After several years of diligently saving money, I’m nearly ready to purchase my first home. Because I’ve been thinking about buying a home for so long, I know exactly what I want my house to look like. I desire a place that has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. I also need a quiet space to set up my home office in. I want a massive, walk-in closet in my master bedroom. My master bathroom needs to have double vanities, a tiled, walk-in shower, and a Jacuzzi tub. On this blog, I hope you will discover how to set priorities during your new home search. Enjoy!
A New Home Search
Homes For Sale: Should You Buy Or Rent With Children?
Elli Jokela
Children can be destructive little forces of nature. Ask any parent who has at least a couple of kids. That said, if you are looking at homes for sale, you may want to consider the benefits and drawbacks of continuing to rent a house versus buying one when you have small children.
Renting a House with Kids in Tow
If you rent a house, you certainly feel like you own the place. This is especially true if your monthly rent equals a mortgage payment. This is excellent practice when you are trying to figure out if you can afford kids and a house. If you cannot make the rent payments and support your kids at the same time, you may not be ready to own a house just yet.
Additionally, if one or more of your kids is destructive (e.g., colors on the walls, paints on the floors, busts the ceiling lights with a toy bat while trying to play baseball in the house, etc.), you will find out how much it costs to replace, repair and restore what your child(ren) destroys. It will come out of your security deposit when you move, or you will have to replace it up front at the time the damage occurs. While these are not pleasant lessons to learn, it does reveal how much extra money you will need saved up for your own home and the repairs you will need to make there.
Buying and Owning a House with Kids in Tow
Buying and owning a house with your kids is a good idea, really. In financial terms, you will not have to worry about paying a landlord every month for something you personally do not own, nor will you ever own it. If your kids damage something or scribble all over the walls (as kids are wont to do), only you have to deal with the cleanup. You will not face the wrath of a landlord, nor will you lose money from a security deposit because the house is yours.
If your kids damage stuff, it is also easier to put off cleaning and fixing it. Their "wall art" and shattered objects and holes in the walls and doors are all things you can address when you have the money and the time to do it. Usually, this is when they are nearly grown up or have moved out of the house.
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