Too late to buy a house?

It would be hard to buy a house or semi-detached house here in Sydney Australia, at the age of 67.
The cheapest would be around $300,000 to $400.000. It would be Nigh impossible to obtain a loan
over 15 years. If you put $100.000 deposit down you would be up for $1667 a month plus interest.:banghead:
 

There are actually quite a few places here in America where a person can find a caretaking situation, similar to what we are doing. Some of them require different responsibilities, or abilities, than others do, but if you look at some of the websites online that offer caretaker jobs, eventually you can find one that suits your needs and abilities, I think.

I found this one just looking on Craigslist . The landlord was tired of fixing up his rentals, just to have the renter trash them; so he offered two years free rent for fixing up the property and house, and then under $200 rent after that, which could be worked off by helping him .
We live on his large acreage, and have permission to fish in the ponds and share the fruit and berries , yet are not in sight of any other houses, so it is totally private here.

It is not the same as owning ones own property, but it is working great for us,and we enjoy seeing the deer when they are in the back yard, and feeding the cardinals and wrens.
 
You realise that the skip bin also has airconditioning Di, all one needs to do is lift the lid up a small way, also good for when one has been dining on baked beans, and to make some money it could be a Hotdog stand at night.
 
The real question is "which would better for your (and your lady's) life style".

Consider the possible responsibilities involved with home ownership. Do you enjoy yard maintenance, Etc? Any physical limitations that you might have? How will you feel about it 10 years from now. Age doesn't matter as far as getting a mortgage is concerned. And, I would be willing to bet that only a small percentage of mortgages are ever paid off any more. We have become a very mobile society. Many neighborhoods have an annual turnover rate of 20 - 25%.:confused:
 
silverback5 said:
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?
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don't think in terms of paying the house off or when the house is paid off - think in terms of monthly outlay. If you rent, you'll pay anyway - so what's the difference? If she's more comfortable with as a home owner, make her happy!
 
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I myself would not want to buy a house with someone other than my spouse. What if the relationship turns rocky, you're stuck. And I'm not sure a bank would give you a 30 year loan now but I could be mistaken. Harder to divide in the case of death, what if one of you gets sick and I mean seriously ill, such as the big C or A? Do you want the hassles of having to decide who gets what if something happens to either one of you.
 
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If you want to buy a house, then I say go for it. But, I would make sure my name was on the Deed, and if you are not married to a person you are buying a house with, make sure if you die before them, your ownership in the house goes to whom you want it to go to. I bought my house in my 20's and it has long been paid for. The thing about owing a house is having your own yard. And to me, that is priceless. Sure you have to pay for repairs once in a while, just like you have to do when you own a car. But, you don't have to answer to a landlord, or have your money going down the drain each month paying rent.
 
We bought a townhouse condo in 1987, I gave away the lawn mower and haven't missed it yet.
Maintenance doesn't get any easier as you age. Moving doesn't get easier either, choose carefully.
 
Manatee, welcome to Senior Forums. I see it's your first day :) Your comment is very relevant today and I think you can use an old thread whenever you want. I haven't found a rule against that here. We have so many and it's nice to consolidate. I just did it from a 2013 thread. A few made mention of using an old thread there too but then they joined in and commented quite effectively for 50 more posts and still counting (not that I'm counting). And I didn't have to cloud the archives with a another similar thread. Maybe I'm wrong because I've been a new member for less than 2 months but I see no harm.

It was nice to get your perspective. I agree with you that, at our age, simplify, unless you have money to pay cash in full, because one should not begin accruing mortgage debt at our age. The idea is to go into retirement with little to no debt. I own and am staying for awhile because it's paid off and I've been here 15 yrs. Moving itself is expensive. But owning has continued expenses…property taxes, maintenance, insurance, etc. so renting and leaving all the expenses and headaches to the landlord makes sense….unless, like I said, one has money to burn.

Kadee, pretty photo of you. Condo is short for condominium.
 
Manatee, I see some didn't grasp my meaning in the statement " it doesn't really have much relevance three years later" to somehow suggest one shouldn't reply to the old posts. I hope you understood that since the thread is about real estate and since that market changes rapidly the information contained wouldn't shed much light on todays real estate condition. I hope you understood my meaning. Enjoy the forum.
 
silverback5 said:
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?
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My husband and I are closing on a home in 17 days. He is 69 and I'm 59 and will retire in 8 months. We have been renting for years and are eager for more space and our OWN home.
 
It also depends on where you are thinking of buying. Do your homework as to property taxes, homeowners insurance, do you need flood insurance. Write down the pros and cons and take your time. Depending on your area it could be a buyers market and ripe for the picking. Best of luck. This could be fun!
 
I grew up in a big house with a big garden, but after getting married I moved to an apartment near the town centre, which was convenient with children - close to the institutions and public transport. But I still missed my old living in own house, so when my children left home, we had a little house built in the suburbs. The house was built well to keep the maintanance expenses down (my husband looked to it) and it's worked so far. But I agree, there's always some work around the house and you must like to do it and be able to do it (or pay for it) to be as happy in it as I am.
 
Kadee46 said:
I was curious what a condo was ,:shrug:So I asked Mr Google they appear to be what we call units
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This is a good point. If you have not moved around or ever bought property before there are some things to consider. These terms have different meanings plus, different tax rules and fee rules apply to different kinds of property. (different states have different rules too)

Single family home
Farm
Duplex
Multi-family
Co-Op
Condominium
Townhome or townhouse

Make sure your Realtor explains your responsibilities before you purchase and do some homework on your own - never "assume."

Also remember - there is ALWAYS a deal!! If the first homeowner's don't want to play ball with your budget- walk away. There will be a better one down the road. Do not be bullied beyond your limit - either by the mortgage company or the home seller. (While buying our 3rd home, the mortgage representative told us we qualified for an amount 3 times what we were asking for and I laughed. Told him that I knew exactly what I wanted to pay every month and to keep the total where is was. We ended up with a fantastic place, just perfect for us and the boys and as government funding started to go away, the husband's pay dropped. We were still easily able to make the payments.)

Good luck to all!
 
A condominium is NOT a type of building, it is a type of ownership. In AZ we had a one story townhouse that was a condo, In Treasure Island FL we had a townhouse condo. Down the street was a condo that consisted of one house and a duplex next to each other. We are now in a 3 story building that is an apartment type condo, where each unit is on a single floor.
There are also condo business offices, shops and boat facilities.
 
Manatee said:
A condominium is NOT a type of building, it is a type of ownership.
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Thank you, Manatee, for that clarification. You are correct. I did not mean to imply they were all types of building but, as you said, they are unique types of ownership.
 

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