Mudflap

I think you should just keep the car. If a 19k loan on a car prevents you from buying a house, you probably can't really afford the house in the first place man. We sold our home last year in Seattle, and I'm renting a brand new house in Dallas now. I refuse to put money into the real estate market during an active crash/recession. We lost $60,000 on the sale of the last one. Renting is fine for now, I'll buy in a couple years when I feel like the market has tanked as far as it'll go. The nice thing about renting is I look around and think hey, if the furnace explodes, not my problem. If the fence blows down in a storm, not my problem. If I want to move out tomorrow, I give 30 days notice and I'm gone. Thats nearly impossible when you own a home, unless the market is on FIRE, which it is far from right now. I have enjoyed owning homes in the past, but I'm just saying, these days in this economy, renting isn't so bad after all.

My only other piece of advice is about the growing up comment. Don't neuter yourself and try to adhere to some sort of "standard" of accepted society. I see so many young guys say "ok, I'm out of college now, time to sell all the toys, get married, hand my ***** to my wife, and live in misery forever". Theres nothing wrong with having fun, and having toys. Besides, in the end, why the hell not? We're only on this planet for a fleeting moment in time my friend, enjoy it!

Riptide

+1 Mudflap

19k loan preventing you from getting a house? Bad sign.

But Mudflap. Why not buy right now? Market is low. Rates are too. Perfect time to buy. You really think it's gonna go down further?

Mudflap

If I had the answer to that my friend, I'd be rich, lol. I think it could go lower, absolutely. House prices were being overinflated for years, so there is no reason to believe all of that will be undone in a year or two. The house I bought in Seattle was $500k. I sold it for $450k (the extra 10k in loss is Realtor commissions). This was last summer. It has been shedding value steadily ever since. The house is now worth about $400k in this market, and I have no reason to believe next month it'll be worth the same or more. That isn't whats happened in the past year. The folks who bought mine thought they were getting a deal. I wonder what they think now??

I think it probably varies from area to area, but I am not willing to buy a home right now. I realize the rates are low, and there are seemingly good deals to be had... BUT, the one thing that is for certain is once you buy in this market which has TONS of inventory, you're stuck in it. And who is to say its a "good deal" now anyway? Hell, thats what we were being told BEFORE the crash, "oh, buy now before the prices go up!!! get your deal!!!!"

I don't like the feeling of being stuck in a house which is my main motivator for not buying now. That is what leads to catastrophe in the event of a job loss (foreclosure, bankruptcy, etc). The only option would be to try and rent it, and then good luck getting financed for a 2nd home somewhere else in this economy. If I wanted to move or accept a job transfer now, I give 30 days notice, and I'm gone. Its nice to have flexibility like that.

Renting has downsides, but the way I see it right now, I don't stand to make any money on a house anyway. Not in this economy. Therefore all it really gets me at this moment in time is more debt load and being potentially trapped in the house (not able to sell it readily). No thanks... My rental house is brand new, never lived in, so I'm not suffering in it by any stretch. I take care of it and live in it as though my name were on the tax records. 5 years ago I'd have said renting was a waste of money. Its not these days. Besides, I have a roof over my head and place to put my junk, so its not really a waste is it? Its only a waste when you could be out there owning a home and earning equity on it, which is very, very difficult to do right now.

mikeysGT

sorry guess i should have made it clear... it's not really the loan on the car preventing me. nothing is preventing me really. it's just the fact i keep dumping money into the car. BUT now i realize i AM DONE. at least for a while. im at the cars limit powerwise at the track so no need to push it anymore. the exterior is right where i want it to be. i have a pretty good, really stable job right now working for the probation department here.

i totally agree on your train of thought about getting married and blah blah blah bro. i meant growing up in the sense of waking up and stop with the modding right now when i should have been saving up for a house a long time ago and been happy where the car was. i guess i just really wanted to "finish" the mods before i got a house cause i'll be spending my mod money on house things from now on instead of dumping a lot of cash into this car once i buy a house.



see above statement had to clear that up. haha

im keeping the car. im done with the mods and VERY happy with the track times and look of the car. once i'm in the house i'm going to buy myself an old project car and spend most of my time rebuilding that as the years go by. then maybe a year or two down the line, i'll get rid of this beast

Mudflap

Cool man, sounds like you have a plan!

raiden

Liar.

bolivianpimp

I think you are making a smart choice by keeping it. The only thing that can really break on your car is due to the nitrous. I would still go to the track, just maybe not run it on the n20. Car looks too good to get rid of!

mikeysGT

sssshhhhhh...

i agree. im going to ditch the nitrous in a few weeks and sell the nitrous setup. maybe throw a set of cams in it and be done with performance mods. i'm gonna try to refinance the car so i can pay it off sooner also.

Yonco

"ok, I'm out of college now, time to sell all the toys, get married, hand my ***** to my wife, and live in misery forever"

That comment ROCKED! My dad always says, just have your toys paid off and dont plan on getting married. I think you should keep the car and sell a few items just to pay off the car quicker. Anything real indepth, keep it on the car, but losing a few HP mods cant hurt. -Jon