Whether it’s borrowing money to buy a house or waiting and saving is a concern for many young families.
At the end of 2020, I had a monthly income of around 80 million VND and managed to save around 2 billion VND.
Even though real estate prices were much cheaper at the time, they were still way beyond my financial capabilities.
However, instead of continuing to save and wait, I decided to take out a bank loan of VND 1.5 billion for 10 years to buy a 40 square meter house at a price of VND 3.35 billion. It has four floors and is built in a 3.5 meter wide alley in Hanoi.
It’s been over three years and the house has appreciated to 5 billion VND while my debt has been mostly paid with only 300 million VND remaining.
However, it was not all smooth sailing. Right after the purchase, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.
Fortunately, I did not lose my job, but my salary was significantly reduced.
I had to limit my spending and avoid traveling or vacations. Life got a little difficult, but my family and I all did our best to keep our jobs and maintain our lifestyle.
In general, buying a house with a loan definitely comes with pressure, but so far my family and I are living very well after the decision to buy the house four years ago.
For people like me, the debt amount should not exceed 1.8-2 billion VND and around 200-300 million VND should be set aside for emergencies.
With around 4 billion VND, you can totally buy a house in downtown areas like Ha Dong, Long Bien, Nam Tu Liem and Bac Tu Liem, with an area of around 30 square meters in small alleys of less than 2.5 meters wide.
I have lived in Hanoi for almost 50 years and have noticed that over the course of market cycles, the prices of apartments and townhouses in downtown neighborhoods or densely populated residential areas have never decreases.
In fact, properties in these areas have increased as much as gold prices.
At the same time, price declines typically occur in suburban and rural areas, where prices were previously inflated by speculation.
With housing supply so limited in major cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City due to various legal obstacles, house prices in city centers will surely continue to rise.
Therefore, if someone has the opportunity, they should borrow and close the deal sooner because waiting might just cost you the opportunity to become a homeowner.
What does everyone think? Would you be willing to take out a huge loan to buy a house?
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*This review was translated into English by AI. Readers’ opinions are personal and do not necessarily correspond to those of VnExpress.
