my first house

well i am buying my first house in april, its a 3br 2bath, with a 2 car garage. its in evansville indiana, im so ready to be done with rent

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Originally Posted by shiftto5

well i am buying my first house in april, its a 3br 2bath, with a 2 car garage. its in evansville indiana, im so ready to be done with rent

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Well congrats :gj:.So where are you going to sleep? Of course you have to fill all 3 bedrooms with snakes you know :P

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Originally Posted by joepythons

Well congrats :gj:.So where are you going to sleep? Of course you have to fill all 3 bedrooms with snakes you know :P

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lol thats why i have the garage

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Originally Posted by shiftto5

lol thats why i have the garage

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For you or the snakes :P.

I sure can't wait to own my own home.....but I don't understand why people get sick of rent...?

Mortgage, property taxes, interior decorations, lawn maintenance, bugs, fixing things that break, general home upkeep.....

That has to add up to atleast 3-4 times MORE than the cost of renting a place and letting the landlord deal with all that.

:confuzd:

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Originally Posted by Nate

I sure can't wait to own my own home.....but I don't understand why people get sick of rent...?

Mortgage, property taxes, interior decorations, lawn maintenance, bugs, fixing things that break, general home upkeep.....

That has to add up to atleast 3-4 times MORE than the cost of renting a place and letting the landlord deal with all that.

:confuzd:

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Morgage = Yes... but this goes away after a while or you simply don't have one because of an inheritance.

Property Taxes = Are annually here and equal less than the amount of one months rent.

Interior Decorations = It's actually fun to decorate a house and it's not like after the first few months you don't run out of things to decorate, this bill isn't permanent.

Bugs = I never had any.

Lawn Maintenance = What you don't make your kids work for their allowance?

Fixing things that break = Major things of significant value don't break THAT often.

General Home Upkeep = I don't get this one... Do you mean cleaning your house? Or fixing the little things that break? I don't mind this one at all.

GENERAL SENSE OF OWNERSHIP, THAT YOU CAN PASS DOWN TO YOUR KIDS = PRICELESS!

Not to mention if you ever need a significant amount of money via a loan this can be claimed as collateral, try putting up your landlord's place as collateral and see what the bank says.

Absolutely love owning my home. All that money in payments means you'll have a place NO ONE can tell you "I sold it, your lease is up, the rent is being raised, you can't have that snake, you have HOW many rats?"
Congrats!! Major congrats. And the garage is for rats, the bedrooms for snakes, you sleep on the couch, right beside the display units.

CONGRATULATIONS!
I'm in my 3rd - and hopefully final - house. Definitely much better than rent. It's the sense of ownership that makes you want to take better care of it. Renting has that unshakeable feeling of "temporary" that makes you not want to take care of stuff as much. I guess in a way it's similar to living together versus getting married. And, every mortgage payment you put into it is still yours. It doesn't just go poof out the window. These days, it might seem like your mortgage payment is getting flushed down the toilet because the houses are depreciating faster than your payments, but it's not going to stay that way. A few years down the road you can sell your house or give it to your kids for inheritance and recoup all those mortgage payments, and if you're lucky, make money out of it! My first house, I sold it for $25,000 more than my original mortgage. My 2nd house, I sold it for $80,000 more than my original mortgage. That's how I was able to go from a 2BR house to a 4BR house with a bonus room without a big increase in mortage payments.

Owning a home was one of the worst things that happened to my family.

We currently are renting, with no taxes, free heat, in a very big rental home for less than 1000 monthly rent.

We are much happier here, being unaffected by the economy house wise.

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Originally Posted by JKExotics

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Lawn Maintenance = What you don't make your kids work for their allowance?
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GENERAL SENSE OF OWNERSHIP, THAT YOU CAN PASS DOWN TO YOUR KIDS = PRICELESS!

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What about those of us who don't have or want kids?

Then you get friends who have kids who LOVE your snakes. Then they'll come over to "help clean" the snake's bins.. and while they are there, they can do the lawn too.
Play it right, and you get free lawn maintance, free snake bin cleaning AND you don't have to care for or feed the kids either. The parents will even THANK you for taking the kids a few hours. Win- Win.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

What about those of us who don't have or want kids?

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Then you should get off your b** and do it yourself :cool: Bi-weekly summer lawn maintenance is not that hard to do. Yes I said bi-weekly we don't skimp on chores around here, and that's a good thing. Or do as the poster above me advised, get the local kid to give you a hand and give the kid a few bucks, I personally don't mind doing it myself, but my kids do it for extra allowance money so...

Or you do like I did and mulch the front yard. No mowing, no real maintanance. I have raised flower beds to fill with plants come summer.

Congrats on the house. In a few years I'm gonna be looking for another house. In the Springfield Mo area. Evansville in is pretty nice area...

Another thing about owning a house. If you don't like the walls you can rip them out and change them. If the kitchen decor gets boring you can gut it and totally do your own thing. It has been a bit expensive, but we found the neighbor hood we liked and are now making our house just what we want.
You can't get most landlords to bother with repairs in a timely manner, let alone upgrade anything. You will love having that freedom to do it your own way.

Congrats on your first house. Yes, owning a house has its share of problems and work, but the best reason for owning a home is it is an investment in yourself. Can't beat that. Yes things break, fix em. If you can't, hire a pro. Its definitely much nicer owning than dealing with landlords. I am my landlord. :D

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Originally Posted by Nate

I sure can't wait to own my own home.....but I don't understand why people get sick of rent...?

Mortgage, property taxes, interior decorations, lawn maintenance, bugs, fixing things that break, general home upkeep.....

That has to add up to atleast 3-4 times MORE than the cost of renting a place and letting the landlord deal with all that.

:confuzd:

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Mortgage. Equity
Property Taxes. Live in county, they are lower.
Decorating. I have a wife. She decorates things, I fix them.
Lawn Maintenance. I enjoy yard work. Kind of a pride thing. It is good to know you have the best lawn in the neighborhood.
Bugs. Orkin.
Fixing things. I sometimes intentionally break things just so I can go into the garage to get away from the kids. Plus it gives me an excuse to go to Home Depot.
Rent. Money that you will never ever see again. It is kind of like burning money. There is no point.

I bought my first home in 2000 for a hundred and twelve thousand. Then I deployed to Afghan shortly after 9/11. The wife moved back home, and we sold our house for a hundred and fifty thousand. We then rented for a few years after I got back while we waited on prices to drop, and bought our second home for a hundred and thirty thousand. We have been living here for just over a year, and with some minor fix ups it is now worth a hundred and forty.

But my case is not the norm in this economy. Being in a military town is akin to living in a transient community, and as the Corps is increasing its total strength, more people are moving here, and needing houses.

All in all if left to its own devises, the economy will recover, and buying a home is pretty cheap now, it is an investment.

My parents bought their home in 1977 for 62k. After some remodeling and what not, the house is now worth over 250k.

ETA: My rent on a two bed one bath apartment in a good part of town was 1100 a month. My mortgage, insurance and what not are a thousand a month for a four bed, two bath one car on a three quarter acre lot. Buy within your means and you can not go wrong.

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Originally Posted by JKExotics

Then you should get off your b** and do it yourself :cool: Bi-weekly summer lawn maintenance is not that hard to do. Yes I said bi-weekly we don't skimp on chores around here, and that's a good thing. Or do as the poster above me advised, get the local kid to give you a hand and give the kid a few bucks, I personally don't mind doing it myself, but my kids do it for extra allowance money so...

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My oldest boy is five (well was four during the summer), and already pushing the mower. It is a good father son time thing.

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Originally Posted by Nate

I sure can't wait to own my own home.....but I don't understand why people get sick of rent...?

Mortgage, property taxes, interior decorations, lawn maintenance, bugs, fixing things that break, general home upkeep.....

That has to add up to atleast 3-4 times MORE than the cost of renting a place and letting the landlord deal with all that.

:confuzd:

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ill give it to you like this. last year i rented a 2/2 in bradenton for $985/month a month. im currently renting a 4/2.5 now for $1000/month. the housing market where im at is finally dropping like its hot and now i can get a morgage for around $500-600 each month of which goes toward me owing my own home and not someone else paying off their boat.

to the op.....congrats!!! hopefully i will have a house this year! my lease is up in sept.

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Originally Posted by Lucas339

ill give it to you like this. last year i rented a 2/2 in bradenton for $985/month a month. im currently renting a 4/2.5 now for $1000/month. the housing market where im at is finally dropping like its hot and now i can get a morgage for around $500-600 each month of which goes toward me owing my own home and not someone else paying off their boat.

to the op.....congrats!!! hopefully i will have a house this year! my lease is up in sept.

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Very good point. If you (and this is not directed at you specifically) have a stable job, and buy within your means, you can not go wrong. I can't count the number of Marines that I have seen loose their houses because they puchased over their budget.

Ya know, young guy, new wife and kid, just bought a 40k car a year ago (before they got married), buys their wife a 30k car, then goes out and buys a 200k house. Mortgage 1300 a month, car payment one 500 a month, other car payment 400 a month, all on a Lance Corporal's pay. Just does not work.

I don't want to preach, we are all intelligent individuals. But live under your budget, and factor in cost increases over the next five years before you buy.

We had a hard time over the summer because we did not factor in the raise in fuel prices. Normally I take ten percent of my pay and put it away, then another ten percent goes to the church, that left us (with our original budget plan) with about 300 a month slush fund (after expenses). Well when the price of fuel rose, so obviously power and of course driving. It was costing me 4x as much to drive to work every week and 2x as much to cool our house. If we would have planned like we were living paycheck to paycheck like some people do, we could have very easily lost our home.

Congrats!
I love being a home owner~ though I guess the bank owns most of it! Oh well~ there is that nifty tax write off of all that interest on the mortgage every year. Rent would cost me about what I pay in mortgage~ but none of that is tax deductible~ none of it builds equity for me.

But the very best part of owning your own home~
No one can tell me what I can and can not do in my own home or on my property. I can be as loud as I like, and I can go out in the yard~ dig it up and put in a garden pretty much anywhere I want too.....and living in the country now~ I can put goats, chickens, rats, pigs wherever I want.........even 15 feet from the annoying neighbors front door and since it's MY property~ I CAN do that! (we pretty much agreed that if her dogs stay OFF my property from now on then I won't consider my piece of property right in front of her door to be the premier pig pen on my property.....)

Congrats!
You'll love the freedom~ even while your mowing the lawns!
~not so much while trying to dry out the basement after a flood.......but even that work is more satisfying saving something that belongs to you!

Another perspective:

Kinda like when you go to Blockbuster and rent a video game. You really don't care much for it, so you don't want to buy it. You would rather have the freedom to play it, then when you get sick of it, return it and forget it. If you still want to play, then you rent it again and again (probably would have been cheaper if you went ahead and just bought the thing). Sometimes you scratch it, you still return it and forget it.

But then you happen on this one video game that you really love to play. Well, Blockbuster comes calling they want their game back. But, you really really like it. So, you go to the store and buy the darn thing. You own it, you play it a lot, nobody will be calling to ask you to return it, and you tend to take better care of it. And, once it is all paid off, it's ALL YOURS.

Okay, probably not a good example...

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Originally Posted by anatess

Another perspective:

Kinda like when you go to Blockbuster and rent a video game. You really don't care much for it, so you don't want to buy it. You would rather have the freedom to play it, then when you get sick of it, return it and forget it. If you still want to play, then you rent it again and again (probably would have been cheaper if you went ahead and just bought the thing). Sometimes you scratch it, you still return it and forget it.

But then you happen on this one video game that you really love to play. Well, Blockbuster comes calling they want their game back. But, you really really like it. So, you go to the store and buy the darn thing. You own it, you play it a lot, nobody will be calling to ask you to return it, and you tend to take better care of it. And, once it is all paid off, it's ALL YOURS.

Okay, probably not a good example...

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That isn't a bad example. Cept the video game does not generally increase in value. The house tends to if you take care of it.

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Originally Posted by anatess

Another perspective:

Kinda like when you go to Blockbuster and rent a video game. You really don't care much for it, so you don't want to buy it. You would rather have the freedom to play it, then when you get sick of it, return it and forget it. If you still want to play, then you rent it again and again (probably would have been cheaper if you went ahead and just bought the thing). Sometimes you scratch it, you still return it and forget it.

But then you happen on this one video game that you really love to play. Well, Blockbuster comes calling they want their game back. But, you really really like it. So, you go to the store and buy the darn thing. You own it, you play it a lot, nobody will be calling to ask you to return it, and you tend to take better care of it. And, once it is all paid off, it's ALL YOURS.

Okay, probably not a good example...

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Heh... Would be funny going to your landlord's house dropping 2 or 300,000 and saying hey I love playing in your house I'l take it, by the way can I have fries with that?

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Originally Posted by Typical_08

My oldest boy is five (well was four during the summer), and already pushing the mower. It is a good father son time thing.

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I agree my daughter and I do stuff like that all the time, my son is older however and usually just takes me for my allowance money.

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Originally Posted by JKExotics

I agree my daughter and I do stuff like that all the time, my son is older however and usually just takes me for my allowance money.

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I dread that day. I am enjoying the time where he is full of questions and is willing to learn anything and everything he can. Last night we set up and cooked dinner on a Dakota stove. He had a blast.

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Originally Posted by joepythons

For you or the snakes :P.

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no for me lol

Congrats on the house.
As far as renting vs owning...I would rather own.
I hate my landlords, and my neibors. My apartment is tiny, it was infested with mice, and the landlord told me it was my problem. Our door was broken, and we had someone break in 3 times, and kept asking for a new door, it took the landlord 1yr 6months to get to it. When it snows they do not plow, leaving half of the people on this street stranded. if I open my oven I hit the fridge, bad water, no ac, can't have my motorcycles parked out front (only space for one car):taz:
I hate this place, also I did the math, with the property values around here, in the last 5 years I have payed enouph rent to own a 3-4bdrm with a yard!
I enjoy being outside, and doing yard work.
For some people renting is fine, but others need more stability in thier lives.

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Originally Posted by JKExotics

Morgage = Yes... but this goes away after a while or you simply don't have one because of an inheritance.

Property Taxes = Are annually here and equal less than the amount of one months rent.

Interior Decorations = It's actually fun to decorate a house and it's not like after the first few months you don't run out of things to decorate, this bill isn't permanent.

Bugs = I never had any.

Lawn Maintenance = What you don't make your kids work for their allowance?

Fixing things that break = Major things of significant value don't break THAT often.

General Home Upkeep = I don't get this one... Do you mean cleaning your house? Or fixing the little things that break? I don't mind this one at all.

GENERAL SENSE OF OWNERSHIP, THAT YOU CAN PASS DOWN TO YOUR KIDS = PRICELESS!

Not to mention if you ever need a significant amount of money via a loan this can be claimed as collateral, try putting up your landlord's place as collateral and see what the bank says.

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Man, I wish my parents would pass their house down to me!! 15 acres, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a Barn with an office and a studio. All heated and air conditioned.. mmm, nice.

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Originally Posted by Texas Dan

Man, I wish my parents would pass their house down to me!! 15 acres, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a Barn with an office and a studio. All heated and air conditioned.. mmm, nice.

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Well that depends if you have brothers and sisters you might get a piece of it. :)

I'm passing mine down to my kids, I would only sell it I was in a situation where it was absolutely necessary and even then I'd probably just get a loan for whatever and pay it off.