Is buying a house an investment?

[wagon r]

hmmmm....i say it depneds on a lot of factors.....when Mini and i bought out houses, it was just before everything went sky high.....but i wanted my house for long term.....not a buy/sell investment....

now, i won't buy a house given the current market unless is absolutly needed...because the price will fall, by how much we won't know but it will come down....

folks who have 2-4 houses when the oil companies were renting them for expats, now have empty houses with mortagages to pay....and no one to help them "pay" for them....so they have to sell.....but having the money available to do so at that time is key.....

then, with hard times looming.....job security is key, cyar buy a house and in 6 months yuh out lookin for work with a $10k mortgage to pay.....

rent is dead money, and as i always say, rent is someone else mortgage.

'silver, stay home, save and within a year....tackle the market.....

[ek4ever]

A house/property is a good investment as long as the price is close to the evaluated price.....i.e. you're not overpaying for the property so that even if the market crashes the real value of the property does not erode to much....there will be some loss since the evaluated price will be made based on current market conditions....but a real estate speculator can always advise some years into the future

[eurogirl]

job security is key, cyar buy a house and in 6 months yuh out lookin for work with a $10k mortgage to pay.....

that's so true eh .

I look at ppl who living the high life and wonder if they don't realise how much money they spend on a mere weekend let alone, on things that are not even needed . Personally saving your money and building a little nest egg is the way to go till we see some light in the real estate market .

[~Vēġó~]

buy land and plant teak!!!!

[ek4ever]

buy land and plant teak!!!!

As funny as this sounds...a very good investment

[Maserati]

buy land and plant teak!!!!

As funny as this sounds...a very good investment

that it is!!

but you got to worry about people coming and tiefing your trees.

[plex]

what about consolidating other loans to take out a mortgage?....investment?

What interest rate you getting? Consolidating is good if the interest rate is low but it all depends on whether you can afford it..Wait next yr property prices has to fall..I hope..

[X_Factor]

also, the cost of construction materials are dropping slightly therefore the cost of houses will reduce as well..or it might even be better to buy land and build ur own..if u already have a house in mind to purchase..are u sure it was constructed to meet certain standards?...with the high prices of construction materials recently i am sure ppl was skimming on materials especially if the house going to be sold..the prices will drop but not untill say mid next year...wait till after carnival..things will turn sour around that time when partying done and money start running low

[plex]

also, the cost of construction materials are dropping slightly therefore the cost of houses will reduce as well..or it might even be better to buy land and build ur own..if u already have a house in mind to purchase..are u sure it was constructed to meet certain standards?...with the high prices of construction materials recently i am sure ppl was skimming on materials especially if the house going to be sold..the prices will drop but not untill say mid next year...wait till after carnival..things will turn sour around that time when partying done and money start running low

Lets hope when prices drop there is land out there for sale..

[W2J]

I bought my house eight years ago for X amount, I spent about 250k worth in repairs and upgrades, recently I got it reevaluated by raymond and pierre and they increase the sticker price of million plus orginal purchase price, so yes I consider it an investment.

[Greypatch]

real estate price doh drop in T&T...

[Raziel]

real estate price doh drop in T&T...

Words of someone who either is young or has a short memory.

Santa Rosa, Palmiste, etc, etc in the 80's, you couldn't give away property ..

Trinidad will go into recession for way more than 2-3 years, the only reason we got out of the last one was the fact that the NAR won elections and made some very hard decisions that were very unpopular but helped the economy recover.

Where is the party that is going to do that now?

[Quicksilver]

I guess quite a few factors will come into play here, and it may depend on your definition of investment...

Quiksilver, it would depend on whether you are looking at it just financially or are there other aspects of your situation to be considered, say social reasons/quality of life etc...

assuming that we are talking about right now rather than at some point in the future, then from a financial standpoint buying a house now may not be a wise investment.... but a year or two down the line, then yeah by all means buying then would be an investment.

If you are considering the intangible benefits, and waiting till prices drop may not be an option, then its up to you to decide if those benefits are worth investing in...

buy land and plant teak!!!!

now there is an investment, teak or cedar( not sure about the cedar now, but after the last recession ) .... long term, but investment nonetheless...

[Skanky]

Let's make it simple.

An investment puts money in your pocket...now or in the future with appreciation etc.
Buying a house takes money out of your pocket now and every month with maintenance,bills etc.

Owning one house is not an investment.The people who said their houses increased in value.........you bought your house when prices were cheap,value then increased......if you sell your house now what you going to do? rent,live in a river,squat? you will have to purchase a place to live in and guess what....even though you bought low and sold high when you do sell high you will have to buy high as well...or rent or squat.

One house is not an investment...in fact it is a liability.
A house can only be considered an investment if it is not your only house and you can sell and make a profit and not have to bother about where to live after.

Renting is dead money but consider the money you would save for a downpayment on a house you can invest in stocks or some other investment yielding an increase in value.

To play real estate you need a minimum of 2 houses or a house and piece of land etc.

[W2J]

^ or have a house where it paying all its expenses and you living free.

[X_Factor]

that planting Teak or lumber trees is an investment for ur retirement or children

[~Vēġó~]

^^^no, takes 10-15 years for the cedar.

Teak is about the same, however dependant on how closely you planted the trees, while you wait for maturity there's a thinning phase where you clear out the trees in between (around 8years), and so you make some good money while you wait.......

maybe about 5 years again for me with the cedar........need to put down some teak though.

[slick]

I take it back.
Now is a good time to sell.
Prices have reached peak and are heading down, unless you plan to hold for another 10 years or so.

[996vtwin]

in the short term no, in the long term I would look at other investments. Home values are considered quite high now. Also you need to look at youy return on investment after you sell or rent it. Maintanence, repairs etc.

[crazybalhead]

banzai, if you do not have at least 200k in savings NOW, or two years ago or two years from now, you cannot afford a property anyway.

And as Dave said, property is not a chattel, it will hold its value. So it is always a good time to invest. In my opinion, I dind't want to be paying no mortgage till I was in my 60's, so my wife and I bit the bullet and invested almost all our savings in a property two years ago.

Look up the difference between chattel and freehold property. Speaking to an investment consultant a month ago he said:

Property will always give you the highest return and is always the best investment, provided you have the capital to invest.

[Rahtid]

banzai,,,,is u who putting up the apartment up there? i passed monday night as u were gettin out your car to open yuh gate,,is me who blew the horn,,saw ppl putting up bricks,,,yuh saving there cuz u dont hadda pay for a roof!!!

[honda hoe]

Let's make it simple.

An investment puts money in your pocket...now or in the future with appreciation etc.
Buying a house takes money out of your pocket now and every month with maintenance,bills etc.

Owning one house is not an investment.The people who said their houses increased in value.........you bought your house when prices were cheap,value then increased......if you sell your house now what you going to do? rent,live in a river,squat? you will have to purchase a place to live in and guess what....even though you bought low and sold high when you do sell high you will have to buy high as well...or rent or squat.

One house is not an investment...in fact it is a liability.
A house can only be considered an investment if it is not your only house and you can sell and make a profit and not have to bother about where to live after.To play real estate you need a minimum of 2 houses or a house and piece of land etc.

[/ched]

[aR&D]

buy land and plant teak!!!!

so true!! ... plant anything oui!

[Scoop]

ok..here is a scenario
lets say someone is lined up fro promotion early next yr and is interested in purchasing a lot of land as soon as the promotion comes through
The thinking is that the extra income from the promotion would finance the loan for the land over a lets say 5 yr period. This means that the person will continue to have the present salary coming and and continue to save as normal.the extra money from the pay increase will cover the loan payment. The silver lining is the fact that in 5 yr time , the land wiil be paid off for...and the person will have continued saving at the present rate and also the extra money from the promotion will now be seen.
Would this be a wise choice?

[Country_Bookie]

real estate price doh drop in T&T...

The Real Estate Association reported a couple weeks ago that the avg price of a 3 bedroom house had declined from $1.08M to $1M. A lot of these developers who borrowed money to build houses and not getting them sold realizing that the interest rates on their loans going up and up and the longer they keep their houses the more interest they have to pay. So while you can expect these prices to drop, they would not sell them below cost.

With regards to land, prices are not going to drop. Land is a low maintenance investment, so if u didn’t borrow money to buy land, u don’t have to worry about the effects of high interest rates. Also demand exceeds supply in urban areas.

[Lance]

Our Country is much different from the US, the UK etc for the simple reason of size difference.

Trinidad is a very small country, whose population is growing at a rapid rate, Demand for houses far exceeds it current supply. The way i see it, even if demand drops because some people can't afford it,or because of other external econmical factors applying pressure, it won't drop low enough to below current supply to warrant price decrease.

God Stop making Land,

[996vtwin]

real estate price doh drop in T&T...

The Real Estate Association reported a couple weeks ago that the avg price of a 3 bedroom house had declined from $1.08M to $1M. A lot of these developers who borrowed money to build houses and not getting them sold realizing that the interest rates on their loans going up and up and the longer they keep their houses the more interest they have to pay. So while you can expect these prices to drop, they would not sell them below cost.

With regards to land, prices are not going to drop. Land is a low maintenance investment, so if u didn’t borrow money to buy land, u don’t have to worry about the effects of high interest rates. Also demand exceeds supply in urban areas.

Agreed, I think you can expect nominal decreases in some or many homes but the fact remains that materials, land and labour increased. The cost was high and still remains high. In the north/west especially land prices are high.

It would be plain silly to buy a home as an investment unless you get it at a steal. And even if you did there seems to be somewhat of a glut. It also matters at what price the home is. There seems to be great demand and little supply of cheap homes.

[hot blue]

But lets say that you have the money for a down payment and your current rent IS the cost of a mortgage... then isn't it a long term investment to buy a property?

[996vtwin]

what you will make is the appreciation, if there is any. your costs would be mentainance and the cost of the money you put down as your DP. Homes, not sure if they appreciate or deprec. , check an accountant for that.

[fredercia2010]

Renting is not very good for investment since we are using your hard-earned cash to pay the landlord's mortgage when you could be using it to buy a home of your own. If we are at your 30s and we bought your first house, we will be free from paying for your house after 30 years and you will also own your very asset. Houses are also one of the few things that appreciate in values instead of depreciating like your car, which means you are actually saving money and gaining money for our future.



buy my house