Hehehe...

Talk about a dilemma... What should I do... Wait another 2-3 years for a new house and buy a MSC soon, or vice versa???

The "logical" thing to do would be to wait a few years to buy a house I guess (I'm 27)... and like my dad told me: "you're only young once... if the MSC would make you happy (and if you can afford it!), go for it!" But every one around me seems to be buying beautiful houses... I'd like a piece of that cake too!

Haarrggghhh... I know, it's a pretty personal debate, but I just though I'd share it with some of you! :smile:

Any "life experiences lessons" you'd like to share with me??

 

Uhhhhh...it's a joke, right?

Mortgage rates are the lowest they've been in years. Housing values continue to rise. (with very rare exceptions) Real estate always increases even somewhat in value each year. Sometimes it increases a lot.

MINI prices are currently MSRP or higher. This is a first year car with an unknown mechanical record...they're bound to get better, albeit more commonplace, over the next couple of years. MINI prices will no-doubt fall (in today's dollars) over time. Your MINI will start to depreciate the second you sign the paperwork.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. The "money" says go with the house, unless you currently have no other vehicle and need one to get to work or something.

But I suppose that if you want your dividends in smiles vs. dollars, then maybe the MINI is the way to go.

 

LIFE is SHORT, enjoy it NOW!! Get the car!!!!!

 

jsun is right on the money.... lowest mortgage rates in decades and it's a major buyer's market right now.

Buy the house now... then get the MINI later (even though the MINI is a GREAT car).

In 10 years when your house has appreciated thousands of dollars and your MINI in 10 years is on its last leg. You'll be darn happy you bought the house.

I bought a house back in Dec 2001 when I really wanted a car! I was just able to buy a car now. In retrospect I made the right decision getting the house first.

Unless you plan on cooking, sleeping, and entertaining in your new MINI... buy the house first.

 

>>Uhhhhh...it's a joke, right?

It's not a joke.... Of course I know that buying a car IS NOT an investment at all! I'm just debating how to spend my money at this time in my life!

>>Mortgage rates are the lowest they've been in years. Housing values continue to rise. (with very rare exceptions) Real estate always increases even somewhat in value each year. Sometimes it increases a lot.

You're right, the housing market is doing very well right now but who says that in 5 years I wouldn't lose money if I sold my house? I'm single, that's makes it also very expensive to buy a house and to cover all the additionnal costs that goes with it (taxes, etc.). I did the math... I could afford a nice house, but there wouldn't be a lot of room for unexpected expenses within my budget! Plus, a house ties you down to one place while renting allows you to decide tomorrow to move to another city/country with no troubles! And the thing is, I'm not sure if I want to live in my area for the next 5-10 years let's say... But if I'd meet Mr. Right, things would be different... :smile:

 

Buy the house, rent rooms, take rental $ to make payments on the MINI !

Dilemma solved !

Yeah Baby, YEAH !

Any extra money from the rent goes to fixin' up the house in a 60's motif, starting with the "MINI's room", that is the space formerly known as the garage !

Psychedelic lighting, lava lamps, "****" carpeting for the MINI to rest on, etc.

Way cool !

 

If you have the money to buy the house....BUY THE HOUSE!!!

Just to give you a little incentive....we live in a condo community in the So. Cal area. 6 months ago they were selling for $300,000. Last week one sold for $369,000.

A guy up the coast bought a dumpy little duplex on the beach for $250,000 four years ago. He put up a banner so that the cars passing by on the freeway could see it. He wrote on the banner...For Sale $675,000. Two days later, after a bidding war, he sold it to a neurosurgeon for $700,000.

Now let's see. You buy a mini....probably pay a little over invoice. 2 years from now you will have paid somewhere in the region of $8400 at the very least on your car. If you decided to sell it in 2 years you'll probably get at best, $15,000 for it, depending on how badly BMW saturates the market. Your investment will have netted you a $3000 loss if not more.

OK....now you tell me which would be a better use of your money.

The reality of it is that cars come and go. In two year Mini will have an even better, more powerful mini and you'll be able to walk onto a lot and negotiate a price below sticker. In fact, more than likely, in two years a car will come along that you gotta have. It's our nature.

BE SMART. True there are no guarantees, but that is no reason to make the wiser choice, now is it.

 

I don't know what your financial situation is, but you may have a harder time qualifying for a home loan if you have a lot other debts (such as a car loan). On the other hand, getting a car loan is relatively easy. So it makes since to get the mortgage first and then the car.

 

BUY THE HOUSE!!!!!

I just bought a house 5 months ago and the rewards are incredible! I just refinanced and my house has appreciated a good $20G! I'm 23 and I cannot stress the importance of buying your home instead of throwing your money away renting, (and then paying for the horrible investment that is a car!!!). Please get a house, you won't regret it.

t

 

Hah...on a not totally unrelated note, i just bought a new house and a new MINI last month. I've set a record for most money spent in a single month, i think.

Seriously, though, as much as it hurts, get the mortgage done...the tax break you'll have on the interest could help you put a bigger chunk down on the MINI. Interest rates will go back up on mortgage loans, and MINIs will get better. However, if you're impulsive like the rest of us...i think you know where I'm going with this one.

 

that's a no brainer...the house is an appreciating asset, the mcs is a depreciating asset, plus you are buying it high even at msrp, in two years they will be discounted just like the PT Cruisers are today...two years ago cruisers were going for $25K, today I see them in the paper for $15k and zero interest....plus as the above poster pointed out, interest rates at 6% or lower....use your head and not your heart, laugh!

 

Buy the house, let it appreciate for a couple of years, and then take out a home equity loan to finance the Mini. That way, you have the house and the car, and the interest on the car payment is deductible.

Jay :smile:

 

Having lived in an apartment for about 5 years before buying my first house a year ago all I can say is....Buy the House!!!! Owning a house will bring you all kinds of happy times plus, in a couple of years you will have the money for a MCS ...AND you will have a garage for the little guy to live in!!!

(PS..I've worked in the Mortgage Industry for the last 12 years, the industry is cyclic the rates will go back up. They will not stay this low forever. Just 20 years ago if you bought a house a good Int rate would have been around 16%!!!!)

 

I have a question for all of you then. How long do you think it will be before you can go into the Mini Dealer and have your MCS in a month or so? I am currently on the list for an MCS. If it will only take a couple of years for the cars to be more available then possibly it would be better to wait. Also take note that the dealer I would buy from charges MSRP and only MSRP. No add ons. Do you think that in the near future (1-2 years) the cars will ever sell between MSRP and invoice? If they will always sell at MSRP then I see no advantage to wait if you can find the car at MSRP...

Thanks,
Kenny

 

Jay's advice is good, before I met my wife she financed a holiday to Egypt that way.

Make sure you get a Garage!

and kenny_dilger, I had the order for my MINI placed the next working day, different dealers have different waits. I was lucky my dealer had no wait. I'm sure there will be another spike in demand when the new models come out but that's not unusual.

Pebble.
:smile:

 

Buy the house! These historically low mortgage rates can't last forever! And the advice about renting out rooms is a very creative idea...to help pay MINI car payments. I don't think MINIs will ever be in the same boat as PT Cruisers, though, since MINI has such a limited production capacity...25,000 cars a year to the US puts MINI in the rare league!

Cheers!
Clover

 

Spookly enough, I sorta had to make the same decision... but the difference is that me and my wife had already started to look at houses earlier in the year, and we found NOTHING.... everything in the area is HIGHLY overpriced... (and this is Western New York we're talking about, not the most Go-Go of economies...).. but the house prices are up because of the rates are so low... Everyone's looking to buy now, so basic laws of economics, the prices of houses are WAY up... Take a quick look around where you want to live... if there's nothing, buy the car... because buying a house is 95% timing... and if now's not a good time for you, it would be a good time to buy a car... :smile:


Rocketboy_X

 

Hey folks, I've just got to say that the responses to this thread have reaffirmed my faith in the basic common sense of MINI owners (and soon-to-be-owners)! I have to say I expected that most of the responses would be of the "Forget everything, get the car!" variety. Instead, people were realistic in their understanding of the values of investments and the long-term wisdom of following ones head. Also, some really creative angles on getting both the house AND the MINI (in that order)!

Kenny-dilger, MINIs will certainly start selling within the next year at someplace between invoice and MSRP. It may be a couple of years before you get closer to invoice than MSRP...but it will happen. And as far as getting it "in a month or so"...well, if you're willing to pay MSRP, that's already happening for some people! My constant advice...shop around!! Throughout this forum there are comments from folks who got the cars they wanted at MSRP in a reasonable time (like a month or two). I just confirmed my COD price with my dealer as my car should be ready for pickup early next week -- only 6 weeks from placing my order. I drive away paying only $20 over the price calculated on the MINI site (hummmmm I need to figure out what that $20 is about...it's an outrage! )

Now, if I could just be in the car instead of at this keyboard, life would be great

 

Buy the house! I bought mine 1 year ago and have re-financed just last month. The rates are so low. If you can make the move for a house then go for it. I'd much rather invest money in real estate than sink it into a car. Plus, think about how nice the MINI will be in a year or two. Most of the bugs will be worked out and some newer features will be added. Good luck!

 

I went through a similar issue. Basically it came down to this: it's easier to get a car loan with an outstanding home loan and another car loan, than a home loan with 2 car loans.

The house sucks up a bunch of money and time, but it is SO COOL having a house that is our home, that we can do whatever we want to to it. I painted my "office" orange. Try and get approval for that in a rental!

That and the finacial reasons already covered so well say get the house first.

 

A house is simply the best investment you will ever make. Between equity build-up, mortgage interest rates deduction from your taxes, low interest rates, and you need somewhere to live anyway. You can even get a home equity loan later to finance your MINI (tax deductible interest). MINI's a great cars, and I still love mine, but we all need to keep our proper perspective.

 

>>You're right, the housing market is doing very well right now but who says that in 5 years I wouldn't lose money if I sold my house? I'm single, that's makes it also very expensive to buy a house and to cover all the additionnal costs that goes with it (taxes, etc.). I did the math... I could afford a nice house, but there wouldn't be a lot of room for unexpected expenses within my budget! Plus, a house ties you down to one place while renting allows you to decide tomorrow to move to another city/country with no troubles! And the thing is, I'm not sure if I want to live in my area for the next 5-10 years let's say... But if I'd meet Mr. Right, things would be different... :smile:

 

>>I have a question for all of you then. How long do you think it will be before you can go into the Mini Dealer and have your MCS in a month or so? I am currently on the list for an MCS. If it will only take a couple of years for the cars to be more available then possibly it would be better to wait. Also take note that the dealer I would buy from charges MSRP and only MSRP. No add ons. Do you think that in the near future (1-2 years) the cars will ever sell between MSRP and invoice? If they will always sell at MSRP then I see no advantage to wait if you can find the car at MSRP...
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Kenny
I promise you they will be selling below MSRP within a year! It is simply supply and demand. The market WILL cool off for the MINIs. They are just the new cool thing. Exactly like the PT Cruiser was 2 years ago.

 

If they only plan on bringing 20,000 cars to the US I can't see how the demand will slow down in a year. Eventually it will, but not in the next year or so.

I can't say I agree with everyone about buying a house. It all depends on where you live and what type of deal you can get. If you do not know where you are going to be in say 2-3 years then it may not be worth it. Here in Colorado Springs houses are sitting on the market for a long time now. Just a year ago people would pay anything. With all the layoffs and this city being such a Tech heavy area where jobs are scarce people are not willing to pay the inflated prices. I don't know much but at least in this city I could see houses not appreciating much (or even going down) over the next several years, but what do I know, I only rent for the mobility factor... I would say if your going to buy one do it before the economy turns around. But I doubt we will see anywhere near the size of boom we saw in the 90's, that was just crazy.

 

you are a young, single person. why do you want a house? they are a lot of work, and they tie you to the area around where you purchase it.

we are upside down on our house (first and second mortgage) and although my "job" (speaking very loosely) would allow us to live anywhere that has electricity, this house (specifically, the fact that we owe more than it is worth) keeps us from going very far. that's not a knock on owning a house...but rather about getting into additional debt and then thinking it is a "good idea" to pay it off with the equity in your house. enough about me...you are the one with the dilemma.

do you still live in canada? i don't know much about canada, but if i was younger and single and lived in canada, i'd give my dad a big kiss goodbye, buy a mini, motor out to nova scotia, buy an old house (small fixer-uppers go for less than $50K USD there) and work on it during alternate weekends (gee, what would you do on the other weekends? can you say motor?).

no doubt, a handsome canuck (maybe a hockey player?) will admire your spunk (and your taste in automobiles) and will sweep you off your feet. at that point, you can sell your remodeled house for a profit, and start your married life knowing that you made the right choice about the mini.