Buy or Rent?

[Hotpapa666]

Alright, here's a question.

In 18-30 months, my wife and I will likely be returning to St. Louis for exactly 3 years. I am wondering if we should buy a house or rent?

I know, the housing market can change but likely won't too much.

Here are the particulars. We would likely buy a house in the range of $200 K (housing in St. Louis is relatively cheap). If everything (location, condo fees, etc.) looks really really good, we would consider a condo, but that is unlikely. We will be looking in fairly desirable areas near where my wife will be working; so the eventual sale would likely be rather quick.

We would be able to secure financing with no down payment (I'm not kidding and it's not a scam or a fly by night operation). That would put us at a payment of roughly $1500 bucks with insurance etc., and a fairly big chunk of money to work for us instead of sitting in the banks coffers making money for them; the money wouldn't be a problem. And, we get the joys of owning a home, having something to work on, fix up, etc., is something both my wife and I enjoy.

If we rented, we would have to deal with being renters, close neighbors,.... But we would probably pay less than $1,000 per month. We would be able to move right away, no worrying about selling a house.... Also, we lived in St. Louis for 7 years so we know good landlords that we will be able to tolerate for 3 years.


What do the folks out there think? Buy or rent?

[BoredWithNoSB]

Rent a house.

No need to have close neighbors. Plenty of people renting houses. Many woul love to have an activist tenant. If you are only there for three years, you'll have to make up 6% off the top for commissions.

[Jiddy78]

Saving 500 per month on renting? 18 grand? No closing costs. No headaches...No worries about property maintaining?

Especially if you are in limbo come 3 years, I would definitely go rent.


As usual, the disclaimer:

NOT investment advice.

[Hotpapa666]

Rent a house.

No need to have close neighbors. Plenty of people renting houses. Many woul love to have an activist tenant. If you are only there for three years, you'll have to make up 6% off the top for commissions.

I tend to agree with you. I think we are really strongly leaning in that direction.

Moneywise, it seems pretty simple Some really sloppy math: $1500/month over 36 months is $44,000, 6% of $200,000 is $12,000, so I'd need to sell the house for $265,000 just to break even on the house. Then I can reclaim the little equity I'' have buit up as a meager profit.

Of course, I'll be down $36000, on Rent. So if I take that into account, I'll really only have to sell it for $230,000 or so to break even over renting. Again, not taking the paltry equity I'll have built up in 3 years.

I'm leaning toward buying again. Oh the confusion...

[Hotpapa666]

Saving 500 per month on renting? 18 grand? No closing costs. No headaches...No worries about property maintaining?

Especially if you are in limbo come 3 years, I would definitely go rent.


As usual, the disclaimer:

NOT investment advice.

I'm not taking any of this as anything more than an opportunity to think about the situation in different ways. I'm not going to sue you Jiddy.

It's a ways off and as the date approaches, the picture will be clearer.

The lure of buying is that it is likely that we will be able to buy a place without a downpayment (and no mortgage insurance) and we would be in an area of St. Louis that is extremely stable; lotsa public service types live in the area due to residency requirements. So we would have a very good chance to recouping our money...

[Roy Munson]

Buy, and get the largest HELOC available...

[Hotpapa666]

Buy, and get the largest HELOC available...

Don't need or want the HELOC. I'm just rying to decide if I want to throw away the money safely on rent, or try and play a little bit of risk and hope to live for free...

[KinjaKahn]

Alright, here's a question.

In 18-30 months, my wife and I will likely be returning to St. Louis for exactly 3 years. I am wondering if we should buy a house or rent?

I know, the housing market can change but likely won't too much.

Here are the particulars. We would likely buy a house in the range of $200 K (housing in St. Louis is relatively cheap). If everything (location, condo fees, etc.) looks really really good, we would consider a condo, but that is unlikely. We will be looking in fairly desirable areas near where my wife will be working; so the eventual sale would likely be rather quick.

We would be able to secure financing with no down payment (I'm not kidding and it's not a scam or a fly by night operation). That would put us at a payment of roughly $1500 bucks with insurance etc., and a fairly big chunk of money to work for us instead of sitting in the banks coffers making money for them; the money wouldn't be a problem. And, we get the joys of owning a home, having something to work on, fix up, etc., is something both my wife and I enjoy.

If we rented, we would have to deal with being renters, close neighbors,.... But we would probably pay less than $1,000 per month. We would be able to move right away, no worrying about selling a house.... Also, we lived in St. Louis for 7 years so we know good landlords that we will be able to tolerate for 3 years.


What do the folks out there think? Buy or rent?

Would it be wise to buy, then rent it out when you leave and let someone else add to your net worth?

[Jiddy78]

I'm not taking any of this as anything more than an opportunity to think about the situation in different ways. I'm not going to sue you Jiddy.

It's a ways off and as the date approaches, the picture will be clearer.

The lure of buying is that it is likely that we will be able to buy a place without a downpayment (and no mortgage insurance) and we would be in an area of St. Louis that is extremely stable; lotsa public service types live in the area due to residency requirements. So we would have a very good chance to recouping our money...


I swear I can't believe banks undergo this type of activity. I guess control is more important than profit nowadays....

[Hotpapa666]

I swear I can't believe banks undergo this type of activity. I guess control is more important than profit nowadays....

My wife has letters after her name so it's probably a marketing thing. Either way, it changes the picture a bit not having to throw 20% down, right? And this is through a major bank (I'm being intentionally vauge). Pretty safe. The only thing is that the loan will be an ARM but we'll be out before the rate adjusts anyway so that's not a problem.

I'm still on the fence...