Quote:
Originally Posted by W///
Currently live in Upstate South Carolina, and houses are cheap compared to the big cities. For almost 10 years, I rented an apartment because my job and green card situation was still up in the air, so I wanted to be mobile as possible.
Once that was done, I decided to purchase a house, because my rent was $1100 for a 2 bedroom apt with 2 car garage is not that much different than my current $1400 mortgage. The plan was to grow roots and making this place my home base for decades to come.
Lessons learned so far:
- While there's a gap of only $300 a month, there are other expenses of course that push that gap to a quite a bit more than I expected. Nothing insane, but still worth noting (ie heating and cooling 2050 vs 1100 sq ft)
- Yard work takes a long time, and sucks during South Carolina heat
- Luckily no big repairs yet, but I know it's an older house and that's always in the back of your mind
- Rightly or wrongly, I don't look at the house as an investment. This is a place where I belong, having moved around a lot most of my childhood life. So I didn't plan it to buy it to sell it in 8 years to move to a bigger house. I think it has everything I need to be here for years to come
- It takes me forever to start and finish a project (same with my cars actually). For example, if I start painting a room, it'll take me a few weeks because I only feel like working on it during weekends.
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Similar thing for me. Been renting apartments for 5 years, so not quite as long as you. I lived in and around Charlotte, but my last place was $1200 a month for a 1000 sq ft 1bd 1bth apartment with a garage. My house is brand new (so no worries from me on roof and all that, and no grass so I don't have to mow lol), on 0.6 acres, 1 mile from the lake, 1800 sq ft with a 500 sq ft garage (3bd 2 bth), and without PMI I'm looking at $1120 a month. Well water and septic, so no charges on that for me. Power is a bit higher than the small apartment, but nothing crazy. I would LOVE to have a shop, but for now it's fine for the wife and I.
I can let my dog run around in the yard no leash, I have my own grille, I can listen to music or movies as loud as I want, I can work on my cars in the garage without disturbing other people, it's amazing. I've been having a blast painting rooms, hanging up shelves, making it our own place. Absolutely love it. ONLY negative to the house is that we live on a road that is busier than we thought. Not a MAJOR road, but it gets quite busy. It's quiet after dinner time though, and doesn't start getting traffic on it until around 8am, so we can easily live with it.