I thought that even though we were completely unprepared to buy a home, things turned out pretty well. We got a good interest rate, and our payments are less than we would have to pay for rent around here. And that’s including escrow payments on our taxes and insurance. I think we came out alright.

Since we’ve moved in and I’ve gotten my Internet back, I’ve read some stuff about the disadvantages of buying a home. The authors made valid points overall, but they simply didn’t apply to our situation.

For example, a big part of the arguments was that homeowners are responsible for all maintenance and repairs. Very true. But the past several places we’ve rented, we’ve been responsible for that anyway. It was either fix it ourselves or it wouldn’t be fixed. Sure, we could have taken the landlords to court over it, but if we had we’d have had to wait forever to get anything done. Then they would probably have found a way to cause us to have no choice but to move, and gotten some tenants in there who were desperate enough for a place to live that they wouldn’t mind doing their own repairs. There are plenty of those around here.

Then there were the arguments about taxes and insurance that wouldn’t be an issue when renting. Also true. But in our situation we’re not any worse off paying all that than we would be paying rent. We’d be lucky to find a place that’s in decent shape for the amount we’re paying each month, much less somewhere with enough space for us.

And there was mention about the fact that banks are lending to people who are less likely to be able to repay than they would have lent to in years past. Not disagreeing with that either. But if we can’t make our house payments, we wouldn’t be able to pay rent on a home (not just lot space, but a dwelling) because it costs more. So all in all, I think we did okay.

I’m not about to go out and buy up vacation or rental properties. Even if someone came to me with a killer deal on the best real estate Branson Missouri had to offer, I would have to turn it down. But I think we did the right thing by buying a primary residence.