First Home: small amount of buyers remorse/feeling nervous (condo, price, basement)

[TelecasterBlues]

Dunno...I'm single and in my mid-late 20s and just grabbed my first home in a decent part of a big college town. It's about a 60/40 split between owned homes and rentals. It's a little bungalow with some character, a 2 bed 1 and 1/2 bath, very small finished basement, a detached garage, and a deck out back. It's quirky but I like it, it almost feels like a condo built into a house. I opted to go for this house due to it being at the bottom end of my price range, me wanting to still have some money left over to have a life/buy a new car, and because I thought it would be a solid option to potentially be able to rent it out for profit later on since it's within walking distance to campus. I figure that I'll be there for about 5-10 years before probably moving on in life.

After spending all summer landscaping and doing work to it, I'm starting to wonder if I should have shifted all of my funds toward buying a more expensive home in a more prominent area with long-term appeal...could have did it if I gave up the car and other things that I wanted. Money would have been tighter and a nice house would have been all I truly had in life, but I definitely could have handled it.

Just kind of curious to get feedback/thoughts from people with experience...I'm happy, but honestly wondering if I made the right call.

[harry chickpea]

There is still enough uncertainty in the economy that I think you made a good call. Just make sure you keep track of whether the neighborhood is appreciating in value or going down.

[BirdieBelle]

Being house- poor is no way to live, IMHO.

I think you did the right thing. In my town, smaller older homes were the only ones to hold value through the recession. In a college town, you could hold onto that house forever.

[QIS]

When you buy a house it is very typical to have a pretty steep ( lineal) learning and expense curve. That curve more or less flattens out after a while and you know quite a bit more about the house and you have spent enough to make your self comfortable. The curve will flatten out closer to the learning and expense y axis of the curve( the x axis being time) as you reduce learning and/or expenses. If you continue to spend and learn and your gut tells you you are obsessing.... the beginning of the flat part drifts to the right of the y axis.
So set yourself some practical spending and learning boundaries and get to living and enjoying your home-flat part of the curve as soon as you deem appropriate. After that you can budget for projects and the unforeseen with much less anxiety.
Most homes near large, popular institutions or facilities are good bets for appreciation.

[Ohiogirl81]

I'd have done the same thing -- purchased a house I could comfortably afford.

Since you're in your 20s still, your earning potential will likely go up. Buy your dream house when you can easily afford it, not when you'd have to scrimp and sacrifice to pay the mortgage and the taxes and the utilities and the maintenance and the yard care and ...

[TelecasterBlues]

I'm happy that I had the chance to buy a house at all...I do like mine, it's just that I unfortunately bumped into something that's basically been 100% gutted from the bones up and remodeled with new everything and in a great location. It would have been affordable at the upper end of my price range...I'm just sort of kicking myself and wondering if I was too immature by not emptying the "Buy a Mustang Fund" and cutting back on weekends in order to buy a better home at this time...

I spent the last handful of years living with family near my job in a very remote area, and made a lot of sacrifices socially to save up to do this. I'm just having some doubts that I might have gone overboard and missed doing things the "right way"...the plan was literally: "find a small/clean house within walking distance of downtown in the only lively community around and have enough left over to grab a Mustang(car guy here)...will buy something more appropriate and make sacrifices later if/when married, etc."

I just don't know if I was stupid or maybe immature for taking that route when I had additional funds to use on the house hunt instead of trying to factor in material possessions, nights out, hobbies, and basically having some freedom.

Thanks for the replies...

[Sunbather]

I think you made the right decision, purely from an outsider's standpoint.

[TelecasterBlues]

I don't want to sound like a whiney piece of crap who can't appreciate things...but I honestly feel kind of down over it all for whatever the reason and like I made a stupid decision.

[vinivedivichi]

I think it's natural buyer's remorse after a large purchase. The location seems ideal for renting, and over the long term that seems to be the purpose of your purchase.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by TelecasterBlues

I don't want to sound like a whiney piece of crap who can't appreciate things...but I honestly feel kind of down over it all for whatever the reason and like I made a stupid decision.

In my experience, this happens throughout life.

There will always be something that seems prettier, shinier, better than what you have, whether it's a car, a home or a lover. It can sneak up on you, and it can make you crazy. You need to think about what drew you to that house in the first place, and focus on that.

There's a reason that, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence ..." is a cliche.