bostonbubble.com

[StallionMang]

My wife and I are looking at houses.. she strongly wants to get on the Mommy track, as most of her friends. I'm 40, she's 32. I have a great job in a great company with great prospects, but like to be fiscally cautious.

I see the market continuing down for at least year. The 3 month MA foreclosure bill is suppressing supply, and thus price.... declines will really kick in in the fall.

The logical part of me thinks that living an an apt makes good economic sense. But she has a clock ticking like th-i-i-ss and wants the white picket fence.

I'm OK with having kids, but part of me thinks we should rent a townhouse to do it in while the market finds its bottom...less risk, school system doesn't matter, etc.

This is a very personal topic, but I'd appreciate any experiences/decisions others could share.

[john p]

You really do get your best deals in the slower months. As credit tightens, the standards rise, so having a bigger down payment is more favorable. The flip side is, the bigger the down payment, the smaller your emergency fund will be. If your wife doesn't work, you really need about 8 months of monthly bills in case you get laid off. You'll most likely get unemployment, but if kids are involved, I'd want a decent sized emergency fund, especially in a market when unemployment in Mass. is rising. Also, a fixer-upper might not be wise because if costs to repair things get out of control that would be a risk you don't need.

I do think renting a bigger place might be the answer; moving stinks though. The house issue and the nesting instinct need to be managed, perhaps, if you have zeroed into a location, you could rent a place in that market and that gives you a location to really get to know the different neighborhoods and such.

My wife and I decided to get a house in a lower cost of living and up and coming area that we really liked, and if as the baby boomers retired and more reasonably priced housing stock became available closer to Boston surfaced, we might consider moving in the future. Now that we're here, I don't see wanting to change things. However, if your job is bearing fruit, maybe being closer to give you every advantage there might be the answer to you.

Believe me, you're not alone.

[kid and still renting]

We have a 4-year old and still renting, despite the fact that I have a great job in biotech industry and we can effort a sizeable downpayment (30-50% depending on a house). We have just moved out from an apartment (condo type) to a house in Winchester. We wanted our son to have a yard, and a nicer neighborhood for daycare and other community activities, as well as more room for guests.
I have been itching to buy for the last 2 years but my husband convinced me otherwise and he was right. The interest on our saving (we have it located in various banks with 5-6% interest) pays 3/4 of our rent, we don't have to pay taxes, and all repairs are only one phone call away. He even does the landscaping and snow removal
So long kids are little and before they go to school it really does not matter that much to us. We'll likely buy within the next 2 years, but if situation on the real estate market is still not conducive, we'll at least move to a town we want to buy, and continue to rent.
For a mother(to-be) it's a psychological issue and it comes with nesting, but thruthfuly it did not make a big difference to a child. He just didn't know any better.

Good luck

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

I'd lived in a rental apartment 'til I'd turned 9. It wasn't so bad. The worse thing that had happened was afterwards, when my dad had to fly around the country, on various 6 mos projects, just to keep the home (and all that Jones stuff).