I’m tired of renting; I want to buy a house RIGHT NOW!!! Seriously, I want to go house-hunting this very afternoon and sign a deal by next week. That’s what I want. What I’m going to get is start house-hunting next February, when our term-deposity GIC matures and we can use it for a down-payment. {heavy sigh}. I don’t do patient very well.
Other mitigating factors:
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My job is forcing me to go full-time; they are a bunch of wankers, and I don’t know long I’ll last there once I have to deal with 12 more hours of bullshit every week. On the plus side, it’s probably best if we don’t buy a house while my job is so shaky. On the negative side, we won’t be able buy a house once I’m unemployed again.
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House prices in Calgary are going up about $10 000 every year. The sooner we buy, the better. On the other hand, this housing boom might end any day. Not likely, though.
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We have a very nice place to live now (even if we are paying our landlord’s mortgage instead of our own), and can stay here comfortably as long as we like. No pressure to get moving on that front.
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Jim’s career is in flux right now. He’s working as a painter again, which he hates, but he’s taking courses to finish up his Safety Officer accreditation. Once he has that, he’ll be looking for a better job. He’ll be able to make a better career choice when we don’t have the pressure of a mortgage, I guess, and there’s no guarantee we’ll be staying in Calgary, either - if he gets a great offer somewhere else, we’re gone.
So, lots of factors. I have to consider all of them, and be patient. I know we’re doing the right thing and moving carefully on this, but being an adult really sucks sometimes.
You can come down to Salem and pretend that my house is yours and do anything you want to my yard (except for the roses and the rhododendrens). I even have a room or two that you could paint. Heck–you can re-do the entire kitchen!
I started going to open houses a couple of months before I was ready to start looking at a serious level. Luckily, I didn’t fall hopelessly in love with any of the house I looked at (it helped that I went to ones that were well outside my budget–but it still gave me ideas on wanted I wanted in my price range).
Heh a couple of my friends (my first friends with their own house!) started going to Open Houses about a year before they wanted to buy, since they had commited to another year lease on their apartment. The lease ended in April. In November they found a house they loved, spent 3 desperate weeks trying to sub-let, and in the end were able to move in.
Sometimes I think I’d like to own my own house, but right now, I have no money, I’m a student, and we aren’t even in the province we plan on living in once we graduate, so it’s really not in the realm of possibilities. But my friend’s house makes me jealous! Actually, at the moment I’d settle for the chance to just repaint and completely redecorate, but since we already KNOW that we are moving next summer, it just isn’t worth the trouble or the money either. I love this apartment, but I also can’t wait to have a place with a bit more of a permanent feel to it.
Move to Florida and I’ll make you a great deal on my house! I want it sold by next May anyway, but I can get into a short term rental if I have to. You’ll love Florida! Really! The palmetto bugs aren’t all that big and we haven’t had a hurricane hit this area since 1964!! And, um, we’re an hour from the beach. And, um, it’s Florida! What more could you want??
Desperate? Me? Don’t be silly!!
Seriously, I need to have it sold by next May…
Ya know FairyChatMom! you floridians need to stop stealing my friends away with your exotic palmetto bugs!
I reestablished a friendship with an old college friend and she abruptly moved to florida last year.
I take a leap of courage in my new town and made a new friend last summer. She’s told me she wants to move to Florida this fall! They are going in july to start looking at areas and houses.
(this does not count the friends who up and left for maine and vermont in the last 3 years either 
sniff)
Florida, eh? The weather sounds nice (except for the hurricanes), and we’d fit right in with all the other Snowbirds, but I don’t know if I could deal with all the bugs you Southerners seem to take for granted.
We started looking at open houses a long time ago - I am a glutton for punishment, I guess, because we’ve seen at least three houses now that were pretty much our dream homes. Looking when you can’t buy is a bad idea, I’ve learned.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by featherlou *
**I’m tired of renting; I want to buy a house RIGHT NOW!!! **
Hey me too! Let’s go steal one together. I’ll be look out, you get it onto the ginormous trailer.
sigh I know what you mean about renting, I’ve rented for what seems ages and it’s time for a real home.