Even owners rent

[notjenschiz]

Originally published at Jason's Fresh Produce. You can comment here or there.

Probably all of us have heard the old adage that owning a home is a path to wealth.

Recently, this truism has been debated quite a bit, but I believe most people will still come down in favor of owning over renting. However, something I realized today is that even owners

Comments

[newtoniancat]

Water is a big one that people don't notice

[notjenschiz]

all good points!

I meant to include water, but forgot. Not sure how practical it is around here. We get about 12-15" of rain per year, and most of that in July/August. We don't really have a yard, so not much in the way of irrigation.
Water is artificially cheap in our desert, so "renting" makes financial sense.

[rizwank]

Avocado trees (especially if you get Hass grafted ones) are a huge add to the value of a home btw.

[rizwank]

Probably all of us have heard the old adage that owning a home is a path to wealth.

I don't think I've ever heard it that way. I've heard that about RE, but the usual statement about homes is that their a moneysink.

*puzzled*

[rizwank]

Not sure the TiVo was such a great buy. TiVO doesn't work without actually having the cable to being with, and since tech advances (HD space, signal quality, physical connector types) evolve, your lifetime Tivo becomes antiquated.

If you're using TiVo without cable, you're getting broadcast TV, which is fine - but now you've traded $600 instead of a $12.95/mo fee for Tivo. You could have also built a MythTV box and tinkered with it yourself and gotten a 'free' TiVO for only hardwre costs.

This is the next bill I plan to attack. Why are we paying $100/mo when services like Skype let you talk for free. I believe there are already “skype phones” out there that completely hide the mechanics of VoIP and just let you worry about your conversation.You're comparing apples and oranges. If you're at home, use your computer, or Skype phones (or just MagicJack, which is pretty damn neat.) What about when you're mobile? You can have a mobile data plan, but now you're paying for a cellular modem plus a VoIP phone, two devices. The $100/mo you

Re: *puzzled*

[notjenschiz]

we have an antenna for broadcast TV. Broadcast is free. TiVo records from the antenna. Hence, we have the ability to record broadcast TV at no monthly charge. We have paid $600 (actually, $640 if you include the antenna), but we will no longer be paying $70/mo.
With the lifetime service, we still maintain some flexibility in the future to hook up to cable or whatever.

Re: *puzzled*

[notjenschiz]

Also, I asked my friends about this, and none of them mentioned a MythBox, so it can't be very good :-p

[aaronjv]

So, my advice for today is to examine where you can become an owner.

Does this apply to everyone?

If so...

COMMIE!

;-)