you only have so much time on this Earth, and I’d rather not spend it doing lawns. To me, $80-100/month is well spent to save myself from doing it. It would take me 3 times as long, i’d make 3 times the mess. I’d rather spend my time playing with my kid. When he is older, maybe I will pay him to do it and give him a sense of responsibility, a way to earn a buck… but he’ll be 12, have 1/2 his days free, and he doesn’t have arthritis in one hip from a car crash…
my real question was whether it *makes financial sense* to buy the house. not get lectured about a gardner, or bashed for going 100%. there are a lot of people like me – professional people, who have a good hard working job, who have a family who depends on them, a large student loan debt…and to maintain a decent standard of living, can’t sock away large chunks of money by the time they are 34. I got out of school at 27, started working, started paying off my loan, wasn’t making a lot..and over the past 7-8 years, have doubled my salary..now make a nice living..but don’t have the years behind me to have put away a large nest egg. If I rented another 10 years, and lived the way I do now, yeah, I’d have a pile of dough in the bank, and I’d be 44… if i can get into ahouse now, doing 100%, and it makes sense, i’ll do it. if it doesn’ tmake sense, i won’t. i realize taht my payment will be higher b/c my rate will be higher, and i’ll be financing the whole thing.. but if the house is cheap enough… 100% or not..it *could* be a good deal.
I just want to know if it makes financial sense to do it. from an investment, rent vs. buy, where is the market going, point of view.
anyway…. i’m leaning toward NOT buying it simply b/c it’s still cheaper to rent, and prices are not going up. it’s not the hosue of my dreams. it’s nice, but if prices keep going down, i can probably do better for the same moeny. i f the landlord wants to come down on the price further to where it truly is as cheap to rent this thing, than maybe i’ll pull the trigger. right now, the price is still too high.
to those who provided sound advice, with good intentions, I sincerely appreciate your suggestions. i appreciate the time you took to respond to my post. I like to think I”m a smart guy who tries to make the best and most informed decisions, but by no means do I have all teh answers. if I thought i knew it all i wouldnt’ be posting here looking for other points of view. I value the opinions of a lot of the people here which is why I frequent this board.
