I hope this isn't a thread hijack; I'm in a sort of the same boat, having just (over)paid for a townhouse. However, I'm buying a new development... one of the reasons why we went new is the fear of getting into a bidding war on house and not having the bank/lender giving a mortgage for the full purchase price because it didn't appraise high enough (leaving us to pay for the rest)... is this pretty common (especially in today's market)? It's our first home purchase so we're obviously less experienced, particularly in market conditions like this.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by MoneyGuy
BTW, do not under any circumstances (well, generally not) buy mortgage insurance. There is a far better option.
|
Can you elaborate? Do you just mean getting a term life insurance policy? I'll have to dig out my dog-eared Wealthy Barber book to remind myself what the different types of insurance are...
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by MoneyGuy
Sounds like you're in your first house and you're young dn inexperienced, I'm guessing.
Yup, you are missing something. Do you think these prices only go up? They certainly do not. This market will correct eventually and when it does it can go down a lot. Witness the tech meltdown in 2000. House prices can shed 50K at these levels. Don't think it can't happen. It has before and will again.
The statement "a house I buy now for $300K will be worth $340K in a few months, how is that really a risk?" is pretty naive.
I'm not predicing a real estate meltdown in the next couple of years because the economy is too hot, but just understand that there are risks.
|
<< raises hand >> I think that describes us pretty well too, right down to the numbers
I certainly expect that the market will eventually slow down... but to actually stop entirely or go down? I honestly can't see it happening anytime soon (it's like waiting for the price of gas to go back to 60 cents a litre)... especially compared to the housing costs in Vancouver and Toronto (Calgary is still pretty low compared to those 'big cities').