Graduated April 2004, B.Sc Microbiology.
$26000 loan.
April 19, 2006, just dropped a cheque for the last little bit of my loan in the mail.
PAID. OFF.
YEAH!
PAID OFF!!
ambrosia wrote:
dwild wrote:upwards of 35 milliongood lord.
Actually, the next expense is a house in about a year, so I'm not likely to be raking in millions yet. :/
Are you kidding? Real estate is the surest way to make lots of money. Not as quickly as some others, but you WILL make money on this house you're about to buy.
I bought my house 2 years ago for $180k. It's now appraising at $300+k. When I move in a few years, it'll be even greater. I'll be able to move with about $150k in my pocket. Not shabby at all.
One of the best ways to do it is to buy pre-construction. You look around for a site that's breaking ground (like a new subdivision), and buy a place there. It'll take a year to build, on average, and in that time the price usually increases by at LEAST $40k. My former boss' home went up roughly $100k from the time he signed the papers to the time he moved in.
For the most part, real estate ALWAYS appreciates. Maybe not as fast as it has been with the craziness down here lately* but barring the collapse of your economy, it *will* increase.
*-the bubble just recently burst, and all the people who bought property cheap, hoping to flip it are losing their shirts. Which is great, because as soon as they foreclose, that's when people like me swoop in and get them for a SONG. 8)
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I bought my house 2 years ago for $180k. It's now appraising at $300+k. When I move in a few years, it'll be even greater. I'll be able to move with about $150k in my pocket. Not shabby at all.
This generally only works if it not a primary residence, or you are moving to a different area. Otherwise any money that is made on the first house gets spent on a second house whose value has also skyrocketed.
dwild wrote:
This generally only works if it not a primary residence, or you are moving to a different area. Otherwise any money that is made on the first house gets spent on a second house whose value has also skyrocketed.
Those were my feelings. That plus the fact remains that regardless (irregardless, anyone? :D) of what happens years down the road, you're still hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
ambrosia wrote:
dwild wrote:This generally only works if it not a primary residence, or you are moving to a different area. Otherwise any money that is made on the first house gets spent on a second house whose value has also skyrocketed.Those were my feelings. That plus the fact remains that regardless (irregardless, anyone? :D) of what happens years down the road, you're still hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
I think the thing with this is that you will inevitably be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt at some point anyway, so you might as well start as soon as you can, and pay it off earlier that way.
Becca and I are actually just starting to look into the possibility of buying property/a condo/a house in Canada while we're still over here making enough money to make a decent down payment, just cause it seems like it'd be such a good investment.
dwild wrote:
Quote:I bought my house 2 years ago for $180k. It's now appraising at $300+k. When I move in a few years, it'll be even greater. I'll be able to move with about $150k in my pocket. Not shabby at all.This generally only works if it not a primary residence, or you are moving to a different area. Otherwise any money that is made on the first house gets spent on a second house whose value has also skyrocketed.
I disagree wholeheartedly. I've never owned a house that isn't my primary residence. After living in my house for about 3-4 years, I will be able to sell it for twice (if not more) what I paid for it. If you're moving into the same subdivision, yeah, you won't make much, if anything. But there's ALWAYS new construction going up somewhere, there are always foreclosures, and there are always houses that people are selling on the cheap so they can move quickly.
Land is the safest investment you can make. I can't think of another where you are damned near guaranteed to make money.
dwild wrote:
Quote:I bought my house 2 years ago for $180k. It's now appraising at $300+k. When I move in a few years, it'll be even greater. I'll be able to move with about $150k in my pocket. Not shabby at all.This generally only works if it not a primary residence, or you are moving to a different area. Otherwise any money that is made on the first house gets spent on a second house whose value has also skyrocketed.
There are other considerations to make though, too. For example, I bought my [rapidly appreciating] house on an interest-only loan. Yes, the money that I make from this investment will likely be put into another house. But the ideas is that I can sell once my ARM is up and then have down payment money to get locked in to a 30-year.
Spazholio wrote:
dwild wrote:Quote:I bought my house 2 years ago for $180k. It's now appraising at $300+k. When I move in a few years, it'll be even greater. I'll be able to move with about $150k in my pocket. Not shabby at all.This generally only works if it not a primary residence, or you are moving to a different area. Otherwise any money that is made on the first house gets spent on a second house whose value has also skyrocketed.
I disagree wholeheartedly. I've never owned a house that isn't my primary residence.
I agree with you, half heartedly ;)
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That was my point so I think we agree, not disagree, agreed?
If you're moving into the same subdivision, yeah, you won't make much, if anything.
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But there's ALWAYS new construction going up somewhere, there are always foreclosures, and there are always houses that people are selling on the cheap so they can move quickly.
It depends on your locale I suppose. Though there are new subdivisions in my area, they are appreciating more or less at the same rate. I still think it makes far more sense to take advantage of a secondary residence. Especially if it means you dont have to move every 4 years to take advantage of an appreciation of equity.
Oh it makes a LOT of sense to do that. Just not a lot of people do it, as they don't have the means to own a home, and put a down payment on another house, and if you do pre-construction with the intent to flip, you usually have to hold onto it for a year and a day before you can sell it. So, if you have the money already, it's GREAT. But if you don't, the primary residence still appreciates quite nicely. =)
Joined: 2006-05-20