Advice needed - house vs wedding

bls2299

Hello all -

I was a finance major, work in accounting and am extremely anal about my budget - but I need ADVICE!

Plan right now: get married next summer (our expense = approx 15k,) put 15-20k down on a house in Fall 2010.

Low interest rates and the new homeowner tax credit have gotten ahold of me. I feel silly NOT buying a house this year, when we can...by pushing the wedding back (we haven't declared a date.)

I'm entertaining the idea of buying a house this Winter with 10-15k down, and pushing the wedding back to later next year (and bingo, 8k extra for whatever house items we choose to get when the refund comes in.)

Fiancee is worried about "legal" repercussions of house before marriage in *case* something happens - though at our young age (early 20s) neither of us have a whole lot of assets other than cash in the bank so it wouldn't be much of a legal battle. I'm trying to persuade him of my new idea, but of course, maybe this isn't a good idea at all.

Any advice/opinions/thoughts? I'd be happy to provide more info if it would help -

Beardmidget

bls2299 wrote: »

the new homeowner tax credit

I'm sorry... the whatnow?

Are you from the US by any chance? If so, welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, I don't think you'll get much advice relevant to your question here because we're predominantly British- so we just don't know what the market is like there. It would be impossible for me to say whether it's a good investment or not. All the best on your wedding/ house purchase though!

(p.s. I do know a bit about women, so if you haven't already... perhaps you should ask her what she thinks about postponing the wedding that far... try to keep the knives out of sight :P)

gazfocus

Beardmidget wrote: »

Are you from the US by any chance? If so, welcome to the forum.

I think the fact she used 'The Fall' gives it away

Anyway, strangely enough, I've been going through a similar decision process but with renting a house instead of buying. My fiance wants to get married next summer but also wants us to live together beforehand. At the moment I am living rent free in a single room at a friends flat and can continue doing so for as long as I need, but with my fiance wanting me to get a flat, I made her make the decision between paying £7000 rent in 12 months plus bills, etc or save that £7000 towards the wedding....her choice was the flat....strange girl lol.

GonzoAston

Beardmidget wrote: »

I'm sorry... the whatnow?

Are you from the US by any chance? If so, welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately, I don't think you'll get much advice relevant to your question here because we're predominantly British- so we just don't know what the market is like there. It would be impossible for me to say whether it's a good investment or not. All the best on your wedding/ house purchase though!

(p.s. I do know a bit about women, so if you haven't already... perhaps you should ask her what she thinks about postponing the wedding that far... try to keep the knives out of sight :P)

The OP is either in a same sex relationship at the moment, or is female, as they called their OH him, lol

Are you in the states living, or american in Britain OP? At the end of the day, its both your decision what you both think is best. I personally would buy the house and postpone the wedding. Thats just me though

poppysarah

Get married on the cheap! A wedding is about a committment to someone not about how much you spend.

Richard_Webster

Get married on the cheap! A wedding is about a committment to someone not about how much you spend.

Seriously this is true - OK, sadly, marriages don't all last, but there is always a mighty big financial commitment in buying a property together anyway. If things go wrong later there can be a lot of heartache in sorting all that out.

If you are not prepared to make the legal commitment to each other now, then isn't it a bit more likely that the relationship will fail further down the track?

alexlyne

We postponed our wedding to get a house first... cos houses cost more than weddings, and we would rather spend a bit of our wedding fund on a new house rather than the other way around!

barnaby-bear

poppysarah wrote: »

Get married on the cheap! A wedding is about a committment to someone not about how much you spend.

I've some friends getting divorced - the settlement has been concerned with splitting the negative equity and splitting the cost of the wedding debt - they got married 4 years ago - beautiful wedding, which they will be paying for, for 2 more years One of them is getting remarried when the divorce comes through - wonder if that will be a loan too

alexlyne

starting a marriage buried in debt... one word: aaaarrrgghh!

arturo1234

Agree with poppysarah, marriage shouldn't be about being lavish, it's a personal thing between the two concerned.
Get your house sorted with the money is my advice.

Beardmidget

Very sorry to the OP for effecting an instant internet gender identity crisis!

I'm actually getting married and buying a house within the next six months... The wedding is fixed, but the house purchase is going ahead because I'll be SAVING £300 a month in what would have been rent (v. the mortgage).

With regard to the risk associated with joint ownership of the asset before marriage- I'm assuming that you will have life insurance to pay your mortgage in the (God forbid) event of your death- so perhaps the issue is just one of how the asset is divided if you split up.

In English law, the joint ownership is structured in such a way as to mean you select the right option for you- you can each just own equal shares, or you can own specific shares. I wonder if US property law has some similar principle?