Reply to Skipping starter home and buying 4-5BR house?

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "Skipping starter home and buying 4-5BR house?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Thanks for the responses. I think we'll need to think this through more. Hate the idea of eating transactions costs, empty space just sitting around, or continuing to rent when we could be buying. Maybe we will aim for the 2BR and just squeeze while the kids are young. [/quote]

Or you could get a 3 br...or a different neighborhood... There is a lot of ground btw your dream 4-5br house and a 2br condo.[/quote]

Yea but the 3BR is also pretty much wasted space (aka $$$ we could be investing better otherwise) since the most we'd really utilize before kids is 2BR, and if we are going to have empty space or roommates we might as well aim for the house we can stay in for the long term so we don't have to deal with selling.

-OP[/quote]

You're thinking about this the wrong way.  A third bedroom isn't wasted space if you aren't using it.  It can be used in the future and is priced into the value of your home whether you use it or not.  You could use it as a guest room, office etc.  did you grow up poor?  It's perfectly common to have infrequently used rooms.

Also consider transaction costs and appreciation when buying.  Condos are often bad investments.  A 3 bedroom rowhouse can help you hedge your risk because it allows you enough space to stay if you have a second child.  [/quote]

But extra rooms that aren't being utilized is wasted money, right? An extra bedroom is ~$1000/month of rent in most places in DC and might add an extra $250K to the price of a house in some areas, so it is a poor allocation of capital given the opportunity costs.[/quote]

Renting a home is different than owning.  You don't assess it the same way.  I completely understand that people don't rent extra bedrooms typically but it doesn't work that way with home ownership.  Most people stay put for a while once they buy and extra bedrooms allows that flexibility.  It's not like you can move everytime you need more space, which you can when renting.

Fwiw it's difficult to find a two bedroom house anyway.  You need to focus less on the bedrooms and more if you want a condo or house.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics