Tips for Buying My First House?

It just has a different name in the states. Its called Fee Simple here.

you know as soon as i hit post i thought "maybe he is just f***ing with me"?

yeah you own the house just not the land its on. So you will always have to pay a ground rent.

Basically. Think of the lease on a car, you don't own the car, but have rights to it for the duration of the lease. You do make additional maintenance payments. Its similar to homeowner association dues in a condo or PUD, or lot rent in a mobile home park.

Leaseholds are not particularly common in residential homes, they are seen more in commercial properties.

OK?? say you were digging a garden and found a old box with a hundred thousand dollars worth of old coins...who gets to claim them, the leaseholder or the person that owns the land??

Hard to say in that particular example. But say they found a gas well under your house in a leasehold, the owner of the land would get any royalties. (technically the holder of the mineral rights, which can be different than who owns the land. Adding yet another another layer of complexity )

I thought about using sarcasm tags, but then where is the fun in taking all the ambiguity out of it.

I would say just to keep saving your money and working.

Which is always there in the form of real estate taxes.




Mmmmm MMM mMMm mm mmmm mmMmMMMMMM!

Thanks so much everyone, I'm definitely writing down a lot of this stuff! Great conversations!