Conventional wisdom in the frum community seems to be “buy buy buy”! Figure out how to make it work. Is that really the best advice? What if the delta between the rent and mortgage is so big that you can invest significantly into other investment vehicles? It Obviously varies based on area cost of living, but what are some principles to think about?

I live in a rental and we currently have a great deal for our area in California. We probably pay 30% below market value, minimum. We have shared laundry right outside in an outdoor laundry room. We kind of have a hookup in our garage but it needs some plumbing work to make it work. (It needs the water hooked up etc). We want to have a plumber come and do the work, but, I don’t think my landlord wants us to do it. My landlord is very hands off and the managers are hard to get through to. I emailed them and tried to call them. What’s the worst that can happen if we just do the work? I don’t really want to rock the boat bc we have such a good deal on a great place. Also note, the water valve is shared between all 4 townhouses/apartments. Any advice?

What are your best tips for reducing heating costs? I'm in a 2,700 sq ft 1920's house with steam heat burning natural gas. December's usage was $554. (I'm using budget billing to spread it out) I'm looking for low-hanging fruit. Nothing too costly and a short payback period.

I’m looking into a home that is right outside of the “good” area. Id save around 300k minimum because it’s outside of the fancy school district. It makes a shabbos walk to shul around 10 minutes longer and the neighborhood is currently a bit more shady. There is also an annoyance with a train track in between. But there is likely to be spillover over the next few years as the nicer area expands. Happened to the town over. Anyone have any pointers to think about when evaluating this?

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/17/90-percent-of-homeowners-underestimated-costs.html Does anyone have any tips to avoid this? I.e. what are some common "hidden" expenses that you didn't take into account or underestimated when buying a home?

Not sure if there's a better channel for this -- I am looking to get window blinds for our home. I don't need anything fancy, and I'm happy to install them myself, but right now we have the paper stick-on blinds, which sometimes fall off (and sometimes on Shabbos when we aren't putting them back up), so it's time to get real blinds. I have no idea where to start. Do I need to get custom blinds and measure for each window? What's the economical way to do this?

Anyone have a recommendation for a property manager that services the brick nj area?

Hi, does anyone know if the interest rate for a first time mortgage would be cheaper than the current approximate rate of around 8% ?

help! my landlord wants to raise my rent $50 this year. We live in nowheresville OH and I have a hard time believing the "water tax" increased that much (that was last years excuse for a $30 hike). I would love to negotiate, but I do not have any other rental options so I cannot use the threat that I will move out. Can anyone advise?

Has anyone done a major renovation, and had someone help them plan the layout and how to best use the space? Is there a name for that kind of thing?

Does anyone have a recommendation for cheap home insurance in Lakewood?

(closest channel I could find) Rumor has it that when the Fed meets this week, they'll be lowering interest rates. But if they do, how long does it take for that to impact mortgage rates? I'm specifically looking to refinance, and while I'm not trying to time the rates, I'm willing to wait days or low number of weeks if it helps

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Fed Cuts Rates by Half a Point; Mortgage Rates May Fall Below 6% The Fed’s cut ends home buyers’ 14-month wait for positive movement. Slack Conversation

It's been many years since I took actuarial math so I'll ask for help on this one! I'm looking to minimize my monthly mortgage payments - right now I'm less concerned about overall interest paid over the course of a loan. I'm trying to decide if I should use points to get a lower interest rate on a refinance. As I understand it, one point lowers the mortgage interest rate by .25%. Sketching out the formulas, it looks comparing monthly payment with our without points is a function of the original interest rate and the number of points purchased. My next step is to make a spreadsheet comparing different values (or do it in a more statistical programming language, we'll see how ambitious I get.) I think points also have some tax benefit down the line. Is there anything else I should consider?

Can anyone help me "run the numbers" of buying a $650k home ($250k down with a $400k mortgage) vs renting an apartment $2.2k monthly? Housing payments are coming out of taxable liquid investments, rather than income, so the major considerations are the loss of market investment potential ($200k for the down-payment all at once, vs $2.2k monthly over some time), and building equity in the home with the hope of a longer term upside. There are a lot of nuanced details to being a homeowner vs a tenant, but I'm just currently stuck on the numbers part.

I'm looking into tiny homes...and for starters compiling a list of complaints....which some I have a answer to for example...during a storm... 1)don't live in a unstable region 2) budget for a few nights in a inn during bad weather. Anyways here is the list. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/dykvum/redditors_who_moved_into_a_tiny_house_during_the/

"buy a house, they can't ever raise the rents on you again" - A common trope My mortgage went up this year by 13% from property taxes and insurance

Looking for some answers for some questions about doing a home renovation. Some questions: Is doing a single story addition significantly cheaper than a two story addition? Is it a bad idea to make a floor plan myself? Who do I use to make a floorplan and how much of what I want it to look like do I need to have worked out? If I need a contractor and an architect and who knows what else, who would be the one to give me an estimate for the total cost of the project, and at what point do I get that?