Why We Chose To Buy A Home

A little over two years ago, in May of 2010, my wife and I purchased our first home. I remember the closing day like it was yesterday – what a great feeling! I personally believe that homeownership is a great thing – but it’s certainly not for everyone. While most people our age (23 & 24) were renting apartments in the city, we decided that we wanted to make an investment out in the suburbs. Why did we do it?

• The U.S. Government was giving a tax rebate of $8,000 which was perfect as we were starting to save for our wedding.
• Mortgage rates were at an all time low (and they’re even lower now!). This meant we could borrow a large sum of money and not get killed on the interest.
• Home prices were down significantly. As we all know, in 2008 the housing bubble burst sending pricing to the lowest they’ve been in years. We weren’t sure how long these prices were going to stay so we moved asap.
• There was a huge selection! Because a lot of people were laid off or in a tough financial situation, people weren’t buying houses, which meant there was a large inventory to select from.
• We wanted a place to call our own…and we didn’t want to have to share a wall or a building with neighbors. We wanted to play music loud and do what we wanted when we wanted. The only solution was a single family home for us.
• It was an investment at a young age. We were able to borrow a significant amount of money to start building some equity. Obviously, the real estate market isn’t what it used to be, but it’s as you pay down your mortgage each month and renovate, you start to build some nice equity, which increases your net worth! This was the first and biggest investment we’ve ever made and we know it’ll pay off.
• We were naive. We were young and eager. We didn’t listen to our parents who said maybe we should save up money for a while longer. Honestly, knowing what I know now, we were definitely in over our heads. It was a gamble. Fortunately for us, it work out for the best.
• We knew we wanted to stay put for a while. We both worked nearby and wanted a place we could stay at for over 5 years. We couldn’t imagine renting for that long when we could be putting that money toward paying down a house.
• We like to fix up stuff. My wife and I love watching HGTV and all the shows that deal with renovating a room. That was exciting for us. Growing up, my parent had a big yard and I did a lot of yard work, which I actually enjoyed in some cases. I was excited to have some land of my own to make beautiful!