Housing suggestions...

[IntrinsicValue]

So the issues are: should you move out, should you move into a house/condo/townhouse/apartment, and should you move in with your girlfriend.

1. From your age, I'm assuming you should be graduating soon. How many years left? If you still have a couple years, you may want to stay at home until you get your degree and find a higher-paying stable job. If you are graduating this year, or don't plan on changing jobs, then I'd go ahead and start making plans to move out.

2. People think purchasing something (i.e. house, condo) are great investments. You must realize that no matter where you live you are throwing money away. You said you have $1000/month to work with. So let's say you move into an apartment for $750/month -- you throw away $750/month and save $250 per month. If you were to buy a house or condo -- you throw away interest per month + property tax per month. Yes, you'll get some of this back (about 1/8) on tax returns, but the other 7/8 of it is gone. At the beginning of your loan, a large percentage of your payments is going toward interest. The only advantage a house/condo has is that it should appreciate in value.

Which takes me to the next point. I don't know anything about the housing market in Florida. But I do know the interest rates are still relatively low right now. If you were to buy now, then the interest rates get hiked, your property could see no substantial appreciation by the time you're ready to sell for your 2nd home (which you will eventually do).

3. Obviously only you know the situation with your girlfriend. Me and my wife moved in together before we were married -- we *knew* we would be together -- and it happened to worked out great. But everyone is different, and I'm sure there are plenty of stories to the contrary, so only you can make that call.

 

[funboy6942]

Well Im throwing my 2 cents out there as well. I am seeing you and your girlfriend are wanting to do this, I may say since this is your first time out on your "own" (not really since the GF is moving in), that you rent an apartment first, something beneath both your means so that if something should happen between the two of you your not young and stuck with a house payment you cannot afford. My ex did this with her sister at a young age and they couldnt stand living together and defaulted on the home, and at such a young age would take qute a while to clean up and hurt your credit for some long time forcing you to live in a crappy apartment or situation for a much longer time as you clean that mess up.

I would get a small, economical apartment you both agree upon you both could afford if something should happen to your relationship and one would move out. Live there for a year and the both of you save up money together and see if living together is even going to work. If it does and at the end of the year you should have enough saved up to buy a house, know one another and should know if sticking together for the rest of your lives is going to even work out.

You seem to be on the right track except not knowing how you two are going to be living with one another, being a couple apart is WAY different then being together all the time seeing each others faults, may not like it and break up and having a 100K condo in boths names splitting up not married can start a load of crap between you two even further. Dont ruin what all you have now you got going for you.

Apartment, live together, save more cash, if you two click as a couple living as one as well, when the year is up, or hell you may want to go another year and save up more for a bigger home, then go for it, but jumping right into it as you wrote I wouldnt advise on it.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: SnipeMasterJ13
My parents just gave me pretty much the same advice everyone is saying here. Although, mine was dealing with friends and not a girlfriend. They said I shouldn't make any purchase like a house/townhome unless I can afford it all by myself. Get the mortgage all in my name, and everything else. Decided whether or not I want to rent to roommates after that. Makes sense to me. Going in with your girlfriend is pretty risky. Couples that have been married for WAY longer than 3 years have still had very bitter break ups causing huge messes with properties.

Just gotta remember the saying....You marry one person, and you divorce a completely different one.

Sad, but true. Your number one concern should be to cover your own ass. You are pretty financially stable now, so why give her the opportunity to ruin that? Maybe I'm just cheap/selfish....?

Oh yeah...that's probably way dumber than going in to purchase with an SO. With firends, there is no serious emotional issue. Their life is not connected to yours, so ANYTHING can happen. It can be bad enough sharing property with siblings and other relatives. It sucks, but even those situations can turn historically amicable families into feuding demons after several years.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: IntrinsicValue
So the issues are: should you move out, should you move into a house/condo/townhouse/apartment, and should you move in with your girlfriend.

1. From your age, I'm assuming you should be graduating soon. How many years left? If you still have a couple years, you may want to stay at home until you get your degree and find a higher-paying stable job. If you are graduating this year, or don't plan on changing jobs, then I'd go ahead and start making plans to move out.

This is one issue I forgot to mention...

Too late, I know, but...at 22, while in college, you really should already have that outside home experience. I thought I was stupid for choosing to go to school inside my home town, but I was out of the parents' house by day one of my first semester. What too many people neglect these days, is that a lot of what college is about is learning to socialize on an independent level. If you can maintain a good stable of college buddies and spend very little time at home while living with the rents, then more power to ya. It's odd to me that this practice seems to be more on the rise...Are we following Italy in our social maturity issues as we have always done with fashion? (It has become common practice in Italy over the last ~decade for males to live with their parents into their thirties; We always pick up on their fashion styles ~2-3 years after)
Have we raised a horde of "asset-minded" kids that place greater value in saving as much money as they can than experiencing one of the most important developmentally social periods in their lives? Will these kids grow up financially successful (likely), yet unable to maintain the important social connections necessary for a healthy, rounded lifestyle? Hmmm..I just had a thought...I would guess that such kids wouldn't be as successful as their thriftiness would predict. I would imagine that the majority of such students are business-minded people. If they don't train their social network at this important age, making some of the most important connections they will ever make in life (the life-blood of any business person), then I doubt that they could be as successful as they should be...

perhaps I'm just blowing smoke out of my ass...perhaps