Condo, house, or apartment?

I live in northwest indiana and my fiancee and I are planning on getting married in a year. What is a good website that will weigh the pros and cons of each of the above mentioned. He will have a career by then and I will still have a year of school left. I feel silly to get an apartment when that rent money just goes down the drain. If you get a condo or house the money goes towards something. what do ya think?

You do need to look at the total picture. What is the housing market like in the area do want to live? How long do you plan on staying in the area? Will you both be able to get jobs? What is your current income? Do you expect your income to increase a lot from your current income when your fiance gets a job and you graduate from school? It might be prudent to rent for a year until you are fairly certain of these questions. Of course, owning is the longtime goal, but don't jump into it too quickly. Buying a house or condo may be easy to do right now, but if your fiance gets a great job out of state, it may be difficult to sell. Also it usually takes a little while to build equity. The price you paid could actually go down in a year, depending on the economy. So bottom line, I would hold out. It's only a year.

What about a small townhouse/condo? This way you can get used to the experiences of owning your own home before moving into a bigger house.

town house !!!!!!! they are so cute

It is - in most cases - always better to BUY instead of renting. Check out these sites:

http://biz.yahoo.com/pfg/e10buyrent/
http://www.homefair.com/index.asp?cc=1
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/02/27/renting-versus-buying-are-there-situations-where-renting-clearly-wins/
http://finance.yahoo.com/calculator/real-estate/hom-06

Good luck...

I say condo as well. You don't need something as big as a house for the two of you. Besides all the extra space just means more cleaning. A condo would be more suited to a newly married couple. And it would be better than renting an apartment because your money is going towards equity which you can then use as a down payment when you do decide to buy a house.

I think that since housing prices are at their lowest in years and interest rates keep on going down, now is an excellent time to buy a house. You'll get a lower priced house at a low (fixed) interest rate. Great investment!

Well how settled are you in that location? If not, then renting is the better choice. Right now the market for sales of condos, townhomes, houses is VERY poor, and they tend to move only if substantially underpriced. So in this market, which may last for 3-10 more years, there is no guarantee that your property will appreciate in value, and you might have to move for a job and be unable to sell the property, and then become a long distance landlord which isn't good. Look at bankrate.com for calculators.

It is far better to own. That way you gain the equity and you can write off some.

it depends, if its a luxury apartment then yes

probably start off as an apartment first. then we you two will gradually make more money, move into a house and then maybe have children too.

Get a house. You're not just throwing away rent money for an apt or condo. House you have SPACE to store stuff... also, one day you will OWN the house... and do as you please with it.

Condo would probably be best option for now. You could stay there for a few years, it will probably sell quickly when you are done with it. Then head for a house.

A lot depends on the future of the housing market where you guys are planning to "land," and how long you plan to stay in one place.

If the market's slumping and you only plan to stay in the same dwelling for two or three years, there's not going to be much difference between renting and owning, because the house won't appreciate much and you only pay interest on a mortgage for the first several years anyway. You'd just be making mortgage payments every month, then selling for about what you owe.. Basically, renting your own house to yourselves.

If the market's good and you expect a house to appreciate in those two or three years, then obviously buying would be the better choice.

If you're looking to land and stick with the same place longer than just a few years, buy it. In the long run -- even if it never appreciated in value -- you'd eventually pay it off, which never happens if you rent.

House....the rates are so low right now. I believe the lowest in history. If your credit is decent definately do the house...its an investment.

I think you don't overextend yourself financially. That would especially apply with a wedding--I see people blow $10K and more on that. It's a large PARTY and they pay longer than they stay married because the debt breaks them up. Sheer foolishness. Get a reasonably-priced ceremony and save your money.

I think you recognize that you may need to move adn you need a plan--will you be tied to a house or will it be easy to move? I don't know--maybe you're set for work and are happy where you are. That is a major factor.

Both condos and apartments SHARE WALLS with others. Both condos and apartments have RESTRICTIONS. Yes, I know you own your condo, but I know real estate very well. There are associations and bylaws normally and you will be SHOCKED at how much control they LEGALLY have over YOUR condo. You expect it with apartments, people do NOT understand what they are doing when they get a condo.

Houses mean you're responsible for your maintenance and I don't know people who understand how to correctly estimate that. When I walk them through it they are SHOCKED--they do what they want in too many cases then they are in BIG debt because they would not listen.

You need to think about HOAs--some are fairly benign, others are VERY dictatorial. With a house you can have an HOA and they can tell you what you can paint your house IF you can build an addition WHAT can go in your back yard, etc.

So you need to sit down and discuss your MUST haves and MUST NOT haves. You need a game plan--staying there a year? five? ten? more?
Do you plan on kids? Will you have a home office? Home business? Lots of company? Do you want a split plan (master on one side, other bedrooms other side)? Energy efficiency issues--not getting any cheaper I can promise you.

If you want a house--build your own? old house? duplex? The list goes on.

Before you look for the web sites and I don't know who does a good job providing the REAL pros and cons of each, make sure you look at what you can afford and what you can tolerate and what you want. You're going to end up compromising unless you're all filthy rich.

Rent doesn't always go down the drain--it does make it easy to move and removes expensive maintenance items from the table.

For me personally, I would never want anything other than a single family house with at least a quarter-acre lot that is energy efficient, accessible (handicap), and low maintenance.

With the plethora of sites out there you can see what fits what YOU want off the net and get a good feel now for what your options will be. Do NOT listen to ANYONE who tells you to buy "more" house than you can afford and how the market will go back up SOON and will keep going up. They are making a buck off you and YOU will be left holding the bag. Real estate IS cyclical and anyone who tells you different is either a liar or knows NOTHING about it. You will NEVER regret not having to live in terror of losing your job or not being able to make the mortgage. You may be a bit frustrated that your kitchen isn't as up-to-date as you want or such, but that is NOTHING compared to wondering what happens after the foreclosure. I, thank God, have never been in that place but I've known folks who have faced it. They laughed at my 30-year-fixed, no prepayment penalty mortgage at 5.875%. I've never been one second late on a payment and over time, I have saved over what their assumptions cost them.

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