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FI and I are in the process of deciding where we are living. Are you choosing a house, apartment, condo, duplex, or what? Give the reasons behind it. I just want advice and to see what everyone thinks.
For us, it will continue to change as we progress through grad school, careers, etc.
Next year we're moving to another apartment (just the two of us this time) because we only have two more years in the city. After that we're looking for a rental wherever we end up for grad school. I would love to find a rental house with land and a barn, because I really want to have my horse on our property. If that's not possible, we'll probably rent a townhouse or an apartment for awhile until we move into a house (which will definitely have land!)
I think we're condo people for now. We intend to be traveling A LOT - we'll be in PR for at least a few years, then possibly Spain or Argentina, Japan again... who knows. So a place that requires minimal maintenance (yard work, etc.) that we could also rent out while we're away would be optimal. I see us settling somewhere woodsy with a nice big yard and a couple of greyhounds in the long run though.
right now we're living in my husband's first home, it's a townhouse. and we're ready for an upgrade! we want a house- a place with a garage, a yard for our pup. we're just waiting for a better time to buy and sell.
We chose to buy a house. The major deciding factor was the dog. We were not willing to give her up and she couldn't live in a condo or townhouse. To be honest I would have rathered starting in a townhouse, it would have been a lot less expensive and less stress for repairs/maintenance.
we chose a house. it's the obvious choice being in michigan, it IS a buyer's market... we ended up with a 4 br, 2.5 bath, 3000 sq foot home for $250K. fenced in (huge factor for our dogs), hot tub in the backyard with tv & surround sound, the smallest bedroom is actually a converted walk in dressing room off our master... 2 story great room and a separate formal dining and den. :)
i'll add pics later.
but it made sense for us, as we'll be in MI for at least the next 5-10 years. i only pay $200 more for my half of our mortgage than what i was paying for my 1 br apt!!
Lilyfaith, lots of land..sounds gorgeous!
Sweet, I have been to Japan too and LOVE IT!
When we got married, we were in a condo that my husband bought before we were married. I'm so glad he did too, b/c it was definitely a good investment, and a low mortgage payment, so we saved a ton of money for our house.
We now live in a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath single home as we're looking to start a family soon. We rent out our condo which is perfect for us b/c it just covers the mortgage and we're building a lot of equity with it.
We'll be looking for a single family house - after years of renting, we're ready to not share walls with anyone. For us, it's hard to feel like it's "your" sanctuary when you are forced to endure someone else's noise 24-7.
We'll hopefully be buying between where I will be starting grad school and his work. And it'll likely be a mid-century all brick, two br, two ba, bungalow style with a back porch and fenced yard. We want something older and small, so that we know we can afford it should I not get a graduate stipend.
I'll be renting my condo out for enough to cover the mortgage, HOA, and hopefully my car payment. I managed to get a really good deal on a foreclosure and a REALLY low interest rate.
My husband and I will be apartment dwellers for a couple more years, but we're saving for a house. We didn't think we'd be house people for a long time, but shortly after the wedding, we were ready :)
I grew up in apartment building in my younger years. I always remembered that my dad always had a dream of buying a house for us. When I was in the 5th grade we moved into a house with a small front yard in Queens. It wasn't much but it was a house.
Ever since then I've never lived in anything but.
FI and I both are house people. We want there to be plenty of lawn space for our kids to play in. Big enough for a swing set, big enough for our pup to run around in. I want it to be a safe street that I don't need to worry overly much about kids throwing a football around outside or playing street hockey.
That's just us. :)
We're currently in the process of selling my townhouse and purchasing a house. We want the space and yard and privacy that a house entails. While it isn't the ideal situation to be selling the townhouse, we can buy land for a steal and build for cheap. Our builder has built 3 other homes in the area we're looking in, and our home will be build for significantly less than some of those did a few years ago. Most of the homes for sale in our area are 2 stories, and since we're not planning on having kids, it doesn't make sense to buy a house that will sit empty, so we're building a ranch style home with a walkout basement.
I'm moving into T's house on June 1. It's gorgeous I have to admit. Awesome subdivision, plenty of space, humongous master bedroom and a master bath I swoon over!
There's also another 3000 sq of space in the terrace level, which we're going to have finished probably by next year. That's my biggie project to tackle, along with buying furniture and re-doing the kids' rooms after the wedding and where most of my money will go beginning fall of 2010! :)
We're so happy!
Artbee, isn't now the best time to buy a house? That's what we keep getting told.
Roxy, is your house older?
Missjyc...I SO want a walk in dressing room!
2Peas, that extra income with the condo is a good idea!
Prettyflowers, how long have you been renting together?
@princess, that and the hot tub pretty much sold us on the house! they even had custom california closets that they left... i seriously feel like a suburbanized version of carrie bradshaw when i walk in and see my shoes, clothes, jewelry! ;)
Our goal next year is to purchase our first home. It will have to be at least 3 bedrooms, hoping for 4 because of our ever growing family. A starter home just isn't feasible for us since it is the two of us, my FIL, our poochie, Baby #1 with possibly Baby #2 on its way. This is why we have had to rent houses / townhouses so that we had enough room for all of us. Right now we rent a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 3 story townhouse with a garage and yard which works really well for us right now. Next year, not so much.
We are in a house. We like having space and renting a home here is less expensive than renting an apartment with the same amount of space.
It is a good time to buy a house only if you can actually afford it and have a downpayment. Just because everyone says to go out and buy a house doesn't mean it is the right decision for everyone.
We're apartment people. The apartment we live in right now is pretty much perfect. It was brand new when we moved in a year ago, the area is great and it's pretty spacious. I'm sure we'll continue to rent for the next few years until we get settled into our careers a little more. We don't plan to buy a house for a few years, but I am starting to get the homeowner itch. I see so many projects I want to do but I can't because we rent!
We just moved into our townhouse. We chose a townhouse because that's what we could afford! A detached house in our area in decent condition would be over $350K. It just wasn't possible for us.
@prettyflowers - Fortunately if you go with a new build they use a lot of soundproofing between walls, so far we haven't heard any noise from our neighbours!
@prncssdva- Our house was built in the 60's. The house is in great shape, it just needs some cosmetic updates. But even if you buy a newer house even 10yrs old there is always work and maintenance. I just wishes houses were cheaper like they are in other parts of the county. A 3 bedroom 1.5 bathroom 1500sq ft. house that needs cosmetic work still costs us $360k.
Looks like most people will be starting/or at least want to start the marriages in a house. I also see that everyone wants a big yard..I totally agree! I love beign outside!
We have a few years to go and it really depends on where we end up. If we are in a city, we'll get a condo just because rowhouses and single family homes in cities are way way way out of our reality. But if we do land in a suburb, hopefully a single family house. My big dream is to get a craftsman bungalow, but those seem to be a hot commodity now!
We're living in an apartment for at least another year, but likely longer than that.
Roxy, I live in TN and our houses are cheper than alot of other places. I notice that when I watch HGTV!
FI and I rent an apartment in Manhattan right now but are planning to head out of the city in 2-4 yrs and buy a nice house in the burbs. I know plenty of people complain about suburban living, but we both LOVED our suburban childhoods. We desperataly want our own real backyard (especially once we have kids!) and fireplace, 2 things EXTREMELY hard to come by in the city. Prices in the surrounding areas of Manhattan are extrodinairy, so renting for a few more years and saving will enable us to purchase a long-term house instead of just a "starter".
My best friend and her new hubby bought a townhouse right before their wedding. Their reasoning was that with them both working so much, they didn't want to worry about any kind of maintenance and yardwork - the HOA for their complex takes care of that (which came in handy this winter when their gutters filled with ice and half the house flooded...). That's definitely another thing to consider.
Good point, twalila. Not having to maintain is one of the pluses or rentals.
The houses we're looking at are right around $80,000! And our dream homes (our five year plan is to move to Chattanooga) are around $150,000. There are tons of houses for much more, but we just can't see spending the money on empty space right now.
We bought a house in 2008 and couldn't be happier. I love being able to do whatever I want, we have 1 acre of land with a nice fenced in back yard, attached garage and detached garage w/workshop for FI in back of house to fix stuff. I love paying a mortgage to something we own rather then rent to something we don't own. Plus we have privacy and are allowed to have animals!
We'll be living in an apartment for the forseeable future. Buying a house in Manhattan is obviously not an option (no houses here!) and we plan on staying in the city. We have zero desire to move to the suburbs.
WOW Miss Biner! I can definitely afford that! I wish it was like that here.
As a side note - our townhouse is freehold, not condo, so we have to do all the maintenance, therefore there are no monthly fees!
We're in the process of buying a house right now. If everything goes well, we'll be home owners by the end of the week :) The house is a 3 bedroom cottage and it's on 2 acres of land with a tiny creek at towards the back of the property. It needs a lot of work, but we'll be working on it together the next 9 months before the wedding.
We've been living in a large apartment downtown for the past 4 years. After the wedding, we hope to buy a home, either in or right near the city.
We want something fairly small, 3 bedrooms or so with a kick-ass kitchen and a small yard. If we stay in the city, it'll be a townhouse, but if we move to the 'burbs, we'll get a single family home.
It would probably be about 1500 square feet (lots of times on a basement) and at least 1/2 acre of a yard.
We have been renting an apartment for about 3 years and now we are in the process of buying our first house.
Real estate prices in Boston are ridiculous, so we considered condos/town homes because they are a little more affordable (sometimes). But that thought lasted about 1 minute. We decided to move further away (will be about an hour commute to work each way-UGH) but we got a MUCH bigger house for our money. We also really wanted a yard and privacy (tired of having neighbors live above us) so thats why we chose a house. We plan to stay there for 5-10 years and wanted the space in case our family grew :)
If I was single or unable to take care of a yard because of traveling, etc. I would definetly consider a condo or town home. Having a yard and all that isn't important to every couple so you really need to decide together what exactly you want. And if you are unsure, rent a cheap apartment for a year until you decide!
We're actually downsizing! We both graduated from college last year and moved out of state into a 3 bedroom/3 bathroom townhouse. We really thought about buying last year but we just weren't ready, so instead we worked out a really good deal for our townhouse in the event that we decided to buy it after a year. We've recently decided to move back to our hometown into a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment...and we couldn't be more excited about it! Our townhouse is 1800 square feet and it's way too big for just the two of us. We have rooms we never even go into! We're looking forward to downsizing. We're both trying to get settled in our careers, and therefore our permanent location, so I don't think we'll be looking to buy a house anytime soon. We're happy with apartment life for the time being :)
Hotchildinthecity- your post made me laugh!
Right now I'm in a 2 bedroom by myself and Mr. KM is actually at his parents home. When we move, we'll probably get an apartment wherever we end up since we'll be broke as a joke! I wish we could rent a house, but it just doesn't seem feasible and buying a house wouldn't be smart since we'll probably be there 2-5 years.
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