I want to buy a house

[mariegold]

I am a 25 years old female and want to get out of my parents home, I don't want to waste money on rent but right now I have only $10,000, So here I am looking for your suggestion that where should I go for this? Hope you will help me.
Thanks in advance!

[WestSideBilly]

Renting is not wasting money. Get that out of your head. You are paying for a roof over your head, the same as you will be if you buy a house. Unless you smoke or have large dogs (things most landlords don't allow), there is no inherent difference in a home you rent vs a home you buy - it's just a difference in who you mail the check to.

Where do you want to live? What are your housing priorities (space, storage, yard, parking, location, etc)? What's your credit and income level?

[perfectfire]

I'm 26 and want to buy a house too. I also want a new car an big screen T.V. an Xbox 360 and a new washer and dryer. When you don't have the money for something and you don't really need it you need to think about either just doing without or finding alternatives. If you haven't yet learned that, then maybe it would be good to continue living with your parents.

The house I rent now would likely cost more than twice what I'm paying in rent. So $1400/month to rent or $3000/month in principal, interest, insurance, and maintenance (we'll assume the tax benefit cancels out the property tax). And for the first 10 years more than 85% of that ($2550/month on average) is going towards interest, insurance, and maintenance which is "wasted" just like rent is "wasted".

Then there's the risk. With renting the only risk is that you'll need to move out and you'll lose your deposits, so a couple grand at most. When you get a mortgage you're playing with massive leverage and you can very easily lose 100k or more in just a year or two. There will be a time when it is good to take that risk, but not now.

[The Tim]

[mike2]

Hey, with a whole $10K down you only need to be earning $130K/yr!

[perfectfire]

Do what The Tim says, and remember to look at homeowner's insurance on a home and renter's insurance for renting a home. Renter's insurance is only about $10-15 a month, whereas homeowners insurance is 15-20 times that.

[jillayne]

Mariegold,

I too purchased a home when I was in my mid 20s.

Be wary of Realtors who want to steer you towards a "nice condo" because "you don't want to have to do yardwork, do you honey?"

Be wary of mortgage people who want to steer you toward any particular loan type because of your age or gender. Lenders are not allowed to discriminate but they do. Get prequalified at an institution that is an FHA approved lender. Avoid using your friends or family members for lending or real estate services.

There are many, many "important considerations" to keep in mind. I'll throw mine into the hat: When you're in your 20s, the world seems wide open. Life changes happen. Think about all the life changes that seem so far away or so unlikely to happen to you. What comes to mind here are:

1) your boss is fired. You hate your new boss and you want to move companies but the job you want pays less.

2) you get laid off. Do you have six month's worth of savings to cover your expenses just in case it takes a while to become reemployed?

3) You meet someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. His/her stuff doesn't fit in your place OR you decide to move into his/her place.

4) You hate your neighbors, commute, the noise, the traffic nearby, a new construction development that mows down all the trees nearby, and so forth.

5) You decide you want to become an entrepreneur or go back to school or become an artist or make some sort of major life change.

6) something unfortunate happens like an illness or an injury and you are out of work for awhile with no or limited disability pay.

...and so on.

So then you would want to be able to put a renter in there and have the rent cover the mortgage payment.

If you need to sell, then realize property values are going to go down or stay stagnant for a long time. It will cost money to sell a home. Ask your real estate agent to give you an estimate on how much money it would take to SELL the home in the future.

Many many people who are now in foreclosure didn't plan.

Plan for the worst case scenario so you can have an awesome time in your 20s and you won't have to worry about all these things: Because you will have a plan.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[ira s]

mariegold,
It's very understandable why you'd want to own a home, and probably even more understandable why you'd want to move out from your parents home...
But right now home prices are still very high around here, so a mortgage payment would likely be double what rent is. Even a tiny cheap condo is going to run you 1700 a month with taxes, insurance, and homeowner dues, and a house even more than that...So paying rent isn't really throwing money away if it allows you to save more money and then have more money to put down on a home.
Historically, buying a home has been a very smart thing to do, but doing so right now would entail making it less smart and more risky. Take a deep breath, have a beer, then figure out how much money you're making. If you're making 100 thousand bucks a year, wait a couple of months then start looking. If you're making 30,000 dollars a year, keep saving money if you can, or think about relocating to an area where houses are cheap.

[EconE]

Call me a whatever you want but I find these new "fence sitter" troll posts to be quite laughable.

Yeah...I know, I know...the "I want to buy a house!" poster will come in and explain away their situation and then tell us in the near future how great they feel about that condo/house/whatever they bought and how sure they are of their decision to buy.

Just like I find the "Moving on Up" post to be questionable.

[Ubersalad]

Owning a home is overrated...unless you're ready to settle down and spend your weekends to take care of it.

Mid 20's, why would you want to commit yourself to such unnecessary stress?

[Cougar]

mariegold; you have made your decision to move out of your parents house, that is a wise choice. You have heard renting is throwing your money away, not in todays housing market, renting to the smart thing to do. Do your homework and find out how much you can afford, or get qualified for, then look around to see what your money can buy. That will be an eye opener for you and also give you confidence to make your case to rent. At 25 it is time for you to be on your own and renting for a year or more will give you the space to really know what you want, not what others "expect" you should do. Best of luck.

ps - we all want to buy a house at sometime, just not in an overpriced market!

[perfectfire]

[ira s]

My chain smoking dog is small, Can I still rent a house? He only smokes outside.

[Scotsman]

"My chain smoking dog is small......."

Thanks, I needed that after a stressful day, LOL!