Hi,

I've been reading quite a few posts about renting vs buying and have some great info, but I really need thoughts on my current situation. I've moved to the US from Australia, so when I read about PMI and homeowner insurance, etc, I have no idea if it's around $200 p.m or $1,000 p.m. So, the scenario -

Renting atm for $2,350 p.m utilities (and to be honest, landlord seems to do little wrt to maintenance and repairs, but that's a different topic). Looking at buying a house for around $450k (btw, we're in Charlotte, NC area and that budget gets us a better house than the one we're renting). From what I can tell, tax would be around $5,000 per year. No idea as to what the closing costs, maintenance and insurance costs are on avg, so guidance here would be great. I've never heard of people replacing a roof until now, unless you had a fire :-)

I might be able to buy the house outright i.e. Cash. But after chatting to an advisor, you can claim some of the interest back from Tax, effectively making the rate around 2.7% - 3.2%. It's possible to get higher returns by investing the money elsewhere and paying the mortgage. If we go this route, from what I can tell, it probably makes sense to put down 20% to avoid PMI and get a good rate.

Any thoughts and even calculations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.