Quote:
Originally Posted by xelasnave
I was in the real estate business and law before that and I think it boils down to one thing really..buy only what you can afford and build in an interest rate rise which you can expect will come in the future..3 or 4 % rise seems impossible but it can happen..should not happen of course but if it does you need to be able to manage higher payments than you expected when you purchase.
Home ownership is a great thing and is worthwhile pursuing.
alex
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I totally agree...
My philosophy re this was even more conservative: We bought a house for which the loan repayments could have been serviced from the dole - because, I simply refused to think/hope I will stay employed through the whole time before I get rid of the loan.
In good times I was putting $2000 as repayments.. (bank required couple of hundreds.. lower than average rent), just to minimise the interest and finish as soon as possible.
The result of this is, my home is not the shiniest thing in the world (in hindsight, I could have afforded much bigger and better, and in a better area.. because I was employed through the whole period of repaying the loan and finished it 10 years earlier.. Bank was not happy about this of course), but it is mine now after 12 years and I owe nothing to anybody
And I saved ~$30.000 in interest, at least.