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I don't know who this 'everyone' is you're letting put doubts in your head but don't! It's your life, your decision. When/if you ever want to settle down and buy, you can. Right now, travel if want. Everywhere. Anywhere. (travel recommendation: wherever ya go, get off the beaten path.)
I haven been considering buying a house, but I agree with the original poster, I also have dreams of traveling for at least a year, but like others I want to have a house to go back to.
Right now its possible for me to travel around the world for a year, and it's possible to own a house.
But right now i'm playing with the idea of owning a house, paying it off in full, then travel the world for a year. i figure, why can't i have both. but i'm not sure if that's even possible if i buy a house, it's either one or the other.
but i like the whole idea of being able to move around every couple years like the folks in the U.S. military.
I'm renting an apartment for 1250. Going rental rates for comparables in my neighborhood are 1800-2200 so I'm getting a great deal.
Paying for a mortgage in my neighborhood? At least 3000-5000/month. Forget buying! My husband and I are saving up an extra 4k/month so we can use that towards a larger down payment. That way, I have less mortgage payments to make when I finally decide to buy. If I save up enough to pay for an entire house then who cares what the interest rates are?
I am also not sure where I will be landing a real job in 3-4 years. I am expecting my income to jump 6-8x when I get a real job as opposed to this "fake" training job. So when I get my "real job" I will be able to decide on the location of the house.
If I end up buying here right now I would buy a multiplex, and live in it while renting out the rest of the units. Another option is to buy a tiny single family home on a larger plot of land, live in it for a few years, and later when I have more money, convert it to a condo for resell. The land here is worth so much it might be a good investment. We will see.
I own 4 houses -- 3 rental properties and my personal home. I just love houses, especially remodeling them. But if I did not enjoy modifying and decorating, I would be a renter. I really don't see a big financial benefit of owning a personal residence.
I wanted to own as rents just kept getting crazy (Boston area) and when I decided that I was going to stay in the area. Also, when I was younger, I had no idea about housing options- to me, a house was a suburbo subdivision like where I grew up in New Jersey.
I also lost my taste for living in the city, having psycho "neighbors," and when I bought a tiny tiny condo, having a psycho next door, rent control issues, and all of the problems of home maintenance still not cared for in our little nine-unit building.
I emphasize that I had to know that I wanted to stay in the area (or was willing to) and also that rents in my area have never been reasonable. Also, I wanted the control, both the environment and financial, even if it cost me more, at least I'd be in charge. I also wanted dogs, and that's virtually impossible in the rental market around here.
I haven't really considered the finances of it. I couldn't find a rental anything like my house, on the other hand, I could rent a box apartment for 1/4 of what my house costs. But then I'd be living in a box with "neighbors" and no dogs and no control.
You don't sound at all ready to be tied down by home ownership. If you want to travel now, why can't you do that and at some point in the future, buy a home if you feel more settled.
With the housing market still so unsettled, I would not recommend that anyone buy unless they were quite sure that they would not need/want to move for many years.
I say this even though I am the type of person who is much happier in a home than renting. I am newly retired and love that my home is paid off, thus making my expenses much lower. That being said, what works for me is not necessarily what works for someone else.
Yes, maintaining a home is expensive. I would suggest that if you don't buy, add a little extra to your retirement savings each month, so that when you are older you will have that extra cushion to make up for not owning a home.
It sounds like you need to follow your dream of travelling (at least for now). You can always change your mind in the future.
I 3rd (4th? 5th?) that NY Times calculator. I've used it and found it very helpful.
For me, renting makes more sense. My job doesn't require moving, per se, but many times you have to relocate to get a better/higher paying position. We're currently getting ready to move to WI from CA, but in 5-10 years I may get chance at a better job in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, or even someplace on the east coast.
Even though we have a child and pets, owning makes no sense to me given that kind of uncertainty. I like the freedom to travel and not have to worry about home maintenance, I don't care about renovations or remodeling, and finding places w/ pets has never been an issue for me (granted, I'm a hobby dog trainer, so maybe that influences things?) I'm also another one who feels "trapped" at the idea of a mortgage.
Having said that, I also want to make sure I'm set for retirement. I will have a pension when I retire & I make sure I put as much into savings/401(k)/stocks as I can afford. I expect to add more as I get promoted and my income goes up.
I think as long as you're planning for the future, you'll be fine either way. YMMV, of course.
Another fan of the NYTimes Rent vs Buy calculator here.
We've owned 4 houses in 3 different states in the past. But unless prices in the area where we live now get closer to rental parity than they currently are, no way we'll be buying again.
Staying at 25% of take home for housing costs we can:
1. buy a tiny overpriced condo that will likely continue to depreciate
2. rent a very nice 2500+ square foot SFR in an excellent neighborhood
Prices are down from their stratospheric bubble highs, but are still nowhere near anything that makes sense based on historical norms, price to income ratios, or rent numbers. Crazy!
We own and basically the only pro for most people is that they save a lot more money doing that than renting if they are going to stay in a location for an extended period of time. If you aren't sure if you will stay put or if you are open to moving to other locations in the future, I would consider continuing to rent. Although it isn't always difficult to sell a home, it can be a bit of an anchor with taking future job opportunities, etc. The pro to renting is that you can move whenever you want to (sure you may pay a few fees), there is always someone to fix anything that goes wrong without any additional cost, and all the landscaping, etc. is done by the community. When you own your own house, you have to get all the insurance required, mortgage, deal with HOA fees, yard maintenance and other household things to fix and spruce up, and buy all the related tools for such things...which for us was a lot more than we had anticipated.
I do both...
I rent an apt. in NYC...but own a home out of state.
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