bkw said:

You know, you really might want to look into some anger management.

BattierBeMyDaddy said:

I thought it went that, every time you don't believe in fairies, one drops dead. Clap your hands, Peter! Clap your hands!![/quote]
Hey, I think it's worked. He's gone

althom said:

Hey, I think it's worked. He's gone [/quote]

Are you implying Mr. 9s is a fairy?

althom said:

BattierBeMyDaddy said:

Are you implying Mr. 9s is a fairy?[/quote]

Yes!

althom said:

That is really not cool, Pan. How dare you about Mr. 9s as if he were some kind of...Tinker Bell!

BattierBeMyDaddy said:

You said it, not me

althom said:

Heh heh, I did, didn't I?

We rent an apartment, although I wish I could buy it as a condo. Unfortunately, much of the residential real estate in the good parts of downtown Indianapolis is too expensive for us. There's too much demand and too little supply right now. For example, there are some nice condos/homes on the other side of the canal from our apartment complex, but they go for approximately $500,000. I know that's not much in some parts of the country, but around here, that's a lot of money.

My hope is that over time, more housing will be built in this area, our income will increase, and we'll pay off our debt (right now I owe about $65,000 just in student loans). At that point, we might be in a position to buy some downtown real estate. However, my wife isn't a huge fan of the urban lifestyle and would prefer to have some bland house in a suburban-style neighborhood.

matt said:

Thanks Matt.

as a real estate practicsioner (who cant spell) , i do own ... just bought my second home (and sold my first ) ... my heart goes out to those who cannot buy a home - I remember the days ... but once u save up ... life (in general ) becomes easier ... why!!?? ... because , it is like an "automatic savings acct" ... well , almost ... ( I realize that in some parts of the country it aint the case ... ) ... but on the 1st home ... it was a lil 82,000 dollar house ... i remember people sayin we paid too much for ... about 6 yrs later ... we sold it for 124,000 ... so we pocketed somewheres around 44,000 . on the deal ...

not too shabby ...

helped with the new house ... and still had some money ...

now if the wife would just let me put some of it towards a vacation to Minny ...

dagodfather said:

Property can be a fantastic investment.

bkw said:

I think that part of the "American Dream," at least in the post-WWII era, has been to own your home. Indeed, home ownership is usually seen as a good thing here, in part because of the belief that homeowners take better care of their property than renters do, which in turn leads to nicer neighborhoods. There are even programs to encourage people to become homeowners. For example, first-time homebuyers with modest incomes can sometimes get grants.

There are some urban areas (e.g., my neighborhood) where home ownership isn't affordable unless you're quite affluent; however, most Americans don't live in those neighborhoods.

Tax laws in the U.S. strongly favor home ownership. The big obstacle for all first time buyers is the down payment, but after that, the benefits acrue quickly.

I own my home in SF. It was my first home, and it didn't hapen until I was 35 yrs old. So to the youngsters here, don't fret, there's plenty of time. But my advice would be start saving now, and buy as soon as you qualify.

TheMax said:

I love San Fransisco.

If I lived in the US I would consider living there.

I rent an apartment...I wanted to buy but I was not sure how long I wanted to live in chicago...so I just rented for the time being.

MostBeautifulGrlNTheWorld said:

Thanks Jess.

Anyone else?

MostBeautifulGrlNTheWorld said:

Same here. Except not in Chicago.

I rent my apartment... property prices are way too high at the moment, and I like the freedom of renting and being able to move around easily. There are people in the Ireland and the UK getting mortgages for ludicrous amounts of money, with no hope of ever paying it back... fuck that shit.

Renting is really common in Europe anyway... I was impressed when I spent some time in Luxembourg and France, it seems that renting property is much more common, and the tenants have better rights etc, and the rents are more reasonable. That's gotta be the way forward.

The British people seem really hung up on home DIY, redecorating, gardening, interior design etc... there are SO many TV shows about it here. I don't see the appeal myself.

ian said:

There are millions of those shows here too.

Me and my partner bought our house just over a year ago and it's one of the best things that I've ever done. It's great being in a house that you know is yours. Unfortunately, they expect you to pay back this 'mortgage' thing which is a total inconvenience as it means I get less money to buy alcohol, video games, CDs and DVDs with.

Haystack said:

The fuckers!

Bank Manager ->

TheMax said:

Definitely. It's also an invenstment, a hedge against inflation.

I have a condo myself...unfortunately, the home-owner's association are assholes. I'm selling...

My husband and I just bought our first house. We had owned a townhouse prior. Northern California is unreasonably priced to say the least. Had we not made equity off our townhouse, we would have been forced to buy out of our area which has been home to my family for 4 generations.

I think getting your own home is overrated. I'm not saying that it is not a good thing though. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with it. Taking care of it. Maintenance. Yard work. Cleaning. Upgrading. For me it has been overwhelming. I need more time to do the things to it that I want to.

A home is what you bring to it and the love you give it. I don't think it's all about ownership...

I bought my house 19 years ago, for $68,000. It is now worth $280,000!

Nice investment.

sag10 said:

And when you sell, up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) of your capital gains are tax-free. It's a unique investment opportunity, and you can live in it while it's making money for you.

Where else can you leverage as little as 5% and keep all of the return on the investment - tax-free. It's a no-brainer. And then there's the mortgage interest and property tax deductions, so that your actual costs to own are reduced further. In the end, for a comparable home in my area, it's actually cheaper to own than it is to rent.

I own my home. Got it really cheap too!

i rent an apartment, but our goal is to buy a house in the future.

It's pretty much the same in the Netherlands. A lot of people see it as a good investment, although prices keep rising. But a good majority still rents & is happy with it. We rent our home too, cuz i can't afford zip on my salary

matt said:

I picked up a flyer this weekend for those condos across the canal from us... they're advertising one that's being built directly on the canal. Asking price? $649,900. (Granted, from the description, it does sound pretty luxurious, and 3,688 square feet is large for a townhome.)

I can picture my bank's reaction if I tried to get a mortgage for that place: "Sure! We'll just need a $500,000 down payment."