(edit title) Confused about bostadsrätt How does the avgift work? Options

[brissiedan]

What's the matter with some of you people? It costs to live. Not only the fixed cost of buying land and putting up the building, but the ongoing costs of heating, water, sewage, maintenance, etc.

If you think that's a scam, go live in a cave.

As for bostadsrätt, it seems they exist in a kind of sliding scale between renting and outright ownership: the higher the 'avgift', the lower the purchase cost. But even fully owned 'äganderätt' apartments have ongoing costs which the body-corporate fees and sinking funds cover.

If you have a big mortgage you are in a sense renting from the bank, with the added benefit that YOU gain the increase in capital value of the property over time. If your mortgage is fully paid out, don't fall into the trap of thinking that your only cost now is the avgift. There is still the 'opportunity-cost' of the money you have tied up in the property, so you are now in a sense renting from yourself! If you had that money in cash and could invest it elsewhere at X%, that is effectively how much its costing you (plus the avgift of course) to live there.

So don't begrudge landlords what they are charging in rent. It's never just about the running costs, its about a reasonable return on their investment. Stringent rent control will just lead to fewer landlords (why bother?) and a housing shortage.

[gplusa]

Good luck banging your head against the brick wall there, brissie. Some people will never accept that they have any ongoing costs when they buy a property. But good on you for giving it a go.

[Puffin]

This entire thing has started to sound like one big scam to me. Yet another scheme to enslave people.Everyone already knows that mortgages are just a scam from top to bottom. ... (show full quote)

This entire thing has started to sound like one big scam to me. Yet another scheme to enslave people.

Everyone already knows that mortgages are just a scam from top to bottom. (Well, for those who don't know that, I have found this short video to explain it in a wonderful way.) ... (hide full quote)

Well I guess that you better rent or buy a villa

However if you buy a villa you need to make sure that you save enough to cover
- insurance
- heating
- taxes
- repairs and rennovation
(all of which are included in the BRF avgift)

It's starting to sound like bostadsrätt is yet another scam on top of that - a scam that can only be kept afloat because everyone is completely clueless about it.

TBH - YOU sound pretty clueless

Correct me if I'm wrong about bostadsrätt though. If I can't even rent out as I wish an apartment that I've poured millions of SEK into, are there any other benefits at all? For instance, do I own shares of this BRF and get paid dividends (just like stockholders get dividends)?

????? You together with your neighbours ARE the joint owners of the BRF - I'm totally puzzled by your discussion of dividends - BRFs budget to break even or do you think that you should charge yourself a higher avgift so that you can then pay yourself dividends???!!!!

You seem not to have grasped the idea of collective ownership - you can of course also influence the policies of the ´BRF board by attending the AGM and getting yourself elected to the board and becoming responsible for setting the avgift

OR - you could look around for obe of the new freehold apartments that have been available for the past few years - they are not so popular with Swedes and tend not to hold their value as well but you get more say