Superchief
TUG Member
The other problem with home ownership is the rapid increase of property taxes in many areas. My taxes are double what they were five years ago due to absurd increases in assessments as well as rate increase by local government and school systems. My taxes are more than my current mortgage.Our mortgage on this house in 1979 was 10.5% FHA, we refinanced several years later for 8.5% and thought we were seeing an amazing interest rate. Now our daughter and her husband refinanced their house with VA for 1.99% for 20 years. She is ecstatic. I would be too!
It's their forever house, so they won't cringe too much when the house goes down in value by $250,000, when the economy tanks, which I believe is within a couple of years.
People walk away from mortgages, even with record low interest rates, when they realize the value of their house is less than what they owe. It's really kind of crazy. Interest rates will rise and property values will decline. It's happened before and will happen again.