I agree – we shouldn’t bash anyone on these forums – we should recognize that it is both an emotional purchase as well as a business purchase in buying a home.
Each person is different and each person has different levels of risk, stability, long term, short term goals, ect. For me (a person who keeps buying and selling with a bit of wanderlust) it would be ludicrous to purchase now. Why? Because I am not sure what my time horizon is. I don’t think that any house I purchase will hold its value (including the cost of selling) over the next 3-8 years.
If I was in it for 10-20 years, it would be a more difficult decision, and for 20 or more years an easier one.
I would like to buy a house – but am too risk adverse right now. I think that from a purely financial point that almost no one should buy now, that is only because I feel (my guess) that while prices might stay stable, there is a very good chance that they will keep going down or plunge. The weighted average of my risk scenarios show a much weaker RE market in the next 2-6 years.
To keep my wife, kids, and myself happy, I committed to a very expensive rental which is still 1/2 of what i would pay for a similar house in today’s market.
If you can afford it and don’t feel that prices will erode too much more, AND are going to stay there for 15 years or more then perhaps you should buy. Of course when I say can afford it, I really mean can afford it. That means at least 20% down, 20% more in the bank, and a mortgage that suits your time horizon. It’s my opinion that most people can’t really afford it… They think that 20% down, almost nothing left in the bank, and getting a second mortgage is normal…. It’s not… It’s very foolish with the potential volatility in the housing market and economy right now.
