This is a good goal especially if you are thinking about moving. There are lots of nice places in the country that are less expensive…but if you love where you are, then you will probably eventually find something. I didn’t own a house until I was in my 40’s.There is plenty of time. However, I do have to let you know my experience…..once I had I house and a yard I actually found them to be a burden. I had a house about 50 years old which was a very sweet little house with a nice yard, but soon after moving in I had to dig up the front yard to replace the sewer pipe. Not what I wanted to spend my money on! Then there was the roof, the furnace, all kinds of other stuff. When it came time to leave that place, I walked away from the pretty little house without a glance backwards and felt such relief. Turns out, I think, that not everybody is meant to own a house. But YOU won’t know how you feel until you try it and wanting to try is a good thing, especially if you achieve the goal by saving and really working for it.

I think this is a very smart investment, do all your research well don’t slack anywhere when it come to buying a house.
I wish you the best of luck, I hope you find a great house!

It’s not the cost of the real estate, but the loan terms that set your costs.

The value of a home is in most cases tied to what it would cost to build that same home. And of course there is the land value.

Right now, there are many homes on the market which can be had for less than the sum of the land value plus the cost to rebuild. On top of that, there are sellers who need to sell now – who are much better off taking a loss now and moving on than holding out and putting off life plans.

So, if you have a down payment (not needed only two years ago!) you have some real buying power. Even if you have only a few thousand dollars to put into a purchase, there is the lease option.

In the LA area, there are some nice big yards in the valleys.

On a lease option, you and the seller agree on a certain amount of your rent being applied toward the purchase, and you pay a deposit that also goes toward the purchase but is non-refundable.

One scenario might be that you find a place where the rent would normally be $1800 a month, and the house has sat on the market for months, with a couple of price reductions. Your lease option would include rental payments at slightly over market – maybe $2000 a month, with $1000 a month credited back to you on the lease option. Your deposit might be $4000. You designate a time frame to exercise the option – maybe 8 – 18 months. You also fix the price of the house. So if the market eases and prices begin to rise, you will have the advantage of today’s issues driving down prices.

Under this scenario, after one year you will have paid $16,000 toward the purchase, which goes to the down. You may be able to get a landlord to agree on even more favorable terms to you, because the market is so bad.

What also works in your favor is that interest rates are coming down. They will probably find their low within the next year, before they go into another rising pattern. Your goal is to get a thirty year fixed loan when they hit near their low. Don’t be seduced by an ARM, particularly an interest only one, even if you plan to sell and move up within a few years. It is not worth the savings in a risky market like what’s going now.

If you prefer to wait, lower prices accompanied by higher interest rates keep your goal as elusive as ever.

The good news for you in this market is you can name your price – if you can make the payments.