But last week I migrated to the AWESOME new Google interface which allows me to grab all of my RSS feed crap onto one page. This is a killer app and you should give it a try…. As a side note… This desktop is connected to you login so it’s not cookie based and loads not matter what browser you’re using.

Just don’t add Eddie Murphy to the Haunted Mansion is all I can say…

first off, depending on where you live, it is often cheaper to own than to rent. He uses northern jersey as an example, i’m going to use west virginia.

Mike, that\’s the thing. Chris is speaking to my area of the country, where $600/mo won\’t get a studio apartment in a sketchy part of Newark. New Jersey is a totally different market than WV.

That said, I think you\’re right: the sooner you can get into a house, the better. However, I recently saw an article saying that house prices in parts of NJ have plummeted 20%. Chris isn\’t warning about short-term risk, he\’s warning about having the housing market come back to reality and getting stuck holding the bag on a bad investment. Paying half-a-mil for a fixer-upper that\’s a 40-minute commute from everything is just insane. And, given the equally-insane mortgages my peers have taken (can you say negative amortization?!?!!11!!!one!!) I think a market correction is on the horizon.

That said, I would love to buy a house. But, short of packing up and moving to Nebraska — which I _have_ \”known people to do\”:http://sojourn-of-grace.net/2006/01/11/the-nebraska-equation/ — I think buying in an area like NJ is a risky play. Here\’s me \”a few weeks ago\”:http://kennsarah.net/2006/05/26/on-the-radar-3/:

A lot of people got in over their heads with the real estate bubble, taking on massive debts in exotic mortgages on property that isn’t worth what they paid for it. The crisis will occur when those mortgages (such as interest-only loans) turn into “real” mortgages and double the monthly payment for a lot of people. It won’t be pretty.

Hey! I blog about the “good ol’ boy cracker-crats of the Republican party,” al-Jazeera in America, and the cartoonist Nobel Prize this week and you want people to read about my ?!

(_hides under desk_)

The rage! _The *rage*!_

Also it definitely doesn’t make sense to buy in New York.

However it’s unfortunate that so many choose to buy over rent

what? this is just bad advise.

first off, depending on where you live, it is often cheaper to own than to rent. He uses northern jersey as an example, i’m going to use west virginia.

When i rented i rented a 3 bedroom house, with a 3 car garage, with land and 2 nice decks that was a 10 minute walk to town for $900 a month.

You can get a nice piece of land and house for about $600 a month (in mortgage). I choose to go the modular home route and still rent land. I spend about $700 a month, still more than if I own my own land, something that i am regretting now.

ON top of that, you can use your home equity to pay off high interest loans (credit cards) with a much lower interest rate.

Like rent money, mortgage interest is essentially “wasted.”

You also get a break on taxes, based on the interest you paid on your morgage. So the above, is simply not true. You don’t get all your interest back, but you do get a nice portion of it. Plus, when you consider that over all it is cheaper to own (per month), you are wasting less money.

anyway, i could go on for a while … but just about everything this guy is saying goes against what finacial advisors would tell you (and have told me).

Its like telling people, “Whatever you do, do not invest your money in something! its risky!” Well, of all the investments that are risky, owning property is just about the least risky investment there is.

Buy the house. In the long run it makes sense.