Real Estate people: I want to buy a house, advice?

[DesertCat]

I can't paste from my IPhone. But you can find the fortune article by searching the site.

And no one needs to buy a house. They need rationally gauge the cost of renting vs. buying and make the best decision based on their specific circumstances. Typically renting is cheaper than owning over the short run, but appreciation makes up for it. But today any appreciation looks very iffy over the next 2-5 years.

[Thremp]

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2) Don't underestimate how much it costs to maintain a house. You'd be surprised, and it's something you plan for when you are buying.

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This is very true and depends a lot on the age of the property as well. New homes have far less repairs than older homes etc. Condos will have less than homes...

But yeah, it can cost a decent amount to fix the home back up to sell after living in.

[stephenNUTS]

Good post/advice Taylor

Stephen [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[spex x]

Similar topics have been posted on at length recently. Search the forums for a wealth of information. As a general comment, I'll say that 1) with your liquid assets you should have not problem finding a lender for as many properties as you want just about regardless of a short credit history and at very reasonable interest rates; 2) you need to take some time learning how to make money in RE - I'm concerned about the vagueness of your buying an investment property.

[vetiver]

Why buy two 120k houses w/ one as investment (when RE investment prospects look anywhere from grim - breakeven) when you can buy a better house to live in ($200-240k) at a better location farther inside Austin?

[prohornblower]

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Why buy two 120k houses w/ one as investment (when RE investment prospects look anywhere from grim - breakeven) when you can buy a better house to live in ($200-240k) at a better location farther inside Austin?

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Because he can live in one home and sell the 2nd when the market goes back up. In the other scenario, if he lives in one home twice as expensive, then when he sells he has to turn around and re-buy back into the same market, which has also already appreciated. So keep one home for utility, and the other for investment.

Doing the one home thing would only work if he planned on re-buying into a cheaper market. In the US, there aren't a heck of a lot of markets cheaper than Austin.