I could walk the same route but riding is faster (I have gotten awesome on hills), but I would not read I would take my binoculars as the trail skirts a nature reserve. (It tough to use binoculars on a bike.)

My car was dead for 10 days and I wound up using my bike to get around a lot. It was 100% awesome. Even though my car’s fine, I’m that much more committed to biking around town when possible – I got some blinky lights so I feel a bit safer doing so.

And “walking on sunshine” is possibly my all-time favorite song from the 80s.

We recently looked into selling our home because the area we are in had very low inventory for houses (not condos) and the few houses up for sale were selling for outrageous prcies. But when I compared the rent for places the same size, the rents were way more expensive than our total costs. It seemed very strange to be in that position though, when it seems that the rest of the house prices across North America were so much lower than they were last year. Our house has actually appreciated in value about $50K since last year.

Lots of free audiobooks can be got from librivox.org although they are restricted to books that are out of copyright. Still there’s good books to be had at no cost – including all the classics you could ever want.

Keep up the good work!

Euan

Tyler @ 12. Who says nobody ever discusses it? I’ve seen plenty of people post in detail about “investing the difference”. If you can rent at 85% of total PITI (assuming 20% down, 5% mortgage, 35% marginal tax, etc, etc, etc) — it takes roughly a 3% real return to beat the homeowner for all eternity even after paying rent until you die. 3% real is not hard to do — multiple times in the past few years, TIPS were being sold at 3-3.5% real rate. 3% real is also roughly what Vanguard Total Bond Index did the past 40 years. Again, just bonds — plain vanilla bonds.

Oh, liked the bankruptcy article too. Always interesting to see how some people end up that way… While some put themselves there, it’s awful that most who end up there tried so hard to not be there. It’s enough to keep in the back of my mind that taking on too much debt isn’t a good idea, or to be careful in business ventures.

That’s the way I look at the discussion, anyway. When I buy a home eventually I intend to pay it off as quickly as possible for the exact reason you describe (and to save tens of thousands in interest payments).

Having a paid off home effectively increases your income by the price you’d otherwise be paying towards your mortgage or rent. For most people, this number is something like a 1/4 to 1/3 increase in available income.

It makes an especially big difference when retired — I don’t plan on paying for housing after I retire. You also don’t need to target 80% of your current income as a goal to maintain after retirement if you’re expenses will drop by 1/3 shortly before you retire.

I have no idea why no one ever talks about this in the renting vs. buying debate.

If renting was really such a great deal for the renter and so bad for the owner, why would so many be willing to buy a house and rent to others?

Nobody is saying that renting is always a great deal 100% of the time. The gist of the original post back in 2007 was “don’t just rely on clichés, run the numbers for your unique situation.”

The same is true today. In some places it will make more sense financially to buy, in some it will make more sense to rent. My follow-up post this week was just an exercise to clearly demonstrate that it is most certainly not always a better financial decision to buy.

I am inspired by your story and am thinking about walking the 3 miles or so to the grocery store when I just need a few things as a new habit. Either I’ll get what I need plus some exercise, or I’ll be too lazy to go and I’ll save the money!

Just a thought on Keith’s post about renting vs. buying. When adjusted to the inflated home values of the past few years I think his post is very truthful. However, in today’s market I think purchasing a home makes far more sense for most people who know they will be in the same location at least 3 years down the road. (especially with the tax credit)

Real Estate as an investment, just like stocks, depends on your savy and what you choose. Some areas lose value, some have massive growth. Real Estate as an investment is a gamble like most else. The benefit of Real Estate is that it is less prone to inflation than the dollar and dollar based stocks. …all the benefits of gold, but with monthly dividends. (as long as you can keep your property rented out or lived in by you)

If renting was really such a great deal for the renter and so bad for the owner, why would so many be willing to buy a house and rent to others?

If one sells their house it isn’t a great investment, but what if rather than selling one moves and rents in the new location and then rents out their old home. In my opinion the reason real estate can be viewed as a bad investment now is because of how frequently people move.

A 6% of investment sell out is a costly fee to pay if you sell frequently, but if you truly treat real estate as an investment you need to hold on to it. That means being open to buying a house, and then either living in it, or filling it with renters.

1) I don’t have a dog but many of my neighbors do. I have a few dogs that I borrow. Something about having a buddy along makes it extra fun! (although there is the scooping issue)

2) Our library has audio books available to download and listen to, so I have enjoyed a lot of things this way, for free.

On a sidenote, when I was growing up an elderly man that lived on my block use to walk to the deli a few blocks away to buy the morning paper. He’d walk all the way home and read as he walked. I was always amazed that he managed to safely walk and read at the same time. Not bad for an 80+ year old man!

-Gen Y Investor

My favorites:

I hate it when PF Blogs let someone post about how renting isn’t such a bad deal. Renting sucks. How much do the renters benefit when property values rise? They don’t.

If you own, you have a stake in a market that consistently rises.

and

This is one of the worst pieces of financial advice I have ever seen. Yes, if you want to get poor slowly, by all means rent instead of buy.

And thanks for sharing Keith’s blog. I hadn’t encountered it yet, though I really enjoyed Never Eat Alone when I read it a couple years ago.

Also, your competition already follows up. It’s follow THROUGH that gets you the attention you deserve. Do what you promise and meet the expectations of the other party to build trust and jump ahead of the competition.

Very carefully.

Actually, I don’t read the entire time. But I do read for a substantial portion of it. Today I read a big chunk of Greg Karp’s 1-2-3 Money Plan. How?

Reading while walking is non-difficult. The biggest worry is motor vehicle traffic. I’m very wary of this, and do not read when cars are a danger.

Most of my walking is on a rails-to-trails pedestrian path. The path crosses roads every quarter or half mile, so I pay attention there. Also, I’ve learned to read while walking on the streets. But I only do this along very low traffic streets.

Anyhow, I’ve read most of The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay over the past two weeks of walking. I’ve also read several magazines and two personal finance books. I’ve had zero close calls.

If you try this, please be safe. I cannot stress how important it is to be wary of cars. If you live in the middle of the city, I’m not sure you could pull this off (maybe in a park?). I’m fortunate to have a few routes where I can do this.