[quote author="flmgrip" date=1231581853]which gets me to my next point...
i bought a home jan 08. i'm not gonna say where, what builder etc...
i paid $575k, i put down $160k
my mortgage is $2200k fixed 30 years
my maintance, hoa, mello roos is about $600 a month
i'm not inlcuding property tax since i save at least that amount in taxes
so i'm paying $2800 a month for "rent" of a 3bed, aprox 2000sft house that i love, enjoy the neighbour hood and like. no street noise, no neighbours a floor above me etc... i really like this place and will stay here for quite a while...
----------------------------now i am simplifying the math but it works for me...
i could have stayed in that piece of shit rental apartment with my girlfriend, pay $2200 a month, here the street, people trying to accelarate from 0to50 from one stop sign to the next, hear the neighbours kids above doing dance exercises and playing the piano, have a fridge that rattles randomly at night and the IC refuse to fix, i could have an AC that makes a ton of noise wheneve it drains water, look for uncovered parking every night... but i'd be saving about $600 a month.
so this year i saved $7200 you say... well not really, because i would have put the down payment money in the stock market, to simplify it i am picking one mutual fund and one stock i own. i do not have time to trade and pay attention to the market so i am somewhat forced to buy and hold...
so here are the numbers...
the same floorplan is selling right now for about $560
so i lost $7200 + $15000=$22200.- because i bought a year ago, but if i would have not bought the home i would have done this
put $80k into apple stock price 1/1/08 was around $180 but to be fair it was at $145 three weeks later so let's say i bought it at $145, that gives me about 550 shares
put $80k into a vanguard wellington fund for $31/share so that gives me about 2580 shares
1/1/08 these shares were worth $160k (my downpayment) , taking prices from jan 09 these shares are
apple at $95 = 52250 "lost" $27750
wellington at $24.67 = 63650 "lost" $16350
so i lost $22k because i bought a house, but i would have lost $44k if i would have waited a year
bring it on guys !</blockquote>
Your calculations and theory on finance is one of the most appauling ones I've seen. I lost a handful of my financial brain-cells just reading this.
The fact that you said "bring it on guys!" tells me that you are pretty proud of yourself for calculating rent/buy scenario for the first time in your life. You gave it a good attempt, but there are just a few little things you should probably clear up.
First, whet generous lender in Jan 08 did give you an interest rate below 5%. Because according to some quick calcs, a 415K loan doesn't yield a 2200 monthly payment, unless you really did get a rate slightly below 5%.
Second, you admitted that you know jack about the stock market, so why invest in aaple and wellington? First they are horrible choices for stocks if you did pick them, but its not your area man...just slap your 160K in CD and you would have earned a few grand instead losing over 40K. Or better yet, you could have given me 160K, and based on what I returned in 08 (by far my best year ever) I would have given you a lump sum of about 350K. Of course you'd have to be a good boy and pay taxes on that, but still be better off than losing 40K on your own.
I wont do the math, but its easy to see how your example of stocks is one of the stupidest things I've seen. It's like me taking 800K to Las Vegas and losing all of it when I could have bought a home in 2006 for 800K and today it would be worth about 500K. Damn...should have bought the home. Come on man. Are you really that stupid? I hope your post was a sarcastic joke...please tell me it is.
Its like you try to paint yourself a worst case scenario to make it look like you made a great deal. When instead you should just said hey guys, I know I F***ed up by not making wise investment decisions, but I can only learn from it. Good news is, I really love where I live compared to that crumy apartment I used to have. Then I would have saluted you with respect.
Anyway, my wife is craving Olive Garden...see ya!