Originally Posted By: supton
You missed the point--for what he payed in property taxes he now rents. Minus a mortgage payment. Thus a net savings.
When I ran the numbers, to see what I needed in retirement, it dawned on me that I should expect my property taxes to exceed my mortgage payment. Inflation ought to see to that. I mean, I don't pay taxes elsewhere, but prop tax is going to be a large drain in retirement.
I pay about $1,300 for mortgage, insurance and tax. I could probably rent for less, and then not be on the hook for repairs. Then again in ten years it might drop to $500 once the pesky mortgage is paid off! Rent tho will just keep climbing.
I have low taxes, just under $4k. I have a coworker who has $12k, but his house is easily 3x mine if not more. He also doesn't hate his house.
I got the point. How downsized, drastically.
What I took issue with was the idea that he was saving by renting versus owning, when he could have purchased a smaller place and covered the entire mortgage payment with what he had been paying in property taxes on the more expensive house.