What Is the Worst Real Estate Advice?

Have you heard the following?

"Marry the home. Date the rate."

"Owning is always better than renting."

"Wait for the crash."

This advice isn't great. Here's why.

About marrying the home and dating the rate, this advice made sense in the last 20 years, but it might not now. If a homebuyer bought a home in 1975, their first opportunity to refinance didn't come until 1992. That's almost 20 years, which sounds like marriage commitment to me. Don't let this keep you from buying, but also don't bite off more than you can chew in terms of your budget, assuming interest rates are going to get better soon.

About owning being better than renting: it depends upon your timeline. In the short-term, renting provides a lot of flexibility. First, it fixes your housing costs, so there's no unexpected maintenance bills. Second, renters might get more house for their money in a high interest rate environment. Third and lastly, renters don't have to worry about the interim price fluctuations. In the long-term, if you're staying more than 3 years, there's a hundred years worth of data that says you should own.

There's no impending real estate crash. 2008 has nothing to do with 2023. Yes, there are temporary price fluctuations as mentioned above, but there is too much real demand for housing right now, and there will be for the foreseeable future. Pay attention to the job market; people need places to live. If they have jobs, they will buy houses.