Maybe it’s implied but you could read the sentence “because it makes sense financially” and mistakenly assume that it always makes sense financially. Which is most certainly does not.

I wonder what are some reasons to stop avoiding buying a house? Like “fear of commitment”

There is some value in looking before you leap, too — but making a SWAG regarding 150% of the mortgage is basing your future on a guess, which is equally silly. A few phone calls to insurance companies, mortgage brokers, utility companies, town/county, etc can give you some estimates of what things cost. Also, spend some time understanding the income tax deduction to know if you will qualify or not, since for many people, the answer is “not”.

As for major repairs, call around and ask for ballparks on what a roof costs, what a furnace costs, paint job, etc. You might also want to look into what furnishings cost or determine that you are going to leave things unfurnished — if you have a S.O., get them to agree on what you are doing prior to closing.

Also, keep in mind other expenses that you’ll likely encounter along the way, too. Replacing a car, travel, etc.

I guess what I’m getting at is that you should come up with a plan and fill in the blanks where appropriate. Adding up the numbers if you are on a wafer-thin budget just to meet the above numbers, then you need to get to a better place, since yes, things do come up that are expensive. There’s no denying that.

Also, this plan may not work out with your life, either. You may have to leave a rental sooner than anticipated or something else could come up that would make you do the rent/buy decision sooner rather than later, as well. You never know.

The advice from Trent just sounds like trying to plan based on anecdotal evidence. If you are going to seriously plan your home purchase, it likely is better to get some better numbers based on information that’s fairly easily found out and/or on public records.

And as for the water heater, lawnmower and lawn question, only the water heater needs to be dealt with, and that’s probably going to set you back $700-1000 installed (less if you are handy!). If you can’t afford that, then, yeah, homeownership is not for you. But the lawn mower can be borrowed and/or bought used and second, if your lawn needs re-seeding, doesn’t that imply that the lawn mower is a thing that you don’t exactly need right now? :)

I wholeheartedly agree, that is the point of the blog, and since this is the USA, Trent is free to do with the blog what he sees fit.

Sometimes I catch a lot of flack on this site because I do not immediately post comments such as:

“Great post. I agree with everything you said”

If the point of the blog is to educate folks, then a multitude of people chiming in with praise after every sentence really adds nothing.

I would venture to say that the reason I read this blog is because I disagree with a lot of the things that Trent says, and I disagree with a lot of the things he describes. People need to know there are 2 sides to every coin.

Whenever I find that I agree with everything a certain writer is saying, I usally stop reading, becuase a that point I am not gaining any value, and my way of thinking is not growing.

I’ll be here at this blog for awhile, because there are so many discussions I can actively participate in due to my conflicting viewpoints.

However, I’m a little bothered by the tone of the “fix some stuff” suggestions. Are you really saying “go ahead and try to fix your landlord’s property…if you screw it up royally, it’s their problem”?

I realize I’m over-reacting somewhat, but I do know a lot of people that have that mentality when renting. Other people’s property is not your playground, even if they are allowing you to live there, if even for a fee.

But if that is not the attitude going into it, then yes it’s a good way to get your feet wet – hopefully not literally – in basic home DIY repairs.

Finally, consider why you want to buy the house. Two reasons I can think of from your post would be additional space for your child (separate bedroom is a life save!) and an outdoor space for your child. Is a house the best option to fulfill both of these things?

Personally, I would look into renting a larger apartment close to a park / school / outside play area. At the same time I would reduce my per month saving’s for the down payment to afford this larger place. Put what you can towards it, but remember over the course of 5 years interest will be working for you, not against. Good luck with the little one! Ours will be 1 year in May.

And I bought a very old house. While it may have a bit more mainteance, I love it and would never buy a new one. Construction and detailing on the old ones is just way more interesting.

Once you have a target, DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF IT. wait until a property comes available. then jump.

I wish I had had this advice when we bought. we didn’t do too badly, but we could have done MUCH better.

@wanzman – yeah i agree trent overplans everything, i’ve been a regular reader for at least 3 years, and i’m glad i can finally stop hearing about the rusty bumper. but, this is the point of the blog. he writes about (broadly) planning your finances and your life, and you can’t say he didn’t plan the (*&# out of that purchase. you can take the ideas here (carefully plan major purchases and investigate first) and apply some serious grains of salt to buy a car in a couple months.

On the other hand, the people who struggle to get those 2 parts worked out, it may be better for them to wait for more favorable conditions. I don’t see the rush to buy immediately since the future does change its shape whether we like it or not. By renting there is an option of just moving to a place for lower rent, but mortgages are usually fixed, there is no lower mortgage option unless the home is sold or rented out (but still need to find a place to live).

I agree that sometimes you just need to dive in and just have faith that things will work out. But the problem is – if you don’t have some kind of safety net (be it a stable job or an emergency fund), it is too risky to stretch yourself too thin for a house, especially when you have a family.

A friend of mine really wants to purchase her first home in this down market (she is in her 40s). She is afraid that if she does not buy a home now, then she might never be able to buy one in the future. On paper, they make good money. The problem is they spend it all every month, hence they cannot even come up with a 3% down payment. I tried hinting that owning a home is not just about making the mortage payment. I’m with Trent, owning a home does not change who you are. I don’t think owning a home will change the fact that they spend all their money every month. But with a home, they are taking on more financial risk than they can handle at the moment.

It was wonderful one I got married about 2 years ago to be able to bring my wife back to our home. We also love to work outside in the flower beds and take care of the lawn.

Ours is an older home (built in 1940), and all the comments about spending a fortune maintaining homes are complete fear mongoring. Sure, if you by an old home that is already a piece of junk it will be expensive to fix. That goes without saying for all homes.

My advice would be to purchase the best home you can the first time around (as in, buy a home that has been taken care of).

As far as waiting until every last star aligns before you purchase a home, I disagree. I wanted a home as long as I could remember, and as soon as I possibly could, I bought one. The stars weren’t even close to aligned. But it has been awesome, and I great feeling to feel like an adult.

You must keep in mind that Trent’s blog assumes you can just plan out every last step of your life, and obsess over everything (who takes 2 years planning a car purchase?).

I say forget about 95% of his advice, and just live life already. Things rarely work out the way you plan, and if you plan obsessively, you are going to be upset when things don’t work out.

Have a decent plan, and go for it. Don’t paralyze yourself with fear and overplanning.

If we put $15,000 down we can afford a house in a *decent* area of town at a monthly of cost of LESS than renting (about $700 to rent a house in a neighborhood with purchase prices of $80k-$100k). Does it make sense to take the equity risk on the $15,000 we’re putting down if we’re not planning on being here for 5 years? And yes, I have planned for insurance, repairs, taxes, and more into those monthly figures. If worst came to worse and we couldn’t sell the house for what we paid, we could rent it for more than our expenses (probably about a wash after figuring additional repairs and vacancies and management fees). Am I wrong in thinking this? Being a first time homeowner and first time parent would be a big bite to chew off, but I also hate to pay more to rent a place than I would to buy it. The majority of our down payment right now is earning 1.1%, so I’m not worried about the “opportunity cost”.

If you really like a place, go for a walk in the neighborhood. I would also talk to the neighbors if they happen to be outside to gauge who you’re going to be living next to.

You pick up more of a vibe from the place when you’re on foot vs doing a drive by.