I don't really make alot but I am tired of renting. I would like some space, but I know that I want to spend my summers on the road and out of the country. Should I buy a house or keep renting? What do you guys do? I'm just tired of funneling my money into renting (since I'll never see it again). But can I be a true travel bug with a house too?
You can always rent it out when you go off on your travels. Sometimes it's nice not to have to keep finding somewhere new to live if you're always returning back to the same place. And like you say renting is dead money. On a month to month basis renting can be cheaper, but long term the financial benefits of home ownership are much better.
It also depends on how you look at travel - some people seem in a hurry to do as much as they can as quickly as they can before they settle down, whereas others realise it's something you can probably do your whole life.
This is a really interesting thread. I don't think travelling and house ownership are necessarily mutually exclusive things, but normally you will have more spare income if you are just renting and will therefore have more means to travel. While interest rates are still low though it might be good to buy now because a mortgage may work out the same, or cheaper, than renting. It obviously depends on what your salary is too. Further to what Dave suggested, another possibility is buying a house for the purpose of letting it out so you can still continue to rent elsewhere, but the tenants in the place you have bought will cover the mortgage. That way if you want to quit your job for the summer and go off travelling, your mortgage will still be getting paid.
I have been toying with the idea of buying a house for over a year now and I still can't decide what to do!
Personally I have always rented, I always thought that it would be too much hassle selling a house (especially with the way things are in the UK at the moment) if I found a country I wanted to work in/ stay for longer. I suppose you could alway rent it out but hen you would have to find reliable tennants etc. I always thought as a mortgage as a brick round peoples neck tying you down but everyones circumstances are different. I dont plant pn buying a house until Im planning a family ect and I certainly dont plan on that for a LONG time! There's still too much of the world I want to see!
Keep renting (for the freedom to just up n go when you want) and buy a house in Eastern Europe as an investment. Probably the cheapest region on the planet to buy a property.
One stone, 2 birds.
I'm renting and mean to continue to rent.
Can't imagine myself living in any place "forever". brrrrr...
well, my last rent continuous about 12 years! But the fact it's rented still gimme feeling of being "free of..."
Less you own - easier you walking.
:-)
It depends of size of your travel bug
Most of ppl looking for being landed / connected / feel secure... whatever means constant and regular life routine. But it's not the single way
You know I hate to sound like my parents, but lets play devils advocate. Its getting that much harder to get onto the property ladder. House prices in my home town ( Sydney) have sky rocketed in the last 15 years and there are suburbs/towns that are hitting 10 + % growth per year. Its hard saving for a house deposit, its even tougher when the median house prices are almost half a million!
For instance if you wish to buy a home in your ideal suburb and the median house price was $485,000. You needed $48,500 for a 10% deposit. Say you weren’t ready to by the house as you didn’t want to settle down, you wanted to go travelling for 2 years and when you came back you wanted to work an extra 2 years to save a deposit. Say the median house price for your suburb grew by 8% per year, and you wanted to save at least a 10% home deposit. Over 4 years the median house price rose by 32%.
Median house prices are now $640,200. You now need $64,200 as a house deposit. Just think that if you paid the deposit 4 years ago you could have saved $15,700 on the deposit plus 4 years off paying your mortgage..
The longer you put off buying a house, the harder it gets to put together a decent deposit and the easier it gets to be priced out of the market. .
Take advantage of the current low interest rates, buy the house, put your rent money to good use..It is possible to own a mortgage and go traveling..
[ 02-Mar-2010, at 09:50 by islandtrek ]
Dont fancy buying abroad?
Buying a house is like: the final nail in the coffin with the tombstone that reads "I'm never going to escape this place".
Wow. That's a lot to think about. I am in the fourth year of my professional career and each year I say I'm not coming back.............hence the continuous renting. As I prefer the option of escape, I probably should buy because my potential job options elsewhere are slim. The problem is I am tired of not having a back yard, a place to grow things, have a studio for my art, have a spare bedroom for guests, etc. Also, I am so tired of moving my stuff around. And being a former pack rat, a book enthusiast and an art major has been difficult. I have downsized so much compared to what I used to have.
Of course, as several of you suggested buying abroad, that sounds fabulous and smart. However, I know nothing of finances and even less of international finance. On a more severe note it would be like torture to go through all of the paperwork, etc. I am still having a difficult time acknowledging tax time.
I am seriously considering buying and then renting out a room (or buying a house with a garage apartment or something along that line). This would give me extra income each month and then during the summers I could travel. I'm not too keen on letting out the entire property to renters as you could come home with a disaster on your hands. Not to mention you are technically the landlord and if you are not in the country that presents a dilemma.
Thanks again for your help. I have a lot to hammer out.
It's kills me, my dad tells me when he was growing up he was told to never buy a house that was twice your annual salary, he used to make $18 an hour in 1980 with a pension with no college degree and no student loans to pay off. he bought his fist house for $30,000!
five years out of college and I have $13,000 in student loans to pay off, I make $15 an hour (thanks to this recession) working in my desired field, and I have to pay $150 a month for healthcare. and houses are $300,000 with ridiculous property taxes!
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