Conference nyoss1::market_investing

Car's don't generate tax deductions....mortgage interest does!....go for the 
house!

michael

    Sherilyn,
              I would concentrate on the house.  With interest rates where
    they are the house is a much better investment than a car.  For my
    money I do not buy new cars anyway - I'd rather wait until they are a
    at least two years old and let someone else eat the depreciation!  With
    only 20-30K on a good car you have plenty of good years ahead and you
    are not killed with the depreciation in value of the car.
    
              Houses represent potential tax writeoffs also - at a      
    minimum you can write off your interest on the mortgage.  You can also
    build up equity and borrow against it as required and possibly put
    that money in  a higher yielding investment.
    
    Just my $.02 worth
    
    
    Cheers,
            Tim

    I say house too.  And if possible, buy an used car instead of a new
    one.  
    
    Wendy

    
    
    > I'm single and hate car trouble.
    
    >But, I also know that the cheapest car I could ever own is the one
    >I currently have.  Repair bills and cheap(er) car insurance are more
    >desireable than car payments and higher insurance.
    
    Repair bills => repairs => breaking down and getting stuck. Clearly,
    a House is a better investment. Only you, however, can gauge the 
    inconvenience brought about by older cars. If you can easily 
    get alternate transportation when you have the car in the shop,
    then the choice is obvious. If the risk of breaking down in the 
    middle of nowhere doesn't increase your stress level, then the 
    choice is obvious. Getting a used car with low mileage  is probably
    a good alternative to springing for a new car. Personally, I had
    always driven a 10 year old car up until last month. I bought new
    because I got tired of breaking down and spending my weekends 
    working on cars. The cost of ownership of my new car (econobox) is
    only slightly more than the cost of taking my old car to the shop 
    once or twice a year.             
    

      Most people, yes, including myself, base the decision to buy a car
      largely, if not mostly, on "prestige".  i.e. the desire to own and
      be seen driving a nice vehicle.  There is nothing wrong with this;
      after all, we have a right to enjoy the fruits of our labor!
      
      HOWEVER  --  you can drastically reduce the cost of a car by doing
      two things:
          
          First  --  as  suggested in previous notes, buy a 1-2 year old
          used car.  The depreciation of the value of the care from  the
          new  car  price is front end loaded.  The car depreciates MUCH
          more in the first 1-2 years than it does thereafter.
          
          Second  --  keep the car as long as it is reasonable to do so.
          "Reasonable" means that  the  car  must  continue  to  provide
          reliable  transportation  --  no use getting stuck every other
          day!  -- and that the repair and maintenance costs must remain
          less  than the purchase costs of another car.  Keeping the car
          for a long time has two effects:  (1)  It  spreads  the  fixed
          purchase  cost  over  a  longer period.  (2) As the care grows
          older the insurance and registration costs decrease.
      
      So,  what  is  my  advice?   --  Keep  your car running as long as
      reasonable and continue to save for the house.
      
      ...but, if you really, REALLY want to spend your money on a shiny,
      brand new, bright red convertible, well, its up  to  you  and  you
      need not feel guilty about it!

    I'd say stay with the old car. You might even buy another old one when
    your current one is in the shop.
    
    There are USENET mailing lists, car-related notesfiles (CARBUFFS and
    a mechanics notesfile) and a USENET NEW conference called REC.AUTOS
    that you might want to follow to anticipate problem areas on your car
    so that you can get them taken care of before a failure results in a
    breakdown.
    
    michael

    Well my car has 147,000 miles on it and I know fill the tank with gas
    and a quart of oil each time and I probably will keep the car till I
    put more oil in per week than gas :-)
    
    	Go for the house and when u get the urg to drive a nice car take 1
    for a test drive and then bring it back. I do 

    typo on last message, KNOW REALLY MEANS NOW

  One more vote for the house. High excise tax, insurance, car payments and
the sales tax are good reasons to run your car into the ground. Of course
routine maintenance goes a long way. I base my car purchase decisions on
what is safe and what will last the longest. As .5 pointed out lots of 
people might like the prestige of owning a new car but who cares what
someone else thinks about what your driving. 

  A house is certainly a nice thing to own and is clearly the better choice
  (in my humble opinion). If at all possible go for the shortest term you can
  on the mortgage 15 versus 30 and the lowest rate. The payment on a 15 will
  be more but what you save on interest over the life of the mortgage could 
  possibly buy another house.

  p.s. if you want to treat your car nice use synthetic oil (Amzoil, Mobil-1...)
       See CARBUFFS conference for more on this.

  Pat

    Thank you for all the replies!  
    
    Since I've been careful with the car, inside and out (just waxed it 
    Saturday - looks good!), I'll keep it.  Thus far the maintenance costs are 
    less than a car payment.
    
    Wow, a house, a whole house (well, condo).  Still ... Me?  A homeowner?  
    I'll have to get used to the idea, ha ha!  I know it's a much better use 
    of my money than a newer car, so thanks for your confirmation.
    
    And thanks for your wise responses, and passing some of your knowledge to
    me. 
    Sherilyn