To rent or own, that is the question

[ragani]

The last couple of weekends have been taken up with the great apartment search. I love where I live, but it really is not big enough for me, my lovely roomies and chaosloom. And really, in align with that "starting our new lives together" thing that we are embarking on, it seems like a good time to strike out on our own. Timing wise, we should probably move out by the start of September, because that is when one of the roomies returns from abroad, and things will get much tighter here.

We have looked at a range of places, some decent, some ridiculous. We even found a great one right across the street from where we are now and thought we had ended the search, only to be turned down because of chaosloom's credit. One friend, who just finished law school, pointed out that is was illegal for them to have turned us down when my credit and income is enough for me to take on the lease on my own, but we are not sure we want to pursue that "fight back" route at this time. Sigh...

Meanwhile, we have also talked about the possibility of owning. My step-mom thinks this is the perfect time for us to look for a place to buy because of the the current market conditions. There are any number of first-time home owner assistance programs in the towns where we are looking to live. There are even ones that are based on low-income, for which we might qualify for now (based on 2007 income), that we might not qualify for next year.

But really, is it a good time to buy? If so, why? And, what is the first step?

Comments

[fresne.livejournal.com]

It is a good time to buy a first house. It is not a good time to get a loan as a first time home buyer. And I'll say, September is an extremely tight deadline for working out all the things that have to be lined up to start thinking about a home purchase.

You're going to have a much more difficult time qualifying for a no money to almost no money down loan, as restrictions have considerably tightened on who can qualify for what kind of loan.

A good site for information about the market and the current loan rates is Bankrate.com.

Terrible site design, and a lot of their tables are actually ads, but they are literally the only game in town in terms of almost all Banks going to a single source on a weekly basis to post their rates. There are a lot of articles there about things you should do to shine up your credit.

When you do buy a home, write out who will own what % of the property and who put what in for the down payment in a Home Owner's agreement. That way there's no question who owns how much of the property. Get it notarized and registered with the title. Then when you do your taxes, whatever % you own, is what you'll itemize for your deduction. Keeping in mind if finances change, the agreement can be amended at any time. Just renotarize and register with the Title company.