This is a website that I found out about through information from an Oprah Winfrey show. If you plan to have children, you will want to know this type of information.
http://www.familywatchdog.us/
I have something to add, go to a mortgage lender and ask them what they think you could afford. Before you are prequalified this will give you a general idea of what kind of house payment you could get. Then the very next month make a house payment to your savings account less the money for your current rent. After a couple of months of living without this money are you comfortable or could you pay more, or is it to much? While building a nice little saving account for a down paymant you will also find out if you can live without this money in your everyday budget. Also something no one has mentioned and I learned the hard way. You will need 1 year prepaid Homeowners insurnace, this is your fire, liability insurance that you will need to have to get a loan. I went to my first closing in 1976 and the realtor asked us the morning of the closing if we had an extra $800.00 for the house insurance? Of course we didn't and had to borrow from a family member. That didn't happen again. Best of luck!
This is a website that I found out about through information from an Oprah Winfrey show. If you plan to have children, you will want to know this type of information.
http://www.familywatchdog.us/
Jo's right. If you lik a house but not it's interior paint; that's ok. It's an easy, inexpensive fix that will save you money! Also, if theres a certain harware in the house you don't like that's inexpensive to replace (i.e. sink knobs etc); don't let little things discourage you.
If you like the size and style of house, and it's in the middle of your range; it's most likely the house for you! [img]wink.gif[/img]
posted by boop:
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is some very good advice indeed!I have something to add, go to a mortgage lender and ask them what they think you could afford. Before you are prequalified this will give you a general idea of what kind of house payment you could get. Then the very next month make a house payment to your savings account less the money for your current rent. After a couple of months of living without this money are you comfortable or could you pay more, or is it to much?
Laurie
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I second that--I'm living in something of a bad neighborhood right now--lots of unsupervised children and loud music. Although living here is necessary due to finances, I think it would be worth the amount I'm saving to have peace and quiet most of the time. Good luck with your house search. [img]smile.gif[/img]Originally posted by mandasmom:
The only advice I would add to what you have already gotten from board members is to look around a lot, so you will recognize a good deal when you see one. Also, in terms of investment, you are always better off buying the cheapest house in a good neighborhood than the nicest house in a bad one, unless it seems like that neighborhood is on the verge of being renovated.
Good luck! Buying a house is a great investment and for you to be doing it at 23 is fantastic. You got a lot of good advise here. DH and I are building a house right now. I like to watch HGTV (Home and Garden TV channel on cable). The shows on there give me inspiration about what can be done with spaces, yards, etc. Since you are just starting out, you will have an advantage if you can spot a "diamond in the rough."
Although it is a good idea to not spend more than you can afford, I wished I would have pushed myself a little more financially when we bought our first house. We should have gotten a 3 car garage and some other things because when it comes to re-sale, certain features are very desirable. Also, when my DH and I bought our 1st house in our 20s, our income went up a lot over the years because we got more job experience. Also, our house value doubled in the 14 years we spent in our 1st house. So, after a few years, the house did not seem as expensive as it did in the beginning, and we could have afforded a few more features that would have netted us more money when we sold. Of course, if you are planning on having kids and don't want to work, I would stay conservative.
Boop! That was excellent advice!
I got married when I was 20, and DH was 22. His parents gave us a one acre lot as our wedding gift. We built part of our house before we got married, and actually had to live our first month of married life with my IN LAWS, while the house was finished. Four years and two kids later, we added on the rest of the house. You should have seen us in the house before we added on! We had one bedroom, and you had to jump from one bed to the other, to the crib to get to the baby. We were young...what can I say? LOL! I actually have pictures of that bedroom with DD sleeping on her bed. It's hilarious, and we really treasure memories of that time.
This was a crazy way to build a house, but an awesome way to build equity. Our first mortgage was $16K! I had no idea at the time how lucky I was.
BUT....part of our house is still unfinished...20 years later. We are getting there, and it will be finished in 2006. It took me a long time to forgive myself for letting DH talk me into finishing the house over time. It was a really dumb idea, as far as my sanity goes. Now that we're almost done, it seems foolish to not finish it on our own. I mean...I want to be able to say we finally did it.
The good thing about it is that we're almost done, have lots of equity, and I have much better taste than I did in the 80's! [img]eek.gif[/img]
We also own another house. It's smaller, and not as nice as the one we live in. It's not worth as much as the one we live in, and when/if we make the decision to sell, we just might sell this one, and remodel the other one. I just don't know yet how things will go. We're almost finished raising our family, so we won't need as much space. We live in the country, and the area around us is being developed. Real estate values are going up. I do know that I'm pleased that we invested in both of these homes.
My dream would be to sell both of our homes, and build a new one, but DH will never do that. He is so attached to this house, and I will probably live her my whole married life.
I also want to mention that the first couple of years making a new house payment are kind of scarey. I remember thinking there was no way we could do it. The amount seemed so high. Now I hear people talking about their house payments...and ours was 1/4 of their payments! So really...buying a house when you're young is a really smart idea.
Also...really listen to the advice about basing your house buying power on only one of your incomes. You may think you don't want to be a SAM, but that first baby can change everything. You won't really know how you feel about that until it happens. IMO nothing is worse that leaving your baby, and going to work...when you would rather stay home. I did it for a very short time after DD was born, but luckily, it worked out for me to stay home. If you want to work, then you'll just have that much more income for repairs and other fun stuff.
Good luck!
Thanks for all the advice everyone! I really appreciate your insight.
The possibility of owning a home is so exciting! But also nerve-wrecking. [img]confused.gif[/img]
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks