Why We (Finally!) Decided to Buy a House

Why We (Finally!) Decided to Buy a House

On July 17, my wife and I signed the final piece of paper and officially became homeowners for the first time in our lives.

Up to that point we had always been renters. Renting had made sense both because of the flexibility it provided as we figured out where we wanted to settle down and because it had cost less than buying every time we had run the numbers.

This time was different.

While we were nervous about making such a big financial commitment, buying finally seemed like the right decision for our family at this point in our lives.

Here’s why.

1. We had always wanted to (eventually) buy a house

Although we’ve been happy everywhere we’ve rented, my wife and I have known for a long time that we eventually wanted to buy a house.

For the most part that desire was purely emotional. We wanted a place that was “ours”. A place we were free to decorate, to expand or contract, to hang our kids artwork everywhere, and generally settle in and build a home base for our family.

Renting served us well over the years. We had accommodating landlords and we were able to make each place feel like home. But it never felt like a foundation that we could really build upon.

Buying a house would give us that foundation. It would be a place where our family could grow. A home base.

Still, the desire to buy a house eventually wasn’t the driving force behind the decision to buy right now. That came from a few other places.

2. We wanted to be in a specific school system

Our oldest son is starting kindergarten this year and we wanted him to be in a particular school system. The house we’d been renting for the past few years wasn’t in that school system.

This was the driving force behind our desire to move right now. It didn’t mean we had to buy, but it’s what made us start looking.

To be perfectly honest, if it wasn’t for this we probably would have continued renting our last house for at least another year or two. It wasn’t perfect, and we definitely would have moved eventually, but we were happy there and it was relatively inexpensive.

But with kindergarten starting, we knew that we wanted to move as long as the financial side of things made sense.

Which brings me to…

3. We could afford the move

If we couldn’t have afforded it, we wouldn’t have moved. Simple as that.

The school system we were zoned for previously was good enough. and while we we knew that moving would increase our monthly expenses, neither my wife nor I was willing to sacrifice our overall financial stability. That would have been a much worse for our kids than a couple of years at a school that, while not ideal, was perfectly fine.

So we had to figure out how much we could afford to spend on a house without feeling like we were teetering on the edge.

First we needed to decide how much we could afford to pay up front for things like:

  • The down payment
  • Closing costs
  • Moving costs
  • Repairs
  • Furniture and decorations

Then we needed to decide how much we could afford for ongoing costs like:

  • The mortgage payment
  • Homeowners insurance
  • Property taxes
  • HOA dues
  • Maintenance
  • Utilities (increases over our current bills)

Once we had those numbers, it was time to look at the market for both buying and renting to see if we could find a place we both liked and could afford.

I first looked at houses in my dream location and quickly found out that it was just that: a dream. As much as I would have loved to move to an area where we could bike to most of the places we wanted to go, it just wasn’t something we could afford. So that option was nixed.

Luckily, other areas in our desired school district were much more affordable and still had most of what we were looking for.

As I kept my eye on the market, I found that there were definitely opportunities for us to move and stay within our budget, but that we’d have to be patient. We didn’t exactly have the entire market available to us, but I was confident that we’d be able to find a place we liked if we were willing to wait for the right opportunity.

Knowing that, we felt comfortable moving forward from the financial side of things.

4. Buying was cheaper than renting

While both my wife and I preferred buying at this point in our lives for all the reasons mentioned above, we were both more than willing to rent if it made the most financial sense for our family.

But when I ran the numbers, two things became clear very quickly:

  1. Buying would cost more up front than renting. This is pretty much always the case though.
  2. After just 1-2 years, buying would become cheaper than renting IF we were patient enough to wait for the right opportunity.

Given that we were hoping to buy a house that we could live in for a long time, the math made buying a no-brainer as long as we were willing to be patient.

THIS is the real reason why we made the decision to buy a house instead of finding a new rental. It wasn’t just that we preferred to buy a house. It was that it would cost us less over the time period we planned to be there.

5. The right opportunity presented itself

Even with all of that, we weren’t 100% sure that we’d be able to find a place that we both liked and could afford in time for the start of the school year. We knew that it was possible, but the right opportunity had to come along and that was no sure thing.

We looked at a lot of houses, and we honestly got pretty discouraged along the way. A lot of the houses we saw weren’t in great condition, and we weren’t excited about the idea of a fixer-upper. Some of the houses we saw were pretty nice, but realistically out of our price range.

We weren’t sure it was going to happen.

But then, finally, a house showed up that was right in our price range. We went to see it and immediately loved it. It was in great condition, we loved the layout, it was on a quiet, dead end street, much closer to everything than we had been before, and, of course, in the right school district.

So we pounced on it. Our offer was accepted, and after a long and torturous closing process (a story for another day), we signed the papers, bought the house, and moved in.

Buying was never a sure thing

I feel really lucky that we ended up where we did. Despite wanting to move for school purposes and wanting to buy a house eventually, it was never a sure thing that either would happen.

We were lucky enough to find a house that we really liked AND that was in our price range. And it just so happened that buying this house in this area was cheaper than renting something similar, at least over the course of a few years (which isn’t always the case).

If any of those variables had been different, we might have ended up staying where we were. Or we might have moved to a new rental, continuing to save up until the right opportunity to buy came along.

But it all worked out, and now we have a home base. For the first time ever, I’m in charge of fixing that damn leaky faucet.

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19 Comments... Read them below or add one of your own
  • Money Beagle August 15, 2017

    Congrats! It’s definitely a pretty crazy ride sometimes. I hope the best for you.

  • Mrs. Adventure Rich August 15, 2017

    Congratulations! Buying a house is very exciting, I’m glad you found one that fit your criteria!

    My husband and I recently bought a house for many of the same reasons. We always planned to own a home someday, but when living in southern CA, we knew that was not the place nor the time. We were fortunate to have everything align when Mr. Adventure Rich received a new job offer which spurred a cross country move to where we wanted to settle. We soon found a house and property that we loved in our price range and were able to move forward with the purchase. It has been almost a year now and we are very happy to be in a place we can call our own 🙂

    • Matt Becker August 15, 2017

      I’m happy to hear that you’re still enjoying it! Thanks for sharing your story.

  • Kathy Beach August 15, 2017

    Congratulations Matt and Casey! I hope kindergarten is FUN! Best wishes for many happy adventures in your new home.

    • Matt Becker August 15, 2017

      Thanks Kathy! So far so good on kindergarten. Big smiles getting off the bus yesterday.

  • Tom Schaber August 15, 2017

    Congratulations Matt;

    You are in for a whole new experience – maintenance never ends! (Mark my words). But especially congratulations for having the patience to wait until all your criteria were met. Not many can do that.

    • Matt Becker August 15, 2017

      Haha, I’m already experiencing a little bit of that! Honestly though I’m excited to learn some new skills. I have a lot of time to make up for.

  • Jason August 15, 2017

    Congratulations. Perseverance does pay off.

  • Lance August 15, 2017

    Congrats, that’s awesome. YouTube will be your best friend for replacing toilets and all other fun homeownership tasks 🙂 I speak from experience.

    • Matt Becker August 16, 2017

      Yep! I already got into YouTube for some help hanging some shelves. I don’t know how people did all this stuff before the internet!

  • Deni Supplee August 16, 2017

    Congratulations! I remember when I purchased my first home. It was a long time dream! There I was, after settlement, laying on the family room floor, looking around at all the work that needed to be done, but just feeling completely satisfied! I never looked back!

  • John August 16, 2017

    Congrats Matt! Buying a home is a lot of work and responsibility but it’s all worth it in the end 🙂

  • Brian Davis August 16, 2017

    Wohoo! Congratulations Matt, it’s a great feeling to buy a home. Especially one that you know is a good deal and the right move for your family. I’m huge on real estate investing, and for most people, it starts with a home. Congrats again!

  • Congrats on the purchase!

    How long do you think you should plan on living at a house before purchasing? Given the major transaction costs, I feel like it would take longer than the 1-2 years you calculated in your rent vs. buy comparison.

    • Matt Becker August 19, 2017

      It really depends on the specifics of the opportunities available to you. I agree that in most cases it will take longer than 1-2 years for buying to pay off. I don’t really know what the average is, but anecdotally I would say 4-5 is often reasonable. I’ve written about running the numbers here: When Renting Is Smarter Than Buying a House.

      In our case it just worked out that buying the kind of house we wanted to buy would be cheaper than renting a similar house after just 1-2 years. We certainly could have paid more for a house, either one that was bigger or in a different location, and in that case the math might have looked different.

  • Ken September 12, 2017

    Congratulations! Glad you were able to find the right one in the right place!

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