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withdrawing funds at Internet gambling sites.
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Renting vs. Buying:
The common wisdom is that making a monthly rent payment, as opposed to making a
monthly mortgage payment, is a bad idea, and is the equivalent of "throwing
money away". However, that is not necessarily always the case, nor is it
completely true in all circumstances. While there are some advantages to buying
and becoming a homeowner as soon as possible, there are also numerous advantages
to renting, which ultimately make it smarter to rent than to buy.
Advantages of Renting:
You can usually rent an apartment or house for much less
than the monthly cost of buying it. In renting you initially normally have to
come up with only the first and last month's rents. You don't have to come up
with the thousands of dollars in up-front fees or closing costs, such as
inspections, legal fees, land transfer taxes, insurance, etc., as do home
buyers.
Renting provides an enormous amount of flexibility,
enabling you to decide on a year-by-year basis whether to renew your housing
situation, so when you need or want to leave, you can do so. Moving from a
house involves enormous planning and costs, such as the thousands of dollars
paid in commission to real estate brokers. There is no waiting to sell, and no
agonizing about the housing market at the moment you need to sell. You can't
place a price tag on the freedom and mobility available to you to pick up and
leave when the need arises.
You aren't responsible for repairs and maintenance. Home improvements and upgrades, maintenance repairs,
gardening/landscaping, property taxes, etc., can become very expensive.
You don't risk losing money if housing prices fall when
you're ready to sell.
For a homeowner the stakes are enormously high should their
finances crumble. When a homeowner can't pay, the lender can take
the house through process called foreclosure. You'll lose all the equity invested in it, not to mention all the hopes and
memories.
Advantages of buying a home:
Pride of ownership. You are most likely to feel good owning
a home than renting it.
You accumulate equity because part of your monthly payment
goes toward paying down the mortgage., which you may be able to sell at a
profit or borrow against in the future.
Your mortgage payments will remain constant for the life of
the mortgage (for a fixed rate mortgage), though not against property
tax or insurance. Rents will most likely increase every year.
Most of your mortgage payments, in the early years, are
interest. Mortgage interest is a deductible expense on your income taxes.
Property taxes are also deductible on your income taxes. If
you meet the IRS guidelines, a home office is also a deduction on your income
taxes.
You will own the property free and clear without any
mortgage payments, usually after 30 years (depending on length or term of the mortgage)
You often get more living space for less money.
When you sell your home, there is no tax on $250,000 of
profit ($500,000 if married).
This book covers all the bases, providing clear explanations
and reasonable judgments on how to select a mortgage, hire a real estate agent,
find the right house, and negotiate a good deal.
Making the rent vs. buy decision involves a lot more than
simply comparing monthly rent with the monthly mortgage you would pay as a
homeowner. There are pluses and minuses both ways, many of which fall outside
the realm of dollars and cents. The decision of whether to rent or buy is,
ultimately, a very personal one that only you can make. To help you in making
this complicated decision, use the
Rent or
Buy analysis calculator. If you want to buy a home, here are the steps to
buying a home:
You have to determine how much you have saved or planning
to save for a down
payment and closing costs.
Prequalify or preapproved for a mortgage and figure out how
much of a house you can afford.
Decide where you want to live. What kind of neighborhood?
What kind of schools? Urban, Suburban or rural areas?
Decide what kind of home your want: new, older, single
family, duplex, townhouse, condominium.
Look for a home. Most likely you will be working with real
estate agents, since most homes are sold through them. See enough houses so
you can compare what is out there and fits your needs best.
Make an offer to purchase the home.
Have the home inspected.
Attend closing and you are the proud owner of your own
home!
Depending on where you live, there are different style of
ownership when you are looking to buy a home. The best investment is to buy a
single family home. But in major cities such as New York, land is scarce and
homes are expensive, therefore condo and co-op may be your best choice.
Ownership
You own
Your rights
what you pay for
House
Land and
building on which is built
You can rent or
sell as you pleased
-Property
taxes.
-All maintenance, repairs and renovations.
-Mortgage and insurance on the property.
Condo
Your own
private living space (not the building and land)
You can rent or
sell as you choose
-Real estate
taxes on your individual unit.
-Monthly maintenance fee and real estate taxes on overall condo property.
-Mortgage and insurance on your unit.
Co-op
A co-op is a
corporation that owns a particular residential property. Instead of owning
an individual unit, you own shares in the corporation, which gives you the
right to live in that unit.
Buyer MUST be
approved by the board and renting may not be allowed.
-Monthly
maintenance charge (for real estate taxes, mortgage on the building, fuel,
insurance, operating costs).
-Repairs paid by co-op and passed along to shareholders.
-Monthly payment on a loan used to purchase the shares, the equivalent of a
mortgage.
Spend less than you earn! People who spend every penny
they make usually end up going broke.......
Take enough risk on the money you save! Playing safe by
putting your money under the mattress or in a savings account
will not make you wealthy..
Remember that.....Fully one-fifth of humanity, some 1.3 billion people,
struggles to survive on less than $1 per day. About 40% of
humanity survives on less than $2 per day. More than a billion
people around the world will go to bed hungry tonight. Life
expectancy in some 32 countries is less than 40 years. If you
have a few extra dollars in your pocket (you don't have to be a
millionaire to make a difference), please share some of your
financial good fortune with others who are in great need.
Think About It... Being in the 'now' brings a freedom, unlike living
in the past or in the future, which is a kind of imprisonment.
This isn't a kind of a denial where you pretend life doesn't have
problems. Life is full of problems, but most of those stresses
and failures are reliving old hurts or worrying about future
concerns. -- Carl Honore
When you 're diagnosed with cancer, you start to
bargain with God: "Let me get through this, and I'll take better
care of myself. I'll get my priorities in order. I'll learn to
live every day to the fullest." Isn't it sad that you have to get
sick before giving yourself permission to live life to the
fullest? -- Robert Schimmel
Look at Life in different & Positive ways
