House buying

Would you consider house buying to be a joint effort (you and a significant other, hopefully wife) or if you could damn near afford one on your own + a roomate, would you buy a home?

I'm on the fence about whether or not to start saving up for a down payment on a house. I'm single as of now and 26 years old. I am currently renting a room in a friends house and would like to take advantage of the low housing costs while they are still good (for the bay area). I wouldn't mind a fixer upper, I'll learn what I need to to get the job done.

What say ye?

 

I'd say start saving for the house. It's always a good investment over renting. Just make sure not to buy too much house for what you need. Granted you want something to grow into, but you also don't want to be spending all your money on a mortgage either.

 

Man i bout a house 3 yrs ago. i was 26. the VA gave me loan since im military. Well i was suppose to have roomies. first one dipped out on me before i could even sign a contract but the second stayed for a while then met a girl and was out a month later. I had to find new roommates. easily done on craigslist or a realtor. found some quick. i didnt really know em and they definitly didnt take care of the place like it was theirs. so i had to get rid of em. left me paying like 16-1700 with the mortgage and the bills. finally a family wanted to rent it and i been gone ever since. still being a landlord and single isnt fun. when i would like to rest or what not they want me doing some bullshit and it's all reasonal but still. anyways i pay 400 being a roommate at a friends house. dont do it. its way easier to rent a house than to buy it. just my $0.02. good luck though homie

 

Buying house is a huge investment. Especially when the market goes back up. Get some roommates for the first couple years to help out. Make damn sure they are reliable so it don't come back on ya. If you are looking into saving for one, absolutely. If you were torten something, you are waisting money. Buy something (house) and 10 years down the road it might be worth 20,000 more. I say go for it. If your gonna get married to your girlfriend, its not too soon to think about it. Just remember, its also a big responsibility. Good luck.

 

1. start saving, period. this way you can eventually get to step 2.
2. define the right 'deal' - price, etc. buy a fixer upper, worst house in the best neighborhood you can afford. the 'right deal' includes your budget, etc.
3. get things lined up so you can buy when you find the right deal (pre approved for financing). by this point you should have all the numbers run. this way, when the 'right deal' pops up, you can jump on it and you've already thought everything through, and everything is lined up.
4. put 'sweat equity' into it. you can do a lot of stuff fairly cheaply to the house IF you're patient, smart, and willing to do it yourself.

remember to have extra money - things will almost always cost you more than you think.
lock into a low rate, FIXED mortgage. you'll most likely be there far longer than you think. i thought we'd sell our house after three years... it's going on eight years now and I couldn't tell you where the time went)

good luck!!

 

I'm in the same boat so sub'd for answer.

I know the first 7-10 years your mostly paying what would be the insurance, remember that its gotta be a place you will wanna live in for a while, anything shorter and you might not even break even financially when trying to sell it. After realtors and lawyer fees and such.. ect.

 

I say go for it. I bought a house with my GF (will get married some day) last year. Also bay area, East Bay to be exact. What I did to help me out: I joined the City-Data forum which has a really good real estate section. I also watched a butt load of HGTV.

Just do as much as you can to get informed about the whole thing. It'll help you out in the long run.

 

Buy,Ive had this one 30 yr. in Oct. never been sorry for it. In the next few years we will move out to the sticks and put our feet up!!

 

I bought my first home when I was 23 and it was indeed a fixer upper. Well worth it, it's a great home in a good neighborhood. I have two roommates that help me with the mortgage, but when making an investment like that, I would not go in together with a friend. I would just save the extra money and do it yourself. My parents almost had to cosign which I did not want. I wanted to be independent as possible so I made a small online business that qualified me to get the loan by myself.

 

Thanks guys. All great info! I know saving in general is good, whether it be used for a house or whatever not truck related is a good thing LOL

What websites are good for checking out current houses for sale in my area? I live in the east bay (Dublin to be exact). Would like to stay within a 20 mile radius of Berkeley (work).

 

I'm in the same boat except i've been saving for a while and just bought a house with a 'significant other'. We're going through the process now and should close next month. Since I had more invested (I did the down payment), we drew up a contract stating if we ever sold the house, I get my money back first, then we split what's left. If you don't plan on splitting up, it shouldn't be a big deal to do something similar.

I wanted to do this now because of the low interest rates and low housing costs. I'll let you know how it turns out

 

http://www.trulia.com/

also if you know a realtor, have them hook you up with some mls listings

 

zillow's a good one to start at... maybe try and see if you're friends with someone who's a realtor or broker...

 

oh yea, I forgot about zillow

 

I used ziprealty.com

 

DON'T buy if you will have to rely on a roommate to help make your payment. Buy what you can afford on your own, then anything a roommate pitches in is just gravy that will help you pay off your mortgage early, and if they leave then you know you can still afford it on your own.

The biggest mistake people make is buying more house than they can afford. They max out their budget to get the biggest house possible, then something changes and they are left in foreclosure.

 

Before you decide on a home, make sure you do a lot of research.

1.) Where do you want to live? Is the neighborhood nice?

2.) How much time/effort can you put into fixing it? Are you good with tools? Know friends who can help?

2a.) With your mortgage payments, will you still have enough money left over to make repairs/save for emergencies (water heaters, roof, flooded basement, etc.)

3.) Don't forget to calculate the additional cost of PMI (private mortgage insurance -- if you have less than 20% down), home owners insurance, and utilities.

I bought a house a year and a half ago. My girlfriend rents from me. I bought a fixer because I know how to work on houses, but between the big-ass yard, work and the fact I had no idea my utilities would triple over renting, I have essentially no cash for repairs/savings.

To top everything off, I had to buy in a less-than-desireable neighborhood because Seattle real estate is outrageous. My house has already been broken into and I now have an extra $50/month for ADT.

My suggestion would be to find a place you like, calculate the totals (mortgage+utilities+insurance+savings) and start saving the difference on top of what you pay in rent currently. If you are happy with your standard of living, then go for it.

For me, I would walk away from my house tomorrow if it meant I was only $10K in debt and my credit was intact.

 

I just finished (literally, i moved in about 3 weeks ago) buying my first home. I'm 25 and living on my own, and it's definitely a big investment...but one that will pay off in the long run (especially in the current market.)

To give you an idea, this house was built in 2006 and sold for $475,000.

I bought for $235,000. If it at least reaches it's 2006 selling price, I just made $240,000.

 

Thats a ways away..top of the housing bubble. My situation is the same. Bought for $310, sold for $580 in like 2004