I am going to take the opposite recommendation. Don't buy a house yet.

I am old enough to remember when you couldn't give a house away. When the Fed raised interest rates in the late 70's, early 80's, no one could sell any real estate. Three years ago all of the experts recommended putting all your money in (mostly) internet stocks (that didn't work out so well). Now, after several years of good profits and appreciation in RE, everyone says put your $$ there and you'll be rich. I am not so sure. If the economy picks up and if the inflation picks up, the Fed will raise interest rates (maybe very quickly). Then no one can afford to borrow money to buy your house. It could be hard to sell if you get a good job in another City.

I'd wait a couple more years and suggest you build up more savings. Put some of those savings in a REIT (real estate portfolio), some in CD's, and some in the general stock market. DIVERSIFY your savings!!

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

(P/S I have done this for a living for 30 years.)

 

i did not read all of the posts in this thread but here goes.....

i am 20 as well and will be looking to purchase land as i get out of college- 2 to 4 more years depending on if i go for my masters. i may sound like my grandfather in this post but people shouldn't but what they can't pay for up front.
i drive a 4x4 turbo diesel truck that gets 20 miles to the gallon and can outpull your v10 any day... i only payed 8,700 for it- cash the day i drove it off the lot- not 30,000+ over 10 years. its all i need in a truck, and although i do have problems with it i bought an 18,000 mile warranty to cover everything but the turbo charger... that ain't bad for a truck with 130,000 miles. and the best part is, i won't take any depreciation hit because i can resell it for more than i payed for it. you can't do that with any 2002 or 2003 truck. before you spend big money you need to learn the basic economics of saving money and making money.... because your pissing alot away in your spending splurges. at 20, that's not a good thing to do.
all of the older guys that are giving you the advice of buying the house as a good investment have a good point, but they have the pleasure of looking at the situation from their computer chair, and chances are they never got burned real bad and learned the hard way about having huge debts to pay off. there's alot of people out there who if they had the opportunity, would tell you the exact opposite- because they themselves took a chance at paying off a house and a new vehicle and they NEVER got out of debt and they ended up loosing everything. i was raised to never buy anything i could not afford, and to have plenty of money in the bank for my future.
like someone said, you should think about limiting your cash flow. material things won't make you happy no matter how much you buy you'll just want more. peace of mind is priceless and not having any debt goes a long way towards making one happy.
some people in life are lucky and have everything given to them- mommy and daddy buy them 40,000 dollar vehicles straight out of high school or when they are our age, and hey that's cool. good for them.
why at 20 would you want to put so much debt on your head? THE BEST WAY TO GET OUT OF A HOLE IS TO QUIT DIGGING ANY DEEPER!

my humble advice is to sell your truck outright and get top dollar for it.... look for a power stroke or a cummins for under 10k to get you around and help you with your business- you will have a much better truck which won't take a depreciation hit and will provide you with good fuel economy and power.
quit buying toys until you can afford them. its nice to spoil yourself and do what makes you happy- but that's the problem with society these days.... everyone just keeps on doing it without realizing the consequences. ive seen people do the same thing you are going deeper and deeper in debt, and they keep on spending and spending thinking they will be fine and pay it off someday.... and man let me tell you .... some of them never will.

try to learn to be happy with less and satisfied with what you have. you're 20 you got a whole life ahead of you to buy expensive toys and a house. id get more financially stable and secure a better cash flow in and less of a cash flow out before i made that big of a step in my life.


YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT
BUT IF YOU TRY SOME TIMES YOU MIGHT FIND
YOU GET WHAT YOU NEED!!!!!

 

Jimmy, don't worry about it, I was talking to Matt


Thanks for your comments though

Mike