I need a new place
Well, I spent most of last year whining about how I had to get a car. This year's been pretty slow so far, so what better way to get me motivated than to start whining about buying a house?!
Well, not necessarily a house, per se. Probably a townhouse or a condo. I'm not sure yet.
My reasoning for diving into real estate is fairly sound, I think. Paying rent is like tossing money into some dark place where it can't be recovered. Like a black hole. Except I don't think anybody's actually thrown money into one of those before, so I can't really say if the comparison holds. It's kind of dumb. I'm going to be spending some 25-30 years of my life paying off a mortgage anyway. I have money; I might as well get started now. I think I can afford it. I'll be kind of poor for a while, while my income (hopefully) picks up. But I'll have a house (or townhouse or condo) that's mine and all the warm, fuzzy feelings that flow from that.
On top of that, my apartment makes me sick. Headaches... sore throats... I mostly sleep in the living room now, because it's not as bad as in the bedroom (whatever it is). It's very unpleasant. I should probably move.
Sounds good. Of course, there are problems with this idea. First off, I'll have to deal with agents. *sigh*. Second, the housing market is pretty psychotic around here. Not as bad as Toronto or Ottawa, maybe... But if even if I find something I like, I'm more likely than not to find myself in a bidding war. Everybody goes around thinking "Ooh, interest rates are low! What a great time to buy!" Um, no. This is such a seller's market. A half-percent to a percent change in the interest rate won't hurt my ability to make mortgage payments nearly as much as buying a condo that gets bid up $20,000 after the dust clears. I'm worried that this is a bubble market, and prices might not be sustainable. I'm looking at this as an investment, as well as accomadation. You know... buy low, sell high. A low interest rate might cushion the blow a bit, but any way I'm looking at it, I'm going to end up paying nearly twice for housing what I currently pay for rent. And that's not nice.
So I'm mulling all this stuff over. I still think I'm going to stop by open houses soon and get a feel for these creepy "agent" people. So we'll see. I'm much keener on houses than I am on cars, so I don't think I'll whine quite as much. But I'll keep you posted.