With all the talk about real estate and lengthening auto loans in the other thread ... what does everyone think of calculating good 'ol buy vs. rent question, especially after the 2017 tax law and interest rate changes?
A lot of the older advice like the NYT calculator I've seen is based on old taxes and interest rates. I am not an accountant, but it seems very relevant that if the SALT deduction is capped at $10K and the standard deduction is larger, renting suddenly became a lot more beneficial. Here is one newer calculator
https://medium.com/@usaar33/an-up-to...r-22d0bf9bbbb5
(Yes, the costs in the example spreadsheet are insane, the writer uses SF. Rest of CA including by those nice beaches above are not at that level yet)
The writer users 4.63% 30 year, 4.5% home returns, 10% stock returns, for a 22:1 price:rent break even point. Using 3.75% 30 year, half as expensive house, 5% home appreciation, no HOA, and 8% stock makes it break even at 38. The equation quite sensitive to tiny changes in return numbers.