Buying a home and only staying in it for 5 years?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Definitely I've heard it's bad to buy when military.

[Coleroo]

It's really a relative thing and based on your situation, your loan terms, your interest rate, etc.

But for me, personally, I hate the idea of a starter home. I guess it's because I grew up in an "older" family where people buy one home and STAY put? .... In fact, I hate the idea of buying, moving, selling, etc. When we bought our home in spring of 2006, our mortgage broker tried to convince us we'd only be here 5-7 years because of "statistics". I was surprised to learn at that time that people are doing that (buying and moving within that short of a time frame). To me that's nothing more than "renting" with a slight possibility of accumulated interest. I wouldn't dare trust the real estate market to increase in such a short time span...there's too much risk that you will end up upside down on your loan.

We purchased our home in 2006 and actually plan on keeping it permanently. Our longterm goal is to some day build a bigger home (15-20 years down the road) but we'll be keeping this one for rent income.

[Madwand]

Buy Now

Right now home prices are the lowest they have been in 5 years. Many experts think we have hit the bottom.

My advice is educate yourself on home values in your area. Find a good Realtor and go out and buy the most expensive house you can afford. Your starter home might end up being your forever home at todays prices.

Don't listen to the gloom and doom. This market will turn around. If it doesn't then we are all screwed anyway. However it has been proven over and over again that markets are cyclical.

It's like the stock market. Buy low and sell high. I doubt you will see a better buying opportunity in real estate like this one in your life time.

Go for it!!

Scott

[TBH]

Buy a "starter" home and stay in it forever. That will get you the furthest ahead.

I think this is really true in my case, but I still want to move up and every time I drive by a house I like that's for sale I have to give myself a stern lecture.

We bought our house in 2004. It is a 3BR 1BA row house in a nice but transitional neighborhood. Our street is just fine, but there are some economically depressed areas just a block away. The house still needs a lot of work. We've done a lot, but it was really a shambles when we bought it. I am reluctant to put more money into it because I would rather save the money for my next house. For the next house, I don't want to settle again and buy a house that is tolerable but that I don't love. I'd rather wait and save until I can afford what I really want.

But I know it would be better financially to finish fixing up our current house and just stay in it forever. We will have it paid off by the time our kid goes to college, and by the time the kid is out of college it will be just about time for his dad to retire. If we move, we'll be starting over with a big mortgage, and we'd have to cut out a lot of little luxuries and ratchet back our retirement savings. Not a good idea. Better to stay where we are.

Still, I want that 4th bedroom and I want that big yard. Also, I want a house with more curb appeal. I have always thought our house was, well, ugly. My city has such gorgeous architecture and I ended up with a drab little asymmetrical box.

I don't love my house, but I do love my mortgage. Low interest rate, low balance, and low payments. I can tolerate a lot of ugly for that.

[meatloafkend]

I don't know where you live, but jeez, a starter home for 200K?!!!!! Since when did people start paying over 120K for their first home? This keeping up with Jones' is getting rediculous. Of course, if you live in CA or NY or something, that makes a big difference.

[disneysteve]

Since when did people start paying over 120K for their first home?

Where do you live?

We paid $142,000 for our "starter" home in 1994, over 14 years ago, and that was a fixer-upper. I don't think you could buy a trailer for under $120,000 today.

[JinCO]

We bought our current home with the intention of buying a new one in 5 - 7 years. We have been in our current home for a little over 1 year now and are planning to purchase our "forever" home in 2012 - 2014. I realize that this is not the best way to accumulate wealth, but we want to live in a nice home and this is the only way to achieve this goal.

[ScrimpAndSave]

If I wanted to buy a home now...this is what is under 200K in my area.


All.....two of them.


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