Saturday, August 7, 2010

To buy or not to buy?

Recently we found out through our neighbors that the people who own the house we rent are getting a divorce. We found out today that they are planning on offering us the house. We thought about buying a house before but now we aren't so sure. Since I will be moving home next year after the baby is born and will be gone for the year my husband is deployed there is no need for a house. BUT once he does come home we have at least a year left here before seeing what his orders are for reenlistment. I think I need a pros and cons list. Bare with me.

PROS.
We can fix up the house (which doesn't need much work) and resell it.
We could probably get it for less than the offering price since we have been renting it for a while. 
We love the area and our neighbors. 
It should be an easy resell. 
We would have a house to come back to after his deployment.
Possibility to rent it out for a year while I was home, or rent it out to girls visiting their men down here instead of a hotel. 

CONS.
We would have to actually fork up a lot of money. 
We would still be saving money while he deploys but not as much as not paying any rent at all.
We have never owned a home before and don't know much about the process of buying and reselling so quickly. 
The condition of the house could be a lot less than we realize and we could get screwed. 
If we get orders to move we won't have a lot of time to sell. 

Has anyone bought and resold a home? What would your advice be? 

2 comments:

  1. I would vote no... here are my reasons:

    1) you're having a baby, that is going to consume a lot of time/energy/money

    2) you won't be there during the deployment but you will still have to pay for it

    3) anything that goes wrong (ie: A/C unit breaks, you have to pay for- when renting, the lanlord/management company has to pay for it ...in my personal experience: our A/C broke, we had a water pipe burst, the ceiling leaked --all were taken care of by our management companies at mo cost to us. Our friends own their house and the A/C unit they just replaced cost $5,300)

    4) our friends bought a house at their last duty station... they tried to sell it, couldn't, had to hire a landlord and had it sit for 7mo empty until they finally got renters... so for 7mo they were paying the mortgage and their BAH was going to their current house on base.

    5) With the current economy... it's a GREAT buyer's market a TERRIBLE seller's market

    6) Finally buying has tons of hidden fees, two weeks ago a couple in our Bible study closed on a house and were given a $2,000 closing fee!!

    So that is my opinion/knowledge on the subject. By no means am I an expert though!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You think like I think. We will most likely end up passing because we are excited about not having to pay anything other than our credit cards for a year. I don't want to pass up that opportunity to get in a crappy situation with a house. Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete

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