Money-Saving Tips from Tibs and Shell

[Shell B]

That's just insane. You could pay out a ton and have nothing yet to show for it. It's like paying interest on money you haven't even received yet. Sure, you live in the house, but you're essentially only paying rent on it for however long that takes. Ugh. I'm really considering buying a cheap house and then saving all of our money for a few years until we can buy a better house.

The interest is a tax deduction. 

Not sure what it's like in the Boston area but here you can buy a house just as cheap as rent a house and build equity. 

Just look at the house payment like a credit card payment, you never pay the minimum. You pay extra each month and tell the bank (and you do have to tell the bank) that the extra goes to the principle. Try to make twice the monthly payment in principle payment each year.

Yeah, but a tax deduction isn't the same as not paying the interest. It's not going to balance out, so I would much rather just buy a cheap ass house and then save, never paying a dime in interest. Tibby doesn't want to do that. He likes big houses.

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Oh indent know, home ownership has a lot of advantages over renting.

- my payment (P&I + taxes) is less than the rent on the crappy apartment I had.  
- The payments are worth it for utility value alone.
- My home is an appreciating asset.
- I don't share walls + ceiling and floor with anyone.
- Should I ever find it necessary, I can borrow against the equity.
- I can do anything I like with the interior and exterior.

Yeah, I think maybe I'm paranoid because I watched tons of people lose their houses not too long ago. Their houses were worth way less than they paid.

As it stands, we're waiting to see what happens to the housing market under Trump. It's not clear anything will happen, but I'm definitely not doing shit until I'm sure.