Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Would you buy a house for only 3 years
...knowing you could afford a nicer, larger home just a few years down the road, but you still really want to get into home ownership right now?
this is my current situation! Keep in mind, we are financially stable and ready to own a house, we just know that we could afford a better quality home in 3-4 years.
Re: Would you buy a house for only 3 years
If one really wants to buy a house, I don't see how answering "yes" or "no" would matter. Whether it's a good financial move or not, if one really wants a house now, then get a house.
Since your question says "if you really want", then yes I would buy because I really want it now. In reality though, I don't want it enough to ignore the financial aspect. So, no I won't buy a house to only keep for 3 yrs.
No, because home values are still falling. There would be a distinct possibility that the house would be underwater in three years and I'd have to take a significant loss/bring a lot of money to get out of the mortgage.I wouldn't be willing to knowingly do that just for the sake of instant gratification.
Unless I was willing to buy a house now and stay there for a good while, I'd hold off. Especially if the nicer, larger home is what you're wanting instead of what you'd be able to purchase today.
Being underwater in three years might not happen but it's a very real possibility and that is not a risk I'd want to take if I for sure wanted to move to something bigger and better in a short time.
Yes ... if it will make you really happy and you're okay with losing money when you sell the house in 3 years.
No ... if you want to make a good investment with your money. You need to stay long term to make homeownership a good investment in the current market.
Mr. Sammy Dog
personally, no.
moving multiple times is a PITA.
selling a house is a PITA
paying closing costs multiple times sucks.
and people who said that 4 years ago are now stuck underwater in small homes, when, if they had waited 4 years, they could buy a much nicer home now for the same price, or cheaper.
if you really really really wanted a house right now, then i'd rent.
Have you seen my monkey?
No. Not in this economic climate. Today, you need to buy and hold property, just like you would risky stock.
We've owned 5 homes in 6 years. We made $17k on one, lost $30k on another, are $50k upside down on another that's rented, are even on another rental, and are even on the one we're occupying.
No thank you, homeownership these days is financial roulette and we're tired of playing. Like I said, buy and hold, just like risky stock.
Homeownership is expensive as heck. Ovens break, dishwashers flood, lawns need to be mowed... If you're saying "Rent is $800 and my mortgage would be $800, therefore I should buy," that's just wishful math. There are hundreds of hidden expenses.
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Thinking of doing cosmetic updates to a dated home? These were our costs.
4-5 yrs is still not long enough if you care about the financial aspect.
Ask yourself if staying there another 5+ years if the market hasn't recovered is feasible. If you could see yourself in a house for 8+ years, but would like to be somewhere else in 4-5 years, then maybe.
I also think you could buy WAY below your approved amount, put down 20% and keep this first house as a rental for when you go to upgrade. But only if you can cover two mortgages and get approved for both in 4-5 years. I think to get a second mortgage as a primary when you have a rental, then rental must have at least 30% equity by that point and you are going to be committed to being landlords or losing money on that first house.
It's a tough decision these days, but talking with a mortgage broker first can really help you decide when and what size to buy. However, I would never buy at the max that we're qualified for...that would be hard on us financially eventhough the broker says its reasonable.
Are you united with the CCOKCs?
If you feel comfortable doing so, pop on over to the Money Matters board and post your financials. They'll be able to tell you whether you're really ready to buy. Ignore what you've heard from anyone in the homebuying industry and probably most of your friends and family.
No. In today's real estate market the recommendation is 7 years just to recoup the buying and selling costs.
Find a cheap place to rent and save your money. Houses are much more than a mortgage payment.
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no.
But then again, I can't relate to the idea of just really wanting to own a house. I mean, its great, but it doesn't trump the financial costs/risks for me at all.
Nope, not a chance in hell. Unless you're buying the house with cash, chances are great that even in 5 years you'll be underwater and won't be able to sell the house without losing a significant amount of money.
Speaking as a homeowner turned renter/reluctant landlord, being a homeowner sounds better than it really is.
Ditto. It's more like do you anticipate being there 10+ now in order to even think about breaking even. We are coming up on being in our house 6 years now and about 75K underwater. It's looking like we'll have another 2 in order for our savings/principle levels/market to meet to be able to get out without bringing an astronomical sum of cash to the table. And we don't live in one of the "hard hit" areas either... Our next house will be a 20 year plan house, we're planning on moving for public schooling (our first child will be in kindy in 2 years).
Helllllllllllllllll no.
We did it. Stupidest decision we've ever made. We're military, and knew we'd be moving in 3-4 years, but we opted to buy for a variety of reasons.
Fast forward 3.5 years. We were VERY fortunate that we were able to sell our house, but we took a huge loss. Long story short, we brought a check of over $16K to closing. Not exactly a dream scenario.
If we had rented for those three years, we'd have approximately $30K more in our bank account right now.
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No. I would rent a house instead. Try not to forget that the SELLER pays a lot of the costs associated with a sale, namely the realtor fees. Therefore, even if you buy a modest $100,000 home, and sell it for the same price, you are already going to be losing $6000 for the 6% realtor fees. Also, remember that the interest rate on a 30-year mortgage will end up making the house cost twice as much as the sales price. (i.e. that 100,000 home will end up costing you over $200,000 over the term of the mortgage) As the others have mentioned, unless you can afford to buy it in cash and take a later financial hit when you sell, then don't do it. Just rent a house.
I received a lot of great advice before we bought our current house, and one of the best statements was to be sure that we bought something we wouldn't mind living in for 30 years. You never know what may happen in 1, 3, 5, 15 years with the economy/your job/family/etc. Therefore, accelerating a purchase just so you can own something today can be a very bad idea if that "short-term" house can't support your family on the long term.
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