Don’t Buy A Home Within 5 Years of Graduation

I’m quite sure your next big dream after finishing college is probably buying a house.

Sure it’s great to own your own house but apart from the obvious financial problems of purchasing your own house immediately after college, there are other non-financial reasons I would like to take you through as well.

Don’t get me wrong though, I think it’s great to own a house but don’t buy one immediately after college!

Here’s why………..

Loss of Flexibility

When you buy a home, you lose flexibility. When you buy a house, you are putting down roots in the community and you lose flexibility in many aspects of your life. For the first five years of your professional career, your flexibility will be one of your greatest assets. As you learn what you are good at doing and figure out what you really enjoy doing, you may want to change jobs or even careers. When you buy a house, you’re restricted geographically. That could mean that a great opportunity on the other side of the country is something you can’t pursue (easily)

Learn What You Like

In the five years, take the time to look around and see what it is you like about the places you live in. What do you dislike? Until you’ve lived in a few different layouts and setups, you won’t really know what to look for. Do you really like a big kitchen or just like how it looks in photos? Will you really want a hot tub or do you just like the idea of a hot tub? Is a garage something you really love and can’t live without? Unless you’ve lived in places with these amenities, you won’t know how important they really are to you.

And now, to the more widely known financial problems of jumping into home ownership.

Unless you’re the fabulously rich heir, who can do whatever he wants with his money, listen to this…

A mortgage is a huge weight. Your first few years of graduation should be spent enjoying and exploring your freedom, not saddling yourself with tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Believe me when I say that you can be even financially irresponsible for the first few years of your life, buckle down, and still retire a very happy and fulfilled person. As long as your financially irresponsibility doesn’t rack up a debt itself, you’ll be fine.

Homes Require Maintenance

And maintenance, regardless of how handy you are, is both a headache and time sink.. Things in a house break and you’ll have to fix it. When you rent, the landlord is responsible if the roof leaks. When you own it, you are responsible if the roof leaks and roof repairs are not cheap. In fact, they may cost several thousand dollars.