Too late to buy a house?

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silverback5

New Member
I'm 67 years old and I've been a renter my whole life. I've never owned my own home and I've never wanted to. However, I have recently started seeing a new special lady in my life and she wants to buy a house with me. My fear is that I'm just too old. With my current financial situation, I would have to get a 25 year fixed mortgage which means I wouldn't have it paid off until I'm 92. Has anyone else on the forum had experience buying a new home later in life?
 

I haven't had an experience with buying a house for myself later in life, but I do believe you are never too old to afford a house. If you can afford a nice home for yourself, I say go for it, but take everything into consideration first, including cleaning and maintaining your property. Good luck!
 
If your mortgage is going to be less than your rent, it's a great way to park some capital and experience growth. Do you have kids? Would you be buying the house yourself or listing your new special lady as co-owner?
 

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Its never to late to buy a house! You need to have somewhere to perminantly so you feel like you own something, it might seem strangebut its good.
 
I'd be a bit cautious about this too. I currently live in a condominium, and I own it, which I think is an excellent arrangement, but I'm happy to pay my condo fees at the end of the month instead of dealing with all the headaches of the maintainance of a detached home.

I certainly agree that paying money on a mortgage building your own capital is a better way to preserve your equity for future generations, but I'll tell ya, I'm retired! That means I'm never mucking out another evestrough in my life!
 
I currently live in a condo. I would recommend it to any of my friends. Its nice to have a shovelled walk and underground parking. It is very worry free way of owning your own place. Most condo fees are very reasonable as well. Its also never to late to start saving money in house equity. Go for it!
 

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Absolutely agree. The shovelled walk, underground parking and building ammenities are worth every penny of condo fees I have paid. It really works out to a similar amount, or less, than what you would spend on upkeep of a large detached home.

I've owned many homes in my life and probably spent enough money on paint and siding to buy an entire house. Glad to be done with that now!
 
Perhaps if you were to buy a house, you could buy one that has a basement apartment. This way you could have your house and the rent that you take in could go towards paying your house off early. Also you can choose the option of a townhouse or a duplex. This way you would not be responsible for the yard work, repairs and other things that may be too expensive to consider. You can also choose the option if condo living and live in a townhouse. This way you have all the joys of your own home without extra expense.
 
Seems to me there is a lot of maintenance involved with a house when you buy it, renting means it is not your job to repair the leaky tap etc. But even though I am a renter I always wonder if the landlord would end the contract when I am 80 and I will be faced with moving then which is a horrible thought.
 
Very good advice from all here. The maintenance of a home can claim all of your time and money if you do not buy wisely. A condo may be a good idea, but for someone like me who likes to garden, it is not an option. A low maintenance home in a 55 plus community will often come with maintenance fees but leaves your back ache free. A 15 year mortgage is an option that is not as costly as you may think.
 
We retired in 1997 from Montreal and we moved up to Northern Ontario to Elliot Lake which is a retirement city..
We rented there for 8 years and then got totally fed-up with all the rules and regulations that would change every other day..
We then looked at buying a house and we looked around with different agents in different areas till we found a suitable house in Massey..
We bought an "A" Frame house on acreage of land and it was built in 1988 which means it is a rather modern house and it is well built..
We took a 15 year mortgage and we pay an additional $150.00 per month of capital on the mortgage to reduce the time frame..
This turned out to be the same monthly cost as we were paying in an apartment..

We bought the house for $45,000 and it is now worth somewhere around the $175,000 mark as prices have gone up drastically..
We also looked for a situation house which means we got it cheaper than market value..

Bottom line..... If you can see your way to buy something, by all means go for it ..
Also remember................... "buyer be ware" .......... Don't jump into something without doing your homework...
 
That is what I would say also, buy you a home if you want and you are never to old to do it. It is the same as renting except it's your and you get all the benefits, not the landlord. Just be very careful and don't let no one play tricks on you just because you are a senior. A lot of seniors have gotten taken and I feel so sorry for them because con artist are everywhere and hope that they get what's coming to them.
 
Perhaps one alternative to buying and older home and having unexpected repairs, is to build. There are lots of companies that have "pre-fab" homes. Built in a factory and then delivered to the homestead. At least that way, you can design it the way you want, put a full basement in for a possible rental suite and shouldn't have any major repairs for quite some time. That is what I am planning to do and I'd much prefer to hire a local person to plow the driveway or take care of the yard (when I can no longer handle it), than pay condo fees. Just a thought.....
 
That is awesome! Your barn is so far away though.... mine will be closer to the house and I have a ton of trees that will need to be moved, but what a lovely spread you have there.

To the OP, seriously think of getting a modular home. I have compared prices and agree with TWHRider, the cost is usually cheaper and the house is backed by
a reputable company. Do your homework though, but I'd say "go for it"!!
 
Previous posts have touched on most of the pros and cons that I can think of. Buying a home is one of the biggest investments a person can make. I suggest you take as much time as you need to determine what it is you need and want for the rest of your life and see if home ownership fits in based on the information you have. Unless your friend's need for homeownership can be fulfilled by purchasing a townhouse or condo with most or all maintenance provided, your lifestyle could change significantly since you have always rented. That could take a whole of getting used to. Be selfish and think about yourself first. Think about two broad questions in the context of what others have said:
  • Will owning a house be fulfilling for you--"the American Dream"?
  • As you age would you prefer to fix the toilet, stove, etc. yourself or make a phone call without having to worry about paying a repair company lots of $ to fix it.
If you decide to do it, be prepared for a big challenge. If you want it bad enough, you might discover a whole new world that's not only challenging but fun! Best of luck and you might try the link below for more discussion. The first person to respond seems to be quite experienced and even invites readers to give her a call. Best of luck.
Geedaddy

http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_B...ears_old_-262239?answerId=947680#left_content
 
I'm 71 and just bought a nice house in Austin with a pool and large back yard nestled against a greenbelt. I have a 30-year mortgage and will only be 100 or so when the house is paid for. In the meantime, I have a dream home that will keep me active and, I hope, healthy for some more years. The house project has energized me. I share the house with a younger woman friend who helps with cooking, cleaning, and yard maintenance, and who will be available if I have any special health needs. It's working fine for me so far.
 
View attachment 1983We found a place to live as a caretaker, and that is working really well for us at this time. The place was pretty much an old abandoned trailer on a large property, and the landlord lives just through the meadow from where we live.
The last tenants had left junk all over, and it took us several months of cleaning just to make the place inhabitable, and there is still a lot of things that need work, and we do those a bit at a time, as we can afford it.

We now have the outside cleared and cleaned and keep it mowed, and it is almost like living in a park. The landlord says it has never looked this good that they can remember, so he is happy having us here.

It is a very simple lifestyle, but takes care of the necessities, and is about the cheapest place that we could live. We have a little garden area, I have been planting flowers , and Mr.HFL enjoys running around the yard on the riding mower to keep the yard groomed.
 
If you don't want to buy a normal type house and have all the maintenance and other worries, buy into a retirement style village..ours is being built at the moment.
It's a stand alone house, a bit bigger than what we have now...two bathrooms, three bedrooms, lounge, dining, etc, etc. Also has a double garage as we don't want to get rid of either of our cars (especially mine...LOL)
Has a wonderful community centre with heated pool, spa, library, function hall, bowling club, doctor, hair dresser, etc.
With my disability, I can no longer do the maintenance so I'll let someone else worry about that.

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Ahh That Guy a holiday every day in your little abode.. we have a relocatable home as had a home
on acres.. a nice home with a swimming pool and room for a pony:D but they got too much for Hubby
to look after so we sold, banked the money .. went on overseas holidays all over the place..
came home and bought ourselves a relocatable home.. not much upkeep. low ground rent each fortnight,
there is a swimming pool in the complex also a laundry with commercial dryers, and washers if we need them,
which I don`t as have my own laundry.. drs over the road,. transport at the door. and major shopping
mall just up the road 5 min away.. so thats all we need.. after travelling for 10 yrs I am happy to settle
down and enjoy life and take it easy.. as easy as it can be any way.. as we know Life wasn`t meant to be easy..
so the original poster its not too late to buy a home if you can afford it and keep up the upkeep and
maintenance to it.. otherwise.. take the easier road and buy into a combo or what ever your communities have..
 
Archer said:
If you don't want to buy a normal type house and have all the maintenance and other worries, buy into a retirement style village..ours is being built at the moment.
It's a stand alone house, a bit bigger than what we have now...two bathrooms, three bedrooms, lounge, dining, etc, etc. Also has a double garage as we don't want to get rid of either of our cars (especially mine...LOL)
Has a wonderful community centre with heated pool, spa, library, function hall, bowling club, doctor, hair dresser, etc.
With my disability, I can no longer do the maintenance so I'll let someone else worry about that.

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That sounds like the ideal place. If we get to the point taking care of this place becomes too much, I'll look for something like this.
 

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