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<blockquote data-quote="Pbartender" data-source="post: 3466769" data-attributes="member: 7533">Absolutely.&nbsp; Buying a house is a very long-term investment, with high initial cost.&nbsp; Don't buy a house until you KNOW you're ready to.An anecdote:Last winter, we were offered the opportunity to purchase the house we are renting.&nbsp; Currently, we are renting the house (2 bedrooms, 1 bath, basement, garage, attic, nice yard) for $1,050/month.&nbsp; That's actually a pretty good deal around here -- most houses/duplexes/townhomes of a similar nature rent for $1,300+ per month.We did a little research and discovered that, since we did not have a downpayment to speak of, if we bought the house we, we would end up with a monthly mortgage payment of about $1,600/month...&nbsp; Far more than we could afford, and that doesn't even take into consideration property taxes, homeowner's insurance, renovations, repairs and maintenance.&nbsp; We decided that it would be far better for us to continue renting for the next four years until our kids are both in middle school.&nbsp; In the meantime, we can use the extra $500+ per month to pay off uor credit cards, save up to buy a new car, pay off our student loans, and then save up enough for a decent downpayment on a house...&nbsp; Plus maybe a little bit extra money to take a nice trip somewhere for 10th wedding anniversary.&nbsp; If we'd bought the house, our monthly budget would be completely tapped out, and if anything went wrong, we'd be sunk financially.That's exactly why the housing market is in the tank right now...&nbsp; A few years ago, everyone was being encouraged to buy a house, even if they couldn't afford to.&nbsp; A lot of those people took sub-prime mortgages just to be able to make house payments, now all those balloon payments and ARMs are forcing people who didn't think ahead to foreclose.Wait until you're on solid ground, money-wise, before you even think about buying a house.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pbartender, post: 3466769, member: 7533"] Absolutely. Buying a house is a very long-term investment, with high initial cost. Don't buy a house until you KNOW you're ready to. An anecdote: Last winter, we were offered the opportunity to purchase the house we are renting. Currently, we are renting the house (2 bedrooms, 1 bath, basement, garage, attic, nice yard) for $1,050/month. That's actually a pretty good deal around here -- most houses/duplexes/townhomes of a similar nature rent for $1,300+ per month. We did a little research and discovered that, since we did not have a downpayment to speak of, if we bought the house we, we would end up with a monthly mortgage payment of about $1,600/month... Far more than we could afford, and that doesn't even take into consideration property taxes, homeowner's insurance, renovations, repairs and maintenance. We decided that it would be far better for us to continue renting for the next four years until our kids are both in middle school. In the meantime, we can use the extra $500+ per month to pay off uor credit cards, save up to buy a new car, pay off our student loans, and then save up enough for a decent downpayment on a house... Plus maybe a little bit extra money to take a nice trip somewhere for 10th wedding anniversary. If we'd bought the house, our monthly budget would be completely tapped out, and if anything went wrong, we'd be sunk financially. That's exactly why the housing market is in the tank right now... A few years ago, everyone was being encouraged to buy a house, even if they couldn't afford to. A lot of those people took sub-prime mortgages just to be able to make house payments, now all those balloon payments and ARMs are forcing people who didn't think ahead to foreclose. Wait until you're on solid ground, money-wise, before you even think about buying a house. [/QUOTE]

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