So, the husband and I have been debating the merits of buying a home instead of continuing to rent. We currently pay $1,000 a month in rent for an (overpriced, IMO) apartment, which we can comfortably afford. Were we to keep renting, I’d like to find something around the $800 range, which is definitely doable In our area (Las Vegas). Conversely, we could find a condo for around $100,000, but we wouldn’t feel comfortable putting more than 8 or 9% down because it would require taking more out of our savings than we're ok with. So with HOA fees and PMI, we’d probably be paying anywhere between $800-$950 a month, according to the calculations I’ve done. So, essentially, the monthly payments would be approx. the same. We would probably stay at the home about 5-6 years before trying to sell and move.
My question is this. Since we’d only be putting down a small percentage for our down payment, is there any real upside to buying at this point? I know in the beginning, you’re mostly paying interest and very little towards principal on your mortgage. Would we build any equity at all? Would renting be the best choice, or -since the costs are similar- does buying make sense?
Submitted March 03, 2017 at 10:21PM by 4320vav http://ift.tt/2mXc1pK
