@estrellita have you considered renting a house until you're ready to buy? We are doing that now and I love it. The comforts of home ownership without the maintenance! I do really wish we could buy and have no idea how we're going to save for a downpayment (and afford to keep up with the house we already own and rent out because it's underwater and too far from H's work!), but it's nice to be in a house even if it isn't mine.
I absolutely agree with this! Though I will say that we have less to put away each month, because living in a house costs more (rent, utilities, etc). But it is really nice to have a garage and not share any walls with anyone. Plus, if something major breaks we get to call the landlord rather than figure out how we're going to pay for it.
@estrellita have you considered renting a house until you're ready to buy? We are doing that now and I love it. The comforts of home ownership without the maintenance! I do really wish we could buy and have no idea how we're going to save for a downpayment (and afford to keep up with the house we already own and rent out because it's underwater and too far from H's work!), but it's nice to be in a house even if it isn't mine.
If we did that, there's no way we could ever save for a down payment unless we were doing a rent to own sorta thing (not even sure if that's offered here, could look into it). Basically renting a house (or townhouse more likely) would be over $1000/month from what I've estimated in the past when I looked into it. A mortgage on a reasonably priced house with even a small down payment would be less than our rent now (just over $800/month). I would absolutely love to rent a townhouse or something, but I just think financially it wouldn't be worth it for us. It makes more sense in my mind to buy a townhouse and pay the same amount/less and actually own it. Depending on the development, a townhouse seems like the perfect step up because they may do some of the maintenance for us still, but we'd have more freedom!
Also, I looked into it and the smallest amount you can put down on a conventional loan is 5%. FHA is 3.5%, but you have lifetime PMI.
That's good to know. I think a 5% down payment is potentially doable by early next summer depending on the home cost. 3.5% would be even more doable. What is PMI? FYI I'm totally clueless about home loans and just started learning the basics recently, haha.
I get really worked up and stressed about saving for a home as well estrellita. I constantly feel like we will never get there or have a fully funded e-fund/savings account. I'm glad my H is much more mellow about this which calms me down when it gets really bad.
I had never really thought about renting a home. I'll have to look into this whenever we move!
PMI is private mortgage insurance and the amount is typically somewhere between $150-$200/month. You just have to make sure your monthly budget includes that and property taxes on top of the mortgage. And the HOA fee if applicable. So expensive! (Our property taxes alone here are like $700/month.)
Also, I looked into it and the smallest amount you can put down on a conventional loan is 5%. FHA is 3.5%, but you have lifetime PMI.
That's good to know. I think a 5% down payment is potentially doable by early next summer depending on the home cost. 3.5% would be even more doable. What is PMI? FYI I'm totally clueless about home loans and just started learning the basics recently, haha.
I'm clueless too lol I feel I should take a class or something to learn all about it!
That's good to know. I think a 5% down payment is potentially doable by early next summer depending on the home cost. 3.5% would be even more doable. What is PMI? FYI I'm totally clueless about home loans and just started learning the basics recently, haha.
I'm clueless too lol I feel I should take a class or something to learn all about it!
They have first time home buyer classes! You should definitely look into going to one. Around here the county governments offer them as well as some of the credit unions.
I'm clueless too lol I feel I should take a class or something to learn all about it!
They have first time home buyer classes! You should definitely look into going to one. Around here the county governments offer them as well as some of the credit unions.
Oh cool! I wonder what they have around here. I'm going to research and ask around. I just need to be educated! Thanks for the info!
Post by estrellita on Oct 26, 2014 22:14:59 GMT -5
This is awesome info! I thought about finding one of the loan people at my work and talking to them about it. But a class might be more informative and include everything we'd need to know. I'll definitely have to see if there is anything in this area!
Thinking more about it, a small down payment shouldn't be too difficult. We will both get bonuses early next year and since I'm meeting my goals better than last year, I assume the bonus will be at least as much. That will be a huge help. I'm maxing out my FSA so I hopefully won't have a ton of medical bills (although that will take more out of each paycheck, but we get a match so free money!). I think once we get to that point I will feel more ready, but I at least want to get a good idea of how everything works and how much of a down payment we need to keep the mortgage and extra bills affordable!
@moonbeam We just ordered a new mower. Our reel mower doesn't work that well, and the one we were given by FIL had some smoke pour out of it before dying completely so that one went in the garbage. The new mower isn't due to come in for approximately two weeks, so here's hoping there's no snow then so that we can mow it finally (we haven't mowed it in over a month!)
Yay...I just finished all my paperwork for the week AND my grad assignments due tonight. Now it's time for bed. I wish I could survive and feel healthy on less sleep because I really want to stay up and watch OUAT.
estrellita Originally we wanted to wait until we had a 20% down payment for a house (and would probably still be saving for that now) but we bought and just did the required 5%. Interest rates were so low that it really didn't seem worth waiting and potentially have them get higher. I can't remember what we locked in for, but it was under 4%.
estrellita To avoid PMI you need to put 20% down. We have a VA loan where the government actually acts as your guarantor for your mortgage payments so you don't pay PMI regardless of down payment. We put 20% down anyways to cut our monthly cost. I was going to do 25% but the extra 5% didn't affect our monthly cost by much so I used that money for renos instead.
TBH we just saved by living in duplexes while H was army. He was an officer and most guys rented houses but a duplex fit our needs and cut our costs drastically. Do you know if there are any duplexes in your area? You get the privacy, yard, etc but don't pay nearly as much.
MrsAggie I'm not sure, I think so but probably not many that aren't student housing. There are plenty of homes to rent near campus but I wouldn't want to live there even if they'd rent to a non student