Friday, January 05, 2007

To buy or continue renting?

What to do? I have entered my third year of renting and I'm currently spending a couple hundred thousand per annum doing so to live right smack in the middle of things in the Kingson 6 area. At some point in time last year my wet behind the ears self decided that instead of wasting all of this money on rent I should buy a place and have it go towards my mortgage as at the end of the day the place will belong to me!

It is still the first week of the year and I have already placed a bid for an apartment even more in the middle of things in New Kingston. I placed two bids for a two bedroom apartment or a one bedroom apartment in the same building, I doubt I'll get any but it doesn't hurt to make an offer. I was not in any rush to buy a place but oddly enough my parents pushed this one on me. Last year when I mentioned to them that I was interested in buying property my mother laughed at me and told me I was too young (24?) to be thinking of such things then both of them started to tell me of their ages when they first bought property. They changed their tune quickly after they learnt about my ability to save and invest, as well as a nice healthy income (a lot healthier than they imagined).

The tables have turned though now as I have realized that mortgage is not a pretty thing. It would put me in debt for many years to come where as if I save a bit more it would significantly cut debt and interest payments. We will see what this/next year brings as I have mandated to myself to be a home owner by the age of 27.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I would go for it. Remember that you can always reduce the overall mortgage by making lump sum payments later on.

So I would do it sooner than later.

That way you can finish faster, buy another one for investment or keep the 1st one for investment purpose.

fizzio brown said...

That which your mind concieves
You can definitely achieve...

fizzio brown said...

Dr. D, forgive my ignorance, but what is a 'mofo'?

Mad Bull said...

Good to hear that one so young is in a position to do this. I'd say go for it, because the price of real estate only goes up.

Anonymous said...

Short for Mother-F-cker, Fizzio. Hehe. That's Dr's colourful way of speaking for you.

Anonymous said...

I'm buying at the mo - it's a hassle, and scary as hell, but I do feel really proud of myself. Finally I'll have somewhere that is mine to do what I want with and I won't be giving money to someone else each month!

A word of warning - be prepared to move fast if you see something you really like. Places I was looking at were being sold within a week of first advertisement!

Adrian said...

It would be nice to have a place of my own. I watch a few shows HGTV and all these ideas of fixing up my place runs through my mind, alas they have to be put on pause as I can't be pimping out my current rented place :p

Teenage Perfectionist said...

Good luck with that Adrian, its good to purchase early.