On home ownership
The Mrs. and I are considering buying a house vs. renting when we move to one of two small towns (both located between two big towns) sometime this fall. We'll be there for three years, maybe a bit longer. As with any decision of this magnitude, there's lots of interrelated pros and cons to consider. Here they are in writing, both to clarify the decision for myself and to give other people a glimpse of what's going on in my head:
Con: I have no great yearning for a house yet - I have no real desire to do yard work, home improvement projects, worry about drainage or any of the other hundred things you've got to pay attention to when you own property.
Pro: We'll have lived in our current apartment two years by the time we move out, and we'll have paid, in rent, enough to buy a pretty decent new car... and we'll never see any of that money again. By the same token, buying a house means investing at least a portion of the money that we'd otherwise throw away in rent.
Con: The fraction of money that'd actually go to the principal of the house over three years would be fairly negligible, unless A) we bought a pretty modest house, and B) we sunk a fairly large amount of our savings into a down payment. In comparison, rent in a small town would probably be about half what we're paying now.
Pro: At least one of the towns we're considering is expected to grow over the next few years - even if we haven't paid the principle down much, the house could increase enough in value by the time we move again to make it a worthwhile investment.
Con: Not buying a house gives us more flexibility with our finances, both in terms of money we've already got saved and in terms of future salary. We'd have a little more spending money over the course of the next year, and in the years following that, as income (hopefully) goes up and spending (hopefully) goes down, we could put more into savings towards a down payment on a truly kickass house.
Pro: Buying a house would mean we'd have to invest the money, which is a more reliable way of saving in the long run. It's possible that if we don't invest, a lot of the money we intended to save would get wasted on little things.
Con: Chances are, however much got wasted on little things wouldn't surpass the money that would get wasted on home interest rates.
Pro: We'd develop our credit rating buy taking out a modest home loan and paying it off regularly.
Con: Our credit's pretty good as is, and our credit could be harmed pretty badly if anything did go wrong with our payment schedule.
Pro: It'd be nice to have our own place, (relatively) apart from noisy neighbors, etc. And, of course, a house is easier to defend than an apartment in the event of a zombie apocalypse.
Con: In a zombie apocalypse, the living would envy the dead.
That's about it for now; thoughts and comments on the issue (home ownership, not so much zombie apocalypses) are welcome.
Con: I have no great yearning for a house yet - I have no real desire to do yard work, home improvement projects, worry about drainage or any of the other hundred things you've got to pay attention to when you own property.
Pro: We'll have lived in our current apartment two years by the time we move out, and we'll have paid, in rent, enough to buy a pretty decent new car... and we'll never see any of that money again. By the same token, buying a house means investing at least a portion of the money that we'd otherwise throw away in rent.
Con: The fraction of money that'd actually go to the principal of the house over three years would be fairly negligible, unless A) we bought a pretty modest house, and B) we sunk a fairly large amount of our savings into a down payment. In comparison, rent in a small town would probably be about half what we're paying now.
Pro: At least one of the towns we're considering is expected to grow over the next few years - even if we haven't paid the principle down much, the house could increase enough in value by the time we move again to make it a worthwhile investment.
Con: Not buying a house gives us more flexibility with our finances, both in terms of money we've already got saved and in terms of future salary. We'd have a little more spending money over the course of the next year, and in the years following that, as income (hopefully) goes up and spending (hopefully) goes down, we could put more into savings towards a down payment on a truly kickass house.
Pro: Buying a house would mean we'd have to invest the money, which is a more reliable way of saving in the long run. It's possible that if we don't invest, a lot of the money we intended to save would get wasted on little things.
Con: Chances are, however much got wasted on little things wouldn't surpass the money that would get wasted on home interest rates.
Pro: We'd develop our credit rating buy taking out a modest home loan and paying it off regularly.
Con: Our credit's pretty good as is, and our credit could be harmed pretty badly if anything did go wrong with our payment schedule.
Pro: It'd be nice to have our own place, (relatively) apart from noisy neighbors, etc. And, of course, a house is easier to defend than an apartment in the event of a zombie apocalypse.
Con: In a zombie apocalypse, the living would envy the dead.
That's about it for now; thoughts and comments on the issue (home ownership, not so much zombie apocalypses) are welcome.