On a 30 year mortgage of $250K @ the average interest of 5%, you will pay $230K in interest at minimum payments of $1650/month. That totals $580K in mortgage total alone. Property taxes in the 30 years at an average rate of 1.25% will come to around $112K bringing the total cost in those 30 years to $692K. Where I live in central iowa, rent of a place fluxuates between $500 to $1250 per month depending on what town/city and neighborhood. Paying the $500 a month, it would take 115 years to equal the cost of a mortgage plus taxes. At $1250 a month, it would take 47 years to equal the cost of a mortgage plus taxes. Not to mention you still have to pay taxes after the mortgage. Renting is the better choice.

ttobba07

House appreciation is at a stand still. The two main factors of whether a house appreciates is population and location. United States population has been decreasing since 2006 and immigration is now at a stand still. Good locations are now taken. To expect a house to even appreciate to 150% of its value is a fools dream today. That is not even factoring in inflation.ttobba07

[QUOTE="LJS9502_basic"][QUOTE="pianist"]

Outright is fine - but at current rates, a small mortgage isn't the end of the world either. Small is the key, though. From my point of view, anything that takes longer than 4-5 years to repay is too much. And you have to be comfortable with the fact that you're paying a premium simply to have access to the house sooner. If that's the case and you've got the cash for it, by all means spend.

Problem is, too many people take out these multi-decade loans on their "dream homes" when rates are low, and then get burned when the rates rise, as they certainly will as the economy recovers. And aside from actually owning the house in the end and having the freedom to do with it what you please, there aren't any other significant advantages to owning a home. Like others have said, it's actually a financial liability in many respects.

That said, I will be owning a home. It's a want that I intend to fulfill.

ttobba07

Except the money you saved by not paying the premium of own a house. That money can be put into CDs, IRAs, or even general investments where the net value will be greater then any home you own would attain.

Wow, this was one of the more creative April Fools I've seen. Well done, GS.

[QUOTE="ChrisSpartan117"]

[QUOTE="dercoo"]

This, thread

I heard about Brave over a year ago (love wiki's future movie lists), and it sounds soo awesome, but all we got was Cars 2 this year:(

Cars 2 might go down as Pixar's first bad movie:cry:

**** you disney, why'd you mess with their groove.

dercoo

I heard that figure before, and cried then

I hate when greedy disney gets up into Pixar's buisness.

Also on Disney chopping block is disney animated fairy tale movies

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

:cry::cry::cry:

Wow, TC--way to miss the story and start bashing FoxNews for interviewing a high profile politician. :roll:Other politicians have also been tossing around the idea of impeachment. Under the constitution, the President must have Congressional approval for war. The question is whether the Libyan military action qualifies as war. There are several precedents for the President engaging in military action without Congressional approval. Personally, I think Obama acted within his authority on this one.

It's about time Libya got some aid and military support, and it's shameful that a no-fly zone hasn't been imposed yet. Gadhafi tortures and murders political opponents even in peacetime. He can't be allowed to regain power.

Here's the situation:

• Wolves were recently reintroduced to Montana.
• Many residents were opposed to the plan initially.
• Wolves have been a source of friction in the state, with owners of livestock forced to choose between losing valuable animals or killing an endangered species to protect their herd.
• 1,700 may not sound like a lot, but that's an exploding population. I think there were less than 100 wolves in the state when I lived there.

It sounds like the Montana wolf experiment has gotten completely out of hand, and the federal government has prevented the state from taking control of the situation for a long time.

[QUOTE="klusps"]

[QUOTE="curono"] Why is US interested in attacking NK??curono

One of the main policy that US stand by is to protect South Korea. If South Korea feels they're in immediate danger from North Korea then US would help them resolve any type of conflict, either in negotiation or armed conflict. Sense we have so many troops stationed in the border of South Korea our troops would get involved in the conflict wither they want to or not.

[QUOTE="jasonharris48"]

[QUOTE="despa1r_fact0r"]Don't use Netflix and a price hike will keep it that way.testfactor888