When is it a good time to buy a house?
In my younger years I thought it was a good idea to become a mortgage agent because at the time I thought I could help people purchase homes and get paid a good commission. Then I actually got into the business and started to observe all the shadiness and pure evil that was going on in this industry. I had to get out and the reason is simple most of the people that have mortgages really can’t afford them or they spend their entire lives paying for a house they can’t really afford.
That said I learned something about purchasing a home that most people don’t talk about and that is the best home owners are the ones that don’t look at their house as their biggest investment. In my opinion it’s a good time to purchase a house when you can put 50% down on the house you want. If you can’t do this I would avoid home ownership altogether and just rent. Try to remember that until you own or I should say until you’re mortgage free you’re really just a renter. If you’re the type of person that want’s to get into real estate investing for the cash flow or to flip properties be warned that being a landlord or house flipper is a business and most businesses fail within 5 years.
Their are tons of programs that encourage people to get into debt with their banks in hopes of gaining cash flow for a property they’re renting. This strategy is only smart if you have the cash to purchase the entire house mortgage free. If you take the mortgage route you’re asking for trouble especially if you’re not renting or flipping million dollar homes.
For those of you wanting to purchase a house I will warn you right now most people NEVER pay off their mortgage and not just that having a large debt will be depressing for most people. Every morning waking up and seeing a debt of over $100,000 – $1,000,000 + is really depressing where as being a renter the only bill you really have to worry about is rent every month plus as a renter you don’t have to worry about fixing anything. In house not only do you have to worry about fixing things you also have to be prepared for the unexpected things. Governments globally whenever their in a financial crisis go after home owners first in the form of taxes. Governments don’t just do this directly they also do this indirectly when they raise taxes on businesses.
If you have the ability to save money you’ll actually be surprised how fast you can save a hundred thousand dollars if you control your spending. The one thing I learned from being a mortgage broker is the people that have a lot of money saved put a lot more thought into the home they purchase. People who put the minimum down to purchase a home are typically the people that lose the most in the real estate. When is it a good time to buy a house? In my opinion it’s best when you can 50% down. The more money you spend on the down payment the more you’ll think long and hard about your purchase.
