House update...

[Imakeholesinu]

I've decided not to purchase a home just yet. Before you all tell me I'm crazy to not buy in this market here are my reasons as to how I've come to the decision.

1) Outstanding debts

I've been stressed out about my credit card for awhile and the last 4 months I felt like I was doing very well in paying it off (Thanks uncle sam!). Before all of this hoopla with the woman downstairs, I had a plan and was sticking to it to have the card 85% to 100% paid off by Christmas. Adding on the house and the additional items I would need to buy definitely would put me right back in the hole I've been trying to dig myself out of the last 3 years. I figure, why put myself in more debt when I can get myself out of debt? Plus, this gives my credit report plenty of time to recover from the errors that were on it (two credit cards that weren't mine and a collection) so I can get a better interest rate on a loan in the future.

2) Not enough savings

This goes hand in hand with number one. Since I've been putting a lot of money towards the CC and nothing away (except 6% of each paycheck towards a 401k) I don't have the money for a down payment for the house. Even going the FHA route and just putting down 3%. I barely have half. I don't want to ask my parents for "gift funds" because they've given me enough with college and straight teeth and a catholic education. This is something I feel I need to do on my own I believe.

3) Bad Timing

How is this bad timing? Interest rates are low. Plenty of homes out there to choose from. How is this bad? Well, this is the summer of love, and by that I mean someone in my circle of friends has not stopped getting married since 2006. I have so much going on personally on the weekends that I'm booked until the end of August to early September with Birthday Parties, Weddings, Bachelor Parties, and Work Outages. I simply do not have the time to invest in looking for a home with all of these other activities that I've made commitments to prior to my decision.

Not to mention also but home buying is something you have to take time with. You cannot rush this process. That was my naive thinking that I could get out of my apartment by Mid-august into my dream home. Since their are so many houses to choose from it will take forever to find a house and compare all the pros and cons to the other homes out there and with my tight time schedule and other commitments, I'd most likely end up unhappy in whatever I ended up choosing.

So I'm staying where I'm at. I'm going to get an air purifier for the apartment along with a humidifier to see if I can combat the smoker for another 9-12 months. Like I said, I love this apartment, the main problem is the smoking but I had a plan when I moved in to stay 2-3 years here before moving into a house and I think I'm going to stick to that.

This doesn't mean I won't stop looking at homes. I will continue to look and see if I can find something I like.

I've justified this to myself, anyone else care to weigh in? Am I doing the right thing?

[SineSwiper]

Did the landlord ever get another apt to have you move into?

Also, I don't blame you for not getting a house. Quite frankly, you should really only buy a house when you're married or close to it. You kinda need the double-income for the mortgage payments.

[Tessian]

My relatives chide me on my apartment; saying they spend as much on mortgage each month that I do on rent... but that's kind of oversimplifying things.

#2 has been my big sticking point-- I'm not in debt (aside from student/car loans) and I have some savings, but nothing close to use for a down payment right now. I also surprisingly agree with Sine-- I view a house as something you buy to start a family... wtf does a single guy need with a house to himself? This apartment has almost too much space for me, what would I do with more? Spend too much time and money on a house that wouldn't really support an actual family.

So yeah, good decision in the end... I had been tempted too but I know I'm just not ready. You did mention before the landlord had found or was looking for another apartment in the complex for you... any word on that?

[Imakeholesinu]

They might have something but quite honestly I'm to tired/busy to move. This would be my 9th move in 5 years for me plus however many years you want to tack on for being shuttled between one parent to another. I just want to stay somewhere for longer than a year. I'm settling to live with the occasional smoking issue since it seems the woman downstairs disappears for months at a time, the smell does as well. I'm going to see about getting some sort of air purifier, one that specifically targets cigarette smoke if they make one and a humidifier for the bedroom.

At this point, moving again would just be more of a hassle than it is worth. I can put up with this for another year I think. If it gets too bad the landlord has assured me that I can move into an available unit. So...for now, I'm staying put.

They took care of the bird problem and I probably won't be buying a new car anytime soon so I don't have to worry about it getting keyed.

[SineSwiper]

That's not to say that a single person shouldn't buy a house. A friend of mine bought a nice one, and he's single, but he's also a 50-year-old always-going-to-be-a-bachelor type.

[Zeus]

You have to make sure you can comfortably take on the responsibility and payments of a hosue. If you can't, wait. I can't imagine the US market bouncing back too much in the next year, you should be able to get a good deal next summer