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PSA, you will actually pay $1M for your $500k house at today's rates (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 days ago by randoot@lemmy.world to c/personalfinance@lemmy.ml

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This might be duh for some people, but if you're like me and considering a mortgage; at today's rates in the US at around 5-6%, over 30yr mortgage you will pay about same in interest as you will for your house price.

Your $500k house will cost you around $1M total over thirty years.

I was surprised.

https://m.mortgagecalculator.org/?q=A1Nzy-8KX

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[–] Pencilnoob@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

One solarpunk consideration that factored into my desire to buy a house is the ability to put in solar, passive underground heat collection, rainwater collection, and high-cost luxury perennials like fruit trees and berry bushes. These add about $700 of value to me a month, with startup costs breaking even within a few years. It's not fully replacing any category, just taking the edge off. I was unable to do any of these in a tiny apartment. I could comfortably reduce my consumption to nearly fully replace heat, water, and power. Food is the hard one.

There's something very powerful about knowing you are producing something real on your land. I'm not a nut about it, just like to see my property using the sun and rain.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 days ago

Oh absolutely, and I bought a house for largely that reason. I also DIY most of my repairs, so according to my math, I should come out ahead vs renting, and enjoy more space and more freedom to do what I please on that property (no HOA, so very few rules on what I can do). But a lot of people end up spending more on a house vs renting because:

they buy more house than they need
they fill up unused space w/ stuff (RV that gets used maybe once a year, beds in unused rooms, etc)
they hire out repairs to experts (call plumber for every clog, have a lawn service, etc)
constantly upgrade things, and again, hire out the help to do it (often getting a HELOC or something to fund it)

My area has low property taxes, relatively low house insurance, and my dad taught me how to do a lot of basic things around the house (i.e. I repair my car in my garage, I do basic electrical work like swapping plugs and switches, have fixed my appliances a few times, etc).

There are absolutely ways to profit off owning property, but there are also a lot of ways to piss that away. That's why I use national averages for things like this, not my own experience.