When Mahi Amaha’s parents immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia during the 1970s, they saw homeownership as a way to achieve the American dream. He eventually bought a house during the ’80s when interest rates were at their peak, and their loan terms were not very good.
“Financially, it really puts them in a bad place. And I noticed that growing up,” Amaha said. “I told myself I would never buy.”
Still, the 35-year-old turned ER physician-turned-investment coach and founder of black women are rich Following in his parents’ footsteps gave the homeowner a shot. She bought a house with her husband five years ago, but the couple quickly realized it was not for them and stopped selling it during the pandemic. They decided that they would be “tenants for life”.
Amaha said society often views renting as a “throw away money” because you have nothing at the end of the day. While this is somewhat debatable, given the time and money it takes to own a home and the particular market a buyer resides in, home buyers often believe they made more than they did when they sold their property. Is. And they may be operating under the same misconceptions when they decide to buy.
“I often hear from members who exaggerate the returns they experience on real estate, especially their primary residence,” said Lauren Anastasio, a certified financial planner. Sophie, For example, if someone bought a house in 2015 for $500,000 and sold it for $600,000 in 2020, they can assume that they got a 20% return on their investment.
It’s not accurate, Anastasio said. For one, they are not accounting for inflation. “Each dollar is worth less in 2020 than it was in 2015,” she said. (In this case, the theoretical $100,000 profit is already reduced to about $91,500.) Second, they’re not factoring in all other costs they dumped into the home during that time, such as when they bought the property (and again) if they refinance), interest, taxes, insurance, maintenance and much more. “If we add all of that up, the real benefit is actually very, very little.”
Here are hidden costs to consider when deciding to buy for short-term value or evaluating the profit you will make on a potential sale.
The math is a lot more difficult than the sale price minus the purchase price.
While it is possible to earn a decent return on a primary home, it probably won’t result in the ROI you envision. Often, you have to stay long before investing starts.
While home prices have been rising recently, a look at the Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index over the past 20 years shows that prices have only increased by 3.8% on average. This does not exceed the rate of inflation, which was 2% annually for the same period.
Add in maintenance costs, insurance, and property taxes, and you’re lucky if you break even, according to Joseph Hogg, a certified financial analyst and founder of My Stock Market Basics And this talk about money channel on youtube.
At best, a household is a forced savings account, he said. This is because you are paying in an asset that you can sell later. “It’s okay for people who can’t seem to budget for savings if they aren’t paying off a mortgage, but the returns lag far behind other investments in the long run.”
Let’s take a closer look at the numbers.
Let’s say you buy a house today for $250,000. you contribute 20% down payment ($50,000) and finance the remaining $200,000 with a 30-year fixed rate loan at 4% interest. You must also pay closing costs of $4,000, which you roll over into the loan balance.
By 2020, the average homeowner will hold his property for eight years, So suppose you do the same. As mentioned above, home prices tend to appreciate with the pace of inflation. But let’s be a little more generous and assume your home has appreciated at 5% a year.
At this time, your home would be worth $369,364 when you sell it in 2029. This is a profit of $119,364. Not bad, is it?
Except that’s not a net profit. Consider these costs associated with owning a home:
Since you had to take out the loan to buy your home, you’ll pay interest on it, which includes the $4,000 of closing costs that you rolled over to the principal. After eight years at 4%, you would have spent about $60,877 in interest charges.
Previously, a big incentive for buying a home was the ability to write off mortgage interest on your taxes. However, thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that only went into effect in 2018. 13.7% People are now eligible to itemize their taxes. The remainder will take the standard deduction, making this potential savings opportunity irrelevant for most homeowners.
Landlords are also responsible for the maintenance of their properties. There’s no landlord to call if the roof leaks or the water heater needs to be replaced—it’s up to you. In fact, homeowners should budget about 1% of the purchase price of the house for maintenance each year. For our $250,000 example, that means $20,000 in home repair costs at the end of eight years.
You are also required to purchase insurance for your property. The average premium is $1,477, based on a home with a housing coverage amount of $250,000, according to 2020 dates, Multiply this by eight years and you have another $11,816 in additional costs.
Finally, one of the major expenses that homeowners can expect to face each year is property taxes. The value of your home is used to calculate property taxes, which are assessed each year, although the actual rate you pay will depend on where you are located. Nationwide, the effective property tax rate is 1.1% of the median home value. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll estimate your taxes based on the original purchase price, without factoring in appreciation, which means you could add another $22,000 to the cost of owning your home over eight years.
Let’s sum up all those expenses:
- Closing Cost: $4,000
- Mortgage interest: $60,877
- Maintenance: $20,000
- Home Insurance: $11,816
- Property tax: $22,000
- TOTAL: $118,693
This leaves you with a profit of $671 after eight years.
But let’s not forget that we are assuming that you are going to sell your house after those eight years. If you work with a real estate broker, you can expect to pay a commission of 6% on the final sale price. If you sold your home for its current value of $369,364, you are now in the hole for $21,491.
Even if you decide to sell without a broker, there are many potential expenses associated with selling your home, including land transfer taxes, closing costs, and perhaps even capital gains taxes.
You may be wondering, what if you stayed on your home for the full 30 year mortgage term instead of selling it? This is a much better approach in this case.
If we hold the same assumptions outlined above, your home would be worth $1,080,486., You will have paid a total of $150,614 in closing costs and mortgage interest (assuming you never refinanced). Another $75,000 will go toward maintenance. Assuming that your rate was never increased, you would spend $44,310 on home insurance. And assuming that your property taxes were capped at a 2% annual increase, you would have paid about $182,707 in taxes.
A total of $452,631 minus expenses out of $1,080,486 in assets leaves you with a profit of $627,855 over 30 years.
Other factors to consider before buying or selling
One catch with viewing your home as a short-term investment is that your assets are tied up in assets. Your home may be worth a certain amount on paper, but you have to sell it to actually access your accumulated wealth. Not only does selling a home cost money, but you are not guaranteed to sell what you think the home is worth. And you have to wait for a buyer to come along, which can take months or even years if there isn’t a competitive market.
One option to gain access to the cash tied up in your investments is to take out a home equity loan or line of credit. However, this option limits how much you can actually take advantage of your home’s value. In addition, you need to qualify based on your credit and other factors, and this once again puts you in debt.
That’s why Amaha prefers to rent it while putting her extra money in the market. It provides a lot of flexibility. “It’s such a relief to rent,” Amaha said. “If something breaks, if there’s a problem, it’s not on us.” He added that renting allows his family to plan out their wealth-building strategy over the next few years, knowing there are no houses to hold them back or derail their plans.
Of course, the unique real estate market where you live will make a big difference.
“When considering the financial benefits of buying a home, the frequently used phrase ‘location, location, location’ comes to mind,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate. “If viewed across the US expansion, and across markets and locations, there are widely varied results over the long term with respect to the level of home price appreciation or lack thereof.”
In fact, Hamrick said that his parents’ home that he bought 50 years ago in his hometown along the Kansas-Oklahoma border is worth the same amount today. It’s probably a very different experience from someone who shopped in California several decades ago.
Ultimately, the decision to rent or buy is deeply personal. An important factor to consider is whether it’s cheaper to buy vs. Rent in your desired neighborhood (according to one study, it’s cheaper to own in 24 of 50 major markets).
Also consider your desired lifestyle and values. Apart from the modest financial gain, there are other good reasons to buy a home. For one, owning a home provides a sense of security and a sense of belonging. Homeowners contribute directly to their communities by paying property taxes. Maybe you want to bring your kids to a particular school district.
A home is also yours to design and maintain as you wish. If you’re the type of person who likes to collect supplies for another DIY project on a Saturday at Home Depot, Homeowners might be for you.
Homeownership is also a major route to generational wealth-building. It is an asset that you can pass on to your children, carry them forward. Amaha said this is especially important for people of color, who have historically been barred from owning homes, reducing economic mobility and contributing. racial wealth gap,
As with any type of investment, Hamrick said, your results may vary. “But banking on solid returns on home purchases is actually too risky.”
