23
Jan
2008
3 Reasons to Delay Buying a Home
If you have the financial fluency and you want to eventually buy your own house, there are very few good reasons to postpone the purchase. You can miss out on years of appreciation if you do.
Selling the House Too Soon
The main thing you want to avoid when buying a home is being put in a position where you will have to sell it too soon. If you are forced to sell a home before it has appreciated enough to cover the costs and commissions of selling, you could end up in a financial bind. This is usually true for people who purchase a home with a down payment of 10% or less.
New to the Area
A very sensible to reason to postpone purchasing a home is if you have just moved to a new area or region of the country. It is reasonable to rent for a number of months before deciding on exactly where you want to live. Frequently people buy a house and right after that they find that they might have made a better decision if they had waited awhile.
Uncertain Job Future
If you are fresh out of college or expect a promotion and a transfer, or your company has announced an impending “restructuring.” it might be wise to wait to buy a home.
Marital Problems
Real estate agents see a lot of life changes before their eyes. A very sad one occurs when former clients divorce and have to sell a recently purchased house. It happens very often when a family in turmoil decides that buying a new home may help resolve their problems. Probably it is inevitable that such problems occur, but selling a home before it appreciates can contribute to an additional financial burden in an already problematic situation.