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Coping in Tough Times: Buy a House or Not?



Is now a good time to buy a house? I'm worried about what would happen if I get laid off.

Lots of people are taking a look at buying now that prices have fallen iin South Florida. Let's get specific, because that will help you decide.

Start by figuring out what the potential mortgage payment will be on a new loan -- not just the principal and interest. Realize that your property tax bill will go up along with your homeowners insurance premium when you buy a more expensive home. Both of those will add a substantial amount to your monthly expenses
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Now, do a "worst case" scenario to see what you could afford if you or your spouse lost a job.

Next, consider your cash situation. You may have enough to make a down payment, but what about emergencies? Remember that owning a home means fixing something very often. And the more the house costs, the bigger the repair bills.

Categories: Coping in Tough Times (21)
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Comments

BUY NOW! We have finally reached the bottom, and the prices are starting to creep up a little bit. Check the prices in Zilow, and you will see many green arrows in the last 30 days for many cities. You wait, and you may never get as much inventory and low prices as you have right now.


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About the author
You've got the job of managing your money. No one in school taught you how. But you and I, we can teach each other, how to handle it, how to save for retirement, how to make money last, how to educate the kids, how to make a budget work. The conversations I have with my readers are fun. Money's important, but discussing it does not have to be boring.

Harriet Johnson Brackey Harriet Johnson Brackey, the personal finance columnist for the Sun Sentinel, is an award-winning business reporter. Her columns for 2008 were named "The Best in the Business," a national award chosen by her colleagues at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.

Brackey has worked at Business Week magazine and at USA TODAY, where she was a founder and part of the original staff of the Money section at the country's first national newspaper. After nearly 11 years there - spent covering the 1980s bull market, the insider trading scandals, the 1987 crash - Brackey left Washington, D.C., and came to The Miami Herald. She spent the next decade writing a column about personal finance that chronicled the stock market's Internet boom and bust, as well as the popular Money Makeover features.

Brackey also has done commentaries for Marketplace Money, which airs on National Public Radio and The Nightly Business Report which is broadcast on more than 250 PBS television stations nationwide. She also has been a radio guest on WLRN’s Miami Herald News.
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