|
|
Post by bellatrixgotlost on Feb 26, 2024 10:35:38 GMT -6
I'm currently in the house hunting process. My dd starts Jr high next year, and I'm trying my best to stay in her school district. I found a house, but it's nowhere near being my dream home.
There is so little inventory it's ridiculous.
So, in your opinion: Should I go for the house, keep searching or just continue to pay too much in rent because the market is currently shit?
|
|
|
|
Post by thechickencoop on Feb 26, 2024 10:45:43 GMT -6
I think the expectation of a "dream home", "forever home", etc will always just lead you to disappointment.
I'd make a list of your priorities. If school district is #1, then check!
Enough space you you, DD, (your mom?), check!
Then whatever else are your must haves, like number of baths, parking, neighborhood, etc. You're NEVER going to get all of your boxes checked.
Excited for you!!! 💜
|
|
leahcar
Sapphire
Posts: 4,500 Likes: 18,859 
|
Post by leahcar on Feb 26, 2024 11:24:36 GMT -6
I agree with thechickencoop 's advice on your must haves. Make a list of what you cannot compromise on (school district, what else?) and then your "nice to have" items. You'll never get everything, but don't settle unless you can check the must have boxes. You can ask your realtor- or find online- average closing costs for your area to buy & sell. Then I would those costs and divide them by the amount you'd be saving by owning instead of renting. You're essentially giving yourself permission to move in X years this way. As long as you stay at least ___ time, the house made financial sense for your family. Inventory and rates will both likely get better, but I seriously think it will be YEARS of a compressed market. Besides, your own needs in a house will change a lot once your DD is an adult. For me personally- I do not plan to stay in this house forever. It would be too much to maintain in retirement and we wouldn't need this amount of space without the kids here. We have a full bath and bedroom downstairs so that I * could * stay. But that's not my current plan. I want to downsize once we're empty nesters and don't have to worry about school districts. |
|
brux
Diamond
Posts: 35,330 Likes: 282,461
|
Post by brux on Feb 26, 2024 11:28:20 GMT -6
Good advice so far, but I wanted to add that there's no requirement that you need to own a home to be a good adult.
Interest rates suck, inventory sucks, and I don't see those things changing in the next few years. Also, owning a home sucks because you have to mow lawns and shove snow and repair things.
If renting in your preferred school district is a possibility and it gets you a nice place to live for a reasonable price, I just don't think about renting as a poor use of money. It's just a different use of money than owning a home is.
|
|
|
|
Post by bellatrixgotlost on Feb 26, 2024 11:59:07 GMT -6
Good advice so far, but I wanted to add that there's no requirement that you need to own a home to be a good adult. Interest rates suck, inventory sucks, and I don't see those things changing in the next few years. Also, owning a home sucks because you have to mow lawns and shove snow and repair things. If renting in your preferred school district is a possibility and it gets you a nice place to live for a reasonable price, I just don't think about renting as a poor use of money. It's just a different use of money than owning a home is. I wasn't saying that at all. I've lived in my apartment going on 4 years. When I first moved here it was affordable, and now rent is more than a mortgage would be. I'd rather invest in eventually equity. |
|
brux
Diamond
Posts: 35,330 Likes: 282,461
|
Post by brux on Feb 26, 2024 12:11:58 GMT -6
Good advice so far, but I wanted to add that there's no requirement that you need to own a home to be a good adult. Interest rates suck, inventory sucks, and I don't see those things changing in the next few years. Also, owning a home sucks because you have to mow lawns and shove snow and repair things. If renting in your preferred school district is a possibility and it gets you a nice place to live for a reasonable price, I just don't think about renting as a poor use of money. It's just a different use of money than owning a home is. I wasn't saying that at all. I've lived in my apartment going on 4 years. When I first moved here it was affordable, and now rent is more than a mortgage would be. I'd rather invest in eventually equity. Ah. If rent is more expensive than a mortgage, then it totally agree with your plan. That’s not really the case in my neck of the woods because of interest rates, high house prices and high property taxes. |
|
|
|
Post by GhoatMonket on Feb 26, 2024 12:14:16 GMT -6
Good advice so far, but I wanted to add that there's no requirement that you need to own a home to be a good adult. Interest rates suck, inventory sucks, and I don't see those things changing in the next few years. Also, owning a home sucks because you have to mow lawns and shove snow and repair things. If renting in your preferred school district is a possibility and it gets you a nice place to live for a reasonable price, I just don't think about renting as a poor use of money. It's just a different use of money than owning a home is. I wasn't saying that at all. I've lived in my apartment going on 4 years. When I first moved here it was affordable, and now rent is more than a mortgage would be. I'd rather invest in eventually equity. Rent is always more than a mortgage unless the market is oversaturated with inventory. |
|
brux
Diamond
Posts: 35,330 Likes: 282,461
|
Post by brux on Feb 26, 2024 12:23:51 GMT -6
I wasn't saying that at all. I've lived in my apartment going on 4 years. When I first moved here it was affordable, and now rent is more than a mortgage would be. I'd rather invest in eventually equity. Rent is always more than a mortgage unless the market is oversaturated with inventory. I'm not an academic in the subject, but while this was generally true pre-2021, I don't know if it's true across the board anymore. It sounds like for Bellatrix it is, so then buying makes sense for her. For my MN friends who are renting, I like to remind them that homeownership can be *a* goal, but it doesn't have to be if houses are expensive and borrowing costs remain so high. |
|
sterling
Global Moderator 
GD
Posts: 15,047
Likes: 130,313
|
Post by sterling on Feb 26, 2024 12:25:42 GMT -6
I wasn't saying that at all. I've lived in my apartment going on 4 years. When I first moved here it was affordable, and now rent is more than a mortgage would be. I'd rather invest in eventually equity. Rent is always more than a mortgage unless the market is oversaturated with inventory. This is not true in California. |
|
AmyG
Ruby
Posts: 15,372
Likes: 33,957
|
Post by AmyG on Feb 26, 2024 12:27:15 GMT -6
Rent is always more than a mortgage unless the market is oversaturated with inventory. This is not true in California. It's usually been a perk of renting here in az. Lower rent than mortgage costs Now you can't afford to live anywhere rent or buy |
|
|
|
Post by gallagher on Feb 26, 2024 12:40:30 GMT -6
While it's not your dream home, does it have the potential to be with renovations that you could afford even if it takes some time? If so, I'd go for it.
|
|
STP
Diamond
Posts: 43,336
Likes: 314,830
|
Post by STP on Feb 26, 2024 12:58:54 GMT -6
Good advice so far, but I wanted to add that there's no requirement that you need to own a home to be a good adult. Interest rates suck, inventory sucks, and I don't see those things changing in the next few years. Also, owning a home sucks because you have to mow lawns and shove snow and repair things. If renting in your preferred school district is a possibility and it gets you a nice place to live for a reasonable price, I just don't think about renting as a poor use of money. It's just a different use of money than owning a home is. I fucking love renting. And I so agree that it's the opposite of poor use of money depending on too many factors to reasonably advise on a forum. I have no real desire to own again ANY time soon. |
|
brux
Diamond
Posts: 35,330 Likes: 282,461
|
Post by brux on Feb 26, 2024 13:03:52 GMT -6
Good advice so far, but I wanted to add that there's no requirement that you need to own a home to be a good adult. Interest rates suck, inventory sucks, and I don't see those things changing in the next few years. Also, owning a home sucks because you have to mow lawns and shove snow and repair things. If renting in your preferred school district is a possibility and it gets you a nice place to live for a reasonable price, I just don't think about renting as a poor use of money. It's just a different use of money than owning a home is. I fucking love renting. And I so agree that it's the opposite of poor use of money depending on too many factors to reasonably advise on a forum. I have no real desire to own again ANY time soon. If only because I never want to shovel snow, I would rent. A good friend of mine has said from time to time that she feels like she should buy a house because she's in her 40s and that's what she thinks she should do. But also she has really specific areas of where she wants to live, and buying is clearly more expensive in that area. I was chiming in this thread in case that was part of OP's motivation in looking to buy. Renting is cool! |
|
roselab
Silver
Posts: 308 Likes: 526
|
Post by roselab on Feb 26, 2024 13:24:45 GMT -6
Have you met with a realtor yet? Do they expect inventory to increase at any point in the near future? (I know they can't predict those things for sure, but in my experience what they've said would happen in our area is what actually happened). Do you have any reason to think that something closer to your dream house would be attainable at some point in the future?
I'll share that when we moved to our current area, dh was separating from the military and finishing his residency. So we took a pay cut from leaving the military, and pay during residency is not great, but we knew in 5 years he would then be an attending and have a pay increase. We wanted to be in a specific school district and only had a short time to look, so when we moved we bought a house that was a downsize from our previous houses and definitely wasn't exactly what we wanted. Even though we knew it wasn't going to be our forever home, I HATED living there for many of the years we were there (7 in total). We were bursting at the seams, literally had 2 rooms just full of 'stuff' that had nowhere else to go (one was a home office, the other was the guest room), and I literally felt embarrassed for anyone to come over because the house was always a mess just because there was no room to put stuff away. When we finally moved, we had a much better idea of what would actually work for us. We've been in our current house for 3 years now, and it gives me so much relief to love our house so much.
If it makes financial sense for you to own a home rather than rent, I think there's a big difference between buying a house that isn't ideal but can be fixed to work well and still make you happy, and settling for a house that you can live with but has things about it that will make you miserable.
|
|
brux
Diamond
Posts: 35,330 Likes: 282,461
|
Post by brux on Feb 26, 2024 13:30:33 GMT -6
brux , do you have any options to service out snow shoveling??? I swear every landscape company around offers snow removal services here if you can afford it. They do, but they only come out if there's more than an inch of snow, and then it can be within 24 hours of snowfall. It's a nice service for really heavy snowfalls, but everyone I know who pays for a service still does shoveling on their own. |
|
McBenny
Unicorn
#sickomode
Posts: 52,186
Likes: 296,689
|
Post by McBenny on Feb 26, 2024 13:38:25 GMT -6
I think this is a regional thing because when this topic came up before the up north people felt strongly more one way but for me - I am not buying a house that has major things about it that I do not like. I am not buying a house that I have to do major things to it just to get it so we can live in there.
I rather rent than pay a mortgage on a place I do not care for. I know some people feel renting is throwing away money (I do not. I am paying for a place to live). That's fine for them. I would keep looking and not feel pressured knowing that I can stay in my current place if need be.
At this chapter of life, I am not willing to live somewhere that I do not like.
|
|
jr
Silver
Posts: 321 Likes: 567
|
Post by jr on Feb 26, 2024 15:21:32 GMT -6
How long have you been looking? Where I am, a lot more homes come on the market between about April and late summer/early fall, then the inventory falls low through the fall and especially the winter. So if you’ve been looking for less than 6 months or so, it might be worth holding out to watch the market through this spring/summer and see if something better comes up.
|
|
AmyG
Ruby
Posts: 15,372
Likes: 33,957
|
Post by AmyG on Feb 26, 2024 15:23:27 GMT -6
definitely check with a realtor to see if there are seasonal fluctuations in availability of houses up for sale.
Here most of the year can be busy but you hit hot hot hot and nobody is moving nowhere so houses come off the for sale list for a while. any that show up tend to be lower in price cause people gotta move even if it's 120 degrees.
|
|
jr
Silver
Posts: 321 Likes: 567
|
Post by jr on Feb 26, 2024 15:29:21 GMT -6
How long have you been looking? Where I am, a lot more homes come on the market between about April and late summer/early fall, then the inventory falls low through the fall and especially the winter. So if you’ve been looking for less than 6 months or so, it might be worth holding out to watch the market through this spring/summer and see if something better comes up. I just looked at Redfin and my 70,000 person city only has 33 properties on the market right now - 20 if you’re only looking at what Redfin considers houses (vs condos, etc.). 😬 Inventory is always low here, but it will go up quite a bit over the next few months. |
|
tinyjoys
Ruby
Posts: 16,447 Likes: 53,366
|
Post by tinyjoys on Feb 26, 2024 15:41:00 GMT -6
Is holding off just a couple months an option? I know here (Michigan), more houses go on the market in April/May leading up to the end of the school year vs. now so that kids can start new school year at their new school and move over summer.
|
|
trueblue
Sapphire
Posts: 4,524
Likes: 16,332
|
Post by trueblue on Feb 26, 2024 15:45:09 GMT -6
Fwiw I don’t think there is a right answer here.
Re: moving districts or attendance lines-Junior high is a natural point of separation (assuming multiple elementary schools feed into the jr highs) so i would not limit the search just to your existing school district unless there are other reasons like ranking, special services, etc that are non-negotiates for you.
Re: the finances of owning versus renting, I think part of the math has to be whether you can handle the additional costs of ownership that pop up: furnaces and a/c’s go out, refrigerators and freezers die, roofs get hurt and insurance doesn’t always cover it, yards need tending, fences need fixing, etc. I don’t presume to know finances, we have just hit the ‘everything is breaking/wearing out/needs replacing’ phase of home ownership and our bank account is very sad.
All of that being said I wouldn’t jump at a house that is completely wrong just because it’s available - you know the homes available for your market so I would figure out your list of must not’s, must haves and it would be nice have’s. Go from there.
|
|
|
|
Post by angelashly on Feb 26, 2024 16:01:53 GMT -6
I agree with a lot of the advice you’ve gotten
Unless needed I would hold off because we also see more houses pop up in spring/summer.
I also as much as we love being homeowners I also wish we could sell and go rent a place for the same amount of even a little more if it means less maintenance and other things we have had to pay for.
|
|
