Buying/renting after the wedding

FH and I rent now, and our goal was (and still is) to buy a house as soon as we could after our wedding this August. However, our lease ends in June, and I will likely be in between jobs at that time as I currently work as an instructional aide at a high school while I pursue my Masters and teaching licensure. As much as I want for us to purchase our first home, it's just smarter for us to wait. We will renew our lease for another year and likely start seriously looking at the beginning of 2019.

Debating the same thing. My FH is against renting since you pay money every month and have nothing to show for it in the end. Either you pay your own mortgage or someone else’s. I’m open to both depending on our finances. There are a lot of factors to consider with homeownership like taxes, maintenance, etc that you don’t worry about when renting. My thought it to rent for a year since I’m going to be changing jobs after the wedding. We may still go to the bank his year and see what amount of loan we can get preapproved for. In case we find a house to buy that is a great bargain.

We will be renting for a 1 or 2 .then we will be buying a home.reason is so can save a little more and pick what area we want to live in.

Look into first time homebuyer programs or down payment assistance. These programs will usually give you money towards your down payment lessening the amount of money out of pocket. Please review any restrictions that are on the program before deciding. Most of these programs require a middle score of 640 to qualify. There are also different loan products depending on where you live. A USDA loan allows for no down payment, a lower interest rate, no monthly PMI, and closing costs can be placed into the loan. These loans are to a specific address and can be added or eliminate quickly. Personally I have owned 3 houses and rented for the past 15 years. Right now I can own my own house instead of renting for $100 less than my rent. Homeownership is not for everyone.

We are renting now, actually just moved into a much bigger and nicer place over the holidays. We will continue to do so for the next 4 or 5 years.

We live in a big city and wanted to move downtown while we're still young and childfree. We're going to enjoy the next few years of walking to restaurants and bars and museums on the weekends, and taking the train a few stops for sports games and concerts. We absolutely cannot afford a home in our current area right now, although I am obsessed with the historic neighborhood our apartment complex is next to and desperately wish we could buy one.

In 4 or 5 years, we are planning to start trying to have children. At that point, we will also decide if we want to stay in our current state, move back to where we grew up, or pick somewhere new. We didn't want to buy a house in 2 years and then move states in another couple years and deal with moving, buying, and selling. Plus, the extra 4 or 5 years will give us a chance to save up more so we can afford a forever home, rather than a starter home.

Thing with buying a home is you gotta make sure you save money just in case your furnace or fridge or any other necessities go out. Thing with renting....if those things out go out, your landlord is responsible.

We bought already and we love it. We had been in a small apartment and needed more space, and I couldn’t stand the idea of moving somewhere for a year, and then having to pack up and move again.

We used a mortgage broker instead of a big bank to get approved for our mortgage, and I couldn’t speak highly enough about our broker. She was amazing and was fantastic at breaking down payments so we could see what we would pay at what price point. We had no idea what we could afford before her.

When you make a decision I would definitely recommend a broker over directly going to the bank.

I agree with BGR. We used a mortgage broker to get us the best percentage possible. We bought our first home three years ago. We are getting married in 2019. We will be looking to sell our current house when it makes sense in the market. And move to our desirable neighborhood with great school ratings shortly after.

My FH and I are going to buy a tiny house on wheels, because we love them so much, they are cost effective, and we don't want to put down roots just yet. But this will most likely happen sometime next year. We are fully caught up in planning our wedding.

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FH thinks the same way as yours, but I am so afraid of all the unexpected costs that come with a house and being TRULY prepared for that. It can't hurt to see what we would get preapproved for but I definitely think I would want to live below our means to make sure we can really afford it all.

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I feel like it's really hard to get a true picture of what it costs fo buy a house. Everyone is like "closing costs are a lot, down payment is a lot, taxes are a lot, a mortgage is a lot" but definitely think I need to start finding someone who can give us real numbers we can work with to see if this is possible. It also doesn't help that leases are for a full year!

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I LOVE the idea of a tiny house. FH doesn't think I'm serious when I mention it!

We are currently renting and our main priority after getting married is to knuckle down and buy a house.

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I think my sister's experience with home buying is really scaring me off. She already needed to replace the roof, has had tons of plumbing issues, and I feel like it's always something. She also has probably already lost money on the house value due to the market and where she bought. I think if we lean towards buying right away we are looking at a smaller new/updated home!

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Yes, I definitely need to find out more about the type of programs available to us. Just not really sure where to start!

Realtor here. As pp said, talk to a mortgage broker first. You’re not obligated to buy, but a good broker can get you on track for when you are ready; today or down the road. They will also break down monthlies for you.

We will be renting for about a year and a half total before either moving to another state or buying. There's so many costs that we aren't prepared to take on right now in regards to owning. Our furnace went out this winter. I called the office and it was fixed the next day. We've had a couple things that needed fixed at our apartment and all have been fixed for free. These things would've cost us thousands if we owned. I'm also in Illinois and people are leaving like crazy with minimal hope of the market bouncing back to a sellers market anytime soon.

Definitely waiting. FH and I are still paying student loans and I might be going back to school, putting me back another 30k from my original 60k (it's down to 40k now), so we're not sure when we're buying. We're thinking in our mid/late 30s (we're in our mid/late 20s).

FH purchased our home last May, so we're working on paying it off right now. He skipped the "typical starter home" as He knew we would be staying in this area, so it made sense just to buy the one we really wanted and to go all in. If you are debating moving or aren't sure , I would definitely consider renting.

Please don't feel like you should buy a house for whatever amount you are preapproved for. In most cases, that number far exceeds what most people can actually afford and still live comfortably. Instead, figure out the maximum amount you feel comfortable spending each month while still have some cash left for a few fun things and adding to your emergency fund. From that amount, take out an amount for property taxes and an amount for insurance. If you have to pay PMI, subtract that amount too. What's left is the amount of principle you can pay. Use an online calculator to see what value of home that principle payment purchase.

Remember, mortgage brokers and realtors get paid based on how much you spend, not on helping you get into the house that makes the most financial sense for your situation.