Originally Posted by
Rasulis
I don’t know about Russia, but in US, for the most part, the cost of owning is less than renting of a comparable property.
I’ll use San Diego, which is still behind SF and NY in term of living/real estate cost, as an example. The cost of renting a 3 bedroom/3bath unit is around $3,500 (low end). We bought our one-acre property about 40 miles from the coast for 160k in 2012, and spent around 300k to build the house (4 bedrooms/3s bath). We actually have 5 bedrooms/4 baths if you include the barn that we remodeled into a granny flat. Full solar, outdoor fire suppressant system, water well and fully landscaped. We still owe around 330k, and our monthly mortgage is $ 1,521 (30-year fixed). Insurance is around $ 1,300 a year (home owner + earthquake insurance + home warranty). Property tax is $ 3,600 a year. It will go down to $2,400 in 2019 because when my wife turned 65 we can get exemption on the County’s fire and sewer charges. We do have municipal water for drinking (we only use the well for irrigation and fire suppressant system) which comes around $500 per year. Electricity is $180 per year. Gas is around $300 + $ 60 for tank lease per year. HoA is $103 per month. Trash is $144 per year. Total comes to $2,139 per month. Which is way less than $3,500. Hell, for $3,500 a month, you can get a 3 bedrooms condo next to Mission Bay.
Surprisingly, rental rates in the US don’t seem to differ very much state to state. My son lives in a small town in Illinois. His 4 bedrooms/3 baths Victorian house is all hardwood floors, and completely upgraded with energy efficient heating and cooling, new insulation, doors and windows, electrical wiring and plumbing. Still, I doubt that he could get 80k for the house. On the other hand, one-bedroom rental in the adjacent town (no rental in his town) is about $900.
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We only used our AC in October this year for about 2 - 3 weeks. We have not had to turn on the heater yet. If you live in the Bay Area, you get to use your AC probably once every 10 years. Most houses in San Diego and San Francisco don't even bother with A.C.