Over on AntSaint, there’s an article basically outlining some pros and cons of buying a home versus renting. My wife and I have been totally stressed out of late trying to figure out how to buy a home in Bend. The housing market is very seller-friendly right now, and we have been feeling like we have to spend more than we can afford to get a house that is less than we desire.

So I read through Ant’s comments, and links, and finally came to a conclusion. The aformentioned epiphany. We can’t afford to buy right now! We just can’t. So, let’s rent another house, one that really meets our needs and desires, and is located near family and the conveniences we enjoy right now. I feel better already. We wouldn’t really be buying any house anyway, since to buy, we qualify with an interest-only mortgage, where you pay ABSOLUTLELY NO PRINCIPLE at all. You’re basically renting the ability to pay someone $1200-1300 a month for 5-years, at which point your interest rate adjusts. Not that the first 5 years of a 30-year fixed rate mortgage pays very much principle either, but at least you’re paying some.

We will get to live in a house that would cost us $250,000-$275,000 to buy, about $100,000 more than I’d like to spend. And we’d get to live in it for $850-$900 a month, which we can fully swing. And we don’t really have to lock in for more than a year, so if income or circumstances are better for buying one year from now, we could give it another go.

SWEET BLESSED RELEASE!! I feel better than I have in weeks. Thanks Ant, for seeking that info out. I realize that we’ll be paying someone else’s mortgage, but we don’t have to pay property taxes, we aren’t totally screwed if the refrigerator dies, and we could live in a house we could really love, rather than a trailer in DRW.

It’s all going to be okay. Maybe the housing market only gets worse, and we have less of a chance to buy in a year or two. Maybe we’ll have to move to Portland. Who knows? Right now, who cares? I can’t just be planning all the time….I need to live for today as well. One can’t eat a sandwich all at once…he has to take one bite at a time.