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Scared to be a home owner?

F

FREAKYSTLYEY

Inactive
Jan 14, 2007
56
0
#1
So nobody really likes renting spending a ton of money a month thy goes towards basically nothing, yet a house isn't much better, at least you get a little something for that note every month.

I rented an apartment for a year, and now am at the point where I could/"should" buy a house. But I'm just not sure I want to.

Owning a house seems so... The rest of my life. I'd hate to have that tied down feeling of being in one place for the rest of my life. I know you can always sell it, but well it's not quite that simple.

I just don't want to be tied down the rest of my life to the same place and the same note month after month.

Any input is appreciated....
 
#3
Well, a mortgage is probably cheaper than rent right now with the rates being so low. I bought because I don't like the feeling that I'm just throwing my money away. I know my payments are going to something that is a tangible asset for my future.

But, if you don't want to feel tied down, don't buy.
 
#4
Home ownership doesn't have to tie you down to any particular place. I'm in the military and plan on renting out my current place when I go to my next duty station. That way, somebody else is paying my mortgage and putting a little extra money in my pocket. I've worked with people that bought a house at each one of their duty stations over the course of a 20 year career and are reaping the profits from that. It can be lucrative, depending on the market.
 
#5
To make matters worse.. I can get any house built at cost.. That's around 70k in savings off the bat.. I could do it and then sell or rent out but I just wouldn't feel it was right since its almost a gift from somebody. And it has to be in Louisiana (god please get me out of here)
 
#6
I'm part of the rents too damn high party, if went was where I felt it should be 1/2-3/4 the cost of a mortgage I'd do that for the rest if my life.. I was paying. 900 a month for a 1 bedroom... BS
 
#7
MatticusMania said:
If thats the way you feel then you should probably continue renting until you do decide to settle into one place. If you dont, then keep renting so that you have more freedom to move when it strikes your fancy.
Click to expand...

+1

I'm 30 and still haven't owned a home. That has given me a lot of freedom to do a lot of things. For the next step in my career, I have pretty much accepted that I very well may have to move across the country, and that will be relatively easy without a house to sell.

But it really comes down to where you are in life. I'd eventually like to own a home. As stated earlier, it does feel like "throwing money away" at times. But I've usually rented as a way of living close to my institution of education or a job that's advacing my career, so I guess you can kind of look at it as an investment in a sort of way. :hmm:

I know many people - some of them successful in the traditional Western sense - who still living apartments. It's the lifestyle they've chosen. There's no shame in it. In a round about way, I guess what I'm saying is that you should question why you want to own a home - to have larger living space? to have an investment? the feeling of ownership and the ability to change your abode as you wish, such as adding a garage (just listen to Gard's advice and don't get involved with an HOA :D)? If you really can't answer any of those questions, it may not be a good idea to buy a house just because you feel a social pressure that you should.
 
#8
I wouldn't have it any other way than owning my own place. No neighbors on the other side of the sheet rock and if I want to get a dog no landlord is going to charge me a pet fee. If I want to knock out a wall and expand I can do it. Build a shed?, no problem. Have a party? I'm on 3 acres so no one complains. Plant tomatoes? Go for it. It's kinda like being your own boss. And the mortgage interest is tax deductible...for now anyway. But since utilities are a 'wash' (you're gonna pay them anyway) it really comes down to how you choose to spend your money. At 3%-4% mortgage rates right now buying is a no brainer unless you're inclined to move around a lot.
 
#9
I'm in the same boat, Freaky. My problem is that I want to live somewhere where there aren't neighbors ten to twenty feet away on three sides (as in a normal urban neighborhood), but I don't want to live too far from the city out in the boondocks. If there's one thing I've learned about neighbors throughout my nomadic renting around the city, it's that even if you have great neighbors that you get along fine with, eventually one will move away and ***holes will move in. Even in a house (as opposed to an apartment), the people next door are just too close for comfort. Why do people who live in a country that's wide open have to build their houses so close together?

I need a really big lot to put a house in the middle of, so no one nasty can come move in next to me and start the noise complaint war. A big wall around it would be nice too.

Crap.

I just re-read that and I realized I need to live in a fort. :atoz:
 
#11
I also have no desire to have a huge house and a lot of land. Though I'd love a garage and that's pretty much what I want the most..

1. It seems its viewed as the expected and responsible thing to do. (Which kind if makes me not want to do it) I spent my whole life so far realizing that because something is expected or the "correct" way it usually means nothing, and people try way to hard to meet others expectations.

2. Especially in my scenario it makes a lot of financial sense..

3. My wife would love a house.

4. If I had kids I'd probably want to stay put ish and definatly not want an apartment in that situation.
 
#14
It's only "the right thing to do" if you want a 1950's nuclear family situation in a covenant neighborhood. White picket fence and all that.

I want a house I can kick others out of rather than a house that a landlord can kick me out of (hasn't happened, but doesn't mean it won't), but I can't find a neighborhood that's not too congested.

Hence the need to buy land and build, but my biggest fear is that I'll accidentally buy land somewhere that gets run over by urban sprawl years down the road. It's currently happening to all the good spots that I've seen that are just outside the city without being far away.
 
#15
Home prices are low, interest rates are low... Owning a home seems like a no-brainer to me, but it doesn't always apply to everyone. It certainly isn't a "forever" proposition, but you have to view it as a long term commitment. I have owned my current home for 11 years and I've been free to customize it, improve it, and enjoy it as I like. My mortgage is probably close to 60% of what it would cost to rent this house, and I have a detached garage for rehearsal/shop space. It has it's drawbacks, for sure, but I've always come out ahead on real estate. You have to be savvy, though... buying the wrong piece of property will be a real pain.
 
#16
Bloodhammer said:
Hence the need to buy land and build, but my biggest fear is that I'll accidentally buy land somewhere that gets run over by urban sprawl years down the road. It's currently happening to all the good spots that I've seen that are just outside the city without being far away.
Click to expand...

We have been looking at rural property and my state legislature just opened our state up to fracking. Now I know exactly where NOT to buy. I would be really pissed off if I owned a piece of farmland and my neighbors started pumping toxic sludge into the ground.
 
#17
I have no desire to buy. But I'm single w/o kids. Same reasons as OP, don't want to be tied down to debt, maintenance costs, taxes and such. But if owning is your idea of what makes you happy, you should. If you're not sure, I'd say pass on it and remain untethered.
 
#18
Been there, done that. Had a nice house in the burbs with a nice lot.

Then the economy tanked and I was forced to move across the country and pay mortgage plus rent for over a year while the property sat there. Had to pay utilities on it too cause you couldn't disconnect electricity, gas, water, and sewage.

You couldn't rent it out either... prices were so low you had to practically rent it to any low life that showed up. Some people I knew tried renting (one of my sisters included) only to see the place trashed, carpets and walls destroyed.. one case even had tenants throwing cement down the toilet.

So, I sold... at a much lower price than I would otherwise if I had not been out of state.

Now I kinda regret it because I just love NYS.

OTOH, I also despised mowing that huge lot 2-3 times a week and doing all the other maintenance. And, no, you couldn't do what you wanted... you needed a permit from the Town even if you wanted to patch your own butt. And the moment you did something, the town appraiser would show up and value your home higher in order to hit you with more property and school taxes. That part I don't miss.

My wife and I are comfortable renting these days and focusing on putting pur kids through college. We've learned that it's not how much you make but what is left over after you've met your financial responsibilities, and our needs at the moment are minimal.

We may buy a place of our own in the future... perhaps. But it's gotta be up North or in the USVI, or better yet, one house in both places and being able to spent 6 months at each location :D
 
#19
bolophonic said:
We have been looking at rural property and my state legislature just opened our state up to fracking. Now I know exactly where NOT to buy. I would be really pissed off if I owned a piece of farmland and my neighbors started pumping toxic sludge into the ground.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I forgot about the friggin' gas wells. They're everywhere! There's a house south of town that had the exact scenario you describe happen to them, but I'm pretty sure they made a lot of money since it was so close that they could wave to the workers from the kitchen window! And those rigs run all night and day!
 
#20
In Australia, owning your own home is supposed to be 'the dream'. Our economy is great, but housing is a bit of a problem. This is my perspective as a twenty-something person:

These days it's really difficult for first-time buyers to get into the market. House rices are sky-high, but so is rent, so it's really hard to save for your 10-20% deposit. You almost need to be a young couple with a large dual-income and no kids to get close to buying a home. A lot of kids in the city are staying at home until their late-20s just to save on the rent.

It's a little cheaper in the country, but there aren't the high-paying professional jobs to help you save for a deposit. Although, you can get a house in the country for under $200,000 that would go for over a million if you picked it up and dropped in the south-east suburbs of Melbourne.

Personally, I want my own place. The real estate industry here lacks accountability and self-regulation, and landlords can get away with all sorts of things. Good on them for having property, but there's no need to be a douche about it and treat renters with contempt.
 

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