not always… shitty houses tend to be in undesirable locations. easy to end up with the best house on the block syndrome.
Right now with the way the market is and the foreclosures that is not necessarily true. Many of the mid-to higher end houses in the Central Florida area are being foreclosed due to people who go interest only and adjustable rate mortgages and defaulted. The banks were practically giving away loans 3-5 years ago here in the area due to the mass amount of housing developments that were going up daily to accomodate the housing boom here in Central FL. People ‘bought’ into the theroy that they could refinance or sell their houses for profit before the interest only or adjustment period came due. Unfortunately, that was not the case and a house that may have appraised at $300k 3 years ago is now appraising at $260 -275 along with a hit of 5% now that it is considered a ‘depreciating market’.
No issues. Just a mortgage for the sale price of the house. IIRC our interest rate was like 0.4% higher in exchange for no PMI or something like that. Since we’ll only be in this house for ~5 years it worked out in our favor to do it that way.
My mortgage broker was Sam DiPiano at Premium Mortgage out of Rochester. I don’t think he’s with them anymore though. My financial advisor recommended him.
agreed, I was talking more of WNY where we didn’t have the boom.
for some reason you post reminded of my ditech’s stupid slogan “people are smart”… I f-ing hate that slogan because it means less than nothing.
Arbitrarily thinking I am ONLY in this for tax benefits is also stupid 
But from the way it sounds - you’re renting a cheap ass place. You have to compare apples to apples. A nice place to rent that will cost you 2500 + utils, is going to cost you around the same in a mortgage. When you are done with the house (which most people are within a few years, before their mortgage is up) you have paid of some principle and yes, interest as well, however you sell your house worth something, and go to the next one. When you rent - you stop paying, and you move. Everything you gave your landlord is gone. While you lived there, there was no tax benefits to you. You have nothing to show for your past x amount of years besides your semi-empty checking account from which you paid your rent.
Not to mention this : cash flow - without a house, what equity do you have? What can you put as collateral when you take a loan out? Whilst your house isn’t an ATM, it’s a big fat piece of colateral for a loan. And I’m sure the house is worth more than what you can save from renting/saving, vs buying/saving. Not to mention your cash is just that - cash, and doesn’t exactly “appreciate” nowadays. Well, maybe your Canadian money did. Fucker.
So what are you saying, because you don’t own a house you don’t depend on your job? You have to pay rent don’t you? I don’t see your point.