Home buying thread

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Khane

Khane

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OU Ariakas said:
Haha, sorry for assuming; when I hear that the parents have to co-sign for rent I just assume the person is 18-25. I find it mind blowing that someone in their 30s would need their parents help for rent, but I guess that is a sign of the times.
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Happens quite often. I had a couple who were both in their 40s with high school aged children who wanted their parents to come on the walkthrough with them because they would be covering first, last and security on move in. Sad.
 
Araysar

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"hey do you accept animals?"
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Phazael

Phazael

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So my wife and I have been completely debt free for going on five years now (we charge things to a card and pay it off monthly to keep credit good), which makes me happy heading into the coming shitshow. But the wife wants to buy a fucking rental property in CO (we are in TX) near her sister and put us into a fucking 30 year mortgage right at the start of what is sure to be a depression. She wants to rent it as an Air BnB type thing, but really she just wants to have a house she can go be near her sister and nephews at. I do NOT want to take on a fuckton of debt, especially since prices are likely to crash in a couple months when the bubble pops. We are over 50 and will be paying on the fucking thing until beyond us being put in the fucking dirt. And it will end our financial freedom (we save lots of money and pretty much do whatever we want whenever we want right now) for the foreseeable future. She assures me we can rent it often enough to cover the mortgage payment, but I have serious doubts and feel like we would be fucked over long term by this. And I don't like owning property a time zone away, either. She wanted to hold on to our old condo in CA when we bailed and if we had, we would have been royally fucked there too with the squatters running rampant. I don't want to be the asshole here, but I am trying to keep us safe and all of our assets in arms reach in TX.

I guess my question is, is there a decent window for taking this kind of leap in the next half a year? Or should I just stall until she gives up? Given how bad our 401k is getting raped, I suggested cashing that out to buy a property that way, while the 401k is still worth something but she has this delusion that its going to magically bounce back. The wife is normally very rational, but the usual female "be near my family" bullshit is fucking with her brain on this. I moved heaven and earth to get us to a point where we are in a red state, financially secure and debt free, have good friends, and are mostly isolated from the liberal mind virus. Now she wants to take a hammer to all that stability because she wants to have the option to move us closer to her sister, into a house likely half the size, twice the cost, and built years before our current home. This could ruin us and she just refuses to see it, so I need to know what is realistic here to steer her in a direction that is at least somewhat managable.
 
Araysar

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Phazael said:
So my wife and I have been completely debt free for going on five years now (we charge things to a card and pay it off monthly to keep credit good), which makes me happy heading into the coming shitshow. But the wife wants to buy a fucking rental property in CO (we are in TX) near her sister and put us into a fucking 30 year mortgage right at the start of what is sure to be a depression. She wants to rent it as an Air BnB type thing, but really she just wants to have a house she can go be near her sister and nephews at. I do NOT want to take on a fuckton of debt, especially since prices are likely to crash in a couple months when the bubble pops. We are over 50 and will be paying on the fucking thing until beyond us being put in the fucking dirt. And it will end our financial freedom (we save lots of money and pretty much do whatever we want whenever we want right now) for the foreseeable future. She assures me we can rent it often enough to cover the mortgage payment, but I have serious doubts and feel like we would be fucked over long term by this. And I don't like owning property a time zone away, either. She wanted to hold on to our old condo in CA when we bailed and if we had, we would have been royally fucked there too with the squatters running rampant. I don't want to be the asshole here, but I am trying to keep us safe and all of our assets in arms reach in TX.

I guess my question is, is there a decent window for taking this kind of leap in the next half a year? Or should I just stall until she gives up? Given how bad our 401k is getting raped, I suggested cashing that out to buy a property that way, while the 401k is still worth something but she has this delusion that its going to magically bounce back. The wife is normally very rational, but the usual female "be near my family" bullshit is fucking with her brain on this. I moved heaven and earth to get us to a point where we are in a red state, financially secure and debt free, have good friends, and are mostly isolated from the liberal mind virus. Now she wants to take a hammer to all that stability because she wants to have the option to move us closer to her sister, into a house likely half the size, twice the cost, and built years before our current home. This could ruin us and she just refuses to see it, so I need to know what is realistic here to steer her in a direction that is at least somewhat managable.
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Personally I think that at a time of overtly inflated stock market and rampant inflation, tangible physical assets that have always appreciated in the long term like property are the way to go. Even better if its single family homes that you can rent so that someone pays your mortgage, which you can sell years down the line and collect the equity too. Win Win.

But I'd never buy in a blue state because of COVID moratoriums, and I'd never buy a property that I couldnt drive to in an hour. I think the concept is sound in principle, but the details arent great.

1. Im always leery of AirBNB type of stuff because so many municipalities are regulating short term rentals
2. I dont want to deal with "customers" who expect a hotel experience since theyre paying for a AirBnB.
3. No idea where in CO it is. Is it a tourist heavy area or not?
4. Do you even need money? Its an investment that has a very long timeline for payoff. If you can comfortably retire on what you have, do you even need the hassle?
 
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Phazael

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3, Colorado Springs, so somewhat touristy. Skiers go there a lot.
4. My only personal interest is maybe moving the ever shrinking 401ks into a physical asset, as you said, because they retain value. My wife is doing this as some over arching plan to convince me to move out of TX to be closer to her relatives, so she is operating purely in emotion. My fat ass is only going to last 2-3 decades more at most anyhow, so the money for retirement is not vital to me, but I would not mind more to hedge against inflation (if its even possible long term). If my wife were in this for the money we would have already bought a house up the street from us with our 401k cash out option, but this is clearly a plan for her to emotionally leverage me into moving out of TX to be closer to her family. I will end up divorced before I ever go back to a blue state after narrowly escaping CA, which she somehow resents me for more for being right about.
 
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C

Captain Suave

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Sanrith Descartes said:
The life of a landlord.
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You kinda have to ask, though. My wife and I have always owned 75-100 lbs dogs and no landlord anywhere advertises that at first pass. We've always offered to put down an additional deposit for pet damages and it's a non-issue.
 
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Araysar

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Phazael said:
3, Colorado Springs, so somewhat touristy. Skiers go there a lot.
4. My only personal interest is maybe moving the ever shrinking 401ks into a physical asset, as you said, because they retain value. My wife is doing this as some over arching plan to convince me to move out of TX to be closer to her relatives, so she is operating purely in emotion. My fat ass is only going to last 2-3 decades more at most anyhow, so the money for retirement is not vital to me, but I would not mind more to hedge against inflation (if its even possible long term). If my wife were in this for the money we would have already bought a house up the street from us with our 401k cash out option, but this is clearly a plan for her to emotionally leverage me into moving out of TX to be closer to her family. I will end up divorced before I ever go back to a blue state after narrowly escaping CA, which she somehow resents me for more for being right about.
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My wife's family is regularly trying to get us to move to Vegas where they all live. 🤷‍♂️
 
Control

Control

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Phazael said:
This could ruin us and she just refuses to see it, so I need to know what is realistic here to steer her in a direction that is at least somewhat managable.
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Check into the local rental laws for some logical fodder, for whatever good it will do. Some states make it ridiculous to be a landlord. Also note that whether or not you can airbnb it can change on the local government's whim. Buy a house nearby and tell her the relatives can come here to visit.
 
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Creslin

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I would also look at price history in the area. Some areas are up 20% from 2019, some up 80%. You are more likely to be burned on the later. Many vacation areas saw huge increases because people think work from home will last forever… it probably won’t or they will be the first jobs cut in a real recession as bosses want people in the office

this is actually similar to a situation to one my parents are in and my advice (which they took) was to buy land in the vacation area for now with the intent to wait and see what happens and maybe build next year. My thinking being they were going to buy anyway and overpaying on a 100k lot of land has much less downside risk than overpaying on a 800k house.
 
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Pharazon2

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House prices have already been dropping here for a few months, could be somewhat localized though due to the high prices in this area (Seattle). The increase in mortgage rates are for sure being felt by buyers. With no sign in decreasing rates and the FED ready to start taking money back out of the system, I wouldn't consider buying a rental right now. Sure maybe you can rent it out on a consistent basis, but that will just be silver lining if you go underwater on it.

I think the prime time to buy rentals will be in 1-2 years when rates have gone as far as the FED is willing to go, and have stayed at that level for a long enough time so that the effects have been felt by house buyers for a while and impacted the market. If you buy when rates have been at or near their peak, the FED will eventually start dropping rates again and the property should only appreciate from there. Right now I think there's still downside risk.
 
Sanrith Descartes

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Phazael said:
I don't want to be the asshole here,
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You need to sometimes. Just hold the line and say no. You are correct it is a bad time to buy for various reasons. Sometimes being responsible means pissing people off. This is doubly true when dealing with a wife. Just tell her to go make you a sandwich.
 
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Sanrith Descartes

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Phazael said:
4. My only personal interest is maybe moving the ever shrinking 401ks into a physical asset, as you said, because they retain value. M
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You need to just not look at your 401k. People get fearful in market downturns. Its human nature. Unless you 100% believe that society is about to collapse and money will be worthless, then selling isnt the best move. I totally understand the move from equities into physical assets, but right now you missed that boat. You want to liquidate equities near lows to buy property near highs. Read that last line two or three times to yourself out loud. If you still think its a good idea then i got nothing else for you.

Im not against physical assets and I am currently looking for property to build a house down the road. But I aint buying now. I am just doing research. Buy when the market is fearful.
 
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Lanx

Lanx

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1m home still went 20% over list
340811608df8fbc837ed3da5b4d7d2d3.png
 
Oblio

Oblio

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Drinsic said:
Shit's absurd. There's a home in my neighborhood listing for $50k over what I paid for mine last year, and it has ~60% of the square footage.
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What about the lot?

The quality of the build?

The condition?

Room count?

Point being square footage isn't everything.
 
Blazin

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Agents just took pics of my existing house, listing goes up Friday. Looking to take offers through Sunday night. Agent telling me to expect pretty high traffic despite the interest rates, there are just no homes for sale. We have like zero competition right now.
 
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