question for those of you in/around Logan, UT

[Stoysluttie1]

Logan is badass if you are into the outdoors and find the people who are in that scene. night life is a bit of a drag, especially if you are not in college because there are few bars and everything is 'overrun' with childish people, IMO.

I truly loved Logan and wish I could have found a job there but to be honest, things are a little bit on the lower end of the payscale.

You'd be better off moving to salt lake. Its far more fun.

2P...where's my check for that pic you used? You in shape to ski the Wells in a few weeks? Maybe we can get Andy to dry heave again

[summitmtn420]

Is there much dirtbikeing around the Logan area- how bout the Ogden area??

[hartzejr]

Logan is a great outdoors town. I have an aunt, uncle and cousin who have lived there for 20+ yrs. Cousin is 27 and owns a house which is a fraction of the house he just bought in SLC and is nicer/larger. Biking and skiing plentiful and close by.

But it ain't as beautiful as Leadville...
Driving down Grand west estates road


Cloud low near mt massive

[Twoplanker]

Logan is badass if you are into the outdoors and find the people who are in that scene. night life is a bit of a drag, especially if you are not in college because there are few bars and everything is 'overrun' with childish people, IMO.

I truly loved Logan and wish I could have found a job there but to be honest, things are a little bit on the lower end of the payscale.

You'd be better off moving to salt lake. Its far more fun.

2P...where's my check for that pic you used? You in shape to ski the Wells in a few weeks? Maybe we can get Andy to dry heave again

Stoy - the check is in the mail!

I'm ready to ski the Wells when you are. I'm probably not in shape for it, but when has that ever stopped me?

Logan has no nightlife so we just create one ourselves. Drinks on my deck beats any shitty club I've ever been to. Bonus features are that you get to listen to the coyotes and owls and watch the deer.


Stoy gets ready to drop in on Wellsville.

[bsutro36]

Logan is GHEY!! You should delete this thread...



























Actually you should pm those of us that live here so that no one else discovers anything they shouldn't about the place. Logan is on of the last secrets in Utah. Now that you know that really do delete the thread.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Logan sounds awesome, everyone I know is moving there.

As your financial adviser regarding the house I'd recommend that you put the least amount of money down as possible that gets you a monthly payment you can afford. Once you put that money into the house, it is no longer working for you. Did you not pay attention in Basic Finance class?

[bagtagley]

Buying a house is a great investment, no doubt, but it's also an anchor. Unless you rent, you're going to have to fill it, and given your price range and area of interest, you'll have a lot of room to fill. Also, even with 30% down, if you hit the top of your range, you're still going to have a hefty mortgage payment on your hands, which requires a real job...yadda, yadda, yadda.

You're young as hell, why would you lock yourself down this early? You've got 100K to play with, and you seem pretty savvy. You could probably continue to invest and live off the interest. You've got a hell of an opportunity to dick around (read: "find yourself") without screwing yourself or ruining (or even scratching) your financial future.

If I'd have locked myself down with a house and "stuff" at 21, I'd be a miserable bastard right now. The shit I did between college and "real life" defined me more than anything else.

Just my $.02

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Buying a house is a great investment, no doubt, but it's also an anchor. Unless you rent, you're going to have to fill it, and given your price range and area of interest, you'll have a lot of room to fill. Also, even with 30% down, if you hit the top of your range, you're still going to have a hefty mortgage payment on your hands, which requires a real job...yadda, yadda, yadda.

You're young as hell, why would you lock yourself down this early? You've got 100K to play with, and you seem pretty savvy. You could probably continue to invest and live off the interest. You've got a hell of an opportunity to dick around (read: "find yourself") without screwing yourself or ruining (or even scratching) your financial future.

If I'd have locked myself down with a house and "stuff" at 21, I'd be a miserable bastard right now. The shit I did between college and "real life" defined me more than anything else.

Just my $.02

I thought we were going to let him learn this lesson the hard way.

[i killed judas.]

Buying a house is a great investment, no doubt, but it's also an anchor. Unless you rent, you're going to have to fill it, and given your price range and area of interest, you'll have a lot of room to fill. Also, even with 30% down, if you hit the top of your range, you're still going to have a hefty mortgage payment on your hands, which requires a real job...yadda, yadda, yadda.

You're young as hell, why would you lock yourself down this early? You've got 100K to play with, and you seem pretty savvy. You could probably continue to invest and live off the interest. You've got a hell of an opportunity to dick around (read: "find yourself") without screwing yourself or ruining (or even scratching) your financial future.

If I'd have locked myself down with a house and "stuff" at 21, I'd be a miserable bastard right now. The shit I did between college and "real life" defined me more than anything else.

Just my $.02

honestly, i never really thought of it that way. then again, i am unlike most people who are my age, and i just want college to be over with so that i can move on to "real life". the other 99% of people i encounter would probably just love to stay in college forever.

i refuse to rent because the difference between a mortgage payment and a rent payment is much smaller numerically than the equity that could accrue yearly, granted that i buy a home, especially in an area which many are afraid could really appreciate at extreme amounts within the next decade.

so are you saying to put down the least amount of a downpayment possible? as most people, id want to have a mortgage for as little time as possible, but the less of a downpayment i put down, either a.)the higher the payment or b.)the longer the payback period. i suppose it would be a good idea to put down as little as possible as long as my [safest] securities are growing at a higher interest rate than that associated with my mortgage, but if the mortgage is higher than what i could be earning in, say, a money market, cd, IRA, etc, then itd be more financially efficient to put as much down as possible to save myself from paying interest over a longer period of time.

or i could put the minimum downpayment and then pay more than the mortgage payment each month, say 2x or 3x...


ahhh this is all giving me a headache.

[liv2ski]

i refuse to rent because the difference between a mortgage payment and a rent payment is much smaller numerically than the equity that could accrue yearly, granted that i buy a home, especially in an area which many are afraid could really appreciate at extreme amounts within the next decade.

so are you saying to put down the least amount of a downpayment possible? as most people, id want to have a mortgage for as little time as possible, but the less of a downpayment i put down, either a.)the higher the payment or b.)the longer the payback period. i suppose it would be a good idea to put down as little as possible as long as my [safest] securities are growing at a higher interest rate than that associated with my mortgage, but if the mortgage is higher than what i could be earning in, say, a money market, cd, IRA, etc, then itd be more financially efficient to put as much down as possible to save myself from paying interest over a longer period of time.

or i could put the minimum downpayment and then pay more than the mortgage payment each month, say 2x or 3x...

ahhh this is all giving me a headache.

Buying at this moment in time, I would recommend you put 10% down and get a 80/10 loan from the bank to avoid PMI due to less than 20% down. An O/O loan should be available at about 6% when you blend the yield on the 1st and 2nd. With the interest write off, the money is about 5%, so you should be able to do better than that in the stock market over time.
As things improve from a cash flow stand point, you will have to decide whether it is smarter to maximize your investments or pay off the loan quicker. I paid my loan off, but my accountant wanted me to go the other way. Your a finance major, so you will figure out what works for you.
Have a great trip.

[bagtagley]

i refuse to rent because the difference between a mortgage payment and a rent payment is much smaller numerically than the equity that could accrue yearly, granted that i buy a home, especially in an area which many are afraid could really appreciate at extreme amounts within the next decade.

I wasn't suggesting you rent a house, I was pointing out the fact that you're going to want to fill your house with stuff, and unless you rent said stuff, you're going to have to buy it. More stuff = less mobility. That is unless you're going to sleep on a mattress on the floor and eat dinner in a bean bag chair. If you were that type, I doubt we'd be having this conversation.

Regardless, I still don't see why a young, single male would throw down $300K on a starter house, which in Logan would seemingly be way more house than you'd need. Again, just my $.02.

Incidentally, I couldn't wait to get out of college so that I could dick around full-time.

[Buzzworthy]

I
Regardless, I still don't see why a young, single male would throw down $300K on a starter house, which in Logan would seemingly be way more house than you'd need.

Maybe he likes to clean the house, A LOT.

That gets you a HUDGE house in Logan.
Single and Logan are not a great mix FYI.

[irul&ublo]

the realization of me being done school within the next year at most

English major?

[MOHSHSIHd]

Wow. Wish I bought a house when I was 21!

[Ireallyliketoski2]

honestly, i never really thought of it that way. then again, i am unlike most people who are my age, and i just want college to be over with so that i can move on to "real life". the other 99% of people i encounter would probably just love to stay in college forever.

i refuse to rent because the difference between a mortgage payment and a rent payment is much smaller numerically than the equity that could accrue yearly, granted that i buy a home, especially in an area which many are afraid could really appreciate at extreme amounts within the next decade.

so are you saying to put down the least amount of a downpayment possible? as most people, id want to have a mortgage for as little time as possible, but the less of a downpayment i put down, either a.)the higher the payment or b.)the longer the payback period. i suppose it would be a good idea to put down as little as possible as long as my [safest] securities are growing at a higher interest rate than that associated with my mortgage, but if the mortgage is higher than what i could be earning in, say, a money market, cd, IRA, etc, then itd be more financially efficient to put as much down as possible to save myself from paying interest over a longer period of time.

or i could put the minimum downpayment and then pay more than the mortgage payment each month, say 2x or 3x...


ahhh this is all giving me a headache.

What school did you study finance at? Were you sick a lot?

[i killed judas.]

What school did you study finance at? Were you sick a lot?

temple university's fox school of business.

and no, i just keep mixing up my mortgage sense. im at the point where i keep running numbers/principals so much that its fucking with my head and im doing/thinking shit wrong.

im actually on track to graduate top of my class...i swear

[i killed judas.]

I wasn't suggesting you rent a house, I was pointing out the fact that you're going to want to fill your house with stuff, and unless you rent said stuff, you're going to have to buy it. More stuff = less mobility. That is unless you're going to sleep on a mattress on the floor and eat dinner in a bean bag chair. If you were that type, I doubt we'd be having this conversation.

Regardless, I still don't see why a young, single male would throw down $300K on a starter house, which in Logan would seemingly be way more house than you'd need. Again, just my $.02.

Incidentally, I couldn't wait to get out of college so that I could dick around full-time.

ahh that was a misinterpretation on my part, i apologize. yeah i know what you mean. i come from a town where people compete for the biggest house, but when you walk inside, they have completely empty rooms because their mortgage is so high that they cant afford to furnish the home.

and you are right about $300,000 in Logan possibly being too much house for me. i have never even been to Logan. like i said in the original post, i was actually just wondering WHY you got so much home in Logan for $300,000. I'm assuming that I'll have to take a job somewhere near SLC for what I intend to do as a career, meaning Logan would be far too....well, far.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

I'm no financial genius but I think you should visit some different places and see where you like and THEN buy a house.

Here's a nice place in Logan for only 89,000, kind of gives you an idea why your money goes so far there.

[Woolph]

Whoa man slow things down a bit. Call me old fashioned but it would be wise to rent first, land a job, then buy the house. Slaying as many chicks along the way.

First, you need to find out where you want to live. Searching real estate websites will not tell you this. You need to rent in the area for awhile and see if it is working for you. You do not want to purchase a home and dump in a year when punani withdrawals (or whatever) get the better of things.

Once you're in the area the job prospects and career potentials will become obvious. There are lots of gorgeous places in the mountain west, with accessible outdoor activity opportunities but unless you are going to do a Chris McCandless impersonation you need a Jay Ohh Be. And not just any job if you going to want to live in a $300K + house. Mortgage Payment is just the beginning. Homeowners insurance, property taxes, heating bills, repairs budget will all take there toll.

Second, the downstroke is just the beginning. The bank is going to want to see some serious income. You are a student just starting out. Maybe having the padres co-sign helps out but this is the post sub prime meltdown environment.

[i killed judas.]

what is the average income for rookies in commercial real estate/investment in utah? everyone keeps mentioning this whole job thing and needing serious income to be able to finance a house that is $300,000...but i cant fathom it being quite that hard

in Philadelphia, fresh out of college, people in real estate/finance sector careers are making $55-65k/year...

i suppose its not even close to that in UT judging by the job responses...

[Woolph]

Judas,

I have no clue what entry level financial jobs pay in Logan. But even at $65K you would be really strapped with a $300K property. Do ya like ramen noodles and ketchup based tomato soup?

Or are you planning on renting out multiple rooms?

[i killed judas.]

i just realized one important factor i am forgetting in this whole equation


A SECOND INCOME


yeah, im an idiot ::bangs head on desk::

looks like owning a nice home is sort of out of the question until i get one of those (a spouse, that is), or at least advance in my career to a certain extent where i wouldnt be struggling to get by.

[JBird]

If you want a job (ball and chain) one of the biggest home fitness manufacturers are headquartered in Logan. Look up Icon Fitness and see what they need of finance majors.
Logan is a college town so paychecks are pretty small.

[Buzzworthy]

ICON Health and Fitness could be good, but they have an office in Ogden too.

If you make 65K in Logan, you are very very lucky.

2 other large corps in Logan good to work for:
Harris Reseach (owner of Chem Dry)
Campbell Scientific

[Platinum Pete]

One of the best things about being in the real estate industry is access to inside or pre-market deals - this is the best reason to wait to buy until you're working in that industry. With commission heavy jobs like the real estate industry, you usually need a long income history to buy a home. Your big down payment will ease that off a bit, but still - spend that green on an inside deal. And while you're at it, go for something with multiple units and rental income, this is a smart hedge against an income slowdown and allows you the freedom to move elsewhere while still having your investment property paid for. Don't forget: you make your profit at the time of purchase.