To buy or not to buy?

[JHAMMOND]

I'm moving to MD in June (to start at Walter Reed with many of you lovely folks), and I just put down contracts for ridiculous amounts of money on two different houses. I'm starting to wonder if paying $250 for a townhouse to live in for 4 years is going to make sense if this market crashes. What have others in the same situation come up with?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Homunculus]

Originally posted by JHAMMOND
I'm moving to MD in June (to start at Walter Reed with many of you lovely folks), and I just put down contracts for ridiculous amounts of money on two different houses. I'm starting to wonder if paying $250 for a townhouse to live in for 4 years is going to make sense if this market crashes. What have others in the same situation come up with?

i'm curious as to what people think as well. every resident and attending i've talked to out there, as well as people who have lived there non-militarily tell me that real estate is a virtual lock to appreciate, and at the very least maintain its value. mainly because there are always people moving out there.

now, if some terrorist dirty bomb goes off in DC, yeah, i can see where that may decrease property values in the surrounding areas a bit, lol.

we're currently looking in the rockville/gaithersburg area-- it's where most residents tell me most people live. but then again, i've talked with a 2nd year resident that commutes from near baltimore. where are you looking? one thing is certain-- buying a place to live from hundreds of miles away is a royal pain in the @ss.

 

[JHAMMOND]

I'm looking in the Silver Spring/Burtonsville area right now (I've heard the traffic going north on 270 can be a real pain). I think house prices are little more reasonable in the Gaithersburg/ Germantown area, though. Maybe if these two houses don't pan out I'll expand my search area. And yes it is a major pain househunting so far away. I've made 3 trips to MD (an 8hr drive) in the past 2 weeks.

 

[Homunculus]

Originally posted by JHAMMOND
I'm looking in the Silver Spring/Burtonsville area right now (I've heard the traffic going north on 270 can be a real pain). I think house prices are little more reasonable in the Gaithersburg/ Germantown area, though. Maybe if these two houses don't pan out I'll expand my search area. And yes it is a major pain househunting so far away. I've made 3 trips to MD (an 8hr drive) in the past 2 weeks.

we looked at silver spring as well, but the houses in our price range (250k and below) are terrible. we're moving there from oklahoma-- 250k here will buy you a mansion compared to the shacks they try to pawn off as "houses". so we're probably going to end up in a townhome. silver spring would be ideal i would think, because 1) it's so close to both WRAMC and NNMC, and 2) they're starting to revitalize it-- which may translate into even bigger real estate appreciations. an end townhome in silver spring would probably be our best bet if we can find one we like.