House and Car purchase - Which order?

[Ingtar17]

You should be able to get yourself into a house before the car lease expires. Sounds like an ok deal for the car, so if you're happy with it, just make sure you get into a house before you have to buy the car.

[cschin4]

Yes, I advise keeping the car, but it definately would not hurt to go out and look at other cars as well.
The other concern is that you feel "pressured" to buy a house before you do anything with the car. These are 2 unrelated decisions and I do not think you should view your house shopping in this way. Take your time. Whether you buy the car or not prior to the home doesn't matter. Don't allow this to push you into buying a home that you haven't carefully thought through just to beat some self imposed deadline.
If you have good credit, buying the car or not is not going to make any difference. If you have poor or so-so credit, buying the car or not is not going to make that much difference.
2 completely separate decisions and you should treat them as such.

[Scanner]

You know what I am going to say to lecture you about credit and it's evils?

Nothing!

Seriously, you need a car if your job demands transportation and most people need a house. That's why banks exist. I don't see either of those as necessarily bad debt. You need a transportation to get income.

I would go with the house first. Generally speaking, a mortgage is harder to qualify for than an auto loan so you need to put on your "Sunday's Best" for the mortgage co/bank.

If you are going to finance $8000 after the mortgage loan, that's a judgement call. I personally think you can ante up $5000 for a decent car but if it's in great shape and serves your needs, I see nothing wrong with just keeping the car and continuing the car payment in the form of a loan vs. a lease. If your lease is open-ended, you may be able to cut a deal.

Good luck.

[project15]

Well, I've thought about this quite a bit and decided that we need two very reliable cars. So...I'm going to buy the mazda3 when the lease is up for a few reasons.

1. It'll probably be a good deal for us to buy the lease rather than buy the exact same car in the near future.
2. It has too much damage to return the lease (around $2k worth - my wife ran over a curb with the side rocker panel...not good).
3. It's overall a very reliable car and it's only a few years old.

We have good credit, but I'm still not sure if I believe that buying the car RIGHT before buying the house is a good idea. I'm 23, so I don't have an expansive credit history, but it has no bad marks on it for either of us.



Also, InDebtInDC, the 2004 VW R32 holds it's value very well too.
Kelley Blue Book Price $25,900 - $27,200
Original Retail Price (MSRP) $29,100
Original Invoice Price $26,490

When I was shopping for my 03 VW GTI last year, I checked one of these out and it was still $29k for a 2 year old car.

[InDebtInDC]

Also, InDebtInDC, the 2004 VW R32 holds it's value very well too.
Kelley Blue Book Price $25,900 - $27,200
Original Retail Price (MSRP) $29,100
Original Invoice Price $26,490

When I was shopping for my 03 VW GTI last year, I checked one of these out and it was still $29k for a 2 year old car.

I agree, but I would never want to work on one. Has book value actually exceeded MSRP yet?

[mom-from-missouri]

Personally I can't justify spending that much on a car. How can it get you around any better than my new 11,000 Aveo???

In 1984 I paid only $22,000 for my first house--which I sold 10 years ago for almost $70,000. So, I really can't see more for an auto than a home...

[TurningColorz]

Hi Project15,
No Problems with keeping the car, but you will get a much better mortgage if you have no other debt liabilities. If the car is free and clear when applying for a mortgage it will be considered an asset rather than a liability. Do what you must to get the best mortgage. After you close your mortgage deal, then you can drive whatever you want.

Measure twice, cut once,
Mike - TurningColorz

[project15]

Personally I can't justify spending that much on a car. How can it get you around any better than my new 11,000 Aveo???

In 1984 I paid only $22,000 for my first house--which I sold 10 years ago for almost $70,000. So, I really can't see more for an auto than a home...

Yes, but houses 40 years ago were probably only $10,000 which, by the same reasoning, means that you paid more for the car than for a house. And besides, a new mazda3 is only $15,000 so it's not like I'm buying a $40k car when a $20k car can do the same thing with most of the same features.

Anyways, the Aveo might suit you, but it's not for everyone.