Renting a house.

[Ace-o-fire]

Long story short a fire happened in my old building and now my gf and I are bunking with my parents.

But this also made me realize that maybe i should look in to renting a house, except I know shit about where to look and what to look for. My parents aren't very helpful in this matter as the only advice I've gotten has been "Just make sure it's not some crack den." I have no idea what to look for and what I should ask questions about.

I should point out I'll only be in the house until I can find a house to buy. I have about 200k saved away to put a down-payment on a house, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

[Tyche]

200k is a down payment? Move to kentucky...

[Ace-o-fire]

should have mention i would like to stay in the north east (NJ) since i work in philly and new york

[Nibe]

A

[ertyu]

What everyone else is saying. You can buy a really nice brand new house here in Arizona for 200k and still have a lot left over after that. lol

[izembo]

yea, im sure you could find a house with that kinda money, at least as a majority down payment

[SephYuyX]

If you know youre going to be staying in that area, just make the plunge now. I dunno how it is there, but like Tyche said, KY and IN for that kind of money can egt you a nice house with some great land.

No sense in wasting $ on renting, when you know you want to buy a house. Just put it all in your name so the chick gets nothing. Just deal with the parents a bit longer while you search for a house to buy.

[aalryn]

Not to mention that this is a very good time to buy a house. Plenty of people are wanting to sell right now and house prices are the lowest they've been in ages.

[_chuchu]

If you know youre going to be staying in that area, just make the plunge now. I dunno how it is there, but like Tyche said, KY and IN for that kind of money can egt you a nice house with some great land.

No sense in wasting $ on renting, when you know you want to buy a house. Just put it all in your name so the chick gets nothing. Just deal with the parents a bit longer while you search for a house to buy.

Not to mention that this is a very good time to buy a house. Plenty of people are wanting to sell right now and house prices are the lowest they've been in ages.

Agree with both of these. You don't necessarily have to pay off the house immediately, as you can put the remainder of the money to work for you and make the payments. Interest rates are at historic lows right now, too.

[Atreides]

where do you live in Northern NJ? There are plenty of decently priced apartments in the Hackensack area, easy commute to NYC, that will run you anywhere from 700-1500/month (whereas apartments in Hoboken/Jersey City are hard to find under 1k, or so I've heard).

With renting I'm not sure what else you'd want to ask other than making sure you're not stuck renting for 1-2+ years.

Oh and always make sure to take pictures of pretty much the whole apartment when you move in, and develop them/store them in case anyone tries to fuck you out of your security deposit.

[Ksandra]

wanted to add too that renting a house is usually the same if not more (people are greedy) then actually buying and paying a mortgage. With 200k down you're mortgage is gonna be halved of what it would cost to rent.

[_chuchu]

wanted to add too that renting a house is usually the same if not more (people are greedy) then actually buying and paying a mortgage. With 200k down you're mortgage is gonna be halved of what it would cost to rent.

^. It's just the fact that it's silly to rent for 15-30 years when you can pay off a home in that time depending on your income. The lifestyle change is a huge plus since renters are probably stuck with more rules regarding what they can/can't have in their living units.

[Seanr]

$200k... hell I saw a 8 Bedroom, 5.5 Bathroom, .64 Acre House down the street from me for $500k...

Just drive around and look around for a decent house... put some stuff in storage til then. Look online for houses too...

[sephir]

With that much money saved up, unless you have some mysterious debt it would be highly advantageous to buy a house. With house prices at the lowest point in a long time, and with interest rates at near 0 along with your large down payment you could walk away with a very nice house now as both a home and investment.

But if you are dead set on renting, I would suggest looking at some of the classifieds on University websites (you'd be surprised how nice some places can be on there....), real estate agent locations, and newspapers.

Its up to you, but with such a large nest egg, it really is in your best interest to look at buying a place.

[Elites]

You can never ever find a 4 bedroom house with enough land in NYC for anything less than nearly a million..

[Tyche]

Even if it were 1,000,000....200k would be 20% of the loan, which would be substantial enough to avoid any mortgage insurance, greatly lower your interest rate (given the credit report is in order) and set yourself up for a profit on the investment.

[_chuchu]

People should stop looking at homes they can't afford as a profitable financial investment to live inside of. If you're going to buy up homes now and sell/rent them when the market comes back then, ok. Otherwise, do it for the lifestyle change.

[ZarakiKujata]

$200k... hell I saw a 8 Bedroom, 5.5 Bathroom, .64 Acre House down the street from me for $500k...

That sounds like kind of a shitty McMansion, .64 acres of property for a house that size(unless the bedrooms are tiny) does not seem like you would have much privacy..

[ertyu]

That sounds like kind of a shitty McMansion, .64 acres of property for a house that size(unless the bedrooms are tiny) does not seem like you would have much privacy..

Wow, yeah. At first I thought it said 64 acres but I didn't see the . in there lol. DO not want.

[Atreides]

its not like he would get a lot of land (or a lot of house) for that much money in northern NJ, anyway