I knew I was ready when I got sick of paying 9000$ a year, just to live in an area where my house wouldnt get broken into by poor people.
For everyone who is renting, if you are paying 750 a month, you could easily pay less for the mortgage on a $100,000 home. Food for thought.
I knew I was ready because I had a degree hanging on my wall.
When I finished my bachelors I had to find a place to live ASAP because I could no longer live on campus, so I got an apartment. Rented for about 10 months making sure my job was stable and whatnot and then bought my house. I was 23 at the time.
Any way you slice it, living somewhere is an expense, not a profitable investment. But there are ways you can really maximize how much quality of life you get for your dollar. Usually owning > renting as far as happies per dollar. 
thank you. i shouldent really talk bc i still rent. but i only pay $200 bc its family. trying to save money to buy in a year or two.
For the people that say that buying is better than renting, you are wrong, it is always not the case…unless you do 20% down, and thats not always the case still. That’s like saying you are buying a house and an investment, you should not buy for that reason as well.
And the guy that said something about his G/F credit score, do not buy with your GF, only buy with someone else if your married
Um what?
statements like this make me think I really screwed up somewhere. gonna be 24 in 6 mos and have basically nothing to show for it. well besides an autobody degree, a business admin degree, and going for my engineering degree next fall. fml^2
sorry meant buying vs renting, not buying vs buying…lol
This is exactly where I see myself right now. I’ve only been renting for 3 months but by the end of my term next August I definitely want to move into a house. So are you happy with the way things turned out on your end?
So for the first time home buyers out there (like myself), if they can’t do 20% for a downpayment is it better from a financial standpoint to hold off on buying a house?
No, the thing is, it that it varies for everyone when they are ready. If you feel you are ready to buy, and can put down a down payment, and its will cost factor of rent vs buy is in favor to buy then you should buy. 20% down beats paying into an escrow and pmi, which escrows can get screwed up are headaches, and PMI is pissing away money, and you need to pay a pmi til you pay down 20% of the mortgage/appraisal, which ever is less.
For me, I won’t buy until I can drop 20% down on the value of a house, but also have 6 months worth of my salary set aside in case shit hits the fan sort of thing, and have little to no CC debt (this part I have)That is just me though not you. thats when I feel I am ready, but I plan for that.
Why not just do an 80/20 loan to get around the PMI?
that was my planning if I jumped on it now.
How much of your house money do you get back after 10 years? 0 of the 4000+ per year of taxes, over 10 years, that’s $40,000 that you spent that you will never get back. Then, you get the house money back, but you also paid interest the whole time, so for 10 years of payments, say… 800 a month, that is for the first few years, like 10 dollars principal, 780 interest.
Owning a house is good if you can make it work for you, but like other people in here said, it is not for everyone, and if you are doing it for the sole reason that “renting is bad because you lose money”, then you’re doing it wrong 
I rented an apartment for 1.5 years, more so a small house really but still rented it. moved back home for 6 months due to them selling the place, didnt feel like dealing with landlord again and didnt like living at home anymore once i was already on my own so the obvious choice was buy a house.
I bought a turn key house for the most part. I have done alot of work to it since purchasing it last year (deck, landscaping, painting rooms, carpet, fixtures, etc etc…) but nothing major was needed. roof, electrical, windows, woodwork, walls etc. all good. After 3 days straight of cleaning it and peeling wallpaper & painting rooms I was moving on in and couldnt be happier since making the decision. Took a little over 10 grand closing costs to get my foot in the door.
The interest is tax deductible, and you COULD get your taxes back if the property appreciates, which it will if it was purchased at the stable market price, and not during a bubble.
If you rent, you piss that money away, with no chance of ever seeing it again. Everyone has to start somewhere, but the idea that renting for your entire lifetime is silly, and your just giving away money. When you have the ability, buying a place is IMHO much better than renting.
I had a bad week where I lost out on the garage I was supposed to rent to work on/store my cars, the landlord was bitching about everything, and I just said “Fuck it- if I can get approved I’m buying”. It was an idea I had kicked around a few times but didn’t feel I was ready until then. I had saved a lot, had a steady home business that is pretty solid, and somehow had great credit.
I bought somewhat of a fixer-upper, but with almost 4.5 acres and a nice barn. The important stuff was all in good shape, but the house needs updating, the property could use some TLC. I almost bought a “finished” house with beautiful hardwood, baller kitchen, and a sweet garage. I’m glad I didn’t though- My property is 100X better and I can remodel the house exactly the way i want. I just finished my bedroom today and I keep going up there to look at it- something cool about starting with a room that looks like crap and making it look great. Now I just have to do the living room, kitchen, bathroom, Florida room, office…:bloated:
that’s how I knew
for me, it all came down to how far the money went. I would not go from renting a nice place, to owning a really shitty place. Not worth it. Go calculate how much you think you can spend (loan calculators), and then look on realtor.com and see if you find anything that you think you like, in that price range. If you like what you see, go find a realtor to help you buy.
I was living at home with my parents and I said to myself I wanted to move out…a week later I had an apartment. I rented for 3 years. One day I said to myself I want a house. One month later I owned one.
I think it takes a certain mindset on you personally. It is a commitment that you have to be ready for mentally and financially. If you are struggling to make ends meet and you don’t have the resources to buy a house then don’t. If you have the means and you want to root yourself somewhere then you should maybe look into it.
This is when you know you are not ready to buy a house…
So you pay rent…which means you pay someone else. Every month. And that basically gets you nothing in return. Plus, you don’t have the “freedom” you get with not renting.
You probably do not have enough room (Living Space, Work Space, Storage, etc…)…which means you probably are not comfortable. If you rent you are probably surrounded by people when you wish you had all the space to yourself…which means you cannot relax.
You buy a house because you want to stop putting up with the crap you deal with when you rent. Plus, one of the best feelings in the world is sitting in your backyard with your drink of choice in hand and saying to yourself…“This is ALL mine…”
Owning a house is not for everyone…especially Mark or at least not yet, no offense
Its pretty hard to get an 80/20 loan right now, if you can find someone even willing to do it in this current economic market.
Boardjunky, there is no way you can close on a house in NY if you put in an offer right now to get that 8k, NY is hard to close in a month.
N2oJunkie, not talking about renting over a life time, but there are times when renting is better than buying.
he asked how I knew I was ready…that was my answer
plus there are talks about extending it
Think of how long you plan on being in the area.
If you rent for 8 years and spend 60,000 you get little to none of that back when you move.
If you buy a house for the same money and pay it off at the same pace, you can dump it, and make back atleast half of your investment, so its cheaper than renting.
Figure if you pay 550 a month to rent, or you pay 550 a month for mortgage + taxes for say 8 years. $52800 would be paid in rent or off the balance of a loan.
Now if you bought a 70,000$ home, you would still owe around 25,000 on the loan/closing early penaltys ect give or take. Resell the home for 60,000 just to dump it.
After costs ect, you made back an easy 27000$ which means you paid 268.75 to stay there per month for 8 years, instead of $550.
My first home was a brick corner lot in niagara falls in an area that wasnt bad YETT.
2 car detached garage, brick, ranch little over 1000 sq ft with a finished basement.
Rent was 350 a month, I ended up buying it for 25000, mortgage was 220$ a month.
I sold it the first year for 38,000$, walked away with around 7000$ in my pocket after I paid closing cost and the loan fee’s. As soon as crime picked up, I was out.
You’re missing my point, I am actually buying a house within the next few months. I am simply stating if you are doing it because you think you’ll be saving money, you’re wrong. If you’re doing it because you want more freedom, customization, and reliability, then you’re doing it correct :tup: