Only almost everyone I know who rents hates it, mainly because landlords bleed you dry, when their property tax goes up your rent increases. They barge in all the time, you have to deal with other wack tenants or stupid rules and uncertainty of your lease expiring and the landlord wanting to rent the place to someone else.Bail out now...I know I should have. Buying a home is a huge waste of money and emotion. You'll set yourself up to get bled dry by the house with upkeep, property taxes (especially in MD), and you're now target for lawsuits. Good luck staring out the window making sure some kid doesn't trip and fall on your lawn and their parents sue you out of house and home.
Just finished building a home last month. A stressful but fun experience. I'd be happy to share/ help.
How long is the build process?ive thought about going down this route.
160-180 won't buy you hardly anything worth sneezing at in Uptown.
My friend bought a condo in Addison for that, and it's a dump.
We had to extend our search all the way out to Garland to find something decent in our pricerange (under 150).
Anybody familiar with Texas' First Time Homebuyer program? Any catches that aren't stated outright?
You probably figured this one out by now, but these programs always require it to be your primary residence (no rental properties)
Sounds like you had:
1. a shitty home inspector who didn't point out all the maintenance issues inherent with your new property.
2. shitty home owners insurance that didn't squash frivolous personal injury suits for you as part of their coverage.
None of that is particularly hard to protect yourself from.
Only almost everyone I know who rents hates it, mainly because landlords bleed you dry, when their property tax goes up your rent increases. They barge in all the time, you have to deal with other wack tenants or stupid rules and uncertainty of your lease expiring and the landlord wanting to rent the place to someone else.
Just saw this thread, wife and I are in the market for our first house here in Portland.
Just started the process, got pre-approved, finishing up that side.. looked at a few houses but holding out for the right fixer-upper at that low low price.
I can tell already it's going to be a frustrating and long process.. but with the rates today our mortgage+insurance+tax will be about the same as we pay in rent now.
So we are putting an offer on a short sale today, it'll be our first offer.. we are prepared for disappoint, as it's a short sale.
House is rough, but price is great, and if we can 203k the thing and finish the basement and re-do the kitchen it'll be a terrific value for the price.
Now the waiting game.
House prices blow in Ottawa...going to save up for a few years so that I can put 20% down on a townhouse or garden home. I want to put myself in a situation where I can pay off whatever house I buy in about 10 years or less.
I don't understand how a home is supposed to appreciate in value. The land, yes, as long as we keep spawning more people. But the home itself, if you think about it, should lower in value due to the natural order of the universe.
I agree that renting is a waste of money, but buying a home scares me.
OK I admit to being completely clueless when it comes to home buying. I want one eventually, but with our income at around 60K (being optimistic) in the Bay Area, it's never going to happen is it?
That is why there are morgages. You don't buy the house outright unless you save forever.Every house around here that isn't a mobile home seems to be 150K and up. :/
Cheverly, MD. Wanted something near the metro!What part of the DC area did you end up moving to? I bought a house around here about 2 years ago.
That is why there are morgages. You don't buy the house outright unless you save forever.
I understand that, but from what I gather, the most we'd ever be able to get is 150K MAX on the salary I listed. And that's being generous. How is it that people who make 80K can get houses that are like 300K?
Being a home owner has been one of the worst experiences of my life. I would highly advise against it.
Thank you....someone who shares my sentiment. Let's see who enjoys being a homeowner through a job loss or worse.
You're supposed to shoot for 1/3 of your monthly income. That's what they're looking for when checking your qualifications.
Damn, a third sounds way high.
Well, you don't have to spend a third on rent, but good luck trying to spend more than that.
You're supposed to shoot for 1/3 of your monthly income. That's what they're looking for when checking your qualifications.
I'd suggest 1/3 or just about 30 percent of how much you make a month should be spent on rent. I live in San Francisco and most people that aren't in the tech spend more than 50 percent on rent alone.
Where in NYC is your home?
Damn, a third sounds way high.
Staten Island
Oh, pff, that explains it.
So I recently bought a house. It's a newer rambler, a 2005, but it has this strange smallish room at the front of the house, right where you walk in the front door. I'm not sure what to do with it. It's not very big (don't have the measurements, but it's probably something like 10x10ish, but that includes what would be a walkway to get to the living room/kitchen area). If it were bigger, it could pass as a living room with some chairs/table, but it barely fits a typical sofa with little room for much else. It would be a nice spot for a computer desk or something, but I don't want that right as you walk in the house.
I hate that I'm just wasting space with this room that is typically empty (just bought a new sectional, so right now it has my old sofa) and can't find any good use for it.
Anyone have one of these or seen a good use for one?
Also, there should be a Homeowners |OT|. I always have things I think I'd like to discuss in a thread like that, but there isn't one.
I'm in the process of buying a condo and I told my lender it was going to be my 'primary residence'. I believe that means I, technically, have to live in it for a year or so before I can rent it out. Is there anything stopping me from renting it out before hand? I know it would be impossible for me to get another mortgage and list that as my primary residence, but it doesn't seem like there would be anything stopping me from renting it out anyway.