I went about it a different way: bought the land, saved up (while on cheap rent), and then built a place. Obviously this depends on where you are, but it’s not impossible. The UK is notoriously difficult to get things done like this due to regulations and the slow movement of bureaucracy, I’ve heard NZ is the same, but… it’s definitely something I’m happy I did.

Property generally increases in value while you pay it down.

My wife and I bought a $400k 3 bedroom flat near the university 8 years ago and we were both scared as fuck. paid $100k off it and just sold it for $600k

That $300k cheque we just used for the downpayment on building a “how do people afford these houses!?!” Thats going to cost $800k. But really our mortgage is only going to go up 20%

It was terrifying. So much more so than buying a car.

I thought of it as “locking in my rent”. For me that helped as my rent kept going up.

I felt great about it, our monthly mortgage payment was a little less than we were paying in rent, and a portion of every payment was us building equity in our home rather than 100% going to a landlord. I feel even better now, as rents and home prices have skyrocketed where I live, and our monthly payment has only gone up about $300 over 9 years where renters are facing much steeper increases.

It all boils down to your monthly payment, and whether that price is right for you. You need a solid estimate on what your monthly payment will be, to include principal, interest, and escrow to cover taxes and insurance, and see how that amount feels to you moving forward, because it will stick with you.

I bought 2.5 years ago so its still pretty fresh. It was very scary but I knew it was the right lifestyle choice for me. I had lived in my city for 5 years at the time and felt pretty confident (still do) that I want to stay local long term. Just like in all American cities, rents were rising fast.

It felt like I was overpaying at the time because of how much housing prices had risen the 5 years before, but a few months after closing I felt relieved and validated when interest rates jumped to 6%.

can I possibly plan that far in advance?

The good news is you don’t need to. You can do the math to discover how many years you need to own a property in your local area to break even against renting: https://www.nerdwallet.com/mortgages/rent-vs-buy-calculator

You can always sell a house you still have a mortgage on and use your equity to buy something else: https://www.zillow.com/learn/what-happens-when-you-sell-a-house-with-a-mortgage/ The downside to selling a house isn’t the mortgage paperwork, its paying all the fees to brokers and banks to market the property and process the sale.

I remembered my mom saying that by the end of the 30 year term the mortgage was her smallest housing expense, lower than the electric bill.

So yes, scary, but just remember that principal and interest part is going to seem smaller and smaller since it doesn’t grow with inflation.

It’s cheaper then rent. It raises my credit score. And i finally have ultimate authority on what i can do to decorate and maintain my home.

Honestly after over a decade of belonging I’d never be able to own my own place it was a huge relief to get a mortgage

It was scary. But my mortgage itself isnt too bad. The amortization schedule was scarier, as the first several years you’re almost paying just interest. And you get to see just how much it costs over the total life of the loan.

But I like my house, I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. I can enjoy doing the fixes myself, and cry when things are so expensive to repair. There are so many things I want to do, but can’t afford to at the moment.

I am really enjoying getting my yard they way I want. And it’s even nicer to have a place that my girlfriend and her daughter can move in.

The house has appreciated 10% in the last two years. And as inflation keeps happening, it devalues the loan. The money I owe is worth less and less and the property I own is worth more and more. At least in general, that’s how it should work.

Property taxes are pricey, but I’m happy with paying them for what I get in the city and neighborhood I’m in.

It was a no-brainer for me. I’ve got to live somewhere in either case so instead of paying rent I could just aswell use that money to pay off my mortage (in reality I’m paying less).

In general my attitude towards loans is that if you can’t pay cash then you can’t afford it but house is obviously an exception as no one has that kind of money saved up.

Haven’t regreted a day.

It’s hard when you’re starting out, but think about it this way:

1. you have to live somewhere-that means rent or a mortgage.
2. rent goes to “the man”. So does most of your mortgage payment but you DO pay some of that to yourself. So when comparing the two you have to subtract that out.
3. you get a tax break on mortgage interest - so you have to take that out
4. the house is likely to appreciate in value - so any equity you build has to be taken out
5. this means that a substantially larger monthly mortgage payment might actually be equal to or even less than paying monthly rent.
6. rent goes up, nobody talks about this. Mortgages are fixed.
7. renting is forever. Eventually (if you’re not stupid with refinances) you’ll own your home and have zero payments.
8. in favor of renting - if something breaks in a house, you have to fix it. Renters just yell at their landlord.
9. even if you have a crappy interest rate now, you can always refinance in the future if and when rates come down.

Paying for your first mortgage can be daunting when just starting out, but it’s often cheaper than renting when considering the above points, the one exception being how much money you sink into repairs. (Don’t buy a money trap of a house, stay away from major fixer uppers). Eventually your salary will go up and your mortgage payment will be less and less of a burden.

Being in debt sucks, but I’ve felt paying rent sucks even more. So a mortgage ain’t so bad. That’s the way I see things - ymmv

but I look at a mortgage and think “that’s 15 years I’ll spend paying back, at absolute minimum. Probably more like 25 years”

Yes! Probably more like 25 (or even 30 years)…at the same glorious fixed payment for that entire time! How many dozen times has your prior housing payment, rent, gone up? Now, it doesn’t. The bank will never ask more from you on principal and interest in the future than it does on that very first mortgage statement.

When I bought my first house I was paying $800/month in rent at an apartment and the mortgage payment was $1000/month. I sold that house 17 years later with the last mortgage payment still being only $1000/month. I checked back on my old apartment to see what the rent was: $1400 for the same apartment I used to pay only $800/month for.

Also, you’re not forced to keep that house you’re buying for 25 or 30 years, but when you leave, its YOUR choice not the landlord’s. When I sold my house I pocketed over $135k in profit because the housing value had gone up in that 17 years.

Glorious I tell ya!

If your mortgage is less than your rent, do it.

Its generally a good move but people can oversell it. Taxes will go up even if the mortgage is fixed. You can’t move easily if you need to go work someplace else or such. Upkeep is a thing and will cost. You can’t easily drop your monthly nut if you lose your job or such. That being said my general rule of thumb is if you can afford a 20% down payment and 15 year fixed and its somewhere you would like to live you should do it. Get a 30 year but make payments like its a 15 year and if you get into a crunch make the normal payment. If all goes well you will be in good stead and if you have to sell you should come out ahead. If you can’t do that much of a down payment then definitely think about it hard and I personally think if your doing a balloon or variable rate your asking for trouble.

There isn’t really much choice and people have been doing it for a long time including my parents so I just have to assume it’s part of adulthood and accept it and try not to let it hang over my head.

Unless you make a lot of money or have help, you will probably have a mortgage if you want a house.

My rent was about $200 bucks cheaper each month but I can sell this and my payments go towards something I own rather than something the landlord owns.

Plus I can upgrade something I own in ways I’m not going to do as a renter.