Stop trying to convince me to buy a house!

The BBQ Pit
1

I know this has been done before, but still…

There’s a guy at work who will Just. Not. Shut The Fuck UP ABOUT HOW I SHOULD BUY A HOUSE! Not a couple of years down the line, when I’ve built up my savings and feel more settled in my job. BUT RIGHT NOW!!! Because if I wait, I’LL MISS OUT ON THE LOW INTERESTS RATES!!! I’d be STUPID TO WAIT!!!

Really. I know that he thinks he knows what’s best for me and that he’s not purposefully trying to come off as a jerk. But I didn’t just roll off the turnip truck, although I’d be the first to admit I don’t know much about the housing market and real estate and mortages and all that. I do know how much money I have in my bank account. I know how much I feel comfortable spending. And I know that making a decision to buy just because everyone is saying THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME RIGHT NOW!! is not wise. Because that kind of mentality is exactly what got us into the economic mess we’re in right now.

I may buy a house a few years from now, once I feel more secure with my life. A little “starter” home that I will live in forever, with a quaint front porch and a pretty little red bud tree growing out front, and a little yard so I can put out some decorative planters and my kitty cats can play safely. Or…I may decide to keep renting and invest my money. My point: I don’t NEED a house. Just like I don’t NEED a car, although having one is nice when it’s raining and I don’t feel like walking down the street to the grocery store. No one NEEDS anything except to eat and sleep. When I’m 90 and dying of dementia years from now, I’m pretty sure my last lucid thought will not be, “Sure wish I had bought me a house!”

Honestly, people don’t understand the concept of “different strokes for different folks”. This guy has bought 9 houses, renovated them and flipped them for a good amount of money. All that is impressive, but THAT IS NOT ME. I just want a place to live, that’s all. I don’t want to own anything. I’m not a pure ascetic–I have some toys and I spend money on things I don’t need. But I don’t want to be a homeowner, at least right now. I might be missing some kind of magical, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I do not care. All I care about is having enough money saved so that if I lose my job in the coming year, I won’t have a nervous breakdown.

Today, as he was doing a repeat performance of his unsolicited sales pitch on the Benefits of Home Ownership (in my office! Why do I always have crazy people coming into MY office!?), he intimated that I needed to move into the “adult” world and stop thinking like a broke college kid. I am not thinking like a broke college kid, thankyouverymuch. I’m thinking like someone who wants to do whatever she wants to do, with no external pressure forcing her hand.

He can call me a “kid” all he wants. I’m fine with being a “kid”. Kids don’t have to gobble down Lepitor or take high-blood pressure medication, like this guy does. Nor do they always grumble around, stressed out about one thing after another. Yes, I might be an aimless drifter in life, but the stress in my life is either short-lived stuff or things that are beyond my control, so they’re not worth worrying about anyway. So make fun all you want. My life is easy. Yours is hard and doesn’t seem like much fun, Mr. Homeowner Who Won’t Shut Up.

2

I own a house. I’m looking forward to selling it and getting back to renting. Renting, I liked. Owning? No. It sucks.

3

I did not buy my house until I was past 40.

I’m glad I did, but sometimes I wish I hadn’t. There is a lot of freedom in not having mortgage. If my current business goes to crap (more and more likely when) I could get up and move to a new job anywhere, without worrying about whether or not I could sell.

On the other hand, I regret the years and years I spent paying rent when I could have been paying off my mortgage.

On the up side, I may pay off the house this year, and in fact, maybe before October.

4

Thank you! I thought I was the only one! I get the “why don’t you buy a house!!” crap, too. As if I don’t know my own financial situation (apparently, there are maybe people suffering under the delusion that the only cost of home ownership is the mortgage). As if I don’t read the paper (yes, I know they’re giving away eight grand… ). As if I don’t know, realistically, what my lifestyle is really like, and how much responsibility I, a single person, am willing to take on.

I never ever get grief about not wanting kids. I get grief about not wanting to buy a house!

5

You think that is bad monstro?

Imagine if it is your parents telling you that…

When the housing bubble was going up.

Telling them no was my best decision as now I’m not so secure, but I would be totally screwed if I had gotten a home in California as they originally advised me to get.

In your case I also would say no as you would still need to have a good paying job to be able to maintain a house.

6

Tell the guy to buy a house and sell it to you at a friend price, 2% interest, 30 year fixed mortgage with zero down and you’ll definitely go for it–as long as the monthly payment plus impound for taxes and insurance and such is less than what you’re currently paying for your rental. Tell him not to broach the subject with you again until he has the perfect house already in hand. That ought to shut him up…

7

I’m a Realtor and I’m not even going to tell you to buy a house. A house sucks a significant amount of fun and freedom out of your life on top of not being as great of an investment as most people say.

Most of the people I saw jumping into home ownership just for the tax credit should not have been buying a house and we’ll probably see a significant portion of those homes going for foreclosure in a few years.

8

OK, I’ll play along as Devil’s Advocate as someone that owns a home and finds mortgage payments painful: your “friend” is mostly right. The housing market right now is a buyer’s dream and if you are in fact looking to buy a home and have the means to do so, then there’s no better time than now.

There are many factors that go into buying one (like actually, you know, wanting to) but it is in fact a great time to buy of you have the money and are looking. Otherwise…not so much.

9

I can’t be the first person to tell you that you really should buy a house.

Doesn’t even matter which one. Any house will do.

10

This is just “some guy” at work? I think I’d be telling him “I am not going to discuss my personal finances with you. The subject is closed.” Repeat (and ignore him) as needed.

11

I’ve been told more than once that I should think about buying a house because ‘it’s what adults do’. I have no desire right now to own a house - some day, yes, but not now. Part of the reason I don’t want to buy is because I’m still in grad school, but other people I’m in school with have bought houses (zero down payment mortgage! it’s not any more than renting! it’s a good investment!).

I am still renting (and I have a roommate, which is practically a crime if you listen to some people), and I also don’t own a car - for all these things I have heard the ‘grow up and join the adult world’ argument more than once. So apparently I’m not an adult if I don’t have a house and a car tying me to a city I’m only in temporarily, and also a crushing debt load that keeps me up nights. I’m going to say I’m comfortable with that.

12

I don’t know where you work, but I would ask your Donald Trump wanna-be co-worker if he is such a real estate mogul, then why does he still have to hold a full time job?

If he is that successful a property “flipper”, than what he probably does is take low income housing or foreclosures, dress them up as cheaply as possible with paint, and then rip off the buyer into overpaying for the house. By demeaning your maturity level, he sounds like an asshole, if I may be so frank. He isn’t one of those “Real Estate Riches” jerkoffs, is he?

As one poster said, IF you feel comfortable buying a house then yes, this is a great time to buy. But remind your overbearing coworker that the reason interest rates are so low is because so many people are unable to afford to buy a house. I get the impression you live by yourself, and for that reason alone, I would keep renting. A house often requires two incomes, and two people partnering to take care of it.

As a homeowner, I can tell you, taking care of a home properly (which I do a poor job of because I work so many hours) is like having a second job.

13

At this point in my life (43 years old and married with two cats), I love being a homeowner. I can totally see why other people who have different lives (or even the same kind of life) wouldn’t want it for themselves - houses are work. It’s work I enjoy doing, but anyone who tells you owning a house isn’t expensive and time-consuming is blowing smoke up your ass. Buying and flipping houses is a particular kind of insanity beyond simply buying a house to live in. I suggest you tell this ignorant jerk your last sentence from the OP next time he starts bugging you. :slight_smile:

14

Right now is an excellent time to buy a house…if you want to buy a house right now. If you don’t think that it’s in your best financial interests to buy a house, then not buying one is probably more mature than buying one under pressure.

And I’m willing to make a small bet that he “just happens” to have a nice little house for sale, and he’ll make YOU a special deal on it. House flippers are part of the reason we’re in this mess, and I hope that he and other flippers got caught with a few upside down purchases.

15

I thought I was the only one who had no interest in buying a house. I am 45 and have never, not even once, felt the urge to purchase a house. A big tthhhhpppphhhhtttt to all the idiots who were trying tell me to buy before the market collapsed. My reasonable argument of “I cannot afford a house, or condo, even if I desired one, which I certainly do not.” fell on deaf ears.

16

I see SSM is legal where you live
d & r

17

^ I take it the S stands for species, right?

18

Of course, if you rent, you’re paying somebody else to do that work for you, one way or another. And they decide exactly what gets done, too.

19

That’s the point, it’s a big “if”. Dude doesn’t get the notion that in this case it does not apply.

20

I bought a home not a house; it’s not an investment, it’s where I live.

I happened to have the cash… so I bought the place; I didn’t see the point of spending the next couple of decades watching the pile twindle paying for rent. Funnily enough, the neighborhood has gone upmarket since, and people have been pestering me to sell; they don’t seem to understand I simply don’t give a damn I could make 40K profit. Since I’m the owner, nothing short of a natural disaster destroying the house is going to force me to move, and we don’t have those here.