General > General Technical Chat
First house for a young man
gildasd:
Don't get house poor.
Never spend everything without leaving a buffer, because shit will happen (just had the bathroom hotwater go kaboom)
If you have to get a mortgage, you should put 20% down, otherwise you will have to pay PMI on top of your monthly mortgage payment.
As for how much, go to a credit union that still has a real human (not a droid who who only cares about your credit rating) and ask (with your 20% down) how much you can borrow with 10 and 15 years with a payment of no more than 1/3 of your take home pay.
This should give you a good bracket of what you should be looking for in a first home.
Try no to fall in love or get home fever, rent the cheapest thing you can get in the area you are looking, to give yourself time and space to buy the right thing.
I'm telling you this because I made the mistake of rushing my 1st home buy, just to sell it after 3 years with all the expenses that implies.
Halcyon:
--- Quote from: EEVblog on July 03, 2017, 11:48:19 am ---Also, can and do lose money on homes. If you overpay and then are forced to sell you can loose big time.
Some suburbs in Sydney drop 30-50% after a boom, usually the exclusive ones with designer home were people overpayed for huge expensive houses on small blocks of land.
We have an entire generation of new housing investors who have not seen realestate prices stagnate or go down, or interest rates go up, they will be in for a big shock.
--- End quote ---
You could not be more correct!
You only need to look at most of these new suburbs in West and South-Western Sydney... Spring Farm, Oran Park, Gregory Hills, Jordan Springs... all come to mind.
SKHILLBILLYSlures:
--- Quote from: WastelandTek on July 03, 2017, 01:36:37 pm ---
not even joking my dream house
--- End quote ---
I l've thought about buying a house for myself but have considered how cool it would to take my stuff with me where I went though work whilst traveling is the most confusing part. unless I went back to welding. how is it in one of those does anyone know? like how worth it is it?
Zero999:
--- Quote from: blueskull on July 03, 2017, 04:33:08 am ---Both houses have $180/mo HOA fee which covers all exterior maintenance fee and yard maintenance fee as well as public area maintenance fee.
--- End quote ---
What does that mean? Are the houses freehold (you own the land & house) or leasehold (you just own the house)? Normally those sorts of annual fees are for leasehold but things may be different in your jurisdiction.
My advice is only buy freehold, avoid leasing like the plague, then you have no landlord to pay and you own the land for eternity. Leases don't last forever but for a limited term, which can cause the value of the property to fall, especially towards the end.
cdev:
The US can be a great place- and it welcome immigrants- so, IF you really think the US is where you want to LIVE, and maybe start a family, not just work then BY ALL MEANS, do everything you can to stay here. Especially I would be very careful about getting into debt until you know for certain you can stay.
Bubbles bursting are not such a hypothetical situation. I also would not buy a townhouse (avoid "houses" with common walls shared with other homes. That is an condo apartment, not a house) or in a neighborhood ruled over by a "homeowners association". Ive heard a great many horror stories about them. Also, the quality and integrity (or lack of it) of local government varies a lot from town to town.
When the time comes to buy, try to buy in a neighborhood where people you already know and like live. US neighborhoods vary a lot. Also, I think small homes are far better investments now than large ones.
The price of energy (natural gas) in the US might be about to go up a lot. Figure that cost into your home maintenance costs.
Also, I would think long and hard before buying a house if you are not certain you'll have permission to stay in the US.
If a bubble bursts, after you buy, you could end up with an underwater asset, on the hook for a lot of money.
Frankly, to me it would seem irresponsible to buy a house if you're not sure if you can stay.
Houses should be looked at as something other than simply an investment. The issue of ghost houses which have been bought by distant investors as a place to flee to in the case of collapse or insurrections where they live, is a sore spot in communities where many longtime residents have been displaced by the insane rising cost of housing.
I would expect houses bought and left empty in such a manner to be heavily taxed in the future.
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