I just can't decide and don't know what most people do....
I am wanting to sell my current house and buy a new house. Should I get a mortgage or home loan on my current house to get money for a down payment for the future house? Or should I just put away money over a long time to save for the down payment?
I don't want to get in some hole that I can't reasonably get out of. How much would I need to save anyway?
Any thoughts would be great. Thanks
Bunch of my assumptions built in here --
per your comment that you want to buy a new house -- assume that you're looking for a new primary residence, rather than owning 2 houses simultaneously, (as in using one for a vacation home?)
Assume that you do not have a mortgage on primary residence now, per the question about "getting a mortgage on the (current) house"
Assume that the primary residence has positive equity i.e. when you buy in, net of selling home costs, you'll walk away with cash in pocket
Assume that you can sell current home relatively quickly, i.e. it's not in a rural area like mine in which houses often take 6-12 months to sell.
Presuming those assumptions are correct, or that you'll look into or decide on each of those, I'd bring the answers to the questions above to your banker -- I just did a refi through my bank which is one of the big ones; they were helpful throughout this process. Much of how this will work will depend on $$ involved -- if you sell current residence and can put down 20%+ on new residence and meet the lending ratios of the bank/mortgage company, you're gold. If you've got no or low income for now, you may not qualify to buy the new home (presuming you're training as a physician, you may need to wait until after residency).
Lots of different answers depending on what exactly you want to do, what you can sell current house for, and what your income is right now for purposes of qualifying for the new home..
