Yeah, unless you can guarantee you'll be able to stay at the house for two years, then it's not a good idea to get a mortgage since there are almost always penalties. You would obviously need to discuss it with your mortgage broker, but I do believe the cut-off is two years. Also, you can sell your house for more and buy a CHEAPER house once in your life prior to retirement without getting taxed (pocketing the extra dough), but you can always sell your house and buy a more expensive home as many times as you want without taking a tax hit. Each time we moved, we upgraded, so it wasn't an issue. In one case we pocketed some of the extra money, but usually we put it all into the new home to lower the mortgage rate (i.e., increase the down payment).
By the way, when you do finally determine if you'll be somewhere for at least the next two years, you should look into one of the many programs (FHA) for first time homeowners that require little or no down payment and give you other aid. Also, even today with the house boom of the past ~10 years pretty much over, it's very rare to sell your house at a loss. Worst case would almost certainly be break even.
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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
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Yeah, unless you can guarantee you'll be able to stay at the house for two years, then it's not a good idea to get a mortgage since there are almost always penalties. You would obviously need to discuss it with your mortgage broker, but I do believe the cut-off is two years. Also, you can sell your house for more and buy a CHEAPER house once in your life prior to retirement without getting taxed (pocketing the extra dough), but you can always sell your house and buy a more expensive home as many times as you want without taking a tax hit. Each time we moved, we upgraded, so it wasn't an issue. In one case we pocketed some of the extra money, but usually we put it all into the new home to lower the mortgage rate (i.e., increase the down payment).
By the way, when you do finally determine if you'll be somewhere for at least the next two years, you should look into one of the many programs (FHA) for first time homeowners that require little or no down payment and give you other aid. Also, even today with the house boom of the past ~10 years pretty much over, it's very rare to sell your house at a loss. Worst case would almost certainly be break even.
======================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
======================================