Is "Adam Ruins Everything" right?

[bump]

@RickJay

It strikes me as obvious that there will be particular cases where renting makes sense and buying does not, and in those case what happens is that people almost always rent, rather than buying. So his point is really kind of nonsensical.

That’s pretty much what I thought too- the answer really is “it depends”. In a sense, it’s the difference between consuming a service vs. owning the equipment to perform that action. When you’re renting, you’re just availing yourself of a service provided by a vendor, while when you buy, you actually gain an asset, as well as greater responsibilities. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

[DavidwithanR]

@bump

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Advantages and disadvantages to paying in each particular way, AND advantages and disadvantages to acting in the ways that those payment methods encourage. Acting as if you own or don’t own something, etc.

[Doubticus]

I’ve enjoyed the show, but I have seen him ditch nuance to make a point. For instance, his points about electric cars and the environment were true enough, i.e. manufacturing new electric cars and charging new cars consumes energy and that energy comes from coal fire plants that are bad for the environment. What he didn’t talk about was that it really depends on where you charge your car. In the northeast, the grid is supported by a lot of hydropower and that makes a difference, if you charge with natural gas (like the majority of the US), you are polluting at half the rate of gasoline. Even in cases where you might charge 100% with coal, you are polluting at same rate as gasoline.

[Isamu]

@Doubticus

I’ve enjoyed the show, but I have seen him ditch nuance to make a point. For instance, his points about electric cars and the environment were true enough, i.e. manufacturing new electric cars and charging new cars consumes energy and that energy comes from coal fire plants that are bad for the environment. What he didn’t talk about was that it really depends on where you charge your car. In the northeast, the grid is supported by a lot of hydropower and that makes a difference, if you charge with natural gas (like the majority of the US), you are polluting at half the rate of gasoline. Even in cases where you might charge 100% with coal, you are polluting at same rate as gasoline.

Plus battery waste (disposal or recycling) is quite toxic. Doing it ‘cleanly’ takes even more energy.

[Broomstick]

@RickJay

Absent a specific mathematical case, the “renting is better than buying” thing isn’t even clear enough to be true or false.

His argument against paying a landlord rent is, for instance, “you’re just paying a bank.” Uh, well, sure. But how much am I paying them? Isn’t that kind of an important point? How does that differ from rent in my market? (Note: Around here, a huge, huge amount.) What about tax implications, equity, etc.?

There are other factors, too -

I recently lost my home of 20 years because of a problem with the building, the utilities, and the county. As a renter, when the lights/heat/water stopped I could simply leave (AND have the pro-rated portion of rent for the remainder of the month with no utilities) since that broke the lease agreement and get a new place. Which I did. And yes, there was a couple hundred in costs (professional movers for the heavy stuff, for example, and a few other bits and pieces) but my problem is solved. My former landlord is stuck with the building, now without tenants, but still with taxes and costs associated with it. At best, if he wanted to dump the property, it would be months before he could do so but would still be saddled with costs for all of that time.

In that particular case the renter came off better. But admittedly it’s a rare exception that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

On the other hand, I don’t have equity in real estate. Which can be a very handy thing to have under some circumstances.

Owning isn’t always better. Even when owning is better, there are still differences between, say, a single-family home or a condo that can be better depending on the person - I have several elderly friends would simply could not keep up with the maintenance on a house but do fine in a condo. That works for them. There are also the people who buy more house than they can afford for various reasons - if they get his with foreclosure that could put them in a worse situation than if they had rented those years, or made some other investment while living in a smaller home.

[dropzone]

Two points:

1. Mostly right or kinda wrong, he’s back at 10/9C.
2. I love Emily with all my heart and soul.

[Wheelz]

I’ve only seen a couple episodes; they were entertaining, though I can’t say for sure how “right” or “wrong” any of the segments were.
But in my opinion, simply advancing the premise that we should dig more deeply into things we always just assumed to be true is a good thing.