Comments on: Should everyone buy a house?

By: » Preliminaries to retiring in 5 years Early Retirement Extreme: — a philosophical response to runaway consumerism

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:51:26 +0000

[...] Yakezie Short Carnival: Should Everyone Buy a House? @ Little House in the [...]

By: Little House

Little House — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:05:24 +0000

@Barbara – Thanks for adding your story. I think it’s important not to be house poor. I totally understand why you moved out of California. I currently live in CA, and know that owning a house here is so much more expensive than anywhere else. Unfortunately, for now I think I’m staying in CA. I might have to get creative with purchasing land, then building a house. This might save me money in the long run if I stay here. Thanks again for your input!

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:33:02 +0000

Hi Little House,
The short answer is no! Some people are not set up for the responsibility, maintenance, emergency expenses etc.! Owning a home is a lot of work!!

That said, my husband and I have owned 5 homes together and when we relocated and sold them, made a profit each time (but one). I’m handy and love to do the maintenance and repairs. I also love decorating and get lots of pleasure from our home. We started out in California and deliberately left because we knew that in order to build long term wealth, the cost of housing would eat into our ability to save. It was a wonderful decision to live in lower cost of living areas! We are financially much better off for that decision.

Know yourself, and make sure that if and when you do buy, your costs allow you enough breathing room to live your life! We always bought a less expensive home than we could afford, and it works out great for us!
Keep up the good work. Great blog, Fun to read.
Barb
.-= Barbara´s last blog ..Are you Already Rich? (Part 1) =-.

By: Little House

Little House — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:10:40 +0000

let’s try this again.

By: Little House

Little House — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:06:18 +0000

I’m trying to fix my comments, please bear with me!

By: Little House

Little House — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:10:40 +0000

@Jeremy – Thanks for adding your story, I think it’s easy to be sucked into the excitement of owning your own home. I’m glad to hear you learned your lesson. Hopefully it wasn’t too painful!

By: Little House

Little House — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:04:17 +0000

@Arlene – Thanks for mentioning the privacy issue, I think that is important. Living in an apartment, or even a townhouse can sometimes be noisy, especially if you share common walls with your neighbors!

By: Little House

Little House — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:02:56 +0000

@Financial Samurai – Thanks for clearing that up. That makes more sense than my misinterpreted 30/30/2! I like the part about the payment being no more than 30% of your income, that completely makes sense.

By: Jeremy Johnson

Jeremy Johnson — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:42:03 +0000

Glad there are people posting information like this on the web. When my wife and I first got our house 5 years ago, we bought it just because of the excitement and getting a loan from my dad. Unfortunately, the 30/30/3 rule was not followed. Thankfully, I've learned my lesson. .-= Jeremy Johnson´s last blog ..An Introduction To Jeremy’s “Wizard Club” =-.

By: Arlene

Arlene — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:32:54 +0000

I love owning a home, You just can’t beat the private surroundings providing your not to close to you neigbor. We bought our home with 20% down so that in turn lower our payments per month.

You always have to count the cost before buying the home, ask a lot of questions concerning your budget short term and long term. for us it was worth it but for others it could be a nightmare.