home ownership Archives - Empathic Finance

Would you rather: buy a new car or own a home?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on June 17, 2024 | Featured

I argue that for most people, you can choose to buy a new car or own a home (if you can have either of them at all), but not both. … Read More

Tags: car ownership, Chuck Klosterman, home ownership, home prices

The Buy/Rent Calculator tells it like it is

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on May 27, 2024 | Featured

The New York Times calculator showing whether to rent or buy a home is more cost-effective has a lot of wisdom, even with unhappy news. … Read More

Tags: home ownership, New York Times, renting

How not to be house poor

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on June 5, 2023 | Featured

Home ownership can be a financial disaster if you’re not careful, and one of the ways to prevent this is to not be “house poor”. … Read More

Tags: home ownership, housing, mortgage, mortgages

Will millennials benefit from the largest wealth transfer in history?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on May 22, 2023 | Featured

Millennials have gotten the short end of the economic stick for most of their adult lives. But this bad luck might be about to change. … Read More

Tags: home ownership, millennials, wealth

40 year mortgages are here (maybe). Would you want one?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on April 24, 2023 | Featured

To help more people afford homes, there is talk of a new 40 year mortgage product. This of course would not help who it is supposed to. … Read More

Tags: home ownership, home prices, loans, mortgage, mortgages

Why the 30 year mortgage is actually uncommon

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on October 31, 2022 | Featured

The U.S. is an outlier in offering a 30 year mortgage. Here’s why that is, and why you still want to be able to pay it off faster. It’s official: 30 year fixed-rate mortgages in the U.S. have reached 7%. … Read More … Read More

Tags: home, home ownership, mortgage, mortgages

Why everything today is more unaffordable

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on September 5, 2022 | Featured

If you think people today are finding that homes, cars, and student loans are unaffordable, well, you’re right. Have you ever watched Company Man on YouTube? His videos take a look at businesses, primarily restaurants, and talks about how they … Read More … Read More

Tags: affordability, Company Man, home ownership, home prices, Popeyes

Eviction in the pandemic: Owning versus renting

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on September 7, 2020 | Featured

There is a big difference in how quickly eviction can occur for renters versus owners when dealing with non-payment of rent or mortgage. The to-rent-versus-to-own issue when it comes to housing is a tough one. And that’s assuming you have … Read More … Read More

Tags: eviction, home ownership, mortgage, pandemic, rent, renting

Why the home mortgage interest deduction is a disappointment

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on January 28, 2016 | Featured

UPDATE: I originally made a math error below, and have corrected it. Apologies. UPDATE #2: I have another take on this. “Oh you’ve got a mortgage now!” goes Conventional Wisdom. “Now your taxes will be lower because you’ll be able to … Read More … Read More

Tags: home ownership, taxes

The homeowner’s “garden”: a little equity grows

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on October 29, 2015 | Featured

Have you ever bought a home? Well, if you only have a single full time job, and want another one on top of it, well, this is the plan for you. Everything in this process seems to have resulted … Read More … Read More

Tags: equity, home, home ownership

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