Originally Posted by Roland Hulme (Post 5335127)

I'd have thought savings and living within our means would be more sensible than REALLY stretching things with a mortgage. If you lose your job or something, the only asset you have is your house. At least if you've been saving, you can have that stolen from you instead.

Originally Posted by dunroving (Post 5335200)

It's really interesting, you seem to be saying the exact opposite to what I've been saying in my whingeing posts over the past few months. To summarize my situation:

Fast forward 12 months. Life in the UK: 3 BR 1 BA terrace in need of multiple repairs, cost $330k (that's USD; 165k GBP). Monthly mortgage is over $2,000 per month, council tax is $312 per month.

In the US, where you live makes a huge difference. Where I lived in NC (and also in middle TN), houses were relatively inexpensive, property tax was low, finances were easy. Obviously, NJ and other places I read about on here are very, very different. At least you have the option of relocating to a different city or state if you really want to stay in the US and live comfortably.

In the UK, it's not so much where you live (well, yes, London/south vs elsewhere is different, but not nearly as much as CA or NY vs TN or NC) but is more about when you bought your house. In 2001 (when I bought in NC), similar houses here in some areas of the UK were the same price (the terrace I live in was about 60k GBP back then). But since then they have almost tripled (I'm in Scotland), while prices in eastern NC didn't hardly move an inch (and of course, the dollar has imploded). The downside of the situation is that there is no option of moving to a cheaper town, as noweher is cheap any more. And of course you can't turn back the clock and buy a house at 2001 prices. Subsequently, while I am sitting tight for now, the plan for making a permanent move back to TN is constantly simmering away in the back of my mind ...

Originally Posted by BritGuyTN (Post 5335263)

I agree

Living somewhere with reasonable property taxes, reasonable house prices can make a world of difference to your outlook on life and how relaxed you are at home.

Originally Posted by Sally (Post 5335293)

Trouble is if you want great jobs and exciting entertainment, the housing usually costs more. Horses for courses.

Originally Posted by dunroving (Post 5335310)

Well, I had a great job, and more country music than you could shake a stick at. CA isn't the only happening place, you know. ;) :rofl:

Originally Posted by dunroving (Post 5335310)

Well, I had a great job, and more country music than you could shake a stick at. CA isn't the only happening place, you know. ;) :rofl:

Originally Posted by Roland Hulme (Post 5335331)

I do like country music.

Originally Posted by dunroving (Post 5335343)

Then, my friend, Nashville is the place for you ... seriously.

Originally Posted by Sally (Post 5335417)

Nightmare

Originally Posted by BritGuyTN (Post 5335263)

I agree

Living somewhere with reasonable property taxes, reasonable house prices can make a world of difference to your outlook on life and how relaxed you are at home.

Originally Posted by keira-2007 (Post 5335893)

Do you know, the question of whether it's better to rent or buy has crossed my mind recently.
We are about to move to a Chicago suburb (in just over a week!!!) and the house we are renting costs $2700 a month all in. Now the house itself is valued at about $600 000 and the property taxes in the area are $14 000 a year!! Now I'm not too on the ball when it comes to mortgage payments etc etc but even with a large down payment, surely if we bought this property at the end of our rental period, there is no way we would only be paying $2700 a month is there? So surely it would be alot cheaper to continue renting, and keep our down payment in the bank earning interest?
What does anyone with a good head on their shoulders think?

Originally Posted by keira-2007 (Post 5335893)

Do you know, the question of whether it's better to rent or buy has crossed my mind recently.
We are about to move to a Chicago suburb (in just over a week!!!) and the house we are renting costs $2700 a month all in. Now the house itself is valued at about $600 000 and the property taxes in the area are $14 000 a year!! Now I'm not too on the ball when it comes to mortgage payments etc etc but even with a large down payment, surely if we bought this property at the end of our rental period, there is no way we would only be paying $2700 a month is there? So surely it would be alot cheaper to continue renting, and keep our down payment in the bank earning interest?
What does anyone with a good head on their shoulders think?

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl (Post 5335920)

For the first 2 yrs we rented an apartment then 9 yrs ago we moved into the house we live in now. Doing a quick calculation if we'd saved the difference between the rent and the mortgage payments/property taxes...we wouldn't be anywhere close to the profit we've made on this house. The house today is worth 3 times the price we paid for it.

Originally Posted by Sally (Post 5335931)

You can look up amortization tables at which tell you what your monthly payments would be. this would vary with the type and duration of the loan and the interest rate. Random example:

http://www.mortgage-x.com/calculators/results.asp

Assuming 20% down payment, the $480,000 balance paid for 30 years would cost $3,193.45. So in this case, yes, the mortgage payments would cost more than rent. Don't forget the interest portion is tax-deductible though.

Property tax is a 'millage' or percentage of the house's worth, say in your area it was 2%, on $600,000 it would be $12,000 per year.