What kind of house should I get?

[HomeBrewerDude]

buy a small house in a nice neighborhood.

 

[mshan]

That rule of thumb about 3x salary OP mentioned I think is based upon total debt to income ratios; it probably reflects how much you could theoretically afford, but not what you should necessarily spend.

If, after mortgage and other monthly bills, you have nothing left to spend on a whim or save or whatever, you may not be able to enjoy your house as much as you think.

I also think 3 - 5 year ownership period was recommended as absolute minimum to consider purchasing a house in a normal say 2 - 3 % per year steady appreciation market just to cover buy and sell transaction costs. One of those old New York Times Rent vs. Buy articles said it took about a decade for nominal house prices (i. e. not accounting for inflation) to reach former peak after housing crash in late 80s.

You sound like you want to own a home to live in it and enjoy it, but just keep in mind that whatever affordability and total mortgage amount calculators that say you qualify for this much may not leave you much free money to spend or save as you wish if you spend those maximal amounts.

I highly recommend this book to learn how to shop for a mortgage smartly: http://www.amazon.com/Mortgage...&qid=1246332329&sr=8-1

Good luck in your search!

edit: I also remember reading that after 20 years, how well a house holds up depends greatly upon how well it was maintained. So be particularly cautious, for example, if you are thinking about buying a 20+ year old home that has an extensive rental history where owner may have only done recommended maintenance or patchwork repairs only when something broke down to point it could no longer be ignored.

 

[wiredspider]

Originally posted by: mshan
I also remember reading that after 20 years, how well a house holds up depends greatly upon how well it was maintained. So be particularly cautious, for example, if you are thinking about buying a 20+ year old home that has an extensive rental history where owner may have only done recommended maintenance or patchwork repairs only when something broke down to point it could no longer be ignored.

I started writing a reply about a house I saw today, but turned into a rather long blog like post. I posted it to my bloginstead, lol.

This jist of it, a seemingly well to do guy bought the house in 2005 (at not even a really bubble price), but somehow let it get into horrible condition and lost it to the bank in less than 4 years.

Most of the homes I'm looking at are much older than 20, heck I would almost consider a 20 year old home, new! (It's newer than me, lol)

I sort of know that rentals take a beating, at the same time I'm also kind of thinking that the landlord will usually take care of that sort of thing or the tenant would be complaining? I haven't really run into myself, so I'm not sure....

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: dirtboy

Originally posted by: wiredspider
They were telling me how some of their friends bought a house, but put it in their daughter's name (avoid probate or something else like that). Now they are a little worried about if she marries off and gets divorced later, that the house would become part of her assets, even though her parents paid/pay the mortgage. So their round about way of telling me about prenups I guess, lol.

Your parents shouldn't give legal advice, because they are wrong. Assets you bring to a marriage are yours when you leave it. Truthfully pre-nups are rarely worth the paper they are printed on, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't get one.

However if your spouse was making part or all of the payments and the property appreciated during that time, then they are entitled to whatever portion that comes to.

The best way to protect yourself from losing property in divorce is to either not get married or pay cash up front for the property before getting married.

As far as the rest of the stuff goes, I'll just leave it alone. There are plenty of guys that own a nice house and don't play WoW. However my gf is not about to give me up so you'll have to find someone else.

You are wrong too.