The buy-a-house decision proved to be a good one for me. I'm on track for a rent free retirement, with the mortgage paying off before I reach retirement age. But I bought at a time when prices in the valley were screwy in an unusual way - my mortgage payments were approx. the same amount as I expected to pay for renting a rather smaller place. Of course I did buy a fixer-upper, older than my mother. And I love the valley, with little desire to retire to the heaps of snow I grew up with. So my only really worry was putting every cent I had [except tax-sheltered retirement money], and some I didn't quite have yet into the down payment - I wiped out my contingency fund and the signing bonus for my job - the latter not quite mine in the sense that I had to stay 12 months or repay it when I left. And I was really clear that I wanted a dog eventually - and that rentals in the valley weren't going to be OK with that. Mostly they weren't even OK with the cat I arrived with.
You sound a LOT more ambivalent, both in terms of what you want and in terms of the financial choices available. You are also quite likely older than I was when I made that decision - i.e. less time to pay off the mortgage. My only advice would be to move slowly, and don't let yourself be stampeded - particularly by anyone who has a financial interest in selling houses.
no subject
The buy-a-house decision proved to be a good one for me. I'm on track for a rent free retirement, with the mortgage paying off before I reach retirement age. But I bought at a time when prices in the valley were screwy in an unusual way - my mortgage payments were approx. the same amount as I expected to pay for renting a rather smaller place. Of course I did buy a fixer-upper, older than my mother. And I love the valley, with little desire to retire to the heaps of snow I grew up with. So my only really worry was putting every cent I had [except tax-sheltered retirement money], and some I didn't quite have yet into the down payment - I wiped out my contingency fund and the signing bonus for my job - the latter not quite mine in the sense that I had to stay 12 months or repay it when I left. And I was really clear that I wanted a dog eventually - and that rentals in the valley weren't going to be OK with that. Mostly they weren't even OK with the cat I arrived with.
You sound a LOT more ambivalent, both in terms of what you want and in terms of the financial choices available. You are also quite likely older than I was when I made that decision - i.e. less time to pay off the mortgage. My only advice would be to move slowly, and don't let yourself be stampeded - particularly by anyone who has a financial interest in selling houses.