Buying a home is a big decision, both for your future and your finances.

And knowing if you're ready to become a homeowner comes down to much more than a number in the bank.

"The amazing, scary, exciting thing about buying a home is that it's a financial decision, it's a personal decision, and it's a life decision," says Jeremy Wacksman, chief marketing officer for Zillow.

If you've been saving up, but aren't sure if you're ready to start the process, here are nine signs you can afford to buy a home — even if it doesn't feel like it.

1. Your emergency fund is separate from your down payment

When it comes to buying a home, the more you have in savings, the better. But the money you're putting away for a down payment — typically 20% of the price of the home — should remain completely separate from your emergency fund.

"People will have money saved and they end up putting the entire amount toward the down payment to afford the home, and have no money leftover," says Eric Roberge, CFP and founder of Beyond Your Hammock. 

He warns that there are always added expenses when buying a new home, from random repairs to needing more furniture to fill a larger space, so your down payment should never drain your entire savings account. "Things are going to be more expensive, so you want to have a buffer for that."

2. You have more saved up than the bare minimum for a down payment

Unforeseen expenses always come up when buying a home. Closing costs alone, which can include anything from inspection fees to title insurance, can add an additional 5% to the final price of the home. It's better to have a cushion on your down payment than to find yourself digging into your emergency fund or being forced to step away from the deal.

"You can never have enough money saved in the home buying year," Roberge says. "The process itself is complicated enough without having financial difficulties."

First-time buyers are also 40% more likely to exceed the initial budget they set when buying a home, according to The Zillow Group Report. It's always better to have some wiggle room.

3. You know when to step away — and you're prepared to actually do it

With closing costs added on at the end, the final price tag of a home can be up to $10,000 more than you originally anticipated. Go into any negotiations with more than the bare minimum down payment ready, but know when too much is too much.

"You have to be prepared to write checks," Roberge says. "And really, you should understand how much you're willing to write versus walk away. You don't want to just be writing checks that you can't afford because you think you need to and you're all wrapped up in the emotions of buying a home. You need to have a specific plan and not sway from that plan."

4. You have a good credit score

Your credit score will not only determine if you can get a mortgage but what the interest rate will be, Roberge says. A low credit score can mean significantly higher monthly payments, which puts an obvious stress on your budget.

Credit scores can fluctuate, so it's best to check it early in the home buying process. (You can do so at a free site like Credit Karma or Credit.com.) If it's not in a good range, take some time to work on building it up.

5. You're not planning to move in the next two to five years

"Timeframe plays a big factor," Wacksman says. "If you're only going to live in an area for a short amount of time, renting can be advantageous."

If you're planning to settle in and stay for at least two to five years, it makes financial sense to buy a home, according to Wacksman. But if you don't see yourself putting down roots for more than a year or two, it could be a waste of your time and money.

6. You don't have any other big expenses on the horizon

It's important to consider your housing budget within the context of your future goals. "Keep in mind the next couple of years down the road and what you have coming up," Roberge says.

If you don't have any other big expenses looming, it will be easier to make paying off your house a priority. Consider this: If you can afford mortgage payments of $1,000 a month right now, but you have a baby next year, will you still be able to afford the same amount? If not, it's time to choose your priorities. 

7. You have your debt under control

Don't feel like you need to have every penny worth of debt paid off before you can purchase a home. But do a deep dive into why you have debt and how you're planning to deal with it.

"Why do you have the credit card debt? Was it just a random occurrence where you had to put something on the credit card and you know you're going to pay it off soon? Or have you been spending more than you make and it's increasing over time?" Roberge says.

If you're still on-track to pay off your student loans, you're probably in the clear to take on a big purchase like a house, but if your credit card debt is increasing, that's a red flag.

8. You understand your own finances

Real estate agents, financial planners, and mortgage brokers are useful resources to turn to in the house-buying process, and Roberge and Wacksman each recommend building up a team to assist you. But don't completely rely on them to know what's best for your personal financial situation.

"You need to consider, 'Okay, I've saved this much for a down payment, what can I afford from a monthly payment standpoint?' It's important that you calculate this on your own, because you might have spending preferences that a lender wouldn't take into consideration," Wacksman says.

"Do the math that you can yourself and then meet with a lender to go forward," he adds.

9. You want to buy a house for the right reasons

If someone asks why you want to buy a house and your first answer is something along the lines of "Because I'm wasting money on rent" or "Because it's a good investment," you might not be mentally prepared for all the responsibilities that come with home ownership. At the end of the day, buying a home isn't a means of getting rich. 

"When you look at the average price increase of a home across the country over the last 100 years, it's only about 3%," Roberge says. "If you take away extra costs plus inflation, you're not really making any money on average on a single family home."

It's smarter to look for a house that meets non-monetary goals: It's in your dream neighborhood or it's a good place to start a family.

"A home is a utility, not an investment," Roberge says.

SEE ALSO: 9 signs you can afford to move to New York City — even if it doesn't feel like it

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The buyer of San Francisco's most expensive home was Kyle Vogt, cofounder of Twitch and Cruise Automation, according to OpenHouse.

Vogt bought the house for $21.8 million, according to Redfin, which makes it the biggest sale in the city so far this year. The home was originally listed for $28 million in November 2015, but the price was chopped by $3 million in June. It was San Francisco's most expensive listed home at the time of the sale.

Vogt is a serial entrepreneur who sold his car automation startup, Cruise Automation, to General Motors for a reported $1 billion in March; he remains its CEO. He's also a cofounder of the video streaming startup Twitch, which Amazon purchased for $970 million in 2014.

Vogt is known to some as the "Robot Guru" for his interest in robotics. He studied computer science and electrical engineering at MIT.

His new home was built in 1901 and has been turned into a contemporary-style mansion with 9,095 square feet of space. It has seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms spread out over three floors, and is situated on one of San Francisco's highest streets.

It was most recently owned by Tara and Bryan Meehan, who made a fortune on investments in Blue Bottle Coffee. The couple gutted and restored the home, but apparently never moved in.

Vogt did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

SEE ALSO: Nobody wants to buy the world's largest log cabin — and now the price has been slashed by $20 million

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Welcome to the most expensive home sold in the city of San Francisco in 2016.

It was built in 1901 for the wealthy fish-packing mogul James Madison — no, not the president. Its facade was restored to its original beaux-arts beauty.

The top-to-bottom restoration of the property took two years to complete.

In the market for a home? Mortgage site HSH.com has updated its estimate of how much annual income a household would need to buy a home in major metropolitan areas in the US, according to first-quarter 2016 data.

The site highlights a few differences from last quarter:

• The Denver metro area has made a significant price surge — more so than any other analyzed

• Seattle is more affordable than the Washington DC metro area for the first time in the site's years of analysis

The site looked at median home prices from the National Association of Realtors. It took into account interest rates for common 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and property taxes and insurance costs to figure out how much money it would take to pay a median-priced home's mortgage, taxes, and insurance in each city, and how much you'd have to earn to afford it.

HSH.com emphasizes that this is only the base cost of owning a home — maintenance and other incidentals aren't included in its calculations.

The site also calculated how it would change the salary needed to buy a home if a buyer were to put 10% down instead of the recommended 20%. No matter where you are, putting down less makes things more expensive — you can visit HSH.com to see both numbers.

Salaries are listed from lowest to highest needed, and are rounded to the nearest $500.

SEE ALSO: Here's how much you need to earn to live comfortably in 15 major US cities while still saving money

19. San Antonio

Population: 1,409,000

Median Home Price: $195,500

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,096

Salary Needed to Buy: $47,000

18. Orlando

Population: 255,483

Median Home Price: $207,600

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,112

Salary Needed to Buy: $45,500

17. Minneapolis

Population: 407,207

Median Home Price: $222,800

Monthly Mortgage Payment: $1,154

Salary Needed to Buy: $49,500

America's comedy darling remains an uptown girl.

Amy Schumer's search for a new New York City home appears to have come to an end with the purchase of a $12.15 million penthouse at 190 Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The duplex, a 4,500-square-foot, five-bedroom home, is perched atop a turn of the century building and features a wall of glass doors, coffered glass ceilings, a custom stone and glass gas fireplace, a wrap around terrace and a separate bedroom wing.

The comedian and actress appears to have gotten a sweet deal, since the property was first listed for $18.9 million last April.

 The digs are certainly a massive step up from Schumer's old home, a townhouse apartment on West 80th Street that's currently on the market for $1.63 million with broker Adam Modlin. 

Schumer and boyfriend Ben Hanisch have reportedly been scouting new properties for over a month.

While it's unclear if Hanisch is moving into the building with Schumer, he should count himself lucky that it has two floors.

"I've been here for two and a half years and for a while had my comedian boyfriend move in with me, but sharing a studio is a bad idea," she told Brick Underground in 2011 of her first Upper West Side pad. "We broke up for a month just because of that and we are now happily together living separately. I don't think I ever want to share an apartment with anyone again, although it would be nice if he lived upstairs."

Lisa Lippman and Scott Moore of Brown Harris Stevens had the Riverside listing. Lippman declined to confirm the deal, and a representative for Schumer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SEE ALSO: A 30-year-old cofounder of 2 billion-dollar companies reportedly bought San Francisco's most expensive home

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Making the leap from renting to buying is thrilling and liberating — for many, it signifies the realization of the American Dream.

But it's also a big decision, both for your future and your finances. 

It's a long-term commitment that requires strong financial standing, and in many ways it's about more than just money. 

If any of the following signs strike a chord with you, you may want to delay the home-buying process. 

Kathleen Elkins contributed to a previous version of this story.

You have a low credit score

Before considering home ownership, you'll want to check your credit score, which you can do through free sites like Credit Karma, Credit.com, or Credit Sesame.

"The higher your score, the better the interest rate on your mortgage will be," writes personal finance expert Ramit Sethi in "I Will Teach You To Be Rich." Good credit can mean significantly lower monthly payments, so if your score is not great, consider delaying this big purchase until you've built up your credit.

You're doing it as an investment

If someone asks why you want to buy a house and your first answer is something along the lines of "Because I'm wasting money on rent" or "Because it's a good investment," you might not be mentally prepared for all the responsibilities that come with home ownership.

"When you look at the average price increase of a home across the country over the last 100 years, it's only about 3%," says Eric Roberge, CFP and founder of Beyond Your Hammock. "If you take away extra costs plus inflation, you're not really making any money on average on a single-family home."

It's smarter to look for a house that meets non-monetary goals: It's in your dream neighborhood or it's a good place to start a family. "A home is a utility, not an investment," Roberge says.

You have to direct more than 30% of your income toward monthly payments

Personal finance experts say a good rule of thumb is to make sure the total monthly payment doesn't consume more than 30% of your take-home pay.

"Any more than that, and your finances are going to be tight, leaving you financially vulnerable when something inevitably goes wrong," write Harold Pollack and Helaine Olen in their book, "The Index Card.""To be fair, this isn't always possible. In some places such as New York and San Francisco, it can be all but impossible."

While there are a few exceptions, aim to spend no more than one-third of your take-home pay on housing.

You don't have a fully funded emergency savings account

And no, your emergency fund is not your down payment.

Pollack and Olen write:

"We all receive unexpected financial setbacks. Someone gets sick. The insurance company denies a medical claim. A job is suddenly lost. However life intrudes, the bank still expects to receive our monthly mortgage payments ... Finance your emergency fund. Then think about purchasing a home. If you don't have an emergency fund and do own a house, chances are good you will someday find yourself in financial turmoil."

Certified financial planner Jonathan Meaney recommends having the equivalent of a few years' worth of living expenses set aside in case there is a job loss or other surprise.

"Unlike a rental arrangement with a one- or two-year contract and known termination clauses, defaulting on a mortgage can do major damage to your credit report,"he tells Business Insider. "In addition, a quick sale is not always possible or equitable for a seller."

You aren't putting anything into savings

Even with a full emergency fund, you should still be able to continue putting money away for other goals.

“If you're saving money every month, that means your cash flow is in good shape, which is a good sign you're ready to buy a home," Roberge says. 

If you can't spare anything more than the mortgage payment, consider putting off purchasing a home until your cash flow is more stable.  

You can't afford a 10% down payment

Technically, you don't always have to put any money down when financing a home today, but if you can't afford to put at least 10% down, you may want to reconsider buying, says Sethi.

Ideally, you'll be able to put 20% down — anything lower and you will have to pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI), which is a safety net for the bank in case you fail to make your payments. PMI can cost between 0.5% and 1.50% of mortgage, depending on the size of your down payment and your credit score — that's an additional $1,000 a year on a $200,000 home.

"The more money you can put down toward the initial purchase of a home, the lower your monthly mortgage payment," Pollack and Olen explain. "That's because you will need to borrow less money to finance the home. This can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan."

To get an idea of the savings you'll have to put away, check out how much you need to save each day to put a down payment on a house in major US cities.

You're planning other big expenses in the next few years

It's important to consider your housing budget within the context of your future goals. "Keep in mind the next couple of years down the road and what you have coming up," Roberge says.

If you don't have any other big expenses looming, it will be easier to make paying off your house a priority. Consider this: If you can afford mortgage payments of $1,000 a month right now, but you have a baby next year, will you still be able to afford the same amount? If not, it's time to choose your priorities.

You plan on moving within the next five years

"Home ownership, like stock investing, works best as a long-term proposition," Pollack and Olen explain. "It takes at least five years to have a reasonable chance of breaking even on a housing purchase. For the first few years, your mortgage payments mostly pay off the interest and not the principal."

Sethi recommends staying put for at least 10 years.

"The longer you stay in your house, the more you save," he writes. "If you sell through a traditional realtor, you pay that person a huge fee — usually 6% of the selling price. Divide that by just a few years, and it hits you a lot harder than if you had held the house for ten or twenty years."

Not to mention, moving costs can be exorbitant on their own.

You won't be able to keep up with other goals

Don't feel like you need to have every penny worth of debt paid off before you can purchase a home. But do a deep dive into why you have debt and how you're planning to deal with it, from student loans to credit card charges.

"Why do you have the credit card debt? Was it just a random occurrence where you had to put something on the credit card and you know you're going to pay it off soon? Or have you been spending more than you make and it's increasing over time?" Roberge says.

It's okay to still be paying off your student loans or paying down past credit card debt. But if the added costs that come with buying a house — mortgage payments, taxes, and repairs — impede your ability to continue putting money toward those goals each month, you might want to hold off for now and let your other expenses take priority.

You're deep in debt

While it's okay to have some debt, if it's a significant enough amount, it could hinder your ability to buy a house at all.

"If your debt is high, home ownership is going to be a stretch," Pollack and Olen write.

When you apply for a mortgage, you'll be asked about everything you owe — from car and student loans to credit card debt.

"If the combination of that debt with the amount you want to borrow exceeds 43% of your income, you will have a hard time getting a mortgage," they explain. "Your 'debt-to-income ratio' will be deemed too high, and mortgage issuers will consider you at high risk for a future default."

You've only considered the sticker price

You have to look at much more than just the sticker price of the home. There are a mountain of hidden costs — from closing fees to taxes — that can add up to more than $9,000 each year, real estate marketplace Zillow estimates. And that number will only jump if you live in a major US city.

You'll have to consider things such as property tax, insurance, utilities, moving costs, renovations, and perhaps the most overlooked expense: maintenance.

"The actual purchase price is not the most important cost," says Alison Bernstein, founder and president of Suburban Jungle Realty Group, an agency that assists suburb-bound movers.

"What's important is how much it's going to cost to maintain that house,"she tells Business Insider.

Read up on all of the hidden costs that come with buying a home before making the leap.

SEE ALSO: 9 signs you can afford to buy a home — even if it doesn't feel like it

DON'T MISS: The No. 1 sign you can afford to move to New York City

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In February, I bought a starter home.

So when I came across a blog post on A Wealth of Common Sense by Ben Carlson of Ritholtz Wealth Management calling buying a starter home "one of the worst moves you can make financially as a younger person," I gulped.

And then I had to know more.

Carlson further explained his take on the phone. A starter home, he says, is any home you don't plan on staying in for the long term.

Carlson, who's a married homeowner in his mid-30s, as well as a CFA Charterholder, watched many of his friends follow the traditional path: get married, buy a home for the time being, have kids, upgrade to a bigger, more permanent home. However, he saw that these starter homes were more expensive than the buyers planned, from making improvements up-front to extricating themselves from the property later.

When he ran the numbers, he realized that, generally, starter homes just don't make sense. For one thing, the bulk of your mortgage payments in those first years go directly to interest payments, meaning you haven't built much equity by the time you trade up.

"The median house price is roughly $200,000," he told me, "and for the sake of argument, let's say you don't put anything down. If you stayed there for five years with a 4% interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage, two-thirds of your payments go to interest costs alone. You don't build up a ton of equity."

He said that the break-even point for a home tends to be between five and seven years, depending on where you live. If you're in the house for less than that time, you sink money into closing costs, property taxes, improvements, and even realtor fees when it's time to sell.

"If you're going to buy a house, buy something you're going to stay in for seven to 10 years," he said. "Otherwise, those costs are going to eat up most of your equity."

"But," I pleaded with him, "I live in the New York metro area. Aren't there exceptions to this rule?"

Turns out there are, and I'm not the only one who was dying to hear him say it. After that blog post went up, readers from major cities like New York, San Francisco, and Philadelphia reached out to say they'd done the math and, in fact, buying a starter home made more financial sense than continuing to rent.

"I think the break-even point is a little shorter," Carlson said. "I think there are always caveats, always. And I have had people say they're going to hold onto the starter home and rent it out when they leave. There's a lot of nuance to it — there's always personal situations that intervene. Real estate is probably much different in New York City than it is in the rural Midwest, so I think there has to be some give and take there with the local market."

Carlson isn't against buying a home overall. In fact, he's strongly in favor of it — if it's somewhere you intend to stay for at least a decade. Until then, though, don't look down on renting.

"I think for young people, renting is underrated," he said. "When you're young, renting gives you more options. People say they don't want to pay someone else's mortgage, but I think especially when you're young and not tied down, it gives you the ability to pick up and move to another city for a job — a little leeway. A house is much more expensive than people think. It's more than just a mortgage."

SEE ALSO: A Wharton professor explains why you shouldn't consider buying a home an investment

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Dutch company Cubicco has created a flat-pack, modular, prefabricated, hurricane-proof home that can be built for less than $200,000. And it could soon come to the Caribbean and Florida.

The Cubicco home, which is made up of laminated wood and cork, is designed to hold up to the high-velocity hurricane codes in Florida's Miami-Dade County. That means buildings must be able to withstand 185 mph winds, have impact-resistant glass, and be elevated off the ground. Other parts of the home, including hurricane-rated windows and doors, layers of plywood sheathing, and insulation, give it additional hurricane resistance.

The units can be stood on stilts, moved around and disassembled. Because the homes are prefabricated, building crews can simply get trained to assemble the Cubicco units, get the parts shipped to a desired location, and complete construction in a few months. The structures' modular design also means they can be combined into small villages or larger homes.

The homes have a few optional bells and whistles to increase sustainability as well, including a water reclaiming system, spots for solar panels on the roof, and open slats that allow for geothermal heating and cooling.

The price for construction is generally below $200,000 before finishes, flooring, and appliances, though it depends on square footage. The company says that units usually cost about $175 per square foot to construct.

It's a high-tech, almost IKEA-like solution to housing, a "future-proof" home that can withstand tropical storms and usher people toward a more sustainable lifestyle.

The company has already sold some individual homes to customers in Florida, but this week, it will begin work on its first group housing development in the Caribbean. Cubicco designer Marcio Gomes da Cruz tells Business Insider that the company has residential projects underway in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos. 

Cubicco is an appealing model on those islands for several reasons. First, the designs are built to be hurricane resistant, a definite plus given how badly Haiti was recently hit by Hurricane Matthew. Second, the prefabricated construction process is more convenient since some materials can be hard to come by in island locations. And third, the construction doesn't create a lot of waste, which is an important consideration in places without much landfill space. 

"Disposal is very expensive in the Caribbean — when you want to get rid of a dumpster full of construction debris, it's kind of an issue," da Cruz says. 

Da Cruz won't yet say where the specific developments are located, or how many units will be in each project. But he says the company expects to finish them in the next few months.

Cubicco is now focusing on large-scale projects like these, and has stopped selling straight to individual customers. Da Cruz says part of the reason is that consumers generally look for the cheapest housing available.

"Most people in Florida will come to us because they love the idea and they love what we're doing. But when it comes down to dollars and cents, they don't want to pay for it," he says. "They don't want to pay for the additional installation. They don't want to pay for the water reclaiming system. So it's the kind of thing that, if you don't care about the environment, we're not the company for you." 

Cubicco's design has been approved under Florida's building codes for modular units in Florida (which pertains to everything but the foundation), but the homes cost more than traditionally constructed houses because of their sustainable, storm-resistant features.

"We are not affordable housing," da Cruz says. "We're a higher end product that can be achieved for relatively decent price per square foot." 

So while some buyers in Florida are still ignoring climate warnings and snatching up weather- and flood-susceptible properties, Caribbean homeowners will soon get a new, more disaster-proof option.

SEE ALSO: These beautiful round homes are hurricane-proof

Join the conversation about this story »

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Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger has dropped the price of his Plaza Hotel penthouse yet again, this time to $58.9 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The 5,600-square-foot duplex has been on and off the market since 2013, when Hilfiger and his wife, Dee Ocleppo, first listed it for $80 million. At the time that made it one of the most expensive homes on the market in America.

It was later dropped to $75 million, and then to $68.95 million before dropping off the market a few months ago. It's now back, having switched realtors.

The condo is located on the 18th and 19th floors of the Plaza and has four bedrooms with views of Central Park and Fifth Avenue.

Hilfiger and his wife bought two separate units in the hotel for $25.5 million in 2008, combining them in an extensive renovation. At one point that year, Hilfiger seemed to have second thoughts and tried to unload the apartment mid-renovation, marketing it as a "fixer-upper” for $50 million. The price is now a mere $9 million more than that.

Douglas Elliman Real Estate now has the listing.

Alyson Penn and Megan Willett contributed reporting to past versions of this story.

SEE ALSO: A 30-year-old cofounder of 2 billion-dollar companies reportedly bought San Francisco's most expensive home

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Welcome to Tommy Hilfiger's duplex at the top of New York's Plaza Hotel.

As you can see, the decor is quite grand. Hilfiger has decorated it with priceless art like Andy Warhol paintings and other pieces, but they are not included as part of the sale.

His All-American style is pervasive. “It’s not your cookie cutter new condo,” the listing agent told the Wall Street Journal.

This week, the world-renowned Emporis Skyscraper Award 2015 was given to The Shanghai Tower— the second consecutive Chinese tower to win the annual award.

Over 300 buildings were judged predominantly on "excellence in both aesthetic and functional design." To qualify, buildings had to be over 100 metres in height and completed in 2015.

The Shanghai Tower was selected as victor for its "elegant spiraling cylindrical shape," and "extraordinary energy efficiency." 

More than just a pretty face, the £1.95 ($2.4) billion Chinese tower also boasts the world's fastest elevator, which propels guests up its 128 floors at 20 metres per second. 

Both first and second place towers in the awards featured a twisted façade, a testament to the evolving nature of skyscraper architecture, which is diverging from the traditional linear structure thanks to new technologies.

Below, we've listed the top 10 skyscrapers according to Emporis from tenth place to first.

10. ÏCE II, Canada — 234 metres, 67 floors

Based in Toronto, ICE II is the second in the ICE series of condominium skyscrapers, which are inspired by a sleek Scandinavian design. Currently, the cheapest ICE apartment for sale is a 300 sq ft, single bed Bachelor Suite on offer for £200,000.

9. Citygate, Austria — 110 metres, 35 floors

The Citygate tower in Austria's capital of Vienna is linked to a shopping mall, meaning residents never have to travel far for some retail therapy.

8. 432 Park Avenue, USA — 426 metres, 96 floors

The third tallest building in the US, second tallest building in New York and the tallest residential building in the world, 432 has been criticised for being an eyesore for NYC residents. The developer of the £1 billion tower disagreed, though, comparing it to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, except "instead of it looking at you, you’re looking at it wherever you are. You can’t escape it.”

Ben Carlson, CFA, doesn't recommend buying a starter home — one you're planning on keeping only for the short term.

A forever home, however, is a different story.

On his blog, A Wealth of Common Sense, Carlson highlights buying a long-term home as one of 10 lifetime purchases that are worth the money.

Why? First of all, it makes the future more predictable.

"If you can get a 30 or 15-year fixed rate mortgage, especially now at the current interest rates, and know your payment for the next 10, 15, 20 years, that's great from a financial planning perspective," he said. "The interest you're paying is very low, and you get tax breaks as well. You can grow into the payment over time and pay more in the future, or use that excess cash for savings, because your housing costs are fixed."

That's not to say that Carlson, a homeowner himself, recommends buying to save money. In fact, he said, in his personal experience owning a home is much more expensive than renting. For instance, he's constantly surprised by unexpected expenses, like the costs of yard maintenance after years living in an apartment and fixing things that break around the house, and doing improvement projects. After going through it himself, he said a new homeowner could probably plan to add another $20,000-$30,000 to their budget. "I think if you did the full cost-benefit analysis for buying a home, it would probably look a lot worse than people expect."

But there are some benefits you can't qualify with a price tag. Carlson's other argument for buying a home is the "psychic income"— the emotional benefit of putting down roots. "There's a sense of community and home, and you can fix it up how you like," he said. "Owning a home is something you can feel proud of and make your own in a lot of ways."

Because it isn't just about the number.

"I don't think we live in a spreadsheet, where everything is a cost-benefit analysis," Carlson said. "In a lot of ways, it's worth that extra effort if you can find a place you like and can settle down in."

This doesn't mean everyone should run out and buy a home immediately. In fact, Carlson is a fan of renting until you're ready to make the financial commitment for a decade or more — because if there's one thing buying a home isn't, it's a money-saver.

"I think for young people, renting is underrated," he said. "When you're young, renting gives you more options. People say they don't want to pay someone else's mortgage, but I think especially when you're young and not tied down, it gives you the ability to pick up and move to another city for a job — a little leeway. A house is much more expensive than people think. It's more than just a mortgage."

SEE ALSO: 11 signs you're not ready to buy a house

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Podcaster and author James Altucher stopped by Business Insider to talk about his provocative blog post about whether or not owning a home is a smart investment. 

Altucher is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, angel investor and former hedge fund manager. His podcast and blog teach the lessons he's learned about money, health and happiness after having it all, losing it, and getting it back again.

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If you’re planning to settle down in the same place for a number of years, you've more than likely considered the possibility of buying a house.

But can you afford to?

The first thing to check is your cash flow: You should be able to pay all of your bills and still put money into savings each month for sure. Combined with that, the top sign you're ready to buy a house comes down to your motivation for buying.

You should want to buy a home for the right reasons, says Eric Roberge, CFP and founder of Beyond Your Hammock.

When asked why you want to make the jump from renting to buying, your first answer shouldn't be something along the lines of "Because I'm wasting money on rent" or "Because it's a good investment." At the end of the day, buying a home isn't a means of getting rich.

"When you look at the average price increase of a home across the country over the last 100 years, it's only about 3%," Roberge says. "If you take away extra costs plus inflation, you're not really making any money on average on a single family home."

It's smarter to look for a house that meets non-monetary goals: It's in your dream neighborhood, you’re planning to start a family, or you want a place that you can make your own. It should also be a place you plan on staying in for the foreseeable future— at least seven to 10 years. 

"A home is a utility, not an investment," Roberge says.

Todd Sinai, a real-estate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, agrees.

"People get caught up in this notion of 'Oh, if I buy a house it's an investment, so I can do it at any time,' but it's not," Sinai recently told Business Insider.

Your housing budget should reflect your individual needs and goals, regardless of housing market trends. Do it for your future, not your bank account. 

SEE ALSO: 9 signs you can afford to buy a home — even if it doesn't feel like it

DON'T MISS: A Wharton professor explains why you shouldn't consider buying a home an investment

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Eisen took Business Insider on a tour of a $27.3 million apartment at desired Manhattan building One57 her team staged to point out some crucial ways to sell a property faster and for more money.

Produced by Justin Gmoser and Arielle Berger

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The strategy to sell a bizarre home in Hillsborough, California, is changing course.

The unique house remained unsold after over a year the market, and now is being offered on — where else? — Airbnb, for $750 a night.

Known as the "Flintstones House" to Bay Area locals, the house was originally listed for $4.2 million in September 2015.

After two price chops, it seems no one is quite taken in by its charms enough to lay down that kind of cash. It's still listed for sale for $3.195 million.

Many neighbors and locals call the home an eyesore, especially after it was painted orange and purple. It's visible from a nearby highway and bridge, and is something of a local landmark.

Alain Pinel Realtors has the listing. Take a look around the home that has divided a community.

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Even from far away, it's easy to see that the Flintstones House isn't a normal property.

It's made from concrete that's been painted orange and purple, though it was first finished in an off-white color when it was built in 1976.

The odd shape of the house was created by applying shotcrete to both a steel rebar structure and a series of mesh frames held up by inflated balloons typically used for aeronautical research.

Tom Postilio and Mickey Conlon are known as superbrokers when it comes to the luxury real estate market in New York City. With $1.5 billion in residential sales under their belts, the two have gained recognition for their innovative marketing tactics and for starring on HGTV's "Selling New York." 

One of their most valuable tactics for selling a property quickly and at its estimated market value is staging, which involves arranging furniture in a home to help potential buyers envision what it might look like if they were to move in. Working with a professional stager, Postilio and Conlon make the once-empty properties come alive by either using temporary furniture or arranging the owner's existing furniture in a more aesthetically appealing way.

"We put the pieces together in order to give [potential buyers] an idea of how glamorous it could be to live here," Conlon told Business Insider.

We visited the two at one of their latest properties (which has yet to go on the market) to find out about the art of staging and the effect it can have on market value. 

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Just one block away from Midtown Manhattan's "Billionaire's Row," this three-bedroom apartment has a distinct interior style. Both Conlon and Postilio immediately knew they were going to have to stage this apartment, which is expected to list for around $4 million.

"In this case, because [the apartment has] such specific decor — heavy dark wood and stone floors — we want to accentuate these special design features rather than just have someone walk in and go, 'Wow this [decor] is too much,'" Postilio said.

The two were careful to note the differences between staging and interior design. "Too much of a design element can turn off buyers. [With staging] you want to neutralize the space in a way that suggests how one might live there," Conlon said.

Back in the 1980s, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was gripped in an economic crisis as it suffered the effects of de-industrialization: Its unemployment rate was triple that of Detroit’s today. “We basically died,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said on a recent press call. But, in a much-celebrated comeback story, the city came back to life. “In 30 years Pittsburgh changed its economy. It built out an entire new city of eds and meds, technology, finance and energy. Now we’re seeing a new Pittsburgh emerge.”

That’s the narrative of many major urban areas today. If Donald Trump ever took the time to talk to people in the “inner cities” he loves to denigrate, he’d know that many of them are more concerned about rising rents than they are about rising crime. Preserving affordable housing—and easing the displacement of existing residents that often follows these urban economic comeback stories—is the current problem that New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy has been tracking throughout the year. The center’s latest report, released on October 27, highlights some of the ways that governments in high-cost cities have been responding to the affordable housing issue. Reads the report:

After decades of attempting to entice real estate and business investments, as well as a resident base with higher taxable income ... cities now find themselves with a significant amount of all three. One of the most visible results of this shift has been soaring housing prices. As the demand for housing has grown to far exceed the existing supply, many urban neighborhoods that have long served as a home for mostly low- and moderate-income households are now seeing an influx of higher-income households; in other words, they are experiencing gentrification.

The report focuses on two major ways that cities are tackling gentrification: creating and/or preserving affordable housing, and assisting residents displaced by gentrification.

One way to hit that first goal is via the community land trust model, in which affordability is preserved through ground-leased properties on city-owned land, or land that’s been entrusted to a neighborhood nonprofit. That idea has been picking up support in recent years in places like Baltimore and New Orleans. Under this model, the nonprofit determines the pricing for the properties it rents or sells on land that it either owns or stewards. Such trusts have also been proven effective in certain neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Burlington, Vermont.

But, for the most part, cities have not yet fully bought in to them, largely because of the inflexibility they introduce: Cities lose their ability to repurpose community-entrusted land for other uses, such as zoning it for commercial use if necessary, because the land is often locked into long-term leases, usually spanning in the 75-year range.

The report also recognizes new trends in the adoption of inclusionary zoningand linkage fees for private developers. There’s no one universal model for these policies, but they generally involve one of two things: a requirement that developers either make a certain percentage of their housing units available at below-market rates, or that has them pay a fee into a fund for affordable housing. Recent studies on inclusionary zoning found that these policies do help prevent housing prices from surging in gentrifying neighborhoods. However, the studies also found that inclusionary zoning doesn’t necessarily make housing more affordable for very low-income families.

As far as the goal of reducing displacement, the Furman Center points to strategies such as rent regulation programs, or policies that give low-income families prioritized preference for subsidized housing as helpful. However, some strong caveats follow:

Anti-displacement policies do have potential downsides. Perhaps most fundamentally, if cities are segregated, policies that help keep households in place can reinforce existing racial and economic segregation. Moreover, programs designed to prevent moving may reduce beneficial mobility—leading residents to favor staying in place even when a move might increase their wellbeing or might be a better outcome for affordability in the city overall (if those moves then pave the way for higher-density development or better use/allocation of the existing stock). Such programs may also reduce revenues for landlords, which may run the risk of discouraging investment to maintain existing housing and investment to create new housing.

The context here is that we’re currently in the “Moving to Opportunity” era, which is fueled by the theory that low-income families improve their lots when they’re able to live in wealthier neighborhoods with better economic prospects. Many families now living in neighborhoods that are so racially and/or economically segregated might be better off uprooting themselves and moving a different community that could bring them better economic outcomes.

One big issue not addressed in the Furman report: better wages. Over the past few decades in the U.S., wages have remained stagnant while the costs of building and living in housing has steadily risen. Researchers in Illinois published a study this week that found that raising the minimum wage to $15 could help families better afford decent housing. The Illinois study encourages policymakers to continue pursuing strategies for making housing more affordable, but suggests that without increased wages, families will still be cost-burdened with living expenses.

“Housing unaffordability is a function of wages and housing prices,” says Jessica Yager, Executive Director of the NYU Furman Center and coauthor of the report. “The problem has been getting worse in many places, including New York City, because housing prices are rising faster than wages. We did not look at local strategies to help raise wages, but that would be an excellent follow-up study.”

There is no proven blueprint on how to fix this somewhat intractable problem. Perhaps the most important takeaway from the Furman paper is that its authors can’t vouch for any of the strategies they list as actually being totally effective in the long run: The report is clear to point out that it is only a collection of responses to gentrification, not a testament of what are the best practices.

Why can’t we tell what works best? Most anti-gentrification strategies haven’t been in place long enough to project any real impacts. And, as the report notes, it would take a combination of them to make a measurable difference. In Pittsburgh, for example, the city council just assembled a housing task force this year to investigate the housing problem and issued a slate of recommendations in May, one that includes many of the strategies listed in the Furman Center report.

It is telling, though, that many cities are only now getting around to thinking about how to curb the displacement of low-income families from their homes. That’s not the same as saying these places are war zones—and Trump himself is no stranger to displacing families, especially black families. But it does mean that high-cost cities have a long way to go in sharing their new prosperity.

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Tom Postilio and Mickey Conlon are big players in the New York City real estate world. As stars of HGTV's "Selling New York," the two are known for their innovative marketing tactics and have closed $1.5 billion in residential sales. 

One of their most valuable tactics for selling property quickly and at its estimated market value is staging: reorganizing and designing rooms within a home to help potential buyers envision what it might look like if they were to move in.

While Postilio and Conlon generally work with a stager on massive projects that can cost up to six figures, the two have a number of valuable tips for sellers who want to try it themselves and are on a budget.

We got five of their most important tips on how to ready your home before it goes on the market:

SEE ALSO: 2 of New York's top real estate brokers share their best tactic for selling a home faster and for more money

Get your windows washed.

"The first rule is wash your windows," Conlon said. "The first thing that [potential buyers] do is gravitate toward the view. [If it's not washed] it's like looking at the world through dirty eye glasses."

Declutter by throwing things away, not stuffing it into a closet.

"Declutter," Postilio advised. 

Conlon agreed: "People have 400 bottles of shampoo on the floor of their shower, and you've just got to clear that stuff out. Instead of putting it in closets, throw it out, because storage is another important thing for [potential buyers]. If they don't feel like there's enough for their stuff, you're selling yourself short."

Make sure all bedrooms are staged as bedrooms.

These two advise against making one of a home's bedrooms into a media room or home office during the staging process. "We're always of the mind set for the resale value and getting the most that we can for our seller, and we want [potential buyers] to be able to [see] all the bedrooms [as bedrooms]," Postilio said.

"It's easier [for the potential buyer] to imagine the reverse," Conlon said.

Before Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, and Realtor.com, someone interested in buying a home would have to consult a local realtor to access information about what was currently available on the market.

But as these online property databases rose to prominence, homebuyers became more picky. That's leading to some serious problems in the luxury market, where expensive homes are increasingly taking longer to sell. 

Websites like Zillow and Trulia let consumers find what the current owners had paid for a particular home, the price per square foot compared to the rest of the neighborhood, and even how many people had viewed the listing page before you. Homebuyers today are better equipped to understand when a home they're seeing is overpriced, which could explain, in part, why some of America's most expensive homes have languished on the market.

The highest end of the American real estate market has indeed seen a fair bit of softening over the last several months.

According to recent data from Trulia, since last year, the US luxury real estate market has seen a significant increase in for-sale homes needing to reduce their asking price. Trulia's analysis, which looked at for-sale listings at the metro and national level, showed that 11.99% of luxury listings — defined as the top one-third of all active listings — had experienced a price reduction since first appearing to market.

That's an increase from 11.01% last year, and significantly more than the 10.66% figure that represents all for-sale listings that had experienced a price cut nationally. 

"The luxury segment is slowing down more quickly this year than it had in the past. California markets, as well as markets in Texas, are the two major ones that have seen the largest increases in price reductions. Home prices got too high too quickly, and people who listed these homes for sale kind of got ahead of themselves," Trulia data scientist Mark Uh told Business Insider, noting that many buyers know more about the market now, and could wait to make an offer once the price comes down a bit.

"In the meantime, income hasn't caught up with such huge increases in real estate prices. There's not as many people who can afford those homes — supply has grown faster than demand."

It's a completely different scenario from just a few years ago, when the luxury market — especially in places like New York City and Miami — was hot, and there wasn't much supply to go around. But now that so many luxury condo buildings have either been completed or are nearing completion, supply is way up, and buyers have more options and no sense of urgency to choose between them.

Just in New York City alone, well-heeled buyers with many millions to spend can choose between super-expensive condos at One57, 432 Park Avenue, and 111 West 57th Street, just to name a few. Many of those buildings have reduced the prices of their units, or gotten more creative with the offerings of extra amenities or unique layouts. 

"If they're in the super luxury category, they have to be very realistic on pricing. There's more importance placed on being the really correct price than there had been in the recent past," Douglas Elliman Real Estate's Noble Black told Business Insider. "There's a lot of choice. If you're a buyer looking to spend $40 to $50 million, you know there's a lot more selection than there had been in the past few years."

Black's current listings include a $28.5 million penthouse in New York's trendy SoHo neighborhood, as well as an $18.9 million condo in Tribeca.

"In the past several years, [a broker could] throw out a crazy price and it would sell for that. People are looking at the fundamentals now, really assessing what the property is, and what the price is," Black said. "If those things make sense, there's a demand for it, but it has to be objectively a good deal."

Prices are on their way down

It's not just in New York and Miami that sellers are feeling the effects of a softening luxury market. We've reported on major price chops on properties owned by Tommy Hilfiger, Celine Dion, 50 Cent, and Michael Jordan, to name just a few notable names. There are many reasons why an otherwise desirable home could take months and even years to find a buyer. It could be that the property has a strange layout, that the owner's style comes off as too quirky, or that a less-than-ideal location can't be justified. Political and economic uncertainties across the globe certainly haven't helped the problem.

But to hear the pros talk about it, it sounds more and more like price-chopped homes are being brought down to the prices they should have been tagged with in the first place.

"If you want to sell something, you have to be realistic," Ryan Serhant, a broker with Nest Seekers International and star of Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing New York," told Business Insider. He added that he'll often notice potential buyers verifying listing details on their phone at the same time he's showing them around a property.

"People don't want to overpay, but they like to spend money when it's their own idea. Everyone likes to get a deal," he said.

Though Serhant got his start in New York, his team also operates offices in Los Angeles, Miami, and the Hamptons, and he says the slowing of the luxury market is a trend he's seen across the board. Serhant agreed with predictions that the market is headed towards a correction soon, but he thinks it's a great thing.

"It's not like real estate is less expensive. It's like going to a chiropractor to get adjusted — to feel better, it went down to its real price. It's a healthier market for sure," he said. "There have been more bidding wars than I can remember, in part because people are starting to price their homes correctly."

SEE ALSO: Nobody wants to buy Tommy Hilfiger's $58.9 million penthouse in the Plaza Hotel

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It's no secret that real estate isn't cheap anywhere these days, but these palatial homes give expensive a whole new definition. 

With listing prices well over what most people make in a lifetime, the most expensive homes currently on the US market feature perks like full spas, enormous movie theaters, custom marble staircases, design details fit for royalty, and enough bedrooms and bathrooms to get lost in. 

With the help of real-estate-listing site Point2Homes, we've put together a list that reveals some of the most exquisite mega-mansions, penthouses, condos, and compounds around the country. 

With all that these residences offer, there's no need to ever leave the house. And when you've paid this much, why would you want to?

Brittany Kriegstein contributed reporting to an earlier version of this story.

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19. This 8,000-square-foot condo in New York City's famous 432 Park Avenue has all of the benefits of being built in 2015. Sleek, modern design details are present throughout, and spectacular Manhattan views can even be enjoyed from the bathtub.

Price:$82 million

Access to the building's state-of-the-art gym and pool, plus the rights to brag about living in the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, make the property even more desirable.

Click here to tour the building »

18. At 15,000 square feet, this six-story Upper East Side mansion is something out of a Gilded Age storybook. It's being sold by real-estate developer Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners.

Price:$84.5 million

Absolutely every detail is accounted for in this house, from custom marble and woodwork to steam-resistant mirrors in the bathrooms and a temperature-controlled room for storing fur coats. The dining room spans one full city block, and a two-story staff suite ensures that there is plenty of room for the help.

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14. (TIE) Like something straight out of "The Great Gatsby," this magnificent estate in Great Neck, Long Island, boasts 13 bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, indoor and outdoor pools, health complexes, game rooms, a bowling alley, and an electronic casino.

Price:$85 million

Private gardens lead to a pier for a private yacht, and the iconic New York City skyline is visible from the extensive waterfront. The estate was previously owned by Tamir Sapir, a Russian émigré who made his fortune in New York real estate. He died in 2014.

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