{"id":39,"date":"2026-10-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.room-vu.com\/mrkenmortgage-com\/2026\/10\/21\/homeownership-costs-go-beyond-the-price-tag\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T12:00:00","slug":"homeownership-costs-go-beyond-the-price-tag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/21\/homeownership-costs-go-beyond-the-price-tag\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeownership Costs Go Beyond the Price Tag"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"video-zmyer\">\n<div class=\"video-frame-zmyer\">\n        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.roomvu.com\/agent\/embed\/ken-rea\/price-house-home-remotion-videos-363a\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><br \/>\n        <\/iframe>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"video-description-zmyer\">\n<p>When folks think about buying a home, the first question is usually, \u201cWhat\u2019s the price?\u201d But after 30 years in mortgages, I can tell you it\u2019s the annual cost of owning that shapes your real budget. Recent research breaks this down: economists estimate the average annual user cost hovers around 5% of a home\u2019s value nationwide. But, just like every borrower\u2019s story is different, local numbers swing widely\u2014from nearly 7% in some markets to about 2% in others. Picture this: two homes, each listed at $500K. One could cost you $35K a year to own, while the other just $10K\u2014a huge difference, especially if you\u2019re comparing renting versus buying. Rules changed after the 2018 tax law, too: with more people taking the standard deduction, the old tax benefits tied to homeownership aren\u2019t what they once were. The takeaway? When you\u2019re weighing your options, look past sticker price. Compare what it\u2019ll actually cost to own each year against local rent. That\u2019s the kind of practical approach I bring to every mortgage conversation\u2014especially for those with unique income stories.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When folks think about buying a home, the first question is usually, \u201cWhat\u2019s the price?\u201d But after 30 years in mortgages, I can tell you it\u2019s the annual cost of owning that shapes your real budget. Recent research breaks this down: economists estimate the average annual user cost hovers around 5% of a home\u2019s value [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":40,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}