House buying

I say start saving... I bought my house by myself 3 1/2 years ago when I was 26 and made sure my payments were something I could manage with no roomates if I had to. My gf has lived here with me since I bought it. my mortgage is actually cheaper than what ive paid in rent in the past and buying when the market is bottomed out it means your equity can only go up ....good luck

 

ive started to look for houses but anything stuctually sound is like 180-200k. My brother and i will be liveng there and it will still be less than renting. it'll be weird moving out. but i still nedd to find a different job out there before i do anything. save your money.

 

I put down 500.00 for a fixed rate 30 yr mortgage at 3.25%. I also had the seller pay all of the closing costs. it was cheaper to buy a house than pay outrageous rent to make someone else rich!!

 

You bought a house for $180 000 ?

 

No, I bought a house for 120,000. 3 bed ranch with 1/2 acre of land

 

Holy shit , that's cheap .

You paid $180 000 for your $120 000 house , but damn , you can't buy a lot here for that

 

Start saving and buy a house. There are lots of super deals out there to be had.
Buy something you can afford if you were living on your own. Don't buy something assuming you will have a roommate to help make the mortgage. If it came to you not able to find someone to share the rent. You will know you got it covered.

That is what I did when I got divorced & had a house built. I can cover the mortgage on one of my bi weekly paychecks.

Housing market sucks for home owners that bought before the bubble burst. I bought before the bubble burst. My 3 year old $180,000 house is now worth $130,000. A year after I bought it, it was worth $210,000.

A $250,000 house across the street is bank foreclosed & selling for $105,000.
Great time to buy!

 

Yep, I feel your pain. I bought in 2007 and I paid $170,000 for my house and the exact same houses in my neighborhood are selling for 125-135k now . My plan when I bought (which is what everyone was doing at the time) was to sell it in 2-3 years and take the equity to put down on another house. Well it's now almost 4 years later and no equity. Looks like i'll be staying a little longer. It also doesn't help that a few people in my neighborhood are just walking away. One of my neighbors walked away from his and started renting a house in a subdivision a mile away for $150 less than his mortgage. Mind you, he's a regional sales manager for Frito Lay and makes good money (more than me) and was not behind on his mortgage at all. Stupid IMO. Now his credit is ruined for the next 7 years until that forclosure falls off. I'm planning on staying a few more years and saving a little cash to throw down when it's time to sell.

 

Here in GA $170k (3 years ago, probably $130k now) Got me a 1,700 Sq ft ranch, 2 car garage, nice trim, vaulted ceilings, 150ft X 50 ft lot, Swimming pool community, my lot backs up to natural area (flood plain easement) that will never be built on. Real estate is cheap down here.

 

Looked for a house for 3 years. Had the price range i needed. Schools I wanted. And I had to have at least 2 acres. Took me 3 years, but we got a 2k sq foot cape cod on almost 6 acres in an awesome neighborhood for under 190k.

You just have to have everything in your mind that you want and the price you can afford. Not the price the bank says you can afford. Account for gas to and from work, eating out, all your hobbies, groceries, maint on your house/car/truck.

Dont jump on the first thing you see unless its a sweet deal. Always offer like 20% less than asking price as a starting point.

 

Damn, I need to move to VA! Out here in Cali the home prices are just ridiculous. My little bro moved to VA and got a sweet deal too.

 

The average price for houses where I live is $500 000 CDN , which is about $525 000 USD right now .

 

you could get a mansion here for that much ...my house cost 145k 3 years ago

 

I'd love to live in Sacramento, be closer to the mountains and all. But the commute to Berkeley every day would get very old very quick.

 

Much more hoops lol but at least you still can

 

yea, see thats my porblem, a bottom of the barrell house here is worth 540k$

 

We may shoot each other gratuitously down here in the states, but at least we have cheaper housing to take cover in

 

While this is true, I actually quite love the sweet ass place I live in No need to dodge bullets

 

X2 , wouldn't trade for the world