ASU2003

I'm making this post for me primarily, just to get the facts and my ideas written down. But feel free to comment if you like.

I've been living alone in an apartment for the past 4 years now (3 years in the current one), an it doesn't look like I will be moving or changing my job for another 5-7 years.

I have been saving money in the last three years and have $27,000 in the stock market, $5,000 in a CD and $8000 in my savings account. I make around $51,000/year. The first house I'm looking at costs $110,500. I could probably afford more house, but this is a good house in a decent location. It needs a little work and paint inside, but nothing major. It is 1592 sq ft with a two car garage. It isn’t in a cookie-cutter home neighborhood.

I currently pay $7320/year for rent, so I would probably pay that much to the bank in interest next year (but tax deductible). And over 5 years, it would be over $36k (I would be able to save money each month still, I just wouldn't see any home value appreciation/deprecation). And living in a home would be a little different from my current apartment.

The downsides
-I would have to mow the grass. Well, I would get a robotic lawnmower to mow the grass.
-Heating and utility bills would be higher.
-I might have to pay for internet access.
-Property taxes (maybe $2600/year)
-I go on long business trips and would have to leave the house sitting there for weeks at a time.
-I would be stuck here in Ohio for a few years.
-There is a 5% chance I lose my job after Sept, but I doubt it.
-Closing costs, fees and hassle of moving.
-Home insurance
-On a road where the speed limit is 55mph
-Selling houses isn't fun, even though it wouldn't be for a few years hopefully
-I would be 'house poor' for a few months and not have a very big bank account
-10 minutes longer trip from work each way, same number of stop lights.
-I would have to pay for a house inspection.

The positives
-I would own a house
-It has a garage and a new roof
-It is close to the state park and bike trail. I would be able to ride more often than the two times a week I ride currently.
-It is in a smaller town (4,000 people), who actually are friendly. Right now I feel like I am just another person in a city. I might live within 1 miles of 1,000 apartments, but everyone just goes to work, comes home, go out someplace, and sleep. I haven't met any of my neighbors.
-If it is fixed up (it was built in 1995, so it isn't that bad), it should be worth$20,000 more. At least that is how much more it sold for in 1997/2000. It just needs some landscaping, half a driveway (50ft x 10 ft), a deck, a few windows, tile or hardwood floors in two rooms, 4 or 5 rooms painted, some interior decorating that I'm not that great at, a hot tub and a few solar panels if I feel crazy.

And the last thing on my mind is, "how will this effect picking up chicks?." Yes, every decision I have made in the past 10 years has to have an answer for that question. (Even though I haven't gotten anywhere close to getting a girlfriend or having a girl come over to my place.) It brings up to question, is it easier to find someone in a small town where you run into the same people more often, or in a big city where you have more people to pick from? I'm starting to think, the more people you see on a daily basis, the less likely you are to interact with them.

Does anybody else have any advice or some more positives/negatives to home ownership?

braisler

Buy it. Get into the market now! Don't waste another cent on rent. I bought my first house when I was 19. It was the best decision I ever made. I thought at the time that I would be in that location for at least another 3 years, so it made sense for me. I ended up being there for 11 years. In that time, the value of my house went up 150%.

I would take issue with a few of your 'cons' on the side of not buying. Selling a house is EASY and can be fun. Realtors like to make it harder than it needs to be or at least make it seem like this impossibly complex process that only they can help you get through. It isn't. I have sold two of my houses for sale by owner now. Saved THOUSANDS of dollars, no hassles at all. The fun comes in mostly when you realize that you are going to make $50000 on the deal. That is completely possible if appreciation is decent in your area and you are willing to put in the sweat equity to make some repairs and improvements to the place.

Being a homeowner will teach you lots of things. About how to repair things, how to budget, about yourself as a person. It is certainly not for everyone. Your level of involvement in repair and maintenance will be directly reflected in how much money you will have to pour into the place. If you can do some or all of the labor yourself, you can get most projects done for pretty reasonable amounts of money. And you will have an enormous amount of pride in accomplishing the work yourself.

Homeowner's insurance is an expense, but shouldn't be much more than you are paying now for renter's insurance. Or are you one of the large percentage of renter's who don't have renter's insurance?

Chicks dig financially stable guys! Well, maybe that depends on the kind of chick you are trying to date. Still, there is a point of pride in being able to tell the chick you are chatting up that you could have her over to your house sometime. Yeah, your house, you don't rent it.

__________________
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You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
- Albert Einstein
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thingstodo

Yep...don't keep giving money away. The benefits are:

- the longer you pay the more you start putting towards your equity
- interest, cloing costs and taxes are tax deductable, also putting you in a posiion to use other itemized deductions
- if you buy the righthous it will appreciate so you'll earn money on equity an appreciation
- your credit score will increase, leading to interest rate savings in other places and lower cost auto insurance

Just makesure this is a house someone else will want to buy in a few years. Look at the area...are the schools good, will other families be interested in the future, etc.? One concern is that you mentioned in is on a road with a 55 mph speed. That might have a nagative impact on resale value.

Buying a house is smart. Buying one that appreciates and you can sell in the future - after 5 years - is even smarter!

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

kurty[B]

Buy! I'm jumping into the market with less than half of what you have buying for nearly twice as much, and am just going to work it. I'll have to pick up a second job, and plan to start making furniture out of skis and selling it and I'll still be extremely house-poor. In my case, the value of my property has already gone up and the foundation has not even been poored yet.

If the value in your area is stagnant, at least you will be putting equity into a home, and not paying someone else's mortgage. Keep $10-20K aside for remodel/repairs before you do decide to sell it, and hopefully you can reap some positive income from that money spent. The only reason I would say no is if you're in an area where the real estate market looks like it's going to take a huge hit and house prices will drop like bricks, or if mowing really is a problem for you.

As far as picking up chicks in a small town. Where I live, it's tough... The good ones are married, the others that are old enough seem to leave for a real college town, and either don't come back, or come back married, the rest are still in high school.

snowy

Your statement about being "house poor" for a few months gives me the opportunity to pass on a bit of advice from my father: if you can borrow a few more thousand to make the transition easier on your part, do so. You will generally make back the extra money you borrowed with appreciation easily, and/or sweat equity improvements. Then you have extra cash on hand in case of emergency. There are a lot of things that come up while moving into a new place that people don't really think about, and it's always good to have some wiggle room.

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Daemon1313

Buying a house is generally a good thing as long as you are prepared for the hassles that come with it. Things like mowing the lawn(you mentioned), repairs, cost of maintenance items(e.g. lawn mower), etc.

If you are doing it from a financial aspect make sure you know roughly how long you will need to own the home to recoup the various expenses related to the house and be willing to live in it for atleast that long. You hit most of them; closing, taxes, interest, etc. This time frame will vary depending on the market you are in. In parts of california its a matter of months. In my area (Atlanta suburbs) it can be up to 5 years. It is possible to loose money from owning a home if you are not smart about it.

As far as picking up chicks goes its a big plus. Makes you look more stable and there is less paranoia about the shared walls. Small vs big town is really a toss up. Varies way to much from town to town.

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Mister Coaster

110,000 is not much for a 1500 sq ft place, even in Ohio. I'm sure there are other places in that price range, ones that may not be on a 55mph street. I have a cookie cutter house and love it, don't automatically pass by those. Look around, I'm sure there is a more perfect fit if thats a sticking point.

Home ownership will help your credit rating, and its obvious you can afford the payments. 2600 a year in taxes sounds high, national average is 1% of purchase price per year, or 1100 in your case.

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If you have any poo... fling it NOW!

Lord Snooty

If I were you I would wait another year.... Repossessions are underway in most major cities and if you wait you will pick up a house way above what you were able to afford a year ago. Things are looking distincly like the early 90's (for those that can remember that far back!)

Just make sure you can make the repayments... and stay away from home equity loans. (The reason for most of the the repossessions) It is a shame that someone has to lose their home at all, but the bank really doesn't care and if you don't buy it, the government will, and use it for affordable housing. They are already in negotiations in California for several huge brand new unsold housing developments for just that purpose..

Baraka_Guru

Some things to consider:

• Compared to your income, your rent seems pretty low. This should make it relatively easy for you to save money. Not a bad position to be in when gearing up to buy a house. Don't consider paying for rent as "giving away money." It's not, it's paying for shelter expenses (i.e. you're not paying into equity, but you aren't paying any interest either).
• On a house of that value, your down payment should be at least $20,000 to avoid paying an unnecessary amount of compounded interest in a mortgage. The higher the down payment, the better. Mortgage interest can be a killer. You want to do everything you can to avoid having paid too much interest once the mortgage is paid off. Do the math. Calculate your total expected interest expenses vs. your anticipated increases in property value. If the numbers are out of whack, ask yourself if the timing and finances are right for buying. You'd be surprised to hear how much people end up paying for the homes when their mortgages are paid off. Imagine paying as much as half the value of your home in interest to the bank.
• From what I've heard about the U.S. housing market, there should be many deals available over the next while. Don't jump into a buyers market if you have time to strategize. Be sure to get a deal and be sure you're financially equipped to do it right.
• Do your research!

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Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
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lurkette

Another thought - research the housing market trends in your area and see if you're at the bottom of a slump or on the way down. Also think about how long you're going to own this house. It generally takes between 3-7 years to build up enough equity to recoup the costs of buying a house. If your housing market is on the way down and the value of the house is likely to drop before it goes back up, it could take longer. Also look at whether you can get a credit union loan - they are generally much lower interest rates than banks. I'd avoid adjustable rate mortgages like the plague, but that's just me. Mortgage rates are pretty low right now, and only likely to go up. Also look into first-time home buyer options, and see if you may be able to get a "no closing costs" loan. Because it's a buyer's market, lenders are likely to bend over backwards for people with good credit, which it sounds like you probably have.

We're in our second house, and I love having a house. I love being able to paint it what color I want, plant in my yard, not share a wall with some guy with a huge stereo and obnoxious taste in music. It's generally a good investment - sort of like living in your savings account. Get a good mortgage broker who can walk you through things, and you'll be fine!

__________________
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- Anatole France

thingstodo

Every day you wait is giving away money for rent rather than gaining the tax deduction, paying into equity and gaining appreciation on your home - of course you need to but in an area when the prices aren't dropping. And even if they did drop, it would be part of a cycle.

Most defaults are actually from sub-prime mortgages, not equity lines. ARMs start at a low rate and then increase after one, five or ten years. Many people can't handle a 2% rate increase in one year but don't think about that in the beginning. Then, if the housing cycle is down they can't afford to sell their home.

You can get a morgage for as little as 2.5% down if it's an FHA loan. You will have to pay mortgage insurance at that level of down payment. To avoid the insurance you'll need to put down 10% which is only $11,000 on a $110,000 home.

Home loans cover 30 years so there really isn't a way to project as was mentioned above. If your credit is good you will receive a competative rate.

The real thing you can calculate now will be the tax advantages. For example, if you have a $1,000.month payment you're probably paying ~$800 in interest in the beginning, $50 in equity and $150 in escrow for taxes and home owners insurance coverage. That $800/month in interest is easily worth $2,000 or more in tax deductions, not to mention the same for the taxes you pay. If you're paying the same amount in rent you miss the deduction, the equity and the ability to itemize your taxes and potentially claim other itemized deductions like charitable giving, work expenses, etc.

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

Lord Snooty

thingstodo wrote:
Every day you wait is giving away money for rent rather than gaining the tax deduction, paying into equity and gaining appreciation on your home - of course you need to but in an area when the prices aren't dropping. And even if they did drop, it would be part of a cycle.
Most defaults are actually from sub-prime mortgages, not equity lines. ARMs start at a low rate and then increase after one, five or ten years. Many people can't handle a 2% rate increase in one year but don't think about that in the beginning. Then, if the housing cycle is down they can't afford to sell their home.


The first line of that reply is the one most often used by desperate realtors trying to make a sale... just watch the tv real estate adverts that are now flooding our screens on since sales took a dive.

Most defaults at the moment, are indeed from sub prime loans. The home owners with tapped out equity lines of credit are next. This has all happened before. I have seen it in both the UK and here. Jumping in now to save on rent is madness when the predicted fall in house prices is estimated to be at least 30% in the next year or so (easily googled) How on earth do you determine which area is not going to suffer a decline in house prices? A slump usually hits most places, unless you are talking about prime real estate locations, in which case they will probably be too expensive to start with. As for "if they do drop, it's part of a cycle"... you bet it is.. so why should you buy an overpriced house, watch it's value plummet, and have to wait for your house value to come back up again, all the while wasting interest repayments on a house with perhaps even negative equity, when if you bought the same house at a much lower price when houses were at rock bottom, you are paying less each month in repayments, (assuming interest rates don't move) or you would able to buy a much bigger house for the money you pay now to jump into the market. The same sales panic tactic is trotted out over and over, don't wait, or you will be left behind and you'll never get on the 'property ladder' (which is fine if prices are rising but not at the beginning of a slump)
Believe me I have seen people handing back the keys to their properties because they couldn't afford the mortgage. The banks sold them for what they were owed, not what they were worth and 3 or 4 years later they were over twice what was paid for them. I know, (I bought one in London in the 80's and another one here in the 90's and both during slumps.) Property prices are cyclical, they don't keep going up, they do come down for a while every now and then to give people's salaries a chance to catch up. The trick is to jump in then, and that time is very near, about a year I would say. So don't be rushed, save as much money as you can and you'll be surprised at what you can get when everyone wants to sell...!

lurkette

Too true - most people get into a house thinking it's going to be hands-down investment gold. So not true! For many people it is a good investment, but that's not everyone.

Look at it this way:

How much money are you paying on rent right now? How much are you likely to spend over the next, say, 5-7 years? How much money would you be able to save in that 5-7 years? If you invest it in a reasonable-yield CD or money market, how much do you have?

Now take a mortgage. Figure out (there are amortization tools) how much you would pay in a down-payment, mortgage, increased utilities, and taxes in 5-7 years. Look at how much money you would be able to save/invest in that period paying the higher cost of the morgtage. Assume (big assumption) that your house increases in value 2-3% each year, and you sell it for your asking price. How much money do you have now, including the profit from sale and the equity you built up in the house with principal (non-interest) payments? Is it equal to the amount you would have saved in that 5-7 years paying, presumably, lower rent and saving more money each month?

In many cases it is, but it's a crapshoot because you're betting on that 2-3% increase. If you're going to stay in a home for the long haul, it's absolutely a good bet. But if you're getting out within 3-5 years, you are hoping and praying that the value of your home goes up more than the rate of inflation, and enough to get you out of the sale with more money than you would have saved/invested in the renting scenario.

And don't think the tax deduction for interest is going to save you - unless you're paying a shitload of interest, it's probably only going to help you exceed the standard deduction for the first few years.

Buying a house can be a great value, but you need to do your math for your particular situation. It's hard to factor in intangible factors that, for me, were important: having a fenced yard for our dog, being able to paint the walls and "nest," not sharing walls, etc. But if you're just looking for a place to live and don't care about the house vs. apartment lifestyle, let the numbers guide your decision. There's a bit of prognostication involved, but you seem like a savvy guy who can figure it out.

__________________
"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

- Anatole France

newtx

Step up on the responsibilities and buy the house. Renting is just plain wasting money and money is too hard to obtain to waste it. A house is usually the only asset a person has that actually appreciates. Please don't waste any more rent. Your second biggest investment is an automobile.............depreciating asset..........make your largest investment appreciate. Buy the house if you can.

Lord Snooty

newtx wrote: Step up on the responsibilities and buy the house.

Responsibilities...?

It's the most irresponsible thing I can imagine, to saddle yourself with a huge debt by buying a house just before the prices fall. Ask anyone who has owned a property and watched their investment sink into 'negative equity' There are protest marches about Bank reposessions the internet is full of property slump news and forecasts, You would want to be nuts to buy now when you can buy next year and get a way better deal, or is the recession in the property market imaginary and all those figures and facts that are easily available to anyone online, just made up stuff..?

That is probably the second most used phrase by desperate realtors, "you're a grown up now, c'mon, be a man, buy a house.... !"

erm.... youre not a realtor by any chance are you..?

Mister Coaster

Every situation is different. The tax savings ARE real and immediate. That doesn't mean that its the best or only reason to do it. Over the long haul, there is virtually no way to lose money on a house. Even if prices/values do go down after the purchase, as long as ASU2003 can afford the payments and ride out the slump, its just a paper loss. Only selling after a decrease in value would do any harm.

Don't let the lender tell you how much you can afford per month, determine that for yourself. Or work it out with an objective 3rd party finantial guru. Watch out for the afore mentioned sub-prime loans, and the host of other bullshit fees that lots of these fly-by-night companies tack on to the front of the loan. When we went to refinance, we owed 132,000, when the new loan peperwork came back it was for a little more than 140,000. I sniffed out the additional 8,000 and determined it was all horseshit that was written into the loan that would have went straight into the loan writer's pocket. I told him what he could do with that loan.

__________________
If you have any poo... fling it NOW!

ASU2003

This should be an interesting summer, because I won't be renting anymore. Yet, I won't be buying a house yet either. I am going on a three month business trip, so I'll be making more money and will just have a storage unit rental fee to pay. I will probably try to buy a house in September/October if I find something I like. I would think that there would be a lot more sellers at that point in the year, and they would want to get rid of the house before the winter hits.

Houses in this area have gone up a little in the past few years, but they won't really crash too badly. They won't increase by that much either though.

Right now I look at rent like an adjustable rate, interest only loan on a very small condo. But, it is in a good location, and I don't have to do any work on the property.

Thanks everybody for the tips!

thingstodo

You are so right.

It just kills me the way everyone else is saying not to buy a house because there's a slump or that the payment is higher than renting (only if you're dumb enough to do that!). They must have bought high and sold low!

I've made money on every house I've owned and I've owned several over the past 30 years. I did start with a $2K down payment and my last "investment" down payment was over $200K. That's strictly profit from buying and selling my own homes.

I obviously don't sell when the market is low which is the same principle most people take when purchasing stocks, etc. I figured out at an early age that renting was dumb but I never had a house payment that was higher than the rent I would have paid. Too many people are house poor, meaning they can afford the house payment but not afford to put furniture in it.

Speaking of making money, I've more than doubled my down payment and any other improvements over four years on each home. If you put $10K into a $100K home and make $10K more when you sell it a few years later you've done much better than 2% on a savings account or 4% on a money market!! I've also enjoyed the tax advantages and didn't live around renters that don't care about where they live because it's not there home.

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

Lord Snooty

thingstodo wrote;
It just kills me the way everyone else is saying not to buy a house because there's a slump or that the payment is higher than renting (only if you're dumb enough to do that!). They must have bought high and sold low!

I obviously don't sell when the market is low which is the same principle most people take when purchasing stocks, etc.

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It just kills me that you don't seem to be able to take your own advice..!

If you "obviously don't sell when the market is low..." do you buy when the market is high.? No? .. good.
So why are you urging someone to buy now when the entire property world knows that house prices are going to seriously fall over the next twelve months?. The man doesn't have a house to sell so he can afford to wait and get a better deal.. Does that not make sense...?
If a 300 thousand dollar house falls to 250 thousand in the space of a year then the buyer has saved 50 thousand when he buys it. His rent didn't cost him 50 thousand, it cost him not even half that. The house value will eventually go up again... (they always do), but he won't owe the extra 25 thousand or more he would have had to borrow if he bought it at 300 thousand.
It's the same principle if you borrow money for any commodity that has a fluctuating market, so why would houses be any different?. Why pay more interest than you need to.?
If you took the time to read my previous post you would see that I have bought during a slump on several occasions ( and I made a hefty profit every time.)
The logical thing to do if you don't have a house to sell, is to buy in a slump if at all possible, as with anything you get the best deals from sellers (and realtors.) It's not always possible, but if the timing is right, it's worth the wait. And in this case the timing is right.

And to quote your post again... "everyone else is saying not to buy a house because there's a slump" ..

I don't see anyone saying that, In fact I am saying quite the opposite..

Mister Coaster

Snooty, instead of plucking numbers out of the air, lets look at the actual situation in the original post. Central Ohio has never been a hotbed of real estate fortunes made. There is no way a house that is currently on the market for 110K is going to fall in price 30% (I googled it, I couldn't find ANYONE predicting that big of a downturn, gimme a link) in 6-12 months, I don't care what the prognosticators say. There is no "National Crash" because home markets are not national, they are regional.

From and article I found...
Most people agree the current market will enter a general flat period in 2007. Some parts of the country will see relatively small declines in home values while others will see relatively small increases. Inventory will slowly be sold off and the market will essentially take a breath to get its feet under it again. It will probably be 2008 before we see a steady increase in home values, sales rates and what have you.

If you own a home, there is really no reason to panic about the current real estate market. Unlike stocks or other paper investments, you can live in a home. As long as you can meet your mortgage obligations, you can wait out the current correction. Around the end of 2007 and heading into 2008, you can expect to start smiling again as your property appreciates. Will it appreciate at double digit rates? It just might!

Relatively small increase or decrease, not 30%. And then look for a rebound in 2008. That is a small slump that will be easily ridden out. California is where the bubble has burst big time, which is why I moved away from there when I did.

__________________
If you have any poo... fling it NOW!

Lord Snooty

*Sigh*

From the Dayton Daily News.. (isn't that in OHIO...?)

Housing slump means both hazards and opportunities
February 15, 2007

A few years ago, Clark read a story about people who camped out at housing developments for days, waiting to buy lots. People were willing to pay whatever the developer charged them for a lot.

Well, that was then and this is now. The market has softened in many places. Even in Atlanta, where there is no bubble, there is a huge amount of unsold inventory.


In addition, the mortgage market is in complete turmoil right now. Lenders are filing for bankruptcy almost daily. They had allowed mortgage standards to fall apart and basically anyone could get a mortgage for a while. Now, those people — who bought more house than they could afford — are having their homes foreclosed.

All of that means that we can expect at a lot of sluggishness in the housing market. There could be some real deals for opportunists, especially for people looking to buy condos and distressed real estate. In Miami, for example, smart buyers are going to get a great deal on condos.

If you're considering buying a foreclosure, don't buy on the courthouse steps unless you know real estate well. You want to buy from the REO (real estate owned) Department at banks. There is too much risk buying pre-foreclosure or at foreclosure.

If you're going to do it anyway, find out if there is one loan or two on the property. You don't want to pay for two loans.

Also, if you're selling your home, don't compare your home price what a neighbor sold his for six months ago. All you can do is go buy what's happening in the market now
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I'm sure we can all find information and opinions to back our points of view but as you say yourself....

"I don't care what the prognosticators say. There is no "National Crash" because home markets are not national, they are regional."

But the mortgage market is national isn't it..? backed by national banks and institutions?

But then you don't care what the prognosticators say because...well, because they are prognosticators and they are just miserable people...right... and it's all going to be fine in the end.. So do you never listen to prognosticators? They are right sometimes...

I heard that soooo many times during the last two recessions I have been through and I know it brought small comfort to the guys handing their keys back who tried to sue their lenders for getting them in to mortgages they couldn't handle and now we see the same thing happening again.. What short memories some people have....!

I won't post again on this as it's getting tedious and we clearly have different views. I respect your right to hold the view you do but I suspect your experience and mine my have coloured our opinions very different colours.

thingstodo

Thanks. You use some good sense. I've bought and sold through several cycles. I've also done the math and understand what it costs to wait.

It all comes down to doing the research in your own neck of the woods, literally, as one part of a specific market could be going up while another is down. That's what has happened where I live. My value went up 3.9% last year while others not far away dropped that much.

It kills me that realtors and prognosticators who predict all this stuff aren't independently wealthy. Kind of like stock brokers. If they were really that good they wouldn't need to invest my money for me because they would be making so much with their own!

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

pocon1

nothing to say

thingstodo

Well put, especially the speculation part.

A 6.5% fixed is quite nice, especially with such low points. Congrats on being a new home owner! There's nothing like controling your own oasis from the world with no chance of rent increases!

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

cadre

I don't own a home and won't be able to get into the market any time soon either but I was discussing it with a friend the other day and she mentioned a charity that helps out first time home buyers by giving them the down payment for the home. I guess it's part of the effort to get people buying homes. I can't for the life of me remember the name but it sounds like it might be something to look into. Maybe someone else knows what I'm talking about.

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My life is one of those 'you had to be there' jokes.

Mastadon77

I own my place and I have no regrets at all. I have seen a huge jump in value (95,000 to 250,000 in 6 years) and it's great to have a place that's truly your own. You can deck the place out just how you like (beer fridge in every room etc. etc.) and you don't have to worry as much about noise and such like an apartment.

In a smaller town you probably wont see that drastic of a value increase but at least your money is going toward something.

Good luck!!

edit: here in Canada, first time homebuyers don't require any down payment. Of course, it would be to your advantage to put one down if you can to keep them mortgage payments a little lower each month.

pocon1

nothing to say

Mister Coaster

Cadre: My sister received help from HUD, US Dept of Housing & Urban Development. Far from a perfect house, but affordable and a good start. http://www.hud.gov/

pocon1: where in CO? We moved to Aurora (just SE of Denver) last year into a newly constructed home too.

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If you have any poo... fling it NOW!

lurkette

Fannie Mae also has first time buyer programs.

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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

- Anatole France

Impetuous1

Cadre, I actually bought my first home through one of those programs. They're affiliated with HUD. I found them by going to my city's website and they had info there for first time home buyers. They put down twenty-one grand for me and I put down four. Knowing that they would also fix up the house a bit before I moved in, I bought a house in a good neighborhood that was a bit rundown. So I was able to get the house about $30,000 below what the land is worth. I'm also getting my mortgage at 5.5%. While I'm paying more than I was in rent, I'm still doing pretty well. You see my landlord hadn't raised rent on us in 8 years of living in my apartment. The mortgage I'm going to be paying is less than moving into a new apartment of the same size.

squeeeb

if you can afford the monthly payments, buy the house. first off, it's a tax break thing. it will also help your credit (if you make your payments on time). you can use it as collateral if you need it. you have your own house, you can do whatever you want with it, it's home. if you get tired of it, or if you just want to live somewhere else, you can rent it out and have someone else pay your mortgage (their rent = your mortgage), and once you have enough equity built up, you can sell it for a profit (assuming it's still a good neiborhood, the house isn't trashed, and many many other factors). if you dont' sell it, once it's paid up, you can rent it out and it is automatic monthly income. the trick is to make sure you make more in rent than you pay in taxes. lots of things to consider, but, if you can afford it, it's worth it. buy the house.

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onward to mayhem!

Saint

my father the landlord says YES.

However myself, says no. Get out of Ohio first.