We spend an ungodly amount of money on rent. Every month we pour half of our hard earned money into the pockets of our landlords. Don't get me wrong: They are nice people and, as far as landlords go, I don't think we could conjure better ones. I just don't like handing over all that cash!
So, we've been looking to buy a house. Given the number of children we have and the fact that we want to work from home, once KJS takes off like we all know it will, we are looking at homes with 3 or more bedrooms. We could live with one bathroom, as we do now, but would prefer at least 1 & 1/2. And there are two more things we are looking for: A decent garage and a little bit of space.
We have some credit issues. But we also have a few lenders who say they can work around that and still get us a mortgage. How big a mortgage? I don't know. We have no down payment. Though we are trying to save something it's really hard with all that money going to the landlords! I've been assured that there are ways around that, too. We have no money for closing costs. Again, the creativity of our lenders seemingly knows no bounds!
Biggest problem: Houses here are so incredibly expensive! We don't really want to move far away from our families. My parents live 3 miles away and Sam's live about 10 miles away. We get to see everyone nearly weekly. It's a lovely thing and I'm so glad that my kids know their grandparents! But why, oh why did they all have to choose to live in one of the most expensive places in the country???!
Houses that are within the size we need/want start at about $350,000. The houses priced this 'low' are usually in need of some major repair or are in the middle of nowhere. The houses that are priced low enough to be considered for our monthly budget are so tiny, you wonder how many clowns you can fit inside.
So, we are renewing our lease for another year. We will work hard to build KJS and save some money. And maybe, just maybe, houses will be a little cheaper next year.
4 comments:
Sandie,
Being the one who "moved away" twice, I have to tell you that you must think of YOUR family first. If that means moving to a less expensive area to better meet the needs of your family, so be it. Of course, you have to decide what will best serve your family. For me, it was having happy parents who were not stressed financially. It was having a place to raise my children that did not preclude any other things they might need in there lives.
I do not regret for a moment our decision to move back to South Carolina before Mandy was born. It has allowed us to change our professions while living a in a beautiful home, which we were able to build to our needs.
I wish you luck in your house hunt.
Love,
Jess
Oooh. A comment from Jessie! How unusual! How exciting! Enough with the sarcasm, on to the comment.
I just want to say to be careful of those creative lenders. The more creative they have to be, the higher your interest rate is going to be. Just be careful, and don't do anything stupid to get around credit problems. Maybe you can fix those problems? I don't know what they are, so nothing for you there.
In light of Jessie's comment, I would like to point out something I think you are already thinking of. If you do move away to save money on the house, you lose the built in support system that nearby family provides. That's no small matter.
If you are serious about saving for a house, though, you can do it. Yes, it is hard to save, but look honestly at what you spend. Do you have cable? Turning that off way back when saved us $35 a month. It's probably more now. What sort of conveniences do you pay for that could be eliminated with a little work? I think of diapers right off, but there are many others. It's a small thing, but it takes me about six months to go through a roll of paper towels because I use washable terry washclothes for clean-ups. I haven't bought a paper napkin in six years. How much has that saved? Maybe $32 a year? Not much really, but added with a lot of other little things...it enables a growing family (like mine, for instance) to pay off a lot of debt in a short time, start saving for retirement, and...buy a house! (We had no money down, either. Used our VA benefits.) I'm going to suggest a book now, but don't buy it. If you buy it, you don't get it. Check it out from the library. The Tightwad Gazette, by Amy Dyscyzn (probably misspelled). Okay, you can buy it after you've checked it out at least four times, but only because you want to make sure other people get a chance to use it. :-D Inspired thrift!
Well, that's probably long enough for a comment. After all, this isn't MY blog. I'm going to excuse myself now. But I may come back later. ;-)
The other thing you have to watch out for, as I've talked with you about, is property taxes...they are incredibly high in this part of NJ and only increasing, though the governor is building in some relief. Don't forget to figure that into your monthly mortgage payment.
Part of worrying about your family is worrying about the relationships you want them to have. And if having a relationship with kin is important, then that has to factor into your decision. I know I wish we could have had cousins to grow up around, and so I'm happy that Angie has many of those nearby. We wouldn't move out of this area either because we feel strongly about being near our families too.
But, don't consider half an hour to an hour too far away either...you might find a bargain of a starter house that will allow you to build your credit and some equity in order to trade up later on, and possibly pick a better location.
Hang in there; it will happen in good time.
Buying a house is SO stressful in that you are making such a huge committment. The best thing that we did is shave about $30-$40,000 off of the price that we were preapproved for. If we would have spent that much more, we would never make it each month! And, we also looked at TONS of houses - over 50 - to find the "right" one. We wanted to make sure it was a home and floor plan that we would love AND would have good resale value when the time comes.
Best of luck to you!
Amber
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