This blog might sound weird to you coming from a real estate agent.  Especially when you hear from agents, the Realtor Association and large real estate franchises that now is the time to buy.  It couldn't be a better time and the like..  Interest rates are at  an all time low!  Buy! Buy! Buy!

Is it better to rent or buy a home in Greeley and Weld County or anywhere else for that matter?  Well in my opinion most of the time it's better to rent.  With some exceptions which I will talk about below.

If you are planning to buy a home and only own it for a few years with a low down payment loan such as an FHA loan I do not think you should be buying a home.   Why?  Because I believe the home will not appreciate enough in say 5 years for you to be able to sell it and even come out at a break even point.   Some might say that it's still better then renting because I broke even so I didn't really pay rent.  Well during that 5 years you were primarily paying interest.  Which is like paying rent to the bank.  But I got the interest rate deduction?  Well yes you did, but I think in a year or two that deduction is going to disappear.   Plus when you got the loan you paid some closing costs to even get the loan.  You won't get that money back.   But I had the seller pay the closing costs?   Yes and no.  You just lowered the price you paid for the property and rolled the closing costs into you loan doing that.  So you still paid the closing costs and now you are paying interest on it. 

I don't even recommending buying a home and owning it for 5-10 years if you put 25% down with a conventional loan. 

And remember during that time you have to pay for the upkeep of that home.  That isn't free or sometimes easy. 

Why would it be a good idea to buy real estate?  Well the simplest reason to buy real estate is freedom.  You are free do to anything you want with property, within the law, you own even if there is a mortgage.  Unless you live in a HOA restrictive place.  And anymore thanks to National, state and city regulations you really don't have that much freedom of your property anyways.  But you won't have to get permission to paint or put new carpet in.  

However if you can get a good deal and pay for a property in cash that in most cases is better then putting that cash into a CD or a 401k and renting a place.   If  you can pay all cash for a place you are going to live in you are making what you would be paying in rent to someone else every month.  And in most cases that is a better rate of return then you can get anywhere.   Again that's only if your property does not lose value.    

For example if you paid $150,000 in cash for a house that normally would rent for $1200 a month you are making $1200 a month by not having to pay rent.  That's almost 10% of $150k a year you can do other things with.  Not to shabby.   I don't know where you can find as good as a return with as low of a risk. 

I will not leave out though that in Greeley you can buy a house with a low down payment loan and your totaly payment will be less then what you would pay rent on a similar place.  That has to be factored in, but most of the time it's only by a small margin.

But being a real estate agent that likes to sell homes.  If you still want to buy a home with a low down payment loan and only live in it just a few years and hope for the best I will still sell you a home.  Just don't say I didn't give you any advice. 

Well thanks for reading and if you have any questions about Real Estate in Greeley Colorado give me a call at 970-302-1233 or send me an e-mail with the form below.  Also visit www.greeley-weldcountyhomesforsale.com. 

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