Home: To Rent or Own?

Mirlyn

Mirlyn

Well-Known Member
Two of my friends and I (all the same age; within a month of 21 and two of us are still in college) are looking at moving out. One possibility is us getting our own apartments, but with what we want, it'll be expensive. We could rent together, but we found out that doing so is just as cost competitive as buying a new house. Doing housework/improvements/upkeep doesn't bother us, and having the ability to do what we want (we're all nerds, so for example, network the house) and not have to worry about landlords, neighbors, etc.

What do you all think? If two of us signed, we can get 100k easily. After doing some rough paycheck-vs-payment calculations, it's quite tempting (even with only two of us in on it), but I don't know where to start. What about you all? Do you live in an apartment, house, duplex, other? Any advice to the beginner(s)? :)
 
I'll just say this, no matter how good the friend, I would never buy a house with a friend. Hell, I'm still leary to buy a house with a wife.
 
Thats kinda what I was thinking...known them all as my good/best friends for nearly six years now, but I don't know.....just seems iffy.
 
I wouldn't even rent with friends, much less buy. I know too many people who were the best of friends before they moved in together and now don't speak to each other anymore.

I rent, and besides living with my boyfriend, I've always rented alone. I'd rather have a little crummy place by myself and save money, than live with people, pay too much and risk my home becoming a place I *don't* want to go home to.

Proceed with caution, it could be a recipe for disaster.
 
DO NOT buy a house with anyone else unless you are married to them! That ends badly 95% of the time.

Two options -

1) ne buys the house on his own, rents to the others, sells when you break up housekeeping, does a one-time gift to the renters for their share of profits. Drawback - prepare to be shafted by the guy who buys it.

2) Just rent a damn place. Make sure that ALL of you sign the lease. This is, IMO, your best option. You don't want the legal entanglements you're setting yourself up for with any other scenario.
 
I wouldn't buy a house unless you are 100% certain about it ... even though I wasted $$$ on rent, I'm okay with it 'cause I know that's not where I want to be for the rest of my life (Although my hubby and I are currently planning to build a house n his property).
 
We talked about it today, and the possibility of buying a duplex came up. Either live with each other and rent the other half out or buy it and each of us have a half and split payments. Still don't know....its a lot of money. :(
 
What happens if one of you defaults on the payments? This happened to some friends of mine when the people they were buying with just decided they couldn't afford to pay any more. They skipped town and my friends ended up owing thousands and had to sell and couldn't get another mortgage for about 5 years even though it wasn't their fault. :(

We were all very close friends, almost family, but that didn't make any difference.
 
Aunty Em said:
What hapens if one of you defaults on the payments? This happened to some friends of mine when the people they were buying with just decided they couldn't afford to pay any more. They skipped town and my friends ended up owwing thousands and had to sell and couldn't get another mortgage for about 5 years even though it wasn't their fault. :(
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Yep, that's what most of us have been trying to say. Even renting could get you in a similar situation. One of you decides to leave town, the rest are stuck paying the rest of the lease. Don't do it.
 
PuterTutor said:
Aunty Em said:
What hapens if one of you defaults on the payments? This happened to some friends of mine when the people they were buying with just decided they couldn't afford to pay any more. They skipped town and my friends ended up owwing thousands and had to sell and couldn't get another mortgage for about 5 years even though it wasn't their fault. :(
Click to expand...

Yep, that's what most of us have been trying to say. Even renting could get you in a similar situation. One of you decides to leave town, the rest are stuck paying the rest of the lease. Don't do it.
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I can't see him doing it......Not to make excuses, but I've lived with him before (at camp) and damn near every day since HS. He owns a business and is my supervisor at work. Bought a new car a few years ago (3 now) and has never missed a payment on it.

I can tell he wants to get it himself, and put it in his name. But he's not sure what we can find price-wise with just his name on it (limited to 65k).
 
Then he meets a girl and they wanna get married and out ya go. There's nothing wrong with roomin with someone as long as your prepared for the consequences. I had roomates for a long time. It was always my place, my lease, my deposit. It always ended with them owing me money, can't pay it, out ya go. I knew that. The savings from having roomates far outweighed the money they owed me but now, after living without roomates for a long time and having my own home, I would never even consider having one.....unless some sweet little thang wanted to move in :headbang:
 
Rent

Mirlyn said:
but we found out that doing so is just as cost competitive as buying a new house. Doing housework/improvements/upkeep doesn't bother us, and having the ability to do what we want
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Don't believe that for a moment. Those "little" fix-upper things add up in a hurry & need to be done before code enforcement comes along. Do what you want? The neighbors on the left have twin 3 year olds that go to bed at 7:30PM, sharply. The old woman across the street owns the best binoculars ever made. The Mormons on the other side don't like beer or smoke. Get the drift?
 
alex said:
Then he meets a girl and they wanna get married and out ya go.
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Exactly, that's another concern. Or the really great one is when the girlfriend wants to move in too and your expenses go up. Or when the landlord finds out and wants to evict you or raise your rent.

It's a big risk. I wouldn't do it. But if you do, I wish you good luck! :)
 
Hell, I owned my own place and rented to Unc after I moved in with my wife for awhile. But ,we were always clear on who was the owner, and what was gona happen to the place when I got hitched.
 
If you are determined to go ahead then nothing is likely to stop you, just be aware of the potential problems. But I'm guessing you wouldn't be asking if there wasn't some sort of doubt in your mind.
 
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