Thread: Buying your First Home

How Old Were You guys when you bought your first house? just trying to get some insight here.... I'm currently 21 Still living at home obviously, i make enough to afford rent but i figure I'd start saving up now to eventually buy something within the next 3-4 years.

Lack Of credit is kicking my ass as well so i have no choice but to establish some great credit

You have your mind on the right track there as far as the savings idea and building credit.. Thats basically what i did. After college i had very minor credit, and 0 money. Moving out and renting a place would have just been a waste of money, i basically lived with my parents, saved up a ton of money and at 25 bought my first home...

smart play, save money and build credit ya never know what hidden costs are out there in buying a house, good luck

I was just over 30. However, prior to that Toronto (where I was living at the time) had the highest cost of living in the Western Hemisphere. Even after prices dropped the best I could do was $250k for a tiny house that I had to gut and renovate top to bottom, a garage that was falling over, and it was located on the border line between a good and bad part of town. Ahh, the good old days...

You don't say where you're located, but spend some time getting acquainted with the market while you're waiting and you should do way better in the long run. Go to open houses all over town. Find out the cities development plans. Talk to the developers in town, etc...

I just wish I had my first house payment again!!! I was 22 it was a 100k mortgage and my payment was 665.00 a month. Ahhhh the good ol days!!!!!!!!!!

If you plan to live in the home for a significant time, then buying is a great idea as you can build equity.

If you plan to buy a house and possibly move every couple of years, you'll end up eating that equity in commissions to a realtor.

definitely take advantage of not having rent or a mortgage. you could be investing and all that jazz while building credit.

Originally Posted by Bacchus

I was just over 30. However, prior to that Toronto (where I was living at the time) had the highest cost of living in the Western Hemisphere. Even after prices dropped the best I could do was $250k for a tiny house that I had to gut and renovate top to bottom, a garage that was falling over, and it was located on the border line between a good and bad part of town. Ahh, the good old days...

You don't say where you're located, but spend some time getting acquainted with the market while you're waiting and you should do way better in the long run. Go to open houses all over town. Find out the cities development plans. Talk to the developers in town, etc...

We Live in New Jersey at the moment, my parents current house is up for sale and we've been looking for new homes. Problem is with New Jersey is that property taxes are high if you want to live in a good community with a relatively normal sized house. I've been reading articles, looking at homes, looking at lots, looking at mortgage plans, all that good stuff. I am lucky that my step father builds/repairs houses for a living, if that's what i was looking, which would be great but finding land in new jersey isn't cheap unless I'm moving west or way down south jersey. I love living close to the city so that would be out of the question for now anyway.

I would love to get out of new jersey only because of the property taxes but i like it here, i know a handful of people, i grew up here, i have a job here.

ideally what i would love to do is find a nice sized house (2 bedroom, 1.5 bath, basement, yard)....a fixer upper if i can get it for a good price in a good area like 120k max and buy it and start to fix it up little at a time so when i am ready to move it, its gonna look really nice on the inside, then i can begin fixing up the outside and what not. I'd love that so i can fully automate the home inside, network, security, lighting control, that type of techy stuff. haha my background is in IT so i'm a nerd at heart.

Shoot me a pm when you get a chance and let me know where you are located in Jersey. I'm in Harrington Park which you may know. Any way your plan to stay home and save sounds good, I went the other route and rented in Edgewater for 3 years. My rent was equivalent to a mortgage payment for me so I got outta there and bought my 1st house when I was 25. I bought my 2nd when I was 28. You may want to consider a multi family house for your 1st, this way you could get some help with the mortgage and maybe be able to get into a house a little bit sooner.

Originally Posted by FASTLANE

Shoot me a pm when you get a chance and let me know where you are located in Jersey. I'm in Harrington Park which you may know. Any way your plan to stay home and save sounds good, I went the other route and rented in Edgewater for 3 years. My rent was equivalent to a mortgage payment for me so I got outta there and bought my 1st house when I was 25. I bought my 2nd when I was 28. You may want to consider a multi family house for your 1st, this way you could get some help with the mortgage and maybe be able to get into a house a little bit sooner.

I know exactly where that is near closter correct? my one buddy lives in closter and my other buddy owns a tint shop in closter. I actually was looking into a multi-family home, my buddy works for a finance company so he's been helping me with bringing my credit up and helping me get situated for when i am ready but he did suggest a multi-family home as well

Sending you a PM now