The bank uploaded their 1099 for 2024.  We paid $15682 in mortgage interest last year.  That works out to renting out place at $1306.83/month.  Of course our property taxes were $13014 for the year. I paid $1409 for the year.  All in all to rent our house monthly?  $2508.75/month.  Pretty sweet.  We are currently paying $1836/month in principal so our payment is hefty but that's an enforced savings of almost $2k/month to live in our house.  

When we moved in 2015 we were renting our first ever single family home at that time I believe for $2500/month.  That was less than the PITI on our old condo which was $2250/month plus HOA!  Of course that included principal so not a fair comparison.  It broke down to $851 interest/month + $545/month taxes = $1396 interest and property taxes.  Then add in HOA and insurance I believe we were at $250/month HOA and $25/month insurance $1671/month rent.  But with principal we were paying more than renting.

But our prior placed we lived from 2005-2015.  Our current place we moved in 2017 and are still here.  We now pay too little in mortgage interest to itemize.  

But I want to point out to people who say renting in HCOLA have obviously never really broken down the numbers.  I guarantee you that there is no way they ever do the actual math.  Why?  Mostly because when you are renting you need to be saving the difference in payment and investing it.  You also need to be saving more to get the down payment along with not building appreciation.

The rental we had in 2015-2017?  Now rents 10 years later for $4000/month. I checked on zillow and saw a house for rent listed currently.  So I would be renting now for $1500/more than I renting my house for.  To rent my house which is in a better location than where I rented?  I rented in a good neighborhood to save money, but location was lower tier.  We picked A tier to buy because we wanted the shortest commute possible.  To me that's how you compromise.  Rent less and buy best.  To rent my house now?  Rental in our neighborhood for the size of home (smallest) is $5k.  Most are starting at $7k -$10k because the homes are larger.  

I plan on teaching the kids, buy as soon as you are stable.  I hope to help them in fact and perhaps even encourage buying a 2 bed and renting out a room. Housing is a hedge against inflation.  But something people fail to realize is that as you get older and pay off your home the amount of money needed to live there will be our property taxes, insurance, and maintenance.  To be paying $5k/month or $60k/year rent right now for our house means in the 8 years since we've bought the renter should have been saving the difference and invested it to pay for the increased cost they will be paying moving forward.  

And this is for a home on the west coast.  I can't imagine that in cheaper places it makes sense to rent forever.

Glad 2024 is over.  It ended with a bang.  I ended it with a flat tire the day before we left for hawaii.  Driving to pick up pizza and i got a nail in the Tesla.  New tire November 1st, so we replaced it but $462 and 2 tows.  Thank you AAA.  UGH.

Then that afternoon when i went to pull out the suitcases I found a leak downstair and it turns out our water heater is leaking.  So we turned off our water and are dealing with it after we came back.  I'm not sure what the damage will be.  It appears to the piping into the water heater so I don't know if the water heater needs to be replaced or just the piping.  I think DH could do it, but he isn't sure if the water heater needs replacement as well so I guess we'll calling a plumber.

That being said at least it's 2025.  And 2024 financially was a very good year for us.  We increased our net worth by more than we contributed and decreased our mortgage by $25k.