Jamie could you buy a house and have roommate(s) pay you rent, or are you looking to be rid of roommates?

Just have Trent buy you a house.

When old threads get bumped, I picture Alton Brown folding dough in a mixing bowl. WEIRD RIGHT?

Banks fucking suck. Never open when you need them. Except Commerce and Citizen's.

I was working on a theory that the Taco Bell Cantina Bowl chef, Lorena Garcia, was not a chef at all. Just a relatively attractive ploy by Taco Bell. Can't believe I actually thought that for longer than a minute.

PrattRules wrote:Banks #$!&@ suck. Never open when you need them. Except Commerce and Citizen's.

ING is always open. Now that I have the smartphone app I can even deposit checks. I can't remember the last time I went to a bank other than to deposit a check.

But aren't you just borrowing from yourself and paying yourself back?

BoA's iPhone app lets you deposit checks as well. I work in banking and I NEVER step foot in a branch. Between ATMs, online banking and smartphone apps, there is pretty much no need to ever go. The only reason I go to the branch is to pick up my mail because I can't have certain things delivered to my house.

Also, Jamie, talk to an accountant about that 401k thing. I know there are benefits and things you can use for home purchase, but you really should think very hard about taking it out if the 401k. The money you invest in your 20's is the most important, it will accrue interst for the next 40 years, and the interest that you earn on it accruing interst during that time as well. I know you say you are going to pay it back, but be careful, owning a home is expensive and it might sound easy now to sock away 450/month (on top of regular 401k contributions) but what happens when the water heater breaks? Or the basement floods? Not saying not to do it, just consider all of the issues.

The Dude wrote:yeah, you're basically paying almost double for that money, right (or like 40%). Why not just save like $10k and take advantage of the first time homeowners things and other plans like that

I don't think there's that many 1st time homebuyer benefits anymore. The only one I know about is you can withdrawl 10k early from your IRA. You still have to pay taxes but not early withdrawal penalties.

yeah, but there are other problems with it, as mentioned above

what are the odds you live to 59 anyway? fuck it. live in the now

The converse argument to borrowing from your 401K it may be the difference between a decent sized PMI penalty. Also, if you're living in an area where real estate values and rents are increasing at a comparable rate, it's only going to take 3-4 years before you start saving money vs renting. In my case by year 4 I'm saving 5K a year, by year 6 I'm saving 11K a year. That's better than most 401Ks.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/busi ... lator.html

that's not really the thing, he's planning on cashing out 40k, which he can't. plus he has to pay himself back with interest, which doesn't really make sense to do

Trent Steele wrote:what are the odds you live to 59 anyway? fuck it. live in the now

I stick with the above advice, but why you buying a house? Better off cashing out your 401k and spending it on strippers and weed.

40K is definitely a lot of money to pay back in 4-5 years even with a small interest rate.

yous, he can't take it out anyway. that's the problem with the plan. FFS

My problem is real estate in NYC is super annoying. Gonna low ball an offer this weekend. Doubt anything will come of it.

Oh OK, I just read it. He has 40K total. Yeah, you got some more saving to do.

If you borrow half that's probably more than enough of a down payment if you qualify for any FHA loan in Philly (depending on your credit/salary).

Life is simple, jerks. Don't get older any more quickly than necessary.