I have been working my tail off finding the perfect house. I found it and they accepted my offer! So now I get to wait until closing so I can get my keys and feel like a big girl! It's has central air (big plus) three bedrooms (all mine) hardwood floors, attached garage, new siding, new windows, a new roof and an acre of land outside city limits... oh, and I have a deck with a kickass view of the country! At least I got to be on the good end of this foreclosure. Now I have my very own house that I can slit my wrists in! Go me!
Grats on your new home. Glad to hear you have hardwoods, blood is a bitch to get out of carpet and could possibly, especially if you live in an area with stigmatized property laws, decrease the value of your home. Yay for foreclosures.
Only once it's paid off, surely? Otherwise it's a fucking millstone of a debt. And yes before you say it, I do own my own home, but only until I hash up paying for it then it's the banks. Wose thing I ever did, getting a fucking mortgage. *weeps for his days of carefree spending on drugs, alcohol, fine food, out with my mates and motorbikes*
Maybe in the UK it is not a good investment, but here it is. Reason 1 - The US tax structure allows a 100% deduction for mortgage interest. Since mortgage interest is usually a large part of the early years of the loan, this allows an individual the opportunity to meet the minimum amount of deduction for itemization. Basically, those who are used to filing the "short form" can now file the "long form". Typical tax savings can be thousands of dollars a year. Reason 2. The average house in the US appreciates at least 5-10% per year. This means that a house that cost 100K today should be worth 200K in 15 years when the mortgage pays off. Reason 3. Home ownership is a forced savings plan. Every month, whether you like it or not, a portion of your payment is applied to principal. In other words, you are building equity. Equity is built through actual payment and appreciation, so it is a double saving account in a sense. Reason 4 - Once equity is built in the home, you can borrow money against it on a home equity line of credit. (HELOC) This money is available at prime or even below since it is secured with property. You can also pay "interest only" if you invest it. This can save tons of money as compared to credit cards or conventional loans. It can also open up money making investments that you could not do otherwise. Reason 5 - You can hide bodies in the basement, and there is no landlord to snoop around and find them. The savings in legal fees is substantial. Barry
I got my house a little over a year ago and I still think it was the best decision of my life. It sucks writing that $400 check to a landlord every month, when they don't put any of that money back into the property. My apartment rent went up every 6 months, while the quality went down every 2 months. I love my house.
Good luck Nauseous!!!! I'm glad ya found a place you wanted, I know you've been looking for one for a bit. CONGRATS!!! P.S. I could come over and watch football in your new pad if ya want! :wink:
The thins we own end up owning us. My car owns me. But, I love it and do what I can to take care of it. If you see where I'm going with this.
Thanks everyone! (Dubya... you're a drag) If I could have a big fugly party, you'd all be invited to come over and paint and huff gasoline. Moneywise, it's going to be cheaper than renting the house I live in now. Unless something breaks and then it's my problem. My advice to anyone looking for a house would be to go the 'for sale by owner' route. The process that I am going through now is totally fucking unnecessary: The foreclosure bank accepted my offer, so they sent their agent the paperwork who in turn, sent it to the listing agent of the house, the listing agent sent it to my realtor who had me sign the papers... THEN my agent gives it to the listing agent who gives it to the bank's agent who gives it to the bank to sign and then they send it back to their agent who sends it to the listing agent who sends it to my realtor who sends it to my mortgage agent. (I'm waiting on the bank to sign their half now, so it's not 'set in stone') The foreclosure bank wants to close by the Aug 30th. If not, I get charged 100/day for everyday after that. My mortgage agent wants to close by the Aug 17th, so my interest rate can stay locked in. I had to wait two weeks for the bank to accept my offer, I had to offer MORE than what they were asking and give them 1500 bucks 'earnest' just so they would even look at my offer. This is how bad I wanted this house. And the listing agent for the house has been nothing but a royal pain in the ass and has lied to us repeatedly. If it weren't for me finding the bank's online bidding website, I would have probably never even had my offer turned in. This cunt is getting a complaint filed against her after all of this is over. Now I have to rely on other people to do their jobs efficiently or I am fucked. Considering that I am a control freak and a paranoid fuck, this has caused me to have chronic diarrhea and countless sleepless nights. I also think that I have skin cancer and my ovarian cyst is back and I may have non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I sleep with a 20 gauge and I have nightmares every night. If this deal falls through, I'm hanging myself in the tree out front with a sign that says "God Bless This House".
Sorry Nauseous, I was in a crabby bastard mood, I'd just paid the mortgage repayment... Barry you're quite correct. See previous sentence for an explanation of my misguided rant. In reply to Dr. B - I get on quite well with my neighbour. I'm shagging her.
Don't slit your wrists until you see how very little the mortgage interest actually reduces your taxes. Then feel free.
You are missing the advantage here M. Each year a house appreciates in value. I bought a house in October 2004 for 250K. It is now worth over 300K. I made 50K just by owning. Plus every month my payment builds equity. The tax savings are a bonus. Renting is fine if you are not sure you will stay for over a year. Other than that, buying is a proven money maker. Barry
...with tears and a quivering lip.... I believe this is the first time anyone on this forum has credited me with being correct about anything. Maybe my life really does have meaning after all! Barry
