Looked at Real Estate prices

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[Moretorque]

All real estate is being inflated on purpose by the credit monopoly, here in America real estate prices are rising 7 times faster than wages. Hail the King!

[Contrarian Expatriate]

People are still so brainwashed about owning real estate. Grant Cardone and James Altucher say, and I agree, that we should just rent housing unless we own as a cash flow investment. Ideally, rent a dream home and collect rent from whatever you actually own.

Buying a home to live in it is financially unwise these days.

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[Contrarian Expatriate]

People are still so brainwashed about owning real estate. Grant Cardone and James Altucher say, and I agree, that we should just rent housing unless we own as a cash flow investment. Ideally, rent a dream home and collect rent from whatever you actually own.

Buying a home to live in it is financially unwise these days.

Does that include homes anywhere in the world, as well as flats and condos in Eastern Europe?

I looked as some of the prices and the amount some people in EU countries like Romania and other areas want for rent is completely unacceptable. Most people in Romania wouldn't pay those monthly prices.

If someone had a place to rent for 300 Euro in any city, large or small, or a large town then I would be willing to rent.

You can find those easily in Eastern Europe just check AirB&B, Agoda, or Booking.com. I'd sooner invest the 25,000 in a crowdfunding platform for 8%-12% with monthly income of 166 - 250 per month! Then you'd still have the flexibility to move easily and you'd still have your liquid cash.

[Wolfeye]

Well, you can get apartments that are the same idea as condos & you can rent ones that aren't like that. Portugal & seemingly Spain are both cheaper places to love than a lot of places (it seems southern Italy is about the same). Not sure about Greece or a lot of other areas in Eastern Europe (ex: Serbia, Croatia, Montanegro, Macedonia, etc...).

Your idea seems like a good concept & I think I'll potentially do something similar at some point. I was looking at Coimbra University for languages & that seems like it would be a good toe-hold for work (getting jobs on or off-books, I mean- working manual labor, in hotels/hostels/tourism, tutoring/teaching languages, translating, maybe more stuff because supposedly a company will be more likely to hire & train you if you speak English fluently). From what I gather, a lot of places aren't so big on certification as they are about performance.

[NorthAmericanguy]

People are still so brainwashed about owning real estate. Grant Cardone and James Altucher say, and I agree, that we should just rent housing unless we own as a cash flow investment. Ideally, rent a dream home and collect rent from whatever you actually own.

Buying a home to live in it is financially unwise these days.

I agree with this. I work on homes for a living and after meeting owner after owner owning a home is very expensive and it's not all cracked up to what it's made out to be. Real estate only works in your favor if you're an investor, but if you're just a homeowner who plans on buying one house it will not make you rich or wealthy.

To me it's an elaborate scam because as you race to pay off your mortgage the cost to own the home eats away at your equity. Depending on where you live your property taxes alone will cost as much as rent. I know in long island NY, homeowners pay 17k a year in property taxes.

If you really want a house buy the worse house (within reason) in the best neighborhood and fix it up yourself. And buy where the property taxes are low and where there is no homeowners association.

[LFL]

To me it's an elaborate scam because as you race to pay off your mortgage the cost to own the home eats away at your equity. Depending on where you live your property taxes alone will cost as much as rent. I know in long island NY, homeowners pay 17k a year in property taxes.

The only way rent can be lower than property taxes is if the owner is so desperate to get the place rented that he rents it at a loss. Under normal circumstances, rent will be higher. It doesn't really make sense to make a blanket statement that property taxes will be as much as rent if property taxes are high enough, since the rent in those areas will be priced to include that high cost. But again, to a desperate owner, some income is better than no income and property taxes have to be paid regardless. If rent is lower, it's a very bad investment.

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[MatureDJ]

I remember a few years back reading about an apartment in Tiraspol, Transnistria (Moldova) selling for 8K EUR.

[Cornfed]

I'm actually thinking of buying a cheap house. I understand the concerns. But here it is assumed that you should own your own house if you don't want to be seen as a vagrant for various purposes and the other investments you might consider are themselves hideously overvalued. Also, if you are going to be dirt poor it certainly helps to have some dirt to be poor on.

[jamesbond]

The entire system in America is a scam designed to keep people as debt slaves never able to escape their social caste. When people are insecure about food, shelter, or their general well being, they won't be able to focus on much else.

Excellent points, the system in America is designed to keep people perpetually in debt. This makes people work more and more and have less and less free time.

A lot of people in the US will never be able to retire, they simply can't afford to. There are quite a few people in the US who are in their 70's and 80's who still have to work, because they can't afford to retire.

[ezinho]

I can't really disagree with everything that is being said here. The only issue is that housing is a necessity, unlike owning stocks or bonds or other types of investments. Everyone has to live somewhere, so the question then becomes, are you going to rent or are you going to buy? On paper, if you rent something cheaper than owning and then invest the difference, you will come out ahead. The problem is not everyone is a savvy investor. For some people, real estate acts as a forced savings account.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend buying a house, they are usually a huge money pit, but if you can find a small condo with a low HOA or maybe even some land where you can built a small house, it might make sense. I bought a 1 bedroom condo in California a few years back and I like it; it comes out cheaper than renting, and I can deduct the mortgage interest and property tax.

[GuyAbroad8293]

f**k western Europe. They are all cucks who are flooding their countries with subhuman trash from 3rd world shitholes in the Middle East and North Africa. I mean if you want immigrants, then bring in civilized Asian immigrants. Why are you fools bringing in illiterate rapist trash from Muslim countries?

Bulgaria is a much better place. Safe, no Muslim immigrants, etc, and cheaper, and the women are hot and not so much influenced by feminism. Eastern Europeans aren't f***ing pussies like Western europeans and so Eastern europeans have rejected multiculturalism and cultural Marxism.

The West is dying. It's time for everyone to acknowledge this and move on. Get out of the West and move to East Europe or East Asia/China. There is no future in the West and the people stupid enough to stay in the West are going to suffer more and more as the West collapses more and more.

Life outside of the Western world is much happier.

[NorthAmericanguy]

To me it's an elaborate scam because as you race to pay off your mortgage the cost to own the home eats away at your equity. Depending on where you live your property taxes alone will cost as much as rent. I know in long island NY, homeowners pay 17k a year in property taxes.

The only way rent can be lower than property taxes is if the owner is so desperate to get the place rented that he rents it at a loss. Under normal circumstances, rent will be higher. It doesn't really make sense to make a blanket statement that property taxes will be as much as rent if property taxes are high enough, since the rent in those areas will be priced to include that high cost. But again, to a desperate owner, some income is better than no income and property taxes have to be paid regardless. If rent is lower, it's a very bad investment.

I'm not an expert in real estate, but just look up the prices and see for yourself. Take my example of Long Island New York. It's public info, you can look up and see how much people pay for property taxes then look up on Craigslist for the same area and see what the rate is for rent.

Generally speaking, in expensive areas it's better to rent, and in areas where the cost of living is low it's better to buy.