I’m sure David (host) is a nice guy. He claims his life is ruined because he had a chance to buy a home at age 21 and didn’t, so he had to start over at age 30. I greatly respect that he faced adversity and was able to successfully “start over.”
That said, his advice on this show over the years - I started listening before I bought my first home in 2021 - hasn’t always been good. He was one of the “marry the home, date the rate” evangelists. This aphorism was parroted by realtors to sell homes priced for 3% mortgage rates, when rates had more than doubled and those artificial prices were no longer justified.
David also would say “rents always go up.” Well guess what? They don’t! Rents have been dropping all over much of the US, as a result of oversupply brought on by cheap money lent to investors.
That gets to another topic that David isn’t truthful about. He loves repeating “low inventory” in various cutesy ways. Inventory is now…higher than it’s been in many years. It’s no longer “low inventory.” Inventory is very high. It is a BUYER’s market, sort of. Prices are still too high and will drop as inventory continues to climb. It’s simple supply and demand, even with the “lock in effect” from homeowners with the pandemic mortgage rates.
Finally, he criticizes folks who favor renting over buying by saying that THEY are the speculators (by assuming renting will always be cheaper, as it is now in most markets). He does this, while repeating ANOTHER realtor trope that “renting is throwing away money. Rather than put your money in an ‘APPRECIATING ASSET,’ you are ‘throwing it away’ on rent.”
Homes don’t always appreciate. We’re seeing that now all over the country. The macro real estate market is correcting, and David isn’t honest about that. He favors folks buying condos in high cost areas like California, without getting into the nightmares associated with special assessments, monthly dues, poorly managed HOA’s, the fact that a condo can become non-warrantable and worthless to any retail buyer.
In the last episode - he STILL brought out the “low inventory” lie. Please David, stop lying.
Your argument about the emotional benefits of owning a home *are* true. The RIGHT home purchase can certainly bring stability and freedoms to one’s life. There are also tax benefits to owning for some people, although they’re negligible for a first time home buyer - his target audience.
As an aside- In NJ, one CAN write off rent payments from their state taxes.
This is a lead generation show for his company, and it’s a brilliant way to do that. He’s clearly a great salesman. Please don’t forget that when you listen to this show.
