Advise on financing to buy house (for rent, insurance, mortgage)

[runawayjon]

Hi,
I'm presently in Vancouver. We lived here for 3 years. Now, we are planning to move to Calgary. For a long time, I have been traveling, now I want to settle. We chose Calgary because it was where I was born and spend my childhood. I have only a vivid memory of life there. Now, We've seen a house worth 400k in Northwest. Our combined savings is less than 1/3rd of the cost. I am thinking to get finance for the rest. I used the mortgage calculator of Canada Mortgage Direct's site to find out the payments needed. I will be able to pay up 20 to 25% and finance the rest for a period of 15 years at a rate of 3.84. The 15 years look like a very long period. But I don't think there would be another way. My wife is asking me to wait. My wife is telling me, for the time being, we can move on rent. But, I wish to give my growing son his own space and don't have to shift again. But, I may be able to raise my savings by 50% in 2 years, with my new job. What do you think should I do. I am unable to decide. Please advise.

[ToyYot]

Its a buyers market in Calgary right now, in a year or two that could change....or it might not. We're moving to Calgary next year and plan to buy right away to take advantage of that and the current low interest rates.

On the other hand, there's something to be said for renting for a year to ensure you like the neighborhood. We've done that too and then ended up buying in the same neighborhood so this time we're going to trust our instincts.

As for waiting 2 years to put down 50%, that's more of an investment decision. It only takes 20% to buy a house (mortgage insurance free) and gain any equity from appreciation. If you think the appreciation is better than any other investment, maybe, but I'm not so sure about that. That's a significant amount of money that could be invested elsewhere and earn 5%, 7%....you get the picture.

Re-post in the Personal Finance section, you'll get quite a bit of feedback there from a $$$/investment perspective which might help.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/personal-finance/

[runawayjon]

Originally Posted by ToyYot

Its a buyers market in Calgary right now, in a year or two that could change....or it might not. We're moving to Calgary next year and plan to buy right away to take advantage of that and the current low interest rates.

On the other hand, there's something to be said for renting for a year to ensure you like the neighborhood. We've done that too and then ended up buying in the same neighborhood so this time we're going to trust our instincts.

As for waiting 2 years to put down 50%, that's more of an investment decision. It only takes 20% to buy a house (mortgage insurance free) and gain any equity from appreciation. If you think the appreciation is better than any other investment, maybe, but I'm not so sure about that. That's a significant amount of money that could be invested elsewhere and earn 5%, 7%....you get the picture.

Re-post in the Personal Finance section, you'll get quite a bit of feedback there from a $$$/investment perspective which might help.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/personal-finance/

Thanks for elaborating. As I said, I lived my childhood there. I have distant cousins residing in Northwest. So, I hope I don't have to stay and see around the neighborhood. I will consider what you've told about investing.