You need to compare it to the alternatives.

Post #54,516 by Another Scott 10/2/02 2:36:43 PM Reply	You need to compare it to the alternatives. Is your rent going up rapidly as well? If so, you might want to add that as a consideration for buying just to protect yourself from future rent increases. It's hard to give general advice about this. If you plan on staying there for 5-7 years (or so), and won't be in the hole a lot after paying the buying fees and the selling fees if you need to sell (i.e. there's not a huge fall in prices when you want/need to sell), then buying often makes sense. As others point out, you need to consider how much of the interest and taxes you can deduct. If you have a conventional loan, your home falling in value is only an issue if 1) you want to sell, or 2) you want to get money out of the house in an equity loan. If you can't imagine moving nor selling, it's not something to worry about terribly much, IMO. I don't know for sure what would be the ramification if you have an adjustable mortgage, but I don't think it would be different. In order to make the comparison you've got to consider all the factors. Renting isn't cheap either. Remember - Location, location, location. And beware of Condos - they can be difficult to sell. HTH. Cheers, Scott.
Post #54,521 by drewk 10/2/02 3:26:24 PM Reply	Something else re: condos I noticed this when looking several years ago, though I don't know if it was a local aberration or standard for condos. They seemed to behave like new cars, in that the first owner loses significant value just for driving it off the lot, so to speak. I saw numerous examples of people selling 3-year-old condos for 40% less than just-completed condos elsewhere in the development. New condos in the southwest suburbs were generally $75k-$150k. Same locations, 3-5 years old would run $55-$120k. The psychology seems to be that people don't view condos as the same as houses, but as apartments you can claim on your taxes. And new apartments are better. I'm sure in urban areas (New York in particular) condos are seen more like "real" houses. === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #54,540 by admin 10/2/02 4:51:33 PM Reply	To add another twist: Not all condos are like apartments. There are also "detached condos" which are houses with little tiny yards. You own the inside (walls, furnace, etc) and the condo association owns the outside and land. Detached condos have pretty good resale (at least around here). There's one other kind, which is like a townhouse. Two or more units, side by side. Same ownership as with detached condos. Basically the shared characteristic is "who owns the outside". Having said that, there are also 'single family home' developments where there are so many restrictions and 'home association' fees that they might as well be condos. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."

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