[benVFR]

Hey thought I would ask the peanut gallery.

I'm moving back up to NH March 1st. (I work right on the Nashua/Merrimack line as of about 2 months ago)

Looking for a place to live it looks like it's tough to get a place with a garage and I've gotten kind of spoiled with my current apartment. If I can't get a garage I'm going to end up selling off some of my tools I fear..

Nearly everyone I've talked to has said NOT to buy a place, rent here for a year or two as the market is not good... even though the prices on smaller houses look pretty attractive to me.

Thoughts? What about surrounding towns? Theoretically I could go live as far up as Manchester I guess... but I do need to hedge my bets, if I buy a place and then somehow end up working in MA again I wouldn't want to be too far north.

There is an apartment complex *right* near my office I'm going to go take a tour of, I'd be able to walk to work, and they have cold storage I could put the bike in, I'd just have to worry about where to keep the battery in the winter. But all options are open. (Is it too late to buy anyway?)

Thanks!

[hessogood]

I'm going to NH to look at condos tomorrow. Southern enough to commute to work and school.

[ZX-12R]

Now is as good a time as any to buy. Interest rates are relatively low and prices on houses have dropped some. There are far more houses for sale than there are buyers giving you the buyer a lot more clout.

Renting does nothing but waste your money. If you can afford to buy and you think you will be staying in the area for a while, there is no reason that you shouldn't.

[bigred875]

dunno what the market is there...but around here it is a buyers market....and if you have the choice..you want to buy in the winter....no one wants to move in the winter so the prices tend to drop and/or are more flexible....seems to me it is the right time to buy...

talk to a couple of buyers realtors....a good one...not one that boasts about how many people they have sold homes too....one that operates on word of mouth mostly....it wont cost you anything....

[hessogood]

I have a great realtor / friend that covers the area if you choose that route.

[NinjaSwan]

i have a roommate looking to move out and in with his girfriend. I have a detached garage which with a little cleaning would make a nice bike/work garage. Right now me and KillBill us it mainly to park the bikes. It's a three bedroom house in Merrimack. me, my gf and my best friend live there. (minus the one that wants to move) we're all in our mid-late twenties. Another catch is the lease is up in June. (412.50 a head plus utl.)

[KevinB]

I'd say its a good time to buy. Home prices may go lower, but as long your job is safe I 'd go for it.

[Rye]

Personally, I would like to buy at this point of my life, but, I'm staying away from this market. Speculators are gone because they can't profit on a flip. It leaves empty nesters trying to sell an overpriced house and informed buyers sitting on the sidelines. Rent and save. You'll end up with what you want. Stay away from condos... they're THE most volatile. Prices will normalize...it's starting already. Contrary to what many people think the economy is not doing very well and real estate will not provide the legs for it anymore. Corporate profits can only support the floor for so long. Real estate is in for a rocky road and home builders and foreign investors are starting to price in a sustained decline in real estate prices domestically. The signs are there. I refuse to buy now to watch 25% (or more) of my equity erode. I'd rather keep my money in a nice yielding account and dump a bigger down payment on a bigger house. IMHO, of course. Opinions on this topic are like assholes...

[throttlejunkie]

If you have the option there is no question, bye damn it!
I hate paying rent! at the end of it i still own nothing!

[ssg]

Originally posted by KevinB
I'd say its a good time to buy. Home prices may go lower, but as long your job is safe I 'd go for it.

Ding...your house (unlike your car) isn't going to lose 5k once you drive it off the lot...rates may go down (cool, so re-fi) and the market may fall more and maybe you could have saved 10k more...but 10k over 30 years is nothing divided by the fact that your either still renting or wishing you just spent the $$ you wanted to and could have before. = priceless.

Moreso...if you are going to live there for 5 years...I bet the market will be back up by then anyways, and if you need to sell - most of the time unless you moved in and set it on fire, you should be able to at least get your shirt back.

I was looking in the Litchfield area, it's got some reasonable pricing and interesting places to live., not too far from Nashua but far enough away that you don't have to deal with it if you don't want to.

[Currently]

I agree with Rye on this one.

The market is still way overvalued and anyone buying a house
right now risks to see the bubble burst and find themselves
with a house that is financed for more than the market will
bear if they need to sell.

Look at it this way.

If you are paying typical house taxes in Nashua ... they start at
5 grand and up for a 225k house.

5 grand is 5 months free rent.

Think about it.

The time to buy is when everyone is losing their shirt.

That time is coming ....

[R7]

I've never rented before but can you write off what you pay for rent on your taxes? I would never rent unless it was less than $500 per month, anything more than that and your really just tossing your money away. And owning a house, you can write off all the intrest paid on your mortgage..which could cover 2-3 mortgage payments per year depending on your income and payment. You've got to look in the long run and not 2 years from now. The longer you wait, the harder it will get to buy..the prices may come down a bit but not much. Also when the prices do drop, the intrest rates will go up..so you're going to spend the same money anyways unless you can pay cash for the house...and if that was the case, you wouldn't be asking this question

I would without a doubt, buy a house vs renting

[KevinB]

Originally posted by Currently




5 grand is 5 months free rent.

7 grand and nothing to show for it.


The time to buy is when everyone is losing their shirt.

People already are, you just have to find the right ones. Its all about jobs, if the job market falls a part, its tough to pay the bank. Right now the job market seems to be fine.

That time is coming ....Maybe

[RandyO]

a home with land is prolly worth looking at or raw land you can build on if you want to be you own general

the land value won't drop. ther housing market is softening and there will be more & more better deals for the near future,

best time to buy will be in about a year to a year and a half, then watch prices go up as we get closer to the next election

[Currently]

If you are going to buy and live there for the rest of your life, then buy now.

However, if there is any chance of moving in the next 5 - 10 years,
wait, the deals are coming.

I agree that a house is an investment.

But don't fool yourself as there are costs for that investment.

Taxes, water heater, furnace, heat, utilities and all sorts of maintainence.

Deducting property taxes from my income tax ... depending on what bracket you are in ... you only get a small portion back not all of it.

Being house poor really sucks ... there is much more to life than being chained to a house.

The market WILL go down some more, then will be the time.

[TurboRush91]

Not entering into the buy vs. rent argument, since I just bought... lol... but once you become a NH resident they do have a first time home buyers program that will give you 4% of the purchase price of the home... of course tehre are a few catches but they aren't really an issue unless you plan to pack up in move in less than 4 years.

[richw]

If you have the capability to buy just continuously scan for a deal. There are deals almost everyday. A fixer upper with good bones can be had and then be a source for future wealth.

My rule was to find the job i thought i would be at for a while then look for a place to live.

I would keep an eagle eye on interest rates if they begin to rise then its time to jump.

I think the market is a little softer now and if you can get a better deal then do it. I scan the papers for

Sq ft. at least 1800
Baths at least 2 really 2 1/2
Land... out of town 3/4 acre

Occasionally you will see someplace where those numbers seem better then go look. Even if you decide to rent now you know you can beat any lease for a couple of months and compared to the house buying thats trivial dollars. Last if you stay in a house for more then 5 years it has always paid off handsomely and your real investment was your down payment and closing costs not the house price

[hessogood]

My plan with getting a condo is to live there at least 2 years till I'm done with school then keep it and rent it out.

[SSearchVT]

It depends on a few things.

How long do you plan to be in the area? - It takes a few years to break even with the initial costs of ownership.

Are you willing to do a lot of the work or pay to have it done (yardwork, emergency repairs, etc)? - Renting does have it's advantages.

Do you need a write off for your taxes? - rent sucks financially.

Do you want to own it, and do with it basically as you please? - Try putting in wall speakers into a rental...

For buying I would look outside the big towns for either a fixer upper (if you're handy) or land to put a modular home on. I would pass on the house that is complete, needs nothing, and is being sold so the folks can move into a bigger one - the price will be inflated. Good Luck...

[oreo_n2]

Originally posted by hessogood
My plan with getting a condo is to live there at least 2 years till I'm done with school then keep it and rent it out.

i got mine this past spring... got it needing some work. i am remodeling one room at a time.
i should be done in a few years and ready to get into something more house like with a yard.

Not sure about renting this out when i am done though. i want to. but it would have to net a positive cash flow for me to be interested... i think. We will see when the time comes.

[Honclfibr]

I've owned and lived in a 2 bedroom condo in Derry since late 2002. Cost me 85k when I bought it, taxes are around 2500 a year iirc. I've got a roommate who pays $500 a month in rent, which contributes a good amount to the mortgage and tax burden and allows me to add a bit of extra in every month toward paying down the loan.

To me, it just made sense. At this point I have enough equity in the place and the value has appreciated enough that I can't imagine ever losing out compared to renting. My advice if you don't mind having a roommate is to buy a bigger place than you need and rent out the extra space, it can really make a difference in those monthly mortgage payments. Of course if you can't find/keep a roommate your mortgage is slightly higher, but I didn't find the difference in price between 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom condos to be very significant when I was looking, I think one bedrooms were going in the 60s at the time.

Let me know if you're looking in the Derry area, I can give you a quick rundown of what's available around here. Due to the lack of public water/sewer most of the smaller "garden style" condos in the area will be in Derry, Manchester, or Nashua. There are townhouse developments everywhere which give more privacy and the possibility of a garage, but expect to pay a good deal more for one of those if that's what you're looking for.

[TheIglu]

Buying is better unless you are getting a smokin deal on renting and are unsure about where you will be in the future.

We're lookin for a house finally. Have a couple lined up that need work but are in the sub 150k range with a couple acres. That means as I put work into it the value goes up a lot more than a house with no land.

The only reasons we haven't bought yet are the woman being a teacher (once again she's expecting a pink slip this spring due to Athol being a horrible place with horrible people: budget crisis again) and not knowing where she will be working come next year. We are also getting a rediculously mint deal on the place we are living which includes a garage, 4 acres of land to do with what I want, heat, electricity, cable and intarweb for $750. Split between two people that's just mint. We aren't in a rush to move but understand that we may be seeing the market dip slightly in the near future so we will be ready.

Ben, it looks like you jump around on jobs quite a bit. I'd find someplace in the middle of your expected job areas and buy it.

[Currently]

Todays Boston Globe ...

It really can't be any more obvious than this

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new...rpriced_in_nh/

CONCORD, N.H. --Sellers are asking too much for houses, which is contributing to a market slowdown, an economist told House tax writers Wednesday

Russ Thibeault of Applied Economic Research of Laconia told lawmakers that people want about 10 to 15 percent more than what most people can afford to pay for a house.

Thibeault said sales began slowing in April. To try to attract buyers, sellers began dropping prices in August, he said. Prices have dropped roughly 5 percent over the past year, he said.

Some sellers pulled their properties off the market to wait for a more favorable time, Thibeault said.

Thibeault said the conditions that created the slowdown are unusual since unemployment and inflation are low, and the state continues to add jobs. Normally, a recession or high interest rates are a key to a downturn in the housing market, he said.

"This downturn is driven by prices outstripping incomes," he said.

New Hampshire continues to add jobs overall, but is losing better-paying manufacturing jobs, he noted.

"We don't have enough good jobs in New Hampshire," he said.

As incomes rise and housing prices fall, buyers will be able to afford homes again and the market will level off, he said.

Thibeault said the slowdown also will mean lower state revenues over the next two years from the tax on property sales.

The tax writers will use presentations by Thibeault and others to estimate the state's revenues for the next two years. House budget writers will use the estimate in developing the state budget.

[slaps76]

Look for deals. Don't be afraid to give low offers. There are people putting their condos/houses up for sale every day that need to get rid of it NOW(divorce, death in family, ect.), and may take much less than their asking. No matter what the market is, there's always a chance you can buy something well under market value.

If you think you're going to stay in the area you'd buy in for at least a few years, buy. Real estate always goes up in the long run.