10 Best Cities to buy a home

"Fin Fan In Cali wrote:

http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/14/housing-buyers-list-forbeslife-cx_md_0714bestbuy_slide_11.html?thisSpeed=15000

Personally, Im very surprised Jersey isnt a top 10 city to buy a home!! Thats total BS, I know everyone just LOVES to spend half a million dollars on a 1500 sq ft house and pay 10,000 worth of taxes a year...wouldnt ya, you know you would :up: :pity:

i cant see it at work, is charlotte nc on there?

"SickFinFan33 wrote:

i cant see it at work, is charlotte nc on there?

It sure is. Alexandria, VA isn't though. :pity:

Can't say I'm surprised. Buying at the height of a real estate bubble is just awesome.

"SickFinFan33 wrote:

i cant see it at work, is charlotte nc on there?

from the article:

The South made a nice showing with Charlotte, N.C., Jacksonville, Flo., and Atlanta, Ga., making our list. Charlotte and Jacksonville have surged in price by 12.9% and 8%, respectively. Atlanta has seen huge amounts of growth and remains reasonable with a median home price of $172,000.

"SickFinFan33 wrote:

i cant see it at work, is charlotte nc on there?

Its mentioned as among the top in the article.

San Francisco, Charlotte, N.C., Jacksonville, Fla., and St. Louis, Mo., are other areas buyers can feel safe investing in.

Well Holli beat me to it but my quote is a little different so you may enjoy it.

too much of that would be subjective, IMO.

"best place to buy a home" is largely based on where one wants to live, not just home values. :up:

buying a house is overrated

"Stringer Bell wrote:

buying a house is overrated

You come up with some of the oddest posts man.

Not to be negative, just an observation.

"Stringer Bell wrote:

buying a house is overrated

yeah. having equity is for losers!

"Stringer Bell wrote:

buying a house is overrated

Not as overrated as renting.

"Stringer Bell wrote:

buying a house is overrated

I agree, I'd much rather just throw my money away renting. :up:

"MonstBlitz wrote:

It sure is. Alexandria, VA isn't though. :pity:

Can't say I'm surprised. Buying at the height of a real estate bubble is just awesome.

That is the plan that I'm on also. But I'm in Jacksonville which listed as 9 on their list so maybe there is some hope for me.

"Stringer Bell wrote:

buying a house is overrated

Bro I don't think so. If you want to raise a family, have a place to call home, and have a place to play with your dogs it's not. I have three dogs, and if I was renting more then likely I couldn't keep them. Why not pay yourself, rather then paying rent, and seeing any of that money again? I respect your opinion, but I have to respectfully disagree bro.:wink2:

is juarez, mexico on the list?
Property over there is being sold like hotcakes right now......

"MonstBlitz wrote:

It sure is. Alexandria, VA isn't though. :pity:

Can't say I'm surprised. Buying at the height of a real estate bubble is just awesome.

I am in that boat as well brother. My home has depreciated at least 112,000 in the last two years.

"Stringer Bell wrote:

buying a house is overrated

it's worth buying a house just to not have to share walls with strangers.

"Fin Fan In Cali wrote:

I am in that boat as well brother. My home has depreciated at least 112,000 in the last two years.

Oh man. Well as long as you plan on being there for the long haul no worries right?

I'm not in that bad a shape. Luckily we got a real good deal on our house as it needed some work. So factoring in the sweat equity and the market decline we could probably just about break even if we were to sell.

"MonstBlitz wrote:

Oh man. Well as long as you plan on being there for the long haul no worries right?

I'm not in that bad a shape. Luckily we got a real good deal on our house as it needed some work. So factoring in the sweat equity and the market decline we could probably just about break even if we were to sell.

No matter what happens in life, as long as I have my health, family, and my dogs, I am on top of the world brother.:up:

"Fin Fan In Cali wrote:

I am in that boat as well brother. My home has depreciated at least 112,000 in the last two years.

Sorry to hear that, bro.

Here in Rochester, NY, the market has been appreciating gradually, without big spikes or dips, which is fine with me. Our house has appreciated $25K to $30K in the last 3 years. A good amount of that is sweat equity and improvements, but much of it is the market steadily increasing.

"Stringer Bell wrote:

buying a house is overrated

Any chance of getting some context to that blurb? Personally, I like little things like having a yard, not having to put up with loud, crappy music being played that I can hear a 4 inch thick wall, building equity, having full control over my utilities, having a BBQ grill and a deck for entertaining and the like. But your mileage may vary.

I'm not sure if this is what Stringer meant, but there's an increasing amount of people who have been making the argument that renting makes more sense than buying. Their argument is the money you save can be put into better investments that will appreciate faster than real estate, especially in this market. This argument does NOT hold up for many reasons. To name a few -

1. Rental prices catch up with Mortgage payments very quickly. Some of my friends here in the D.C. area already pay in rent what I pay for a mortgage and I've only been in my house for 2 years.

2. It ignores the fact that eventually you finish making mortgage payments and then pay nothing cept tax and HOA, while the renter pays rent forever.

3. Who is actually responsible enough to invest the difference between renting and buying? Looking how in debt we are as Americans, virtually no one.

This might not be what Stringer was thinking at all, but I just wanted to get this out there to nip that argument in the butt right away if it was coming.

"MonstBlitz wrote:

I'm not sure if this is what Stringer meant, but there's an increasing amount of people who have been making the argument that renting makes more sense than buying. Their argument is the money you save can be put into better investments that will appreciate faster than real estate, especially in this market. This argument does NOT hold up for many reasons. To name a few -

1. Rental prices catch up with Mortgage payments very quickly. Some of my friends here in the D.C. area already pay in rent what I pay for a mortgage and I've only been in my house for 2 years.

2. It ignores the fact that eventually you finish making mortgage payments and then pay nothing cept tax and HOA, while the renter pays rent forever.

3. Who is actually responsible enough to invest the difference between renting and buying? Looking how in debt we are as Americans, virtually no one.

This might not be what Stringer was thinking at all, but I just wanted to get this out there to nip that argument in the butt right away if it was coming.

Right. It's only a valid argument in cities where the gap between home prices and apartment prices is insane. For instance, the article mentions that the average mortgage in San Jose, CA is $4300, but the average rental is $1600 per month. So, okay, if you live in San Jose, it probably makes more sense to rent.

i think SB was just being funny. many of you are taking him a little too serious...