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How do you all feel about buying a house way below your means?
The reason I ask this question is when my hubby & I bought our current home 7 years ago, a well respected business manager in town called me out on "stealing" a house someone less fortunate than I could have had, while the surplus houses in our price range weren't selling...BTW we paid $45,000 more for this house than what we sold our last home for (different town) - so we didn't feel like we were stealing anythingdidn't even cross my mind.
We are talking about moving to a less expensive area, and are convinced we can find something 1/4 to 1/2 of what we purchased this house for like a small rental house property - nothing fancy, but has to have good "bones." Is it wrong to do this? We know what we can afford and frankly - I don't want to show off or keep up a house like that.
Why do you feel badly about this - seven years later?
I agree, and I don't feel badly about our purchase...like I said, it never crossed my mind that we would be perceived as "stealing." But I also see the point he was trying to make and talking about moving has brought this idea forward again.
The reason I ask this question is when my hubby & I bought our current home 7 years ago, a well respected business manager in town called me out on "stealing" a house someone less fortunate than I could have had, while the surplus houses in our price range weren't selling...
And this guy is a well-respected business manager??? Sounds more like a hypocrit to me, unless he passes up the best deals for his business so that other, less fortunate businesses can snag them and prosper.
His case makes absolutely no sense to me. You didn't buy the only house in town and you didn't "cheat" anyone else out of anything. You simply bought a house that met your needs at a price point that made sense for you. Happens every single day.
There are lots of "well respected business managers", "finance professors" and waaaaaaay lots of "bankers" who are living way too far above their means.
We always lived (house and car wise) waaaay below our means. The last (literally) mortgage that we ever took out was for a house that cost $125,000, our gross income from salaries was about $120,000/year at the time and we had another $40,000/year in outside income. The mortgage guy told us we should be buying a "much more upscale" house. We told him to pound sand.
Buy the house you like in the neighborhood you like.
How do you all feel about buying a house way below your means?
The reason I ask this question is when my hubby & I bought our current home 7 years ago, a well respected business manager in town called me out on "stealing" a house someone less fortunate than I could have had, while the surplus houses in our price range weren't selling...BTW we paid $45,000 more for this house than what we sold our last home for (different town) - so we didn't feel like we were stealing anythingdidn't even cross my mind.
We are talking about moving to a less expensive area, and are convinced we can find something 1/4 to 1/2 of what we purchased this house for like a small rental house property - nothing fancy, but has to have good "bones." Is it wrong to do this? We know what we can afford and frankly - I don't want to show off or keep up a house like that.
What are your thoughts?
My thought is to tell this self-important nitwit to mind his own business, or simply ask "Jealous?" - particularly with the real estate market as it is, it does not make much sense to "stretch" to buy more house than you can comfortably afford.
In general if someone makes a remark like this - they think I should spend more - I turn it around to "because I am smarter than you."
If this "well respected business manager" never speaks to you again after you flip him off, well, great.
You should avoid buying anything from his business as well.
What a load of cabbage. I would tell the respected business manager to mind his own business. You did a smart thing and it sounds like you will continue to do smart things. I see too many people with way more house than they need, way more car than they need, way more debt than they should have. You are to be respected, the business manager, not so much...
I agree with all the comments. Did the business manager have a list of people you supposedly "stole" the house from? I doubt there were even people you had to bid against; am I right? My husband and I bought a house for super-duper cheap which had great bones - very structurally sound. The house was on the market for over a year! No one was very interested in the poor house but now everyone compliments us on the good job we're doing to make it not an eyesore. We put in a lot of labor (all our own) and some money to make it nice again. We don't buy the most expensive things - why do that? We have always had vision when it comes to houses, and I think it is great that you want to buy another house for even less.
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didn't even cross my mind.
I doubt there were even people you had to bid against; am I right? My husband and I bought a house for super-duper cheap which had great bones - very structurally sound. The house was on the market for over a year! No one was very interested in the poor house but now everyone compliments us on the good job we're doing to make it not an eyesore. We put in a lot of labor (all our own) and some money to make it nice again. We don't buy the most expensive things - why do that? We have always had vision when it comes to houses, and I think it is great that you want to buy another house for even less.
