Apparently buying a house is the thing to do nowadays. But man there are some people that are out of their mind with their listings. They have houses that just a couple of years ago were worth maybe $125k. And now they are asking $225+. Obviously the astoundingly low interest rates offset that by increasing my buying power. But it makes it nearly impossible to put 20% down which means I either need to get Personal Mortgage Insurace or arrange a separate deal with my lender to get a second mortgage which just covers the difference between my downpayment and what it would take to get to 20%. Not to mention the effect it has on tax. And the other factor is that a house is an investment. Is there any possible way that the cost of a house will go up from what I purchase it at now? It looks to me like RHAT at $160/share or QCOM at $400/share or whatever their outrages all time highs were. If I settle for something I don't really want but can afford, I may be stuck there for a long time unless I want to sell at a loss. (I wonder if there are any tax breaks for people who lose on property investments? And are they limited to some value like $2K a year such as securities investments on the Schedule D). Just more research I need to do.
Well I think the primary key here is patience. Houses are flying on and off the market, I just need to find the right one and negotiate the right deal. If anyone wants to give me 30 or 40 thousand dollars let me know.
BTW, if anyone out there wants to hire a teacher who is excellent yet underpaid and under appretiated by the rotten Philadelphia School district. Let me know.