Homes vs. baubles?

[wolftress]

Date: 9/26/2007 11:28:45 PM
Author: Sparkster

Date: 9/26/2007 8:47:27 PM
Author: wolftress
I agree that it should be house first, then sparklies... but the housing market is so bad in Melbourne right now it makes no sense to buy. DH and I are also thinking if things don''t improve in the next five years or so, we might relocate to my home country, Singapore, where all young Singaporean couples get a nice sum from the government to assist in buying a house.

We would NEVER buy luxuries on credit, the only debt we have is our car loan. DH does indulge me and buy me jewellery, and I buy some myself, but never more than we can afford. Right now, I''m tempted to blow a wad of $$$ on a custom re-set for my diamond, but DH and I feel the money would be better spent elsewhere, so I have to wait... and plot... and plan....

Wolftress, I couldn''t agree with you more. I also live in Melbourne and FI and I bought our house almost 3 years ago to this date. It''s frightening how much the prices have soared since. We have a four bedroom house on about 600 sq.m. of land which. We are now thinking of downgrading and if we bought a two bedroom townhouse in the same area, we would be paying more for that 2 bedder than we did for our 4 bedder 3 years ago!! And don''t get me started on stamp duty! Do you qualify for the first home owner''s grant?

I''m an on an average wage and FI is on a high income. We live quite a comfortable life but our main priority was always to get our own home first.

Sparkster, housing prices have skyrocketed in the last year or so. DH and I really regret not buying earlier because now it''s just way out of our league and would not be a good investment at all. We do qualify for the first home owner''s grant, but I don''t think even that would be enough to offset the insane prices. We really don''t want to live out in the middle of nowhere where we''d be too far away from friends and family but those are the only affordable places at the moment.

My sister just bought a house and she thought she got a really good deal, until she found out she would have to put in another $50k into fixing the roof and other structural problems. It really scared me off looking at houses.

 

[Dandi]

Hey ladies! We live in Geelong and the prices have skyrocketed here too, it seems the trend throughout Victoria! We are in the process of selling both of our rental properties to pay off our mortgage, and will then use the capital to buy some industrial properties as investments. Paying off our mortgage means better buying power for investments, and in addition we will have more money in general, as we'll both still be earning the same money as we are now, but with no mortgage to pay... more money for shinies

The way I look at it, the longer we have a mortgage to pay off, the more interest we pay on our loan, so we save heaps of money in the long run for other things later... like shinies...

Which is pretty exciting, as we're classified as a high income couple (and as individuals too) and we live really comfortably WITH a mortgage, so without one would be a bonus.

Plus if my DF can talk me into having a baby anytime soon (he's mighty clucky) I'd be far more receptive to the idea of giving up work and raising a bubba with no mortgage over our heads!

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 9/27/2007 5:40:01 AM
Author: wolftress

Date: 9/26/2007 11:28:45 PM
Author: Sparkster

Date: 9/26/2007 8:47:27 PM
Author: wolftress
I agree that it should be house first, then sparklies... but the housing market is so bad in Melbourne right now it makes no sense to buy. DH and I are also thinking if things don''t improve in the next five years or so, we might relocate to my home country, Singapore, where all young Singaporean couples get a nice sum from the government to assist in buying a house.

We would NEVER buy luxuries on credit, the only debt we have is our car loan. DH does indulge me and buy me jewellery, and I buy some myself, but never more than we can afford. Right now, I''m tempted to blow a wad of $$$ on a custom re-set for my diamond, but DH and I feel the money would be better spent elsewhere, so I have to wait... and plot... and plan....

Wolftress, I couldn''t agree with you more. I also live in Melbourne and FI and I bought our house almost 3 years ago to this date. It''s frightening how much the prices have soared since. We have a four bedroom house on about 600 sq.m. of land which. We are now thinking of downgrading and if we bought a two bedroom townhouse in the same area, we would be paying more for that 2 bedder than we did for our 4 bedder 3 years ago!! And don''t get me started on stamp duty! Do you qualify for the first home owner''s grant?

I''m an on an average wage and FI is on a high income. We live quite a comfortable life but our main priority was always to get our own home first.

Sparkster, housing prices have skyrocketed in the last year or so. DH and I really regret not buying earlier because now it''s just way out of our league and would not be a good investment at all. We do qualify for the first home owner''s grant, but I don''t think even that would be enough to offset the insane prices. We really don''t want to live out in the middle of nowhere where we''d be too far away from friends and family but those are the only affordable places at the moment.

My sister just bought a house and she thought she got a really good deal, until she found out she would have to put in another $50k into fixing the roof and other structural problems. It really scared me off looking at houses.

Wolftress: That''s same scenario that''s happening where DH and I live. There are teeny tiny houses going for $100K+ and that''s just insane. The neighborhood we live in right now is really nice - but the houses have been over-valued by the county and that''s reflected in the home prices and the property taxes. Being that we are trying to have a baby we''d really like to stay where we''re at, but the only way we''ll be able to do that is if the scenario described in my previous post works out in our favor.

The mortgage crisis has hit my area big time. Like I said before, many of our clients are in foreclosure - most because of ARMs and poor investments overall. They are unable to refinance because of bad credit so they''re stuck. They either go into foreclosure and deal with the deficiency or file for bk and surrender the property. Neither option is very appetizing. It''s kinda hard to know where to point the finger. The clients for thinking they could afford a $130K house on an annual income of $40K? Or the mortgage companies who lended the money to the clients in the first place?

The qualifications to get a mortgage in my area right now are very tight. Even if you have steller credit (FICO of 700+) you will still need 20% down, minimum. If your score is not ideal then you can expect to put down around 30%+ and pay interest of around 8%+ with points. That can mean a lot of money down (median income for a single person in my county is $39K) and a lot of interest paid over the life of a loan. Ugghhhh.

Jess

 

[onedrop]

I''ve already commented, but after reading the posts after mine, I had to post again. I have to say that there are so many people on PS who seem to be so smart about money! For the record, I am not as money-conscious as I would like to be, but I have a great financial advisor so that helps. But reading here I am learning that there are more things that hubby and I could and should be doing in order to put ourselves into an even better financial position. This is a great thread.....Thanks ALL!

 

[Independent Gal]

Just wanted to say... y''all were giving me the jitters, so I just checked recent sales and asking prices in my neighbourhood and my ''hood isn''t going up as fast as it was, but it sure isn''t going down either. Yay!

 

[UCLABelle]

We own about 1/4 of our home , as we just bought it. But, we used a good portion of our cash on diamonds, cars, food, etc...and only a small portion on a down-payment (we got some help from the parents).

However, I would put money into a house before jewelry, in hindsight....Luckily, we could do both. And we are happy and comfortable now (for being recent grads).

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/27/2007 11:59:05 AM
Author: UCLABelle
We own about 1/4 of our home , as we just bought it. But, we used a good portion of our cash on diamonds, cars, food, etc...and only a small portion on a down-payment (we got some help from the parents).

However, I would put money into a house before jewelry, in hindsight....Luckily, we could do both. And we are happy and comfortable now (for being recent grads).

Owning one quarter of your home is really ahead of the game! Congrats.

Last night I was calculating out how much more my husband and I would have to pay per month so that our house would be paid off in 20 instead of 30 years and it's not that much more! It may be more than we can pay every single month right now, but I think every few hundred extra helps, so that's my goal. I would like to have it paid off in 20 yrs, but I admit, that I already have a small sum set aside for a diamond purchase in Dec, so. . . that may mean one less accelerated pmt. lol

Independent Gal - I was checking house prices too. My neighbors (down the road) have their house on the market and are asking *double* what we paid (their house is a bit bigger), but the house is just sitting on the market! lol Since we bought our house, it's gone up about 25% over the sale price, and we're set in a 30 yr. fixed with no plans to sell, so I guess it doesn't matter how quickly the market is moving at this point. I think we could sell for more (within reason), but the neighbors of ours are dreaming with what they are asking!

 

[Mara]

for those looking at getting into a first property, definitely consider a newer townhouse. we did this and we don''t have to deal with any type of repairs...we just pay our HOA. the HOA isn''t cheap at $200 a month, but we don''t have to really deal with anything which is a huge perk. and we don''t intend to stay there too long. a house is def more work than th or condo. and we don''t really have a yard to care for though i do have a huge patio garden (our patio is about 13x30 and wraps around our th as we have an end unit). my parents were advocating getting only a house and not a th but our th has appreciated way more than most houses around our area. so it was really a good decision for us at the time. now we are trying to figure out what to do next....aka stay for another few years or move.

 

[partgypsy]

Normally I am all for the not spend on jewelry if have debt, but I know that I will have a dilemma on my hands next year! Next year for my birthday I want to get a pair of diamond earrings (600-1000) range. However by that time next year will have about $65K left on our mortgage, and more important about $7000 in a home equity line of credit due to puting in replacement windows this summer. However no other debts and savings in a money market account. I KNOW I should wait till I have that line of credit completely paid off, but don''t know if I will have the patience. I guess there is always room for improvement

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 9/27/2007 12:50:46 PM
Author: Mara
for those looking at getting into a first property, definitely consider a newer townhouse. we did this and we don''t have to deal with any type of repairs...we just pay our HOA. the HOA isn''t cheap at $200 a month, but we don''t have to really deal with anything which is a huge perk. and we don''t intend to stay there too long. a house is def more work than th or condo. and we don''t really have a yard to care for though i do have a huge patio garden (our patio is about 13x30 and wraps around our th as we have an end unit). my parents were advocating getting only a house and not a th but our th has appreciated way more than most houses around our area. so it was really a good decision for us at the time. now we are trying to figure out what to do next....aka stay for another few years or move.

I think buying a townhome is a great idea for some. In my area, however, there are not may townhomes available for sale, although you can usually find ones to rent. My mom and I were just talking about this other other day. In bigger cities it''s not unusual to purchase an apartment or townhome whereas in our area an apartment or townhome is almost strictly for renters.

My parents are also very gung-ho about being a homeowner and they scolded us for not buying a house right after we got married. They didn''t (and don''t) seem to understand that we are not in a position to buy right at this minute and it takes time. If they want to fork $30K over for a downpayment then we''ll gladly take it, but I know they don''t have that kind of money sitting around.

Values in my particular neighborhood are going up, but values are going down in the city as a whole. People are moving out of this area due to a lack of good paying jobs and unsteady economy. Factories are shutting down and/or laying off people and there isn''t anywhere else for the workers to go where they can match or exceed their current pay. A glimpse of the want ads in the Sunday paper shows this. Many of the jobs advertised pay only $8.00 - $10.00 per hour with minimal benefits and certainly does not include healthcare/health insurance. It''s really a sad situation.

Houses are sitting on the market longer and longer as well. My parents are looking to downsize and have had their eye on a particular house for a while now. They''ve been through it, qualified for a mortgage, made an offer for the list price and the owners rejected it! The house has been on the market for two years! There are also several houses in my neighborhood that have been on the market for about a year or so, which is unusual since we live in the #3 school district in the area (State? County? Don''t remember) and having an address in our zip code gives the impression of a certain "affluency" (if that''s even a word). Again, I think it has a lot to do with declining wages, lack of jobs, skyrocketing property values/taxes and not having enough people to qualify for a mortgage.

I can say that when DH and I are ready to buy, we will be getting a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and plan to put down around 25-30% - depending on the appraisal of our house. If we are able to escrow our rent like we want to we should have no problems accomplishing this and then having a pretty good nest egg in the bank to go with it.

Jess

 

[Picos]

We rent because thats all we can afford. Everything that we buy (last big purchase for fiance was the ring and it was saved up for a year in cash). My last big purchase was under 100; it was grocceries! Seriously, we don''t buy. Once we get a credit card we''re going to buy an inexpesive bed and a few others but that would probably be after the new year.

We''re def. not young yuppies with expensive stuff who still rent; we both work in the ''city and probably are going to move around alot in the next 2 years. The city we live in is huge so buying a house/condo today may mean an hour commute tomorrow.

Once we settle more, we''ll buy one of those "no credit" cute starter homes or a older condo.

 

[chrono]

We started with the usual 30 year loan, then decided that an extra 2 payments per year would really bring down the time factor to around 22 years without much hit to the pocket. When the interest rate took a nosedive, we refinanced for 15 years while still paying just a bit more. I feel so proud to be able to own my own home (mortgage free) before I am 50! The timing is just right for college too: as soon as the house totally is paid for, it''s time to pay for my children''s higher education.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 9/27/2007 2:48:59 PM
Author: Chrono
We started with the usual 30 year loan, then decided that an extra 2 payments per year would really bring down the time factor to around 22 years without much hit to the pocket. When the interest rate took a nosedive, we refinanced for 15 years while still paying just a bit more. I feel so proud to be able to own my own home (mortgage free) before I am 50! The timing is just right for college too: as soon as the house totally is paid for, it's time to pay for my children's higher education.

Chrono we did the same thing about 5 years ago so I am so excited to own our house sooner!!! We also pay a bit more too. Yay Chrono; isn't a great feeling

 

[Fly Girl]

Home definitely comes first. We purchased our house (3 BR, 1200 sq. feet, 1 bath, 1 car garage) 25 years ago, and paid it off several years ago when I got an inheritance. We could afford a much larger house, but why? Just more to clean, and I hate cleaning. College for the kids is in the bank due to fortunate stocks that we purchased when they were young. Some advice that worked for us. Live beneath your means. (Yes, that means in a poorer neighborhood and no expensive baubles. My kids had friends that shopped at the food shelf. So today, they live prudently, and do not buy expensive toys.) Try to live on one income and bank the other income. (I know, tough to do these days.) The cost of one year of college is approximately the same as a new car. (Do you want to pay for a Saturn education, or a BMW education?) My diamond upgrade came when my company sold and we employees received a very nice bonus. I think nice bonuses should go for the extras in life. They are the beautiful rewards for years of hard work.

 

[chrono]

Date: 9/27/2007 3:00:32 PM
Author: Skippy123
Chrono we did the same thing about 5 years ago so I am so excited to own our house sooner!!! We also pay a bit more too. Yay Chrono; isn''t a great feeling

Absolutely.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 9/27/2007 2:36:32 PM
Author: Picos
We rent because thats all we can afford. Everything that we buy (last big purchase for fiance was the ring and it was saved up for a year in cash). My last big purchase was under 100; it was grocceries! Seriously, we don''t buy. Once we get a credit card we''re going to buy an inexpesive bed and a few others but that would probably be after the new year.

We''re def. not young yuppies with expensive stuff who still rent; we both work in the ''city and probably are going to move around alot in the next 2 years. The city we live in is huge so buying a house/condo today may mean an hour commute tomorrow.

Once we settle more, we''ll buy one of those ''no credit'' cute starter homes or a older condo.

My DH and I are practically in the same situation - and the really sad part is that rents are getting to be so high that if our estate housing deal falls through we''ll be basically homeless. Then you have to consider that we have four pets - and good luck finding a landlord that will allow that! A decent 2 bedroom apartment in our area is around $750+ per month, not including utilties or deposits. That''s a bit out of reach for us - even if we could find an apartment with all of our "kids". When we lived in an apartment before we always ran into the rent jacking once the lease was up - thus forcing us to move every 12 months and that''s not something that we ever want to do again.

We don''t have a lot of material possessions. We have the usual household goods but we do not have granite countertops, stainless steel appliances or a Dyson because that is beyond our means. The in-laws gave us their old washer and dryer and the fridge and stove came with the house - and they are probably around 15-20 years old. My coveted Longaberger wroght iron end tables were gifts from my aunts for Christmas. The only expensive thing we have is our bed frame/mattress. We saved and saved and saved to pay cash for them and it was the best money we ever spent! We do have leather furniture, but again we had to save for a long time to be able to afford it without going into debt - we always take advantage of layaway when it''s available.

Jess

 

[partgypsy]

You guys are so good!

 

[lyra]

Home first, as soon as possible. Then, pour a bunch of money into fixing up the house. Finish everything, then buy a different house, repeat times 4-5.

Just when feeling financially stable, start sending kids to university. Jewellery for me: usually only in the case of allocating funds from a large cash bonus, and even then, other things are much higher in priority.

Things are a lot different in Canada. Our tax system makes it extremely hard to get into housing. There are no tax deductions for owning a home at all. When you buy a home, you pay sales tax of some sort too. We Canadians tend not to stay in the same house for much longer than 5 years--I don't know why, but that's just the way it is here on average. Until very recently, there was no such thing as a 30 year mortgage, although in some circumstances, you can buy a home with just 5% down. Conventional mortgages require a minimum of 25% down. Renters get no advantage tax-wise either.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/27/2007 1:08:04 PM
Author: part gypsy
Normally I am all for the not spend on jewelry if have debt, but I know that I will have a dilemma on my hands next year! Next year for my birthday I want to get a pair of diamond earrings (600-1000) range. However by that time next year will have about $65K left on our mortgage, and more important about $7000 in a home equity line of credit due to puting in replacement windows this summer. However no other debts and savings in a money market account. I KNOW I should wait till I have that line of credit completely paid off, but don''t know if I will have the patience. I guess there is always room for improvement

No way, you GOTTA get the earrings. When I say house or baubles, I mean postponing a house purchase to get diamonds instead. I''m quite a ways from paying off my house loan and I DO have a car loan as does my husband, but went ahead and bought a new pair of earrings and a roberto coin pendant in June/July! You HAVE TO have some fun

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/27/2007 12:50:46 PM
Author: Mara
for those looking at getting into a first property, definitely consider a newer townhouse. we did this and we don''t have to deal with any type of repairs...we just pay our HOA. the HOA isn''t cheap at $200 a month, but we don''t have to really deal with anything which is a huge perk. and we don''t intend to stay there too long. a house is def more work than th or condo. and we don''t really have a yard to care for though i do have a huge patio garden (our patio is about 13x30 and wraps around our th as we have an end unit). my parents were advocating getting only a house and not a th but our th has appreciated way more than most houses around our area. so it was really a good decision for us at the time. now we are trying to figure out what to do next....aka stay for another few years or move.

I was looking at a few condos the other day that had just been built. They''re 10 min from my house and I thought, oh I should get a small unit and keep it for myself to run away to when my kids/DH are driving me nuts. But, the prices were out of control. The size of the condos were 1 bd. 1 bath 1,100 sq ft. for $495K and the prices for the 1700 sq ft were $695K. There were in a little "town center" urban delopment and have a great view of Pier One Imports

I''d love to get a condo, though, when I''m older and the kids are all grown up. Maybe when I''m 60.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/27/2007 1:38:47 PM
Author: DivaDiamond007

I can say that when DH and I are ready to buy, we will be getting a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and plan to put down around 25-30% - depending on the appraisal of our house. If we are able to escrow our rent like we want to we should have no problems accomplishing this and then having a pretty good nest egg in the bank to go with it.

Jess

Jess - approximately where do you live? You mentioned that small houses are going for $100K +. Is that correct?

Oh, sorry for posting all seperate posts (just in case it's annoying anyone

). It's easier for me when my kids are making tons of noise playing with legos.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

We paid off the house before I got my upgrade/anniversary diamond and upgraded diamond studs. We could get a bigger and better house, but I just don''t have the desire to get into debt again. We pay cash for cars, too. I just like knowing that my husband will be able to retire early if he wants to. I want to enjoy life a little and not have money tied up in a mortgage forever.

 

[Beacon]

Diamonds are nice, but I would rather have cash than diamonds. There I said it!!

I think young people should save their money and acquire a decent portfolio of investments and not sink all their money into luxe stuff. The reason is that when you are young, if you are lucky/smart enuf to save some money aside, it has a long time to compound and turn into a bigger bunch of money.

Rent/own, well that is up to you and where you live. If you live in a cruddy area it may well be better to rent. If you are buying in an overinflated market like we used to have, well you better not. A house is just another form of an investment and not necessarily the greatest one. I like securites better than physical real estate, but that is just me. Over the long run houses go up in value so they are not an awful investment but they are illiquid, produce no income, require maintenance, may be destroyed, on and on. Best to keep your asset base diversified and certainly the bulk of your net worth should not be in your personal residence.

Either way, the idea is that you should put money into things that can gain value over time, especially when you are young. If you go into debt to buy a big diamond or designer purses, you are on your way to trouble later in life!

Don't get me wrong, I love my jewels, but they are toys and toys come quite far down the priority list!

 

[Haven]

Date: 9/27/2007 1:33:49 AM
Author: musey

Date: 9/26/2007 10:49:05 PM

Author: Haven


FI and I do not buy anything using credit (other than cars and homes, and only if we can pay them off in less than have the length of the loan,) so FI paid for my e-ring with cash. For me, charging an engagement ring would have felt terribly irresponsible. Everyone makes different choices, though, and personally I enjoy the security of knowing that I live far below my means.

But again, there has to be that distinction between paying for a ring on credit, letting the balance sit and incur interest...


-OR-


Charging it and paying the balance off before your interest kicks in. I don''t think there''s anything irresponsible about paying with credit when the balance is paid off monthly (or however often you receive statements).


I don''t know which (or both) of those scenarios you''re saying is irresponsible, but it seems that whenever we talk about purchasing on credit people confuse the two, assuming that the posters who view purchasing on credit as ''bad'' are referring to using a credit card at all.


Aaaaaanyway!

OF COURSE the assumption is that (FOR ME) it would have felt irresponsible to purchase a ring on credit if he would not have been able to pay it off immediately. That seemed like a pretty obvious inference, especially considering this response was part of a discussion about purchasing things you can only afford using credit vs. purchasing items within your means.

I even qualified the statement by saying "Everyone makes different choices, though, and personally I enjoy the security of knowing that I live far below my means."

Sheesh.

I''m sure you''d be hard-pressed to find someone who is critical of the habit of using credit cards and paying off the total balance monthly. This seems like a non-issue to me. Of course, I would never venture to criticize anyone''s spending habits, only to share my own, which is what I was simply trying to do here.

 

[Dandi]

Date: 9/27/2007 3:00:32 PM
Author: Skippy123

Date: 9/27/2007 2:48:59 PM
Author: Chrono
We started with the usual 30 year loan, then decided that an extra 2 payments per year would really bring down the time factor to around 22 years without much hit to the pocket. When the interest rate took a nosedive, we refinanced for 15 years while still paying just a bit more. I feel so proud to be able to own my own home (mortgage free) before I am 50! The timing is just right for college too: as soon as the house totally is paid for, it''s time to pay for my children''s higher education.

Chrono we did the same thing about 5 years ago so I am so excited to own our house sooner!!! We also pay a bit more too. Yay Chrono; isn''t a great feeling

That''s sensational ladies, congratulations!!

We''ll be in that boat (the mortgage free boat

) within the next couple of years, and just the thought gives me such a buzz! It''s amazing the exponential effect that making extra payments has!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 9/28/2007 7:37:14 AM
Author: DandiAndi

Date: 9/27/2007 3:00:32 PM
Author: Skippy123

Date: 9/27/2007 2:48:59 PM
Author: Chrono
We started with the usual 30 year loan, then decided that an extra 2 payments per year would really bring down the time factor to around 22 years without much hit to the pocket. When the interest rate took a nosedive, we refinanced for 15 years while still paying just a bit more. I feel so proud to be able to own my own home (mortgage free) before I am 50! The timing is just right for college too: as soon as the house totally is paid for, it''s time to pay for my children''s higher education.

Chrono we did the same thing about 5 years ago so I am so excited to own our house sooner!!! We also pay a bit more too. Yay Chrono; isn''t a great feeling

That''s sensational ladies, congratulations!!

We''ll be in that boat (the mortgage free boat

) within the next couple of years, and just the thought gives me such a buzz! It''s amazing the exponential effect that making extra payments has!

DandiAndi, That is so awesome congrats!!! It will feel great to not have a mortgage; think of all the extra money you won''t have to throw at the house a month. heheee

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 9/27/2007 7:09:24 PM
Author: MC

Date: 9/27/2007 1:38:47 PM
Author: DivaDiamond007

I can say that when DH and I are ready to buy, we will be getting a 30 year fixed rate mortgage and plan to put down around 25-30% - depending on the appraisal of our house. If we are able to escrow our rent like we want to we should have no problems accomplishing this and then having a pretty good nest egg in the bank to go with it.

Jess

Jess - approximately where do you live? You mentioned that small houses are going for $100K +. Is that correct?

Oh, sorry for posting all seperate posts (just in case it''s annoying anyone

). It''s easier for me when my kids are making tons of noise playing with legos.

I live in Northwest Ohio. The neighborhood that my parents are looking at has houses that are mostly 800sqft-1100sqft and usually go for around $90K-$130K. The public school district is okay - but just okay and the property taxes are slightly high for the......quality(?) of the homes. My neighborhood has bigger homes - around 900sqft-2000sqft+ and go for $110K-$200K+. My neighborhood has one of the best public school systems in the area and the property taxes are very high.

The house that DH and I live in is 760sqft and is valued by the county at $102K and the property taxes are about $1900/year. Realistically, nobody in their right mind would pay more than ~$80K for our house and the property taxes should be reduced accordingly. If we end up buying the house we will be contesting the value with the county to have the taxes reduced.

Like I said before, housing prices in this area are high compared to the median income. For a single person is around $39K per year and for a married couple with no dependents I think it''s around $47K per year.

Jess

 

[Picos]

style="WIDTH: 99%; HEIGHT: 197px">Date: 9/27/2007 4:36:35 PM
Author: DivaDiamond007

Date: 9/27/2007 2:36:32 PM
Author: Picos
We rent because thats all we can afford. Everything that we buy (last big purchase for fiance was the ring and it was saved up for a year in cash). My last big purchase was under 100; it was grocceries! Seriously, we don''t buy. Once we get a credit card we''re going to buy an inexpesive bed and a few others but that would probably be after the new year.

We''re def. not young yuppies with expensive stuff who still rent; we both work in the ''city and probably are going to move around alot in the next 2 years. The city we live in is huge so buying a house/condo today may mean an hour commute tomorrow.

Once we settle more, we''ll buy one of those ''no credit'' cute starter homes or a older condo.

My DH and I are practically in the same situation - and the really sad part is that rents are getting to be so high that if our estate housing deal falls through we''ll be basically homeless. Then you have to consider that we have four pets - and good luck finding a landlord that will allow that! A decent 2 bedroom apartment in our area is around $750+ per month, not including utilties or deposits. That''s a bit out of reach for us - even if we could find an apartment with all of our ''kids''. When we lived in an apartment before we always ran into the rent jacking once the lease was up - thus forcing us to move every 12 months and that''s not something that we ever want to do again.

We don''t have a lot of material possessions. We have the usual household goods but we do not have granite countertops, stainless steel appliances or a Dyson because that is beyond our means. The in-laws gave us their old washer and dryer and the fridge and stove came with the house - and they are probably around 15-20 years old. My coveted Longaberger wroght iron end tables were gifts from my aunts for Christmas. The only expensive thing we have is our bed frame/mattress. We saved and saved and saved to pay cash for them and it was the best money we ever spent! We do have leather furniture, but again we had to save for a long time to be able to afford it without going into debt - we always take advantage of layaway when it''s available.

Jess

I hate rent jacking! My old rent went up from just under $700 to over $900 in a matter of a year and 6 months. Everyone in the area had rent increases for some reason; We were so lucky to find a one bedroom for just $700.

Here in the South, new house prices are cheaper compared to the north, but to get a house we''d have to save for the down payment. If we had the down payment, then we could have a $500 a month payment on a condo in the area. It''s so sad that a condo is cheaper than a flat!

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 9/26/2007 4:01:11 PM
Author: MC

Yep, people have a harder time equating debit card with actual cash. It's like disassociative spending when using a debit card.

See, I"m just the opposite.

In my younger day, I'd withdraw cash from the bank to cover my weekend, and because money wouldn't be available to me from noon Saturday until Monday, I ended up taking out more than what I needed. Having that cash in hand felt like I had money to burn.

I thought when debit cards came around I'd be BROKE because then I'd be able to get to my funds all the time. The exact opposite happened.....now that I no longer had to worry about not having $$ when I needed it, I had less on hand, and that made me FEEL poorer.

Sure, I can still use the card, but I only end up using it for what I reeeeeeally want, and it makes me think twice about impulse purchases.

Now I HATE walking around with cash.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/28/2007 4:16:58 PM
Author: aljdewey

Sure, I can still use the card, but I only end up using it for what I reeeeeeally want, and it makes me think twice about impulse purchases.

Maybe it''s just me then. I''m a terrible impulse shopper! I''m always buying stuff without really needing it or planning to make that specific purchase ahead of time, but I am mostly happy with my purchases. Occasionally I return stuff.