would u rather have the house/car of your dreams and owe on it for years, or would u rather have a modest home/car that is paid for?

the latter...

Paid for, definitely.

I would prefer to aim to own the house, car of my dreams ..by progressing in stages.....buying and paying off a cheaper one ...sell and gain more equity to purchase something slightly better and so on...

modest home and car that's paid for

Short answer: It depends

Long answer:

Most people can't afford to buy a house outright so I don't have a problem paying a mortgage that is within my means. It's all about pacing yourself. I started out with a new smaller house 9 years ago and then as I could afford it moved up to my "dream" house two years ago, which will be paid off in 8 years.

As for cars, again most people can't afford to buy a new car outright. My first car was something I could afford to make a payment on AND liked driving. My next car was my "dream" car that I took out a loan for but paid off 3 years early. I'm a firm believer that if I'm making a monthly car note I need to be happy about writing that check every month. Luckily, I'm at a place where I can afford to buy my next "dream" car cash. I wanna be like Kim on the Housewives of Atlanta and write a phat personal check for my car. The big difference though is that I won't have to call a suga daddy for permission first and to make sure the money is in the account.
[Edited 10/23/08 16:55pm]

I love paying my mortgage. The interest deduction means several thousands of dollars less income that the government can tax me on every year.

Genesia said:

Ours aren't tax deductible here

In a perfect world, yes, I would rather have my house paid for however I would still have to owe even if I chose a modest home. My house is a fixer-upper so I consider it a modest home. Unfortunately I have the modest income paying for it. I'm with Ocean though. After fixing it up and living in it for awhile, eventually I'll have enough equity to trade up.

i'd love to be able to horde my money, but since i like shelter and have absolutely no issues with modest means then modest mortgage it is. i lucked out. i own my modest car and am holding on to it til i can own another just as good (my car has earned my love) or it completely falls apart underneath me.

I don't care so long as I've 2 legs to walk with and a roof over my head at any given time.

I owe, I owe
It's off to work I go.....

I want what I want, so if I have to pay on it, then I'm down for it....

Considering that here, (Long Island NY), you can't get a one-room shack for less than $200K ...it's pretty much impossible to own buy a house outright unless you're wealthy.

So I can't relate to the question.

PurpleJedi said:

That'd buy you a 5 bedroom house with guest house, pool and a few acres of land here.

Crazy.

Fauxie said:

Agreed! I have a friend who's about to retire after 21 years of military service who happens to be househunting....he told me of a house/property about the size you describe (with a 3 car garage to boot) that in some northern California town goes for about $250,000...but he's from Colorado and the same thing there was running about 3 times that amount....

reneGade20 said:

That's nuts.

Fauxie said:

Yeah...it is crazy.

My wife is dying to move to Florida or somewhere with more affordable housing. The problem is...THIS is where I can maximize my income based on what I do (fire alarm systems). Move to...say Orlando (Florida)...and I'd probably have to take such a paycut that I wouldn't be able to afford that $200K house.

Fury said:

We built and own a modest dream home - 100% paid for

and modest vehicals, also almost paid for - the 2008 subaru has a handfull of payments owed then that's that

yup

in an ideal world i'd rather have all paid for and live in a modest house.

who wouldnt want their house paid off?

either way you still have to pay property taxes and those are no joke either.

angelcat said:

horatio said:

Our property taxes are under 750 a yr

Mach said:

you make me sick!

horatio said:

The idea of having a home paid for makes me so happy I could almost cry. Fuck the car, I don't even care. Just knowing for sure that I've got someplace to live . . . that would be awesome.

I hate debt.

Mach said:

i half embarrassed half furious at what we pay, all that money could be going to maintaining and paying for the house

Being debt free is the way 2 go but it is contary 2 the way a capitalistic society "thinks". The U.S. has been brainwashed into consumerism. That is NOT the way 2 stay debt free.

horatio said:

That sucks

PurpleJedi said:

exactly, nowadays you will stuggle to pay the mortgage on some VERY modest stuff, and do it for 30 years.

Graycap23 said:

SPEND....SPEND....SPEND.....