renting Archives - CLIPPING CHAINS

April 22, 2024April 22, 2024

Is My Rent Too High?

In normal times, rent prices, like most everything else, slowly yet surely increase at about 2-3% per year. This is inflation. But in terms of the housing market, these aren’t normal times. In the pandemic era, as demand surged in supply-restricted markets, both sale and rent prices soared, with year-over-year inflation rates at 30% or more in some markets. To speak generally of the world of pricing, what goes up might come down. So, when I approached our landlord a few weeks back about lowering the price of our rent, she wasn’t so surprised.

July 10, 2023July 9, 2023

The Real Cost of Home Ownership (and a Life Update)

In the summer of 2020, we sold our home in Denver, Colorado, where we had lived for seven years. Once all the costs were tallied, we were shocked to see the return on our home ownership investment. Should we have rented instead? Today we revisit this post in light of our recent move.

January 16, 2023January 15, 2023

The Great Transition of the US Housing Market

Since the pandemic began in the spring of 2020, we’ve witnessed an unparalleled explosion of price growth in all forms of housing. Until the peak in June 2022, single family home prices rose 45%. But prospective home owners weren’t the only ones biting their nails. Rents also rose over 15%, peaking in late 2022.

The culprit behind this price shock is fundamental: low supply and high demand. Today we examine the origins of these conditions and whether or not it’s a good time to buy.

June 6, 2022June 5, 2022

Is the Real Estate Investment Boom Killing US Housing Affordability?

Find me a person who can talk and you’ll find someone with an opinion on the housing market or real estate investment. And most of those opinions—even from happily settled homeowners—bear the tones of suspicion at best and downright defeat at worst.

Housing prices have skyrocketed a staggering 34% nationwide over the past two years. This rate is essentially an order of magnitude higher than historical home price appreciation. Certain markets are arguably out of hand (to use a technical term). Take Boise, Idaho, where prices are considered 73% overvalued.

Is the booming real estate investment trend at least partially to blame?

July 26, 2021July 26, 2021

Housing Affordability: This Isn’t Normal

I want to check back in on a topic near and dear to many: housing affordability. We’ve witnessed soaring real estate prices nationwide, with many cities exceeding a 20% year-over-year growth in sales prices of homes. Is income growth keeping up? For those looking to get into the housing market for the first time, can you expect better future prices or less competition?

Well, let’s see…

October 19, 2020October 18, 2020

Relocation: A Guide to Moving and Housing Affordability

We’re out on the road in search of our next home, our sights set on home ownership once again. In this post we examine the complicated process of relocation and the sticky, tangled spiderweb of housing affordability. Is housing in America becoming less and less affordable?

In this post we discuss:

Costs to consider during relocation
Home price and income metrics to affordable housing
National trends on housing affordability
How much a retiree should spend on a home
Our process for evaluating relocation options
Ways to make housing more affordable

August 31, 2020July 11, 2023

This Just In: The Real Cost of Home Ownership

In August, we closed on our home of seven years in Denver, Colorado. And against all odds, with a raging pandemic, unprecedented unemployment, and a very uncertain future, we sealed the deal on an offer far better than we anticipated.

In this post I run the final numbers on the economics of our seven years of home ownership. Despite the often-touted rule-of-thumb that home ownership is a great investment….well…was it for us?

This is part 3 in a series. To see other posts on the subject, check out Part 1 and Part 2.

September 9, 2019August 31, 2020

Should I Buy a Home? Part 2: Opportunity Cost

Howdy! Last week on Should I Buy a Home (Part 1), we established that home ownership isn’t really a good “investment.” Make sure you go back and take a gander at that post first. But, when compared to the cost of renting all along, is home ownership still a better long-term financial decision, especially for early retirement? Or did we pay the biggest expense of all…opportunity cost?

Stick with me here. This sort of stuff was never my forte years ago, but I’ve grown to love this like Mrs. CC grew to love sushi. We can all learn to love raw fish, seaweed, rice, and investment return analysis.

September 2, 2019October 20, 2019

Should I Buy a Home? Part 1

In the personal finance world, the decision to own a home or rent is a particularly frothy debate. Traditionally, the long-held belief goes something like this: a home is an investment and a path to building wealth. I’m here to put a gentle and understanding hand on your shoulder, but deliver the hard news that your home is no longer an investment or an even remotely efficient wealth-building machine (was it ever?). But can it still be a better long-term financial alternative to rent?

This will be the first in an on-again-off-again series as we consider selling our home over the next year. We plan to document all incurred costs of homeownership, and compare to what we likely would have spent if renting all along.

But as current homeowners, was it a mistake for us buy in the first place? What should you do if you are weighing home ownership? Quick, math!