I see so many drawbacks to home ownership in high property tax areas unless you have a whole lot of cash liquidity.
1) Owning means anything breaks, you must fix it. No office to call to take care of it
2) Property tax plus mortgage + homeowners + utilities + Oven and fridge = more than rent
3) if value of property depreciates, you can't move out if need to relocate without being screwed because home value is worth less than mortgage owed for years
4) if value of property does go up, you pay higher property tax, higher homeowners insurance, and do not have any life improvement due to this property value gain, not even if you sell, because a similar place of residence to replace the one you sold would now too be more expensive than before
5) in some cities and towns, the property tax is like a rent in itself that NEVER goes away
So why own?
1) Owning means anything breaks, you must fix it. No office to call to take care of it
2) Property tax plus mortgage + homeowners + utilities + Oven and fridge = more than rent
3) if value of property depreciates, you can't move out if need to relocate without being screwed because home value is worth less than mortgage owed for years
4) if value of property does go up, you pay higher property tax, higher homeowners insurance, and do not have any life improvement due to this property value gain, not even if you sell, because a similar place of residence to replace the one you sold would now too be more expensive than before
5) in some cities and towns, the property tax is like a rent in itself that NEVER goes away
So why own?
Do you really save money owning a home vs renting?