Real Estate
 

I've been looking at all the possibilities here for good real estate, and things in my price range (heh) are okay but I'm faced with several dilemmae:

1. Do I really want to buy a house in Tennessee?

2. Do I really want to rent for the next 4-6 years?

3. Can I more afford the purchase of a house than the rent of this one?

4. Do I really want to move AGAIN?!

I think that it could be done. I also think that I'd like to have my own house. But I like where I live right now. It's gorgeous, the house is cute, but small, and the animals are happy to have some room to run about.

:helpme

Can you buy the house you're living in now?

That would be ideal, wouldn't it?

But no. The landlords aren't looking to sell it.

Buy buy buy!!! :thumbsup

DH

Heh. My husband is all "But we just moved here. I don't want to move."

But he's usually the one with the money sense. Go figure.

Found a nice 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath on a cul-de-sac for 49,995

That's $300/mo (not including taxes) on a 15 year fixed 4.25%


We're paying $450/mo now for 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, lotsa room for the animals.

I think it's always better to own then rent, if you can. Rent is just flushing the money away, when you own the place you're monthly payment is an investment.

My favorite thing about owning is being able to mess around with the house, make improvements, paint things, do fix-er-ups and such, and it's fun coz it's your house. You'd never wanna do stuff like that for a landlord, usually when you rent you just let the house go to shit, why fix up someone else's place nice?

Are there some missing zeros? :)

Well since you just moved; Take your time looking for something you like. When you find it you'll know if you really want to live there.

Ya, no shit...I'll take two please...I'm paying $1000 a month for this dinky ass apartment.

Nope, no missing zeros. That's the beauty of Tennessee. You can get some nice acerage and houses for cheap cheap cheap.

In general, residential real estate is a good investment. I've owned a house (or two) since 1978. Yes, I am old.

But there are a lot of people who think, and for good reason, that housing prices are in a classic bubble right now. The Fed pushing interest rates low and flooding the economy with money has raised housing prices artificially. when you can finance at 5%, prices tend to go up. Funny how that works :)

Now, as a practical matter, in Tennessee and talking about the level of $$$ you are looking at, it is hard to see how you could lose. And yes, as another poster said, owning is cool - the place is yours and you can do what you want with it.

If I were you, I'd prolly go for it !!!

And people make fun of us for living where we do.

I say buy if you can. Realestate is a very good investment.

That price is unreal. I would buy. You get the tax break too so those 2 examples buying is better.

It all depends on how long you want to stay, IMHO.

I've rented and bought many houses and each time did the best for what I needed. The last house I was in was a rental because I knew I was only going to be there 5 years. The house was in constant need of repair and I never paid a dime for it, plus my rent never went up.

When I moved here, I knew I planned on staying a LONG time so I bought.

Contrary to popular beliefs, you CAN lose money when buying and selling property and you're NOT throwing money away by renting: you're getting a place to live and free repairs. :thumbsup

Unless you're positive the value of homes is going to go up, then unless you're going to be there for at least 4 more years, I'd keep renting. Put any extra money away so when you DO buy, you can put down at least 20% and not pay PMI in addition to usually being able to get a better interest rate. :)

for that price - BUY! you only build equity and get to write off your interest. it's an investment and everyone needs as many of those as possible. look long and hard into the area and the property value of the surrounding homes and as long as you don't come across any red flags, go for it!

That is cheap as hell. Buy it for sure. Plus once you have a mortgage, you can also get a credit line if you ever need some extra cash at low interest rates.

49k? Sheeit, Id buy of few of em and rent them out. haha

Buying is always the right decision in real estate.

-Ton

damn 50k is cheap

Tell that to many people who bought homes in Houston during the oil boom, NJ during the housing boom, in CA during the Silicon Valley boom, etc. :winkwink:

I bought during the Silicon Vally boom and sold during the boom, made a nice profit doing it to. Bubbles are nice if you can get in and get out quick and well before the peak.

Best time to buy is when prices are depressed, if you can hold on and wait for recovery. Houses are nice becuse you can live in it or rent it.

Nice bubble going on here in Florida right now. Pirces up 20-30%/year in some areas. Cha-ching :2 cents: :thumbsup

Yep, if you know what you're doing you can make some good bank from bubbles! My area is currently getting ready to explode and I'm doing what I can to buy up as much land as possible.

But it all depends on the area. "Location, location, location" isn't just a saying: A $50K buy isn't good in a stagnant neighborhood of $30-40K homes if you're going to live there for less than 4 years and don't have at least 20% for a DP. :thumbsup

I had a lot of friends lose 10's of thousands of dollars in NJ when they bought in the 1980's and had to sell in the 1990's. :(

the house that you actually live in and enjoy is the best real estate investment.

if you are paying 450/month in rent and if you purchased your mortgage will be 300/month it looks like a savings.

but you should understand this:

the "after tax" cost of owning will be closer to 50-100/month.

you might not believe it, but it's true.

my advice is to buy now, fix up, sell, and buy again, and again, and again, holding some, and always trading up.

but then i hold a real estate broker's license :) (inactive)

Yep, you have to be able to get out when the market tells you, if not you can be fucked.

I always follow the simple rule of buy the cheapest house in the most expensive neighborhood. Even the market tanks, you can usually get out even.

hey i dont know if you remember that my work territory is TN? Anyhow, i see TONS of houses come in for $40-$60

they arent mansions ofcourse, but arent all that bad either! Beats paying rent i bet ...

look me up for some contacts if you like

Bingo! That's exactly what I've always done. So far. so good.....:winkwink: