Do you own or rent?

[Greg]

I need to change my vote to "Own with a mortgage."

Congrats. How about you elborate? There's nothing quite like home ownership!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

bump

 

[Warp Daddy]

Bought a 100 year old Dutch Colonial 39 years ago, paid it off , fixed it up and enjoy it today !

 

[Terry]

We will own our house by Dec if all goes well. The mortgage goes untill Feb but we want to finish it off this year! That will be a great feeling. It needs a lot of work still but at least it will be ours. "It" is an 1810 center chimney post and beam cape with exposed beams, wide pine floors,old wavy glass in some of the windows still, and an antique wood cookstove in the kitchen. Right now I am in the middle of a laundry room project that I started 18 years ago and never finished it. I restarted it this summer and I have it wired, plumbed, sheetrocked, and almost all mudded. Then comes paint and the tile floor and it will be done.

 

[Moe Ghoul]

Small dutch colonial circa 1936 in Northwest area of Philly we bought in 1992 seller financed. Did most of the cosmetic work myself, roofing and central air was done by pros. Sits on about an acre and I have an adjacent building plot. We bought 3 acres of hillside land about 6 years ago in the next county about 4 miles from where we live with the intent of building a house. After much deliberation we decided against it due to what we perceived as pretty outrageous costs at the time and it was probably one of the best decisions we made in hindsight. We paid off the house 7 years ago. My wife and I are anti-debt, and decided if we needed a tax deduction, charity was a better way to go than giving the bank the money. It's meant living in a smaller home, but with no kids and no mortgage, the trade off is worth it for us. Internet stocks paid for the 3 acres I just have taxes to pay on it. We'll sit on it until we need the money, move or decide to build there.

 

[mondeo]

Renting, will be moving into the condo my roomate just bought at the end of the month. It'll probably be about a year until I buy my own house.

 

[wa-loaf]

Own a 1925 2- family. It's a lot of work, but we have good renters. The dad is a contractor and takes care of any problems with the apt on his own. Checks with me first if it's gonna cost me money.

 

[MR. evil]

We own our house (with a mortgage). We have been here going on 6 years this September. We actually bought the house before we were married. We knew we would be getting married, but we felt that putting a down payment on a house was more important that getting an engagement ring. We were lucky enough to buy a house we can grow into in a very nice neighborhood, in a very nice town right before the real estate boom. Glad we decided to get the house first. 1/2 of our house is pretty much empty, we have 2 bedrooms that we don't use and the orginal living room is also empty. A couple of years before we bough the place they put on a large great room addtion that is open to the kitchen. Owning a home is great, but it is alot of work. We are still fixing the place up and eventually plan on doing a small addition to turn our bedroom into a master suite.

 

[deadheadskier]

The polls says I voted, but I'm not sure when. Must've been for renting though.

The fiance and I purchased with mortgage a very tiny condo in June. We just moved here and had considered renting, but the numbers worked on this particular, so we'll live a very tight and thrifty lifestyle in our little place for a year or two, move on to something bigger and rent the current place out.

 

[mattchuck2]

Own

1960 Raised Ranch in Halfmoon, NY.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I think I'm going to rent for about 3-4 more years before I buy a house. The thought of owning a home on a single income seems tough and I'd have to make sacrifices in order to do that...but if I meet a special someone then we can combine incomes and have a really steezy house. If I took $15,000 out of savings and she(GSS's future lady) took $15,000 out of savings..that could be a nice 10% down payment on a $300,000 house.

 

[o3jeff]

You should try to put 20% down so you don't have to pay PMI on the loan.

 

[deadheadskier]

You should try to put 20% down so you don't have to pay PMI on the loan.

true, but PMI is tax deductable; at least until 2010 I believe

 

[o3jeff]

I bought a house on a single income. I figured I didn't need anything special for a house being by myself so I bought a 1000 sqft ranch which has more than enough space for one person.

I just couldn't see myself spend $800-1000 a month anymore on rent when I could get a mortgage for the high end of that and build some equity.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

You should try to put 20% down so you don't have to pay PMI on the loan.

What does PMI mean??? Right now my sister and her husband are talking with bank people about how much they can potentially borrow based on income and savings and apparently they can borrow $450,000 but they're in Washington DC which would be a one bedroom condo...20% of that is $90,000..sheesh..:-o

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I bought a house on a single income. I figured I didn't need anything special for a house being by myself so I bought a 1000 sqft ranch which has more than enough space for one person.

I just couldn't see myself spend $800-1000 a month anymore on rent when I could get a mortgage for the high end of that and build some equity.

true true..it's the maintenence issues that make me nervous..ideally a condo would be nice but then there's the association fees which total a couple grand a year and taxes which total another couple grand. My goal for the next few years is to try to live a little cheaper and save more for a future home..I can't see myself being like some of my neighbors who live in an apartment for 30 years..

 

[o3jeff]

It's insurance on the loan that protects the lender if you default on it

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

It's insurance on the loan that protects the lender if you default on it

O.K. thanks..

 

[ccskier]

Own home, well bank acutally does. 1979 Gambrel w/ two car garage. Put a lot of money and sweat equity into 1st house. Taking time on improvements these days. Outdoor shower is on the agenda for the fall.

 

[mondeo]

It's insurance on the loan that protects the lender if you default on it

And it's a decent hit. The number I remember is around 3% - so $6K for a $200K house. It's enough to keep me renting for another year or so.

And it's probably increasing, given the current situation.