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I bought to live there, in fact, I have expectations of losing money on my home the first 2 years. Just due to market conditions. But alas, I knew that going in, made sure I would never be under and plan to stay longer than 2 years.
I bought assuming that my property would appreciate . . . and have worked on upgrades and improvements since buying the house. Some days I think about cashing out and buying elsewhere (would love being on Lake Wylie) but then other days . . . I am very comfortable here . . . so I don't know whether we will stay in this house forever or sell it somewhere along the line . . . Whatever we do, I would make a profit off the house if I sold it, so I suppose that makes it an investment while also being a home we enjoy.
Last edited by brokensky; 06-04-2008 at 08:45 AM..
Reason: add info
We bought our house to live in till we die. But if I win the Powerball I'll be getting another property where its colder. I really dislike the constant heat.
I call ours a semi-permanent investment. We bought here with a 7 - 10 year plan in mind. As my career developed and then retrenched after a downsizing, this relocation marks our 8th address in 24 years of marriage.
We figured that if we stay here for 7 - 10 years, we would become empty-nesters with WAY too much house on our hands. This house is located right in the thick of a growing area and within minutes of two I-77 interchanges. Hopefully the area will stay hot and the house will continue to appreciate accordingly over this timeframe.
So, when the youngest goes off to college, we're going to cash out and buy a smaller place (1600-1800 sqft) over in rural, Rowan County. I'll still be within a reasonable distance to drive country roads to work and hopefully the wife can return to being a homemaker instead of working.
We bought our home to raise our 6 and 3 year old in. We have no plans of moving, voluntarily at least, until they are in college. I really don't expect to retire here. We will probably move some place more rural, but close enough to a city for good healthcare. I really like the Pinehurst area. We are both golfers, so that would be retirement paradise for us. I would not want to be elderly in this city unless the crime situation gets alot better.
We bought our house to live in till we die. But if I win the Powerball I'll be getting another property where its colder. I really dislike the constant heat.
Barkingowl - I feel the same way. I lived in the same house for 53 years and I'll be in this new one until they cart me away in a hearse.
I think that as far as an investment though, NC has not had the appreciation that say California or the NY metro area has had. I suspect that if you bought a house in San Diego for $300,000 in 1990 vs spending that much on a house in Myers Park in 1990, you'd have done much better with the SD house, even given the price depreciation that the San Diego area has seen. You could sell that San Diego house for 1.4 million but might only get 700K for the Myers Park house.
I'm not expecting my house here to ever appreciate to the same degree my NJ house did. But I'm a lot more comfortable in my NC house than my NJ one!
Personally I would never consider a home an investment.
It will always be worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for it, and that will always ride the wave of economic ups and downs.
To live in. Have not made a permanent move yet but drive about 7.5 hrs to BV at least every 4-6 weeks. Thankfully we can afford 2 mortgages but still far less than for a single mortgage in NYC area or northern Va. For 2 dozen years we drove thru Charlotte on the way to HH,liked what we saw and last summer contacted a realtor. On are way back put a bid in on a house and closed Aug 07. My wife is looking forward to the hot weather. Everything seems new. Not old and rusting like the NE. People are friendly, my wife says because they are glad to get out of the North.
Looking forward to being a permanent resident.
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