Going from renting to owning

[Aredhel]

Originally Posted by Berteau

As I've said, closing costs, maintenance costs, repair costs, interest, taxes, costs when you sell. Basically, am I throwing away as much money as renting, but with less flexibility and more responsibility with a house.

No, if you purchase wisely your housing costs (unlike renting) will go down over time, because your monthly mortgage payment (unlike rent) is fixed. But yes, you will have less flexibility and more responsibility as a homeowner than as a renter; that's unavoidable. You get those savings in housing costs by taking over the duties your landlord currently is performing (and then charging you for via your rent).

It sounds to me as though you may be trying to talk yourself into buying a house even though you don't really want one. You might try renting a house for a while and seeing how you like the everyday tasks (especially yard work) that goes with living in a house rather than an apartment before committing to buying a single family home.

[vladlensky]

Originally Posted by Berteau

What maintaince and upkeep is a pain? What things do you have to do?

What makes the HOA a pain? Isn’t that mostly for condos and townhomes?

The biggest expense for me is replacing things that failed after their useful lifespan (20-30 years on average for stuff built in the late 80's).

So far I have replaced: Roof ($25k),2 furnace+A/C units ($10k after about $2k spent on repairing the old ones for a couple years), old carpet ($5k), washer/dryer ($1k). The water heater is original so I expect I'll have to replace that soon. Whomever buys my house is going to be lucky in that they won't be stuck with major replacements for a while.

This above list doesn't begin to cut into the day-to-day expenses of frequent repairs (plumbers, HVAC, electrician) or any upgrades you want to do on the home (painting, remodeling). Conservatively, I've spent $5k on random plumbing issues, so if you're handy with repairs that can really save you some $$. I saved a few grand by re-doing the deck myself, which was nice.

On top of this, I pay an HOA which covers landscaping, maintenance of the sprinkler system, etc.

If I could recommend 2 things it would be investing in good homeowner's insurance, and looking into 15 year fixed rate mortgage instead of the traditional 30 year. It's nice to see your payments actually going towards the principal, and the rate we got on the 15 year (< 3%) was a nice bonus compared to the 30 (>4%).

[billmymortgageguy]

Sounds like buying a newer condo may be the right choice.