In contrast, when you rent, every year you have to renegotiate your rent with your landlord or find another place to live if it gets too high. Which means that every year the cost of housing goes up at least as much as inflation which is usually much higher than inflation since landlords often use this opportunity to raise rents as much as they can get away with.

    Also, note that when renting an apartment or even a room in someone else's house or apartment, there are many other costs besides just the rent: like moving costs twice (once when moving in and once when moving out), storage costs (if you have furniture), closing costs (when buying a house), etc. These all add up and are often ignored by those who say "renting is cheaper". In fact, buying a house might be cheaper than renting plus all these other hidden costs of renting.

    2. You own something!

    When you rent an apartment or even buy a rental property, what do you own? Nothing! When I was younger I lived in various apartments and I always felt like I was just passing through on my way to someplace better. When I bought my first condo I felt like "this is mine." It didn't matter how small it was or how bad the location was--I owned it and nobody could tell me to move out unless I wanted to move out myself (and if I owned it free and clear then nobody could force me out). This sense of ownership makes me feel more secure and less transient in my life which helps me focus on other things besides where am I going to live next?

    3. If real estate goes down you can always sell part of your house back to pay off part of your mortgage so it doesn't go negative equity (like happened during 2008)

    During 2008-2009 many people lost their jobs due to the financial crisis
    They couldn't afford their mortgages anymore so they walked away from them (and this became one reason why banks were reluctant later on to lend money during the recovery)
    What if instead they had been able to keep paying their mortgages but only sell back part of their homes
    That's called "house hacking" and it's done all the time by many who purchase multiple homes within driving distance from each other so they have places close together where they can live cheaply while working at jobs further away from them
    Imagine having two houses ten minutes apart from each other so one family lives cheaply in one while another family lives cheaply in the other while both work jobs far away from both houses
    This allows homeownership without being tied down by one location because now two locations are cheap for them instead of one location being cheap for them

    4. There are tax benefits

    Let's say you make $100k per year as salary after taxes but want to buy a $200k home because that's what homes cost today on average across America (not including mortgage interest expenses)
    Then let's say over 30 years your home appreciates enough that its value
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