Everyone Has an Opinion

Have you noticed that everyone has an opinion on how to go about buying a house?

"Yes--you should look here."

"No--you should avoid that bank."

"Use my realtor."

"Don't use that realtor."

and the best:

"Why are you buying a house? Don't do that!"

About two weeks ago, I was at the doctor and mentioned that Mr. Cap and I were looking for a house, probably with an FHA loan. She immediately told me to be wary of those, because of the government reclaiming all of your equity if you don't stay in the house for a minimum of 9 years. She was also very adamant on why owning a house was a bad idea, and that it was safer to just rent.

I've mentioned buying a house/condo to two of my good friends, and both of them have immediately asked what the price range was that I was looking in. Since they're good friends, I wasn't uncomfortable in telling them...until they began making comments on how I should find something for "no more than X-dollars", or "just do what I did and buy a condo for under X-amount". I do appreciate their desire to help, but one of them has never owned a house, and the other is living in a condo that's far smaller than I'd really be comfortable in. And all three of us are in completely different financial situations. So it makes me uncomfortable to have both of them stating how much I should or shouldn't spend, or what I should be looking for. 

I haven't even mentioned that I'm buying a house to another good friend of mine. She's convinced that I need to move to the state that she lives in (which I really wouldn't mind), but I'm not looking forward to the comments and questioning I'm expecting to come my way when she finds out I plan to buy something where I'm currently living.

In the same vein, I don't think Mr. Cap has even mentioned to his family that we're planning to buy a house. They're from the same state as the above-mentioned friend, and they are also all under the impression that we should just pack up and move to be near them. Again, while I'd absolutely love to be out there (and ultimately, that IS where I want to move), it just seems to make more sense to buy a house in our current location, build up some savings for a few years, and move to be near them when we actually have the possibility of finding a job. Right now the job market is so terrible where they live, that it'd be committing financial suicide to move out there. 

I just want to try to make the best and most educated decisions possible for our future. If we waste our money on rent, I feel like we'll never end up moving out of this state. But by the same token, if we up and leave the jobs that we currently have, we'll be in an even worse position because there really doesn't seem to be anything worthwhile job-wise out there.

I think I'm just dreading the inevitable "I told you so" coming from a variety of people, or the questions/shock from others on how much I did or didn't spend on a house. It's interesting how much people seem to feel that your purchases will impact them...

My goal is to buy something that can be sustained on one salary (in case the Mister or I happen to lose a job), but has resale value. It's been much harder than I was expecting to find something that meets that criteria...