Illinois Mortgage Rates and News

(In honor of Valentines Day, here is a repost from last year)

It’s all about commitment. If you are a first time home buyer – that is, if you are thinking about becoming a first time home buyer but you are renting now – this is a big step. You probably have some serious commitment issues.

Renting is a casual fling. You probably like the place you live in now. Maybe it has a pool and a rec-center that you’ve been meaning to use, but never find the time. Maybe it’s in a great location, close to work and in an area with a good night life. For one reason or another, the place has its charms. It was just what you needed when you first moved in. But now… now, it seems constraining. Maybe even childish. You’ve outgrown it.

Not only have you outgrown it, but you have friends who have taken the big step and bought a place of their own. This seems like the grown up thing to do, and you like the idea of having a real place of your own, too. Maybe you envy the little touches they’ve made to personalize their home. You would like to make your home more of a reflection of your personality and taste, but it’s a rental. You can only do so much.

And then there is the money aspect. In the long run, owning your own home is a way to build long term wealth. You know there are tax savings, and maybe you know someone who struggled to come up with the down payment for their first home, and a few years later they had enough equity saved for a big down payment on a new, nicer house. That doesn’t happen when you rent.

But still, there is the commitment issue. Buying a home seems so… permanent. Maybe not permanent for that house, but once you buy a home, you know your days of renting are over. And besides, the market is awful, and it doesn’t make sense to buy when all you hear is bad news. Maybe renting isn’t where you want to be for the rest of your life, but at least you know what to expect.

This could be a great time to buy. Prices are the lowest they’ve been in years, interest rates are low and there are ways to buy a home, even if you don’t have a lot of money. You know there is a great house for you somewhere, the love of your life, maybe. You will know it is right as soon as you see it – love at first sight?  But commitment is a scary thing and you don’t want to make a mistake. So for now, you continue to write rent checks to your landlord.

Still, late at night when all is quiet, do you find yourself looking at home sites on the Internet, or paging through old home listing magazines, wondering what might be?

Happy Valentine’s Day

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