Days till christmas.

[RedRock]

Good deal for Lamron, but Pres, home buying isn't all it's cracked up to be. For the average American, buying a home and "building equity" is just a forced savings program. If the house appreciates, and you can move from there to an area where the housing isn't equally expensive, you can make some money, but for most people, home buying is a terrrible investment and is simply is a control issue (landlord doesn't tell you you can't plant an ugly bush in the front yard, when you have to cut the grass, etc.), although with the latest liberal supreme court decision, even your home isn't safe from government seizure if the local government hates you. I did buy a house when I first got out of training, adding it to my debt and thinking I'd be ok as my income went up, but the first thing that happened was a property value reappraisal that made my property taxes go from the $1000 it was the previous year to $3300 a year. Then hidden termite damage was found that was either trivial or severe (depending upon which inspector you believed), and when I moved away for a better job, I couldn't sell it for 18 months and I had to sell as is and take a $75 K loss. That was after "building equity" for 5.5 years! I am only now, about 10.5 years later, about to get to where I might chance a piece of property with an outhouse and a double-wide.

And by the way, in the South, how is a hurricane like a divorce?
Answer: Either way, you know someone's gonna loose a mobile home!

[AIGAD]

admin said:

Buying a house is cheaper than renting an apartment, at least around here. I have a three bedroom, two full bath, two car garage, ~2000sq.ft. house on 1/3 acre. My morgage is $513 per month.

Thats crazy! I'm renting a 1400 sq.ft townhouse 2 room, 2 bath, 1car garage for $800.

We are looking for a house, preferably something close to the interstate, because of the commute.

[desmo2]

Redrock, sorry you had such a terrible experience on your home. I think your experience is not the norm, however. If you do your research and avoid the "I love this house, I have to have it" syndrome, you should be able to buy into a house with investment potential. Home ownership does, of course, come with often expensive maintenance costs. Hopefully, your pre-purchase homework landed you a house that doesn't suddenly need serious, very expensive repairs. There is an entire book worth of do's and don'ts in home buying, and I can't even begin to get into all of them here. BUT, if you can get ahead of the interest curve by having a short-term mortgage (15-20 years) and paying more than your monthly mortgage payment, you CAN end up with considerable equity in a short amount of time.

Given the choice of a mortgage payment and occassional home repairs -or- throwing away $600-$900 a month for rent...I'll pick the mortgage every time!

[RedRock]

Thanks, Des. Whether I like it or not, and whether I fear it or not, the Missus will probably make the decision for me in the next year or two to buy, now that we're starting to get our heads above water.

Want to hear the worst part of my buying experience? The realtor was a lady from our church, the wife of an Elder, who lead us to do some shady financing (I was so naive), who presented us with the termite inspection only at the closing (and said, we weren't going to let a little old damage be a "deal buster," were we? and it wasn't a little, and it wasn't old, and the home owner had covered up part of it, and the termite inspector hadn't uncovered the parts to check it, etc.), and who hand-picked the home inspector, supposedly the best in Central Florida, who turned out to be incompetent and not even bonded or insured! Used and abused at every turn!

The best part: my 3 kids have very very fond memories of the house--they were all young enough then to sleep in the same bed, take baths together, play together in the (to them) "huge" rooms (lol, had high ceilings and lots of windows, so seemed bigger than it was), etc.

But hey, I've burdened y'all enough already with this part of my past. Thanks for listening.

[Lost_Child]

[Urumii-Previously ThePresident]

HAHAHAHA!!!! Thats pretty good. Where did you find that?