How to make money dissapear, part 693

[bio]

For those of you who own your own home, you know what a money pit it is.

Today, I have roofers banging away for the tune of around $9,000 (which is cheap, considering what I'm having them put up). They're doing a 6 nail install on ELK/GAP life time shingles (so they're guaranteed not to come off with winds up to 110mph).

I'll post before and after shots later (not that anyone really cares what my roof looks like).

[eddiecanuck]

It's a good thing they weren't up there yesterday. That was some crazy rain.
Hopefully one of them doesn't die on you.

[bugfreezer]

"Proceeds from the sale of my motobabies will go towards my house...."

Reality stinks, don't it?

[ZIPPER]

I have always wondered, where does a work crew whose been working on your house all day, go to the bathroom?

My house had just been roofed before we bought it. I am glad as roofing a house is one of the biggest pain in the asses ever.

I have to do a total repaint of the outside of my house this year. I am not looking forward to it but we can't afford to have it done for us.

[miftah]

I have always wondered, where does a work crew whose been working on your house all day, go to the bathroom?

I saw on a TV show once where they used a crawlspace under the house. Yes, for number twos as well.

[Deater]

Oh, this is great to hear, just when I'm looking into buying.

I've heard so many people say that owning a home is a good decision and I've heard people say it's a bad one. I've also heard others say that both of them are right. This is a tough one to decide on. On one hand I am paying rent every month and not building anything from it, just paying someone else's mortgage. On the other hand, I don't have to pay to maintain the house and I don't really care how the lawn looks.

With the interest rates being so low right now, it's seems like it would be a good time to buy, but I don't want to get myself into a mortgage payment that I can't handle. Plus, I've been told all sorts of horror stories about the hidden costs associated with buying a home.

What do all of you experienced home buyer recommend? Was it worth it to buy, or does it still seem like a financial mistake that you'll never get out of?

[Moxie]

At this point in our lives, Jc and I are not interested in buying. It's not even the financial burden, which is heavy and makes me feel tired just thinking about it. It's mostly that the places we could afford are places neither of us want. We are not suburb people. If we could afford a condo in one of the larger cities we love, then we would strongly consider it. Plus we are not sure what we want to do with the rest of our lives, where we will want to go.

[bio]

Oh, this is great to hear, just when I'm looking into buying.

I've heard so many people say that owning a home is a good decision and I've heard people say it's a bad one.

Honestly, I can totally say that buying our house was worth it. Of course, we purchased at just the right time (when it was a total buyers market... kind of like now) and got our house for far less than it was worth (we paid $139,000 on what was then a $200,000 house). 8 years later, it's now worth around $375,000.

Yes, I've had to deal with things that renters don't (replacing appliances when they die, dealing with a backed up sewer line, etc), but overall, it's been good... and my payments are lower than rent for something the same size.

If you're thinking of buying, make sure that you plan to live in the house for a minimum of 5 years. Any less than that and it's better to rent. Any more than that is cash in your hand when you sell later (if you ever sell).

Just my 2 cents.

At this point in our lives, Jc and I are not interested in buying. It's not even the financial burden, which is heavy and makes me feel tired just thinking about it.

We were renters until our mid 30's. It didn't make sense for us to buy our own place before that (plus, we were dirt poor).

Oh... and in case you're curious... here's the before and after pics of Casa de Tone:

Before:


After:



You can really see the high definition ridge on the second shot (and yes, we had painted the trim a different color sometime between the before and after shots.... I like it way better!)

[eddiecanuck]

Well for me, owning a home has been great. I've had 3 in my life time, 2 were brand new. The thing is, you have to be ready for it. As Moxie said, her and JC are not interested. So, if you are interested, my suggestion is to just start looking around and see if what you can realistically afford is what you want. If you go to a bank or other lender to get pre-qualified, they will qualify you for as much as they will possibly lend you. Which will more than likely be higher than is realistic. I remember for our current house we were pre-qualified for some ungodly amount that would have made our payment upwards of 50% of our monthly income. I think that a good plan is to have your mortgage payment be no more than 25% of your monthly income. This prevent you from having a house you can't really afford. There are online calculators that can show you how much of a house you can buy based on how much a month you want to pay.
As for the "hidden" costs of owning a house. Yeah, you have to deal with all the issues yourself, so there is that cost. But if you can budget things you should be able to manage it. There is always the risk of something big happening though, so that is another consideration. So far I haven't had anything come up that I couldn't handle. It's also forced me to learn to fix stuff myself which I kind of like. Nice not having to wait for someone else to come by when they have time.
At the same time, I don't think there is anything wrong with renting if it works for you. Renting allows you to be more mobile, so if you plan on moving around then I'd say stay away from buying. It wouldn't be worth it. And if you hate the yard work, repairs and such that much, then I'd also say stick with renting.
Anyway, just my thoughts.

[Gooch]

I'm only 15! I wouldn't know anything about this stuff! Woohoo for not having to know things yet!

[Deater]

Bio and Eddie, sorry it took so long, but thank you very much for your feedback. I've been reading around as well and you guys have confirmed some very important aspects. The bank did qualify me for a mortgage that would equal 50% of my income, so I'm going to try and look for something that cost under 75% of that.

I've been looking at homes, and it seems like such a big decision. How do you guys ever make such a big decision? There is something wrong with every place I have looked at, so I guess I'm just waiting to fall in love with the right house that is perfect for me. Tough part is that I want to have a basement so I can have band practice. I found a really nice new place in Greenacres, but the neighbors were so damn close and the parking situation was so bad that it wouldn't have worked for me.

Other places have at least 1 thing that I don't like: small living room, small bedrooms, neighbors with Roosters, etc. It really is a buyers market right now though and I would plan on living at a place for more than 5 years, so it seems like a good choice to buy. I hate dealing with landlords and I like to get my hands dirty working around a home, fixing things myself, it feels good when you're done and have something to show for it. This is almost as hard as trying to find the right woman to be with.

Well either way, thanks for the advice everyone, on both sides of the table.

[bio]

Finding the right place was easy for us. I searched online until I found what I wanted, then got an agent to show it to us.

Of course, I only found one place worth looking at, and after seeing it, we purchased it immediately.

[eddiecanuck]

It can be a tough decision. My wife and I looked at several places before deciding on where we are. I'd say keep looking until your happy. You'll probably be able to find issues with any place you look at, just need to figure out what you can live with (or maybe fix) and what you can't. If band practice is important, then make sure you've got the right place. Cause once you've bought a place your in it for a while.

[Deater]

So I did it, I'm a home owner. I just bought a house and closed last week. Got a nice 5 bdrm 2 bath home in Newman Lake with hardwood floors and central heating and AC on 1/3 acre lot.

So now when it comes down to new gutters or the newest video game, I'm gonna have to go for the gutters. Either way, I'm excited and actually kinda looking forward to working on it.

Thanks for the feedback folks.

[miftah]

Wow! Congratulations!