Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Sure, if you can afford to wait a few years or more before buying a house. When you're married, a 500 square foot 1BR apartment just doesn't cut it. That's why (among many other reasons) we decided to buy this year and we're planning to stay potentially "forever".
Because it's impossible to rent a house. Oh wait, you can just rent a house so what does a 1BR apartment have to do with anything.
Financially buying now is fine (and I'm very bearish on US real estate), as long as you are locking in as long a term fixed rate loan as possible. Bonus points if you are getting an FHA loan at 3.5% down. Of course New Jersey isn't the best state to do so in (there's a risk of a basket case collapse in the NYC metro area, and NJs tax situation doesn't help, if there's a big second leg down in the financial sector in the next 3 years). But it's a nice place to live so what can you do?
Of course if inflation doesn't spike up and we get into a sustained deflationary period that will turn out to be a terrible move. But that's extremely unlikely, just look at the US dollar - it's screaming "inflation!".
You guys are underestimating foreclosure and short sale impact in NJ. In recent months NJ has spiked to its highest level yet. We now rank 15th in the country and are steadily climbing as people loose jobs and their savings are depleted from extended unemployment.
"Renting is throwing money away each month.
Even if my down payment evaporates,
and the interest on my monthly mortgage payment is higher than my rent would be,
paying my mortgage is not throwing my money away.
Even if my taxes balloon to 2K per month to pay for a bloated and corrupt state government,
by being an 'owner' I am living the American dream,
and not throwing my money away each month,
like those dirty renters."
Well that's not saying much. I would think one would prefer not to lose that 20% down payment and just be content not to have to bring cash to closing. Plans change, life is unpredictable; you don't want to burn your down payment money just to call yourself an "owner" for a few years.
I tend to agree with you, but given the knee-jerk reaction of the goofballs running the federal govt, I wouldn't be surprised to see wild swings in interest rates: first a steady rise to try to stem the inflation heading our way, then a knee-jerk reaction by politicians to try to lower rates (or cook up some goofball scheme to allow people to refinance their high rate mortgages at lower rates in House Bubble Prop-up Effort #218 in a few years). The prospect of substantially higher rates, followed by another gimmicky round of low interest rates, is a real one, in my opinion.
Agreed. It gives you control.
And we haven't even touched on the topic of taxes. NJ is approaching "failed state" status.
The bad times are only just getting started. The job situation is going from bad to worse. India will do well; NJ will implode.
Meltdown. You can open the door and see everything is alright but come back in a few months is going to get ugly, wait some more months and its going to get even more uglier as there is no plan from any politician other than to maintain the status quo... only now the jobs are disappearing and the monies gone
I hear you, and I can understand your frustration. Just giving you an alternate take on the situation.
I don't doubt that you're among the rare class of people actually qualified to buy a home right now, and I have no worry that you'll be joining the ranks of those asking for gov't handouts anytime soon (which frustrates me to no end).
I do hope you have some serious family ties to this area, and stable jobs that will keep you here for the very long term, because while 1 year may not be your concern, you may need a very long term for that "value proposition" to come to fruition given all the manipulation that's being cooked into the market right now.
But you seem like a guy who has taken all that into consideration, and knows what from what. Good luck in your hunting!
In nature shows there are gazelles that live in the desert that are so thirsty that they knowing walk up to a pond filled with alligators to take a drink. A few get killed but their hunger is so bad they still will do it. At 35 you WANT to settle down and live by your own rules, renting is bull**** as you don't own anything and barely have any rights and your money is going to pay for someone else's mortgage on the property you own. If rents were 500-600k like out in the midwest and texas and NC it wouldn't be so bad but when rents hit 1500 to 2000 for a 1 bedroom, that is burning serious money and more than likely you aren't saving anything and getting no tax breaks. If that math worksout then go for it but there is a lot of financial danger...
At 35 you WANT to settle down and live by your own rules, renting is bull**** as you don't own anything and barely have any rights and your money is going to pay for someone else's mortgage on the property you own.
Um, you're joking, right? You have TONS of rights as a renter, in many cases far more rights than the owners of the darned place you're renting. Ever try to evict a tenant? Come back and talk to me once you have, and then we can discuss whether renters "barely have any rights".
Financially buying now is fine (and I'm very bearish on US real estate), as long as you are locking in as long a term fixed rate loan as possible. Bonus points if you are getting an FHA loan at 3.5% down.
We got a conventional loan with 12% down, and a 30-year fixed rate of 4.85%. My wife and I both have credit scores over 800 so that certainly helps.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
