Originally Posted by Isamu

having a credit card isn't a bad thing, its actually GOOD to have one one your credit report.. I have a "really good" credit score. and part of that is due to a credit card..

but as everyone has said. Buying a house is an investment. ESPECIALLY in todays market. here in ND, sadly it's a sellers market... so prices are high, like big city prices. and my city has 30k people... lol
with that said, 250k now will net positive returns in a few years.
this is mostly true, however, home values and land values are still going up, it just happens that in a lot of areas people aren't buying because they can't get the loans.. so people are selling cheaper then what their homes are "worth" which is an awesome thing IF you are a buyer

Originally Posted by birdmanx1

TJ, being on the job for only 3 months, should there be any layoffs or downsizing, there is no guarantee that the OP would retain his job (Not wishing this, but it happened to many in this current environment). I always laugh when people make the argument to "buy NOW, buy NOW, the interest rates will go up in 6 months", the same was said a few months ago; the same was said a year ago, the same was said 2 years ago, fact is the current interest rates are even lower Why should one risk losing emergency funds, retirement savings for the sake of saving up on interests?

My mortgage is under 28% of my biweekly income. By biweekly, I meant being paid every other friday (26 times a year) TJ It's nothing out of the ordinary when one keeps outflows low and automates saving early on - my brother-in-law has his house paid off in Fairfax and he is 33. My community has a lot of Ravens players and many neighbors have the "keeping up with the Joneses/Kardashians" mentality, $200,000 worth of cars in the driveway, no furniture in the house