To Buy or Continue to Rent

I would say BUY if you are willing to go with the commitment. It is a lot of work and financially if you are not prepared can be overwhelming. For instance what do you consider a lot to pay for rent. We lived in the Bronx up until 3 years ago and now live in Putnam Valley. We looked for a house for an entire year. We wanted just the right one and the price needed to be reasonable.
Buying means, you pay for oil deliveries(depending where you go), well maintenance(if it is not city water), septic cleaning (if it is not city), and any repairs required if you buy a fixer upper. If you have nothing saved it can be extremely costly and could leave you in deep debt.
You and your husband might want to take the time to sit down and discuss what you are looking for, where you want to move and what your budget allows. Then start looking, so you don't jump into the first thing you find and so that if you find something you like you won't risk the chance of getting outbid. We did this and spoke with our mortgage broker who gave us ideas of what our mortgage payment would look like every time we threw a number at her. This was perfect. We have successfully managed to maintain our bills to a level that is reasonable and live comfortably without headaches.

E-mail me if you want to know how we did it.

Hope this helps. Good luck.
D.

1 mom found this helpful

Ask your self these questions:
1. Do you pay your rent on time every month?
2. Is the payment reasonable on the 1 salery?
3. What is the average house cost in the area you want to live in?
4. Are you planning on staying in the area for the next several years.
5. How are the school districts in the area you want to live?

Now if you answered Yes to # 1 and 2 call a realitor and find out the answer to #3

Next talk to your bank and find out what the interest rate is and have them do a morgage estimate for you including any taxes including school and property taxes.
You may find you can buy for the same price as what you rent for but it MUST include ALL taxes!

Finally: if you go the buying direction be VERY clear with your realitor what is the TOP price you will pay and tell them NOT to show you anything over! If they do find a new realitor that will stick to your guide lines!!!

Don't fall into the trap of buying over your heads and loose your home in the long run. Be willing to compromise on some of your "it would be nice to have list" and be patient to find the "must have list items" in your price range!!!!

Happy Hunting!! A.

1 mom found this helpful

You're going to have to pay out every month in rent anyway. Find a house where your mortgage payment will be roughly the same amount as your rent payment.

We bought our first house almost 8 years ago now. Never regretted it for one moment. All that rent money wasted, going towards someone else's equity!! Now our money is going towards our OWN equity.. and we were able to refinance TWICE.. once to get money for a new vehicle when we needed it, and once to significantly lower our interest rate.

Buying is SO worth it.

I'll add too, buying is better then renting. If I were you though I would base what you can afford on the one income you have now. If you decide to stop working again or if you have to take alot of time off at least you will know you can afford your mortgage. Your'e on Long Island right?(Riverdale?) You may want to consider moving off LI and towards upstate. The difference in what you can get for your money is amazing. Good luck..

I say buy...renting is a waste of money- you keep paying and have nothing to show for it-not even a write off. Yeah it a big responsibility--but so is having a baby and you did that-and I bet you don't regret it for one minute! i rented for 3 years out of college then bought a co-op by myself, now I am on my 3rd house. Made 100k on the second house in 2 years! Good luck!

C.
It's amazing reading your post because your situation mirrors mine. I have decided to stay in my very small apartment because it is affordable. I live on Pelham Parkway across from Jacobi, good neighborhood but I too am dying for more space. I would like to provide my two girls ages 2 and 5 with a backyard, and space to move around in. Sadly we have decided to tuff it out one more year, the economy is really shaky and nothing is promised. Both my husband and I have good salaries however nothing is promised. Here is what I will ask you to consider, if you buy will you be able to pay for child-care, nursery school, etc? If so what are the school systems like in the area that you are buying? I know it seems so far away but before you know it, it will be here. One of the reasons we decided to tuff it was my 5yr old. She currently attends a montessori school for pre-K, the class size is small and it's a great school. If we moved I would have to have had her go to a public school since we can't afford the tuition and a mortgage. I was looking at Carmel which has a great public school system however the class sizes are 22-26 and I don't want my daughter getting lost in a class size that big w/o having a great foundation that her private school could offer for Kindergarten. My 2yr old goes to the same school and she is learning so much. She can identify letters, colors and is trying to actually write the letter L. So in summary I urge you to make your choice based on your daughter's future and her foundation. If you move and have no savings or no extra's and the public school system is not what you want your stuck since you will not be able to afford private school. Is there anyway for you to move to another apartment instead of buying? can you stay for another year maybe p/u another job and save? How secure is your husband's position? what about your P/T position is that secure? You have alot to consider I feel for you and good luck with whatever decision you make.

Buying a house right now is perfect IF you have:

1. A steady income source
2. Good credit
3. A down payment. For a conventional loan you'll need 5-10% down, but some banks will ask for 20% down which really is best to avoid PMI.

Do not forget to research the market, be realistic about what you can afford, get pre-qualfied, educate yourself, and understand what your insurance costs will be.

Good luck! I wish you much success in this venture!

If you know you can afford something bigger then your apartment then buying is definitely the way to go. You'll need figure in a small fund for repairs incase something breaks like your water heater. Also don't rely on those online morgage calculators. They don't figure everything. Your house payment usually will include property tax, home owners insurance, and at least a small escrow fund. On our morgage the property tax comes out of the escrow account when it's due. Check around with a morgage company first, and make sure you find a good solid one since so many companies are going under these days. They will do a credit check, and give you a pre-approve loan amount. You'll need that when you start contacting realtors about buying. Also, you might be able to get the closing costs figured in with the loan. A good realtor can make it look like it's being paid by the current home owners, but really you are still paying it, just not out of pocket. Good luck!!

Another thing I found out when we bought our house, you may have to pay property tax up front, before you even have anything in your escrow to pay it. Be prepared. It all depends on the last time the current owners paid theirs, and when it was due. It may be split with them as well. Just depends. If there are any questions I can help you with feel free to ask. I am the one who did all the work buying our house. My husband was just there to sign the papers on closing day.

If you can afford it I'd suggest buying something. The $8000.00 credit is a great incentive and there are a lot of programs out there for first time home buyers. You have to live in the house or condo for 3 yrs in order to get the tax benefits so if you outgrow your purchase you can use the equity in the place to purchase something else.

Buy - renting is a waste of money. Buying is HARD though - a lot of responsibility, but if you are smart about it and buy what you can afford, you will handle it. We bought during the crazy high market (at the NJ Shore)But we found a smaller house in a good neighborhood. We had to settle for something smaller that needed a little more work b/c we wanted a life outsife of our house and didn't want to be drowning in a mortgage, so just buy smart and don't get caught up in what banks tell you can afford. You decide what you can afford and stick to it! We were getting mortgage approvals for more than we can afford for the lifestyle we still wanted.

The #1 thing to remember is not to buy a house that is out of your range or overpriced. Know how much you can afford/month then subtract $200 from that amount, that will be the morgage you can comfortably sustain. Why subtract $200, so you can put it in the bank and save it incase the bread winner gets laid off. Also, don't think about a $299,000 home if the bread winner is only making $50,000. Be frugal.

Yes,owning is better than renting no matter what the TV anchors say. You have more freedom to do what you want with the house. You don't have to worry about waiting for the landlord to call a plumber. You can have pets. You can have a garden. You're not throwing money away to someone else for them to put in their bank... Need I say more.

Hi C.
This is my take on buying vs renting. These are the two questions we were told to ask ourselves when we decided to buy.
Can you afford not to buy?
Where is your rent going?
We decided that our rent was going to the person who owned the house therefore we got absolutely nothing from it.
The money in saving was getting a whopping 1.5 or so interest.
If we in bought our house the rent money would be going into the equity of the house and it could be sold, and we would get that money back.
The tax deduction for the interest has always been a bonus, and now the incentive package is another bonus. The question is: are you going to be in your new house for about 5 years or not? We thought we were. We were only in 2nd house 3 years but accrued more than we ever would have at the time with the money in a savings account.
God bless you as you make this exciting and fun decision.
K. == SAHM married 38 years === adult children 37,33, and twins 18

If you can do it and afford it buy now. There has not been a better time to buy in recent years - however do not do it if you can't - it is not worth it. Talk to a financial analyst about your situation so you can choose wisely.