I don’t quite understand your question, but don’t ignore the tax benefits of being an owner rather than a renter… the govt wants to encourage home ownership, so you can deduct all the interest you pay on the loan on your yearly tax return, lessening the out-of-pocket costs to own… also can deduct property taxes… and you get the increase in equity in the property as time goes by, which you do not receive as a renter…
I am in chicagoland area, my cashflow is -150 month but I made 8k for this condo at closing. How do I go about deducting interest and taxes? Do I just wait until tax time or start working on that now?
I am in Chicago too. Here, at least for the last few years, renting has been cheaper than owning. I pay $1k/month renting. A condo the same size would cost me $1700/month at least - not to mention the condo fees of anywhere from $100-$500/month. This is the reason so many apartments are turning condo, there is more money in selling the units as condos than holding as apartments if you are a real estate investor. Anyone who says that owning is ALWAYS better than renting does not understand finance. Same thing for people who say real estate values NEVER go down.
It is better to rent in a depressed market where prices are falling and rents are low. It is better to buy at the bottom of this market and catch the wind of rising prices and rents as well. You do not want to sell at the bottom but a lot of investors want to but at or near the top hoping it will go higher, This is often called the bigger fool theory. I like to buy distressed vacant junk at any time and fix and resell or keep. When you have a declining market you will have a rising market somewhere else. If you can buy and sell in different markets to take advantage of the trends you will do well. Of course there are tons of theories about bubbles and trends and everyone has an idea. These are just a few I have seen and read about and thought I may share and may have bored you with. It is all free.
