First-time home buyers: how did you feel about getting a mortgage? (lemmynsfw.com)

submitted 6 months ago by Worx@lemmynsfw.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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An option for me to buy a house has come up very suddenly and it seemed like a good idea at first - 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" - how can I possibly plan that far in advance?

So, how did you feel about getting a mortgage and seeing such a serious commitment stretch so far into the future? I'm mainly talking about the emotional side of things rather than financial

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[-] Kongar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 6 months ago

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

you have to live somewhere-that means rent or a mortgage.
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.
you get a tax break on mortgage interest - so you have to take that out
the house is likely to appreciate in value - so any equity you build has to be taken out
this means that a substantially larger monthly mortgage payment might actually be equal to or even less than paying monthly rent.
rent goes up, nobody talks about this. Mortgages are fixed.
renting is forever. Eventually (if you’re not stupid with refinances) you’ll own your home and have zero payments.
in favor of renting - if something breaks in a house, you have to fix it. Renters just yell at their landlord.
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

this post was submitted on 02 May 2024

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