Tetronian comments on Rational Home Buying - Less Wrong

99 Post author: Yvain 27 August 2011 12:15AM

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Comment author: gjm 26 August 2011 09:09:22PM *  10 points [-]

Since a house is inevitably both a place to live and an investment, it would seem to be appropriate to treat it as both. (Unless doing so spoils your enjoyment of it as a place to live, or something. For what it's worth, I've always thought of houses both ways, have never noticed such a negative effect, and have always been happy with the results on both counts. But I've been pretty fortunate.)

[EDITED to add: I agree that the extra mortgage interest you'll pay is a genuine extra cost -- and that, not the $35k price difference or whatever, is what you should be weighing against whatever you're paying the extra for. How the two figures relate to one another depends a lot on the mortgage interest rate, how quickly you repay, etc.]

Comment author: [deleted] 26 August 2011 09:17:06PM *  2 points [-]

I think Yvain just meant that the house is not being bought for the sole purpose of selling it later to make a profit.

Comment author: gjm 26 August 2011 09:28:08PM 4 points [-]

I agree, but that isn't sufficient to justify treating extra money spent on it as if it simply disappears into a black hole -- which Yvain did, which is why I commented on it.