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Buying a first home

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ChadTower:

--- Quote from: shardian on March 21, 2007, 04:46:10 pm ---If you are modest in your purchase, then almost always a house payment will be less than rent (assuming rent does not include utilities).

--- End quote ---

Not in MA.  Not at all, unless you're talking about renting a single family house with property (what you would buy).  Those rental properties are almost nonexistant.

shardian:
The fact is that "the magic formula" is only a single factor amongst a list of factors that have to be considered when facing the buy/rent decision. It is not as simple as a cut and dry "I'll save money this way". In Schmokes case, even if buying was cheaper, it is not in his best interest to buy due to personal circumstances:
-Full-time student
-insecure work situation
-intends to live there for less than 5 years
-no down payment
-has no clue where he will be after 3 years
-will more than likely have to move quickly when time is up
-etc. etc. etc. with things he hasn't told us.

You are also putting yourself in serious financial risk in buying if you can't afford it, or a serious financial set-back screws you. If you rent and something goes wrong, you are out nothing. Worst case scenario, you move to another place overnight pretty much.
If you own a house and something happens, your entire (or at least for the next few years) financial future can be ruined by bankrupcy, poor credit, so-on and so-forth. Foreclosure is not a good thing. In that case, you are out a house and have nothing to show for it.
These are not gut feeling intuitions - they are facts that face alot of people who don't do the proper research and listen to people who give them a "magic formula". The majority of people in this thread own a house in the USA and actually have a clue as to what they are talking about believe it or not, so get off the high horse, pbox.

shardian:

--- Quote from: ChadTower on March 22, 2007, 08:41:23 am ---
--- Quote from: shardian on March 21, 2007, 04:46:10 pm ---If you are modest in your purchase, then almost always a house payment will be less than rent (assuming rent does not include utilities).

--- End quote ---

Not in MA.  Not at all, unless you're talking about renting a single family house with property (what you would buy).  Those rental properties are almost nonexistant.

--- End quote ---

Well yeah, even here I'm sure I could find a crapper rental for less than buying. I would say that even in your area, a nice 2 bedroom apartment would be more expensive.

In this area, there are alot of rental houses. Rent on them ranges from $500-$1000 depending on the size/location. Owning the same houses probably has a price range of $250-$750 per month. Apartment complexes in my area range from $500 for a single bedroom to $800 for a 2 bedroom.

ChadTower:

--- Quote from: shardian on March 22, 2007, 09:04:57 am ---Well yeah, even here I'm sure I could find a crapper rental for less than buying. I would say that even in your area, a nice 2 bedroom apartment would be more expensive.

--- End quote ---

A decent 2 bedroom apartment in my town runs $100-200 less than my mortgage.  My mortgage is pretty modest compared to market value in my town.  Rent is high but ownership is higher here.  You have to wait years for the cost of living to drive reasonable rent above your mostly fixed mortgage cost, and even then, the mortgage payment increases every year because property taxes go up.

jbox:
This one?

It does have an awesome view from the top last time I was there though.

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