The photographer comes today at 8am. Ugh. 8am. I won't even be here, and G-man will only be here for about 30 min as he has a dentist appt. 8am means that I was polishing until 9pm last night, and now in the wee hours of the morning, we will be wiping down the last few things, making the beds, etc.
The realtor we are working with down south set up an automatic MLS e-mail that sends us houses that fit criteria. She set the price range a little higher than we discussed....I am guessing so that 1) we have a little negotiation room, but also 2) a higher commission.
Well it happened....a house came up.....and we LOVE it. Like seriously love....there have been a few that we liked, and we said we would want to look at when the time comes (if they are still available). But this one....my heart went pitter patter. It is in one of the most desirable neighborhoods, 5 bed, 3 full bath. It is so pretty and open. It has just enough upgrades to make you feel like you have way more house than what is there (although it is almost 3000 sq ft...that's over twice the size of our current house!)
It is also currently listed at 25k higher than where we wanted to be.
In a "what if" scenario....if we were able to get the buying price down a little, and you add in a 3.5% down payment (and we are still figuring out that piece).....it comes down to the ballpark......maybe the parking lot....not actually in the stadium.
I am not worried about the monthly cost....it is just the getting into a house costs!
The reality is that until our house sells, we have no idea what we can really do. And also that this house that I already started figuring out where stuff can go (I kid....well.....sort of.....) is probably just out of reach. I am trying to comfort myself that it will probably be gone before we can see it anyway.
In my "make it work" mind.....if I found a job before we left.....and the sellers agreed.....we would have to hold off on closing for 30 days, as FHA guidelines state I have to be employed for 30 days in order to use my salary to qualify. Maybe we could rent it for a month! Yeah!!!
For the record....we talked to a mortgage lender who pre-qualified us for 200k on just G-man's salary. This house is 225k.....so we should easily qualify with my salary.
All of this is fantasy land.....I know that. Just let me stay here for a minute before I have to go back to reality, ok?
Buy a home you can afford on one salary and you will sleep better at night.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't about sleeping better at night...it is about a long term plan. We knew this was a huge upheaval when we started, and some decisions are going to made based on the long term. But I am not going to buy something that I haven't crunched the numbers a thousand times on.
DeleteIt's fun to dream about the future, but please be rational. If you let yourself start falling in love with houses now (especially ones outside of your price range), you'll likely end up paying too much, too much and with too much risk. There will always be other houses. Really! And $25k is not insignificant. For a $225k house, you should have salary of at least $90k combined (2.5 times your salary) with a 20% dowpayment. I still think you should rent for a year or two and then think about buying once you have much more info on your salary and the neighborhoods, and you can save up a downpayment. Just try to follow your head, not your heart.
ReplyDeleteLike I said...this house probably won't be availible by the time we are ready....it is fantasy land. I flat out said this was out of the range, and I know it....if we could get the mortgage for closer to 200...then we are in business.
DeleteThe salary isn't an issue once I am working... And we aren't going to be able to save for a downpayment and pay down the debt at the same time, so by your rationale, we are years away from buying a house...and that isn't going to happen.
I know everyone thinks renting is a good idea...but we really don't. To have to move AGAIN....to possibly pull the kids into a school where they won't know anyone AGAIN....to lose the tax write off on the house....all the while paying the same amount of money on a monthly basis? I fail to see the upside, other than getting to know the area. Renting is an option....but it is at the bottom of the list.
Nothing wrong with planning and some dreaming, it is your future after all... You sure you want that many bedrooms? Guessing that's a 2 story? keep in mind your heating and cooling costs. Most of my friends that have 2 want to downgrade to 1 etc because of the cost but hopefully you find a new job that pays a lot more so it may not be a huge issue.
ReplyDeleteHS
We are actually looking for 4 bed (ours, 2 kids, and a guest), but this one popped up. More house than we really NEED. Most houses there are 2 story, so finding a 1 story would take awhile.
DeleteMakes sense, you also said last move but keep in mind your kids will leave eventually but of course they could stay, I was at my parents til 23! lol
DeleteBut I am also looking at a child who potentially will be living with us as an adult.
DeleteIt will be the last move at least for a long time!
Did the mortgage person tell you about the new rules for a FHA loan where you pay PMI for the life of the loan and the PMI % is higher than it used to be? I only ask because you might want to shoot for a 5% down conventional loan so you can eventually get rid of PMI (@20% equity) while also paying a lower monthly PMI. good luck in your search. I know when I was looking my budget kept going up so I could get the house I really wanted. Looking back I wish I would have picked a cheaper smaller house.
ReplyDeleteBlogger won't let me hit reply to Kay...*rolling eyes*
ReplyDeleteI didn't talk to the mortgage person in depth about it, but I was aware of the new FHA rules. If we can do the 5% down, we will certainly go that route, but we may struggle at the 3.5% mark. Alot is going to depend on what happens with our current house.
We are planning for this to be our last move...so I am willing to pay a little extra for some things...but we have a long list of "would be nice, but not a deal breaker" vs a short list of must haves. This house I am referring to is more than we NEED...it is just nice to look at. But I will say this...if we got the mortgage for $210 (figure in the downpayment and negotiations....)...it would still be cheaper than what we are paying now, and that is factoring in PMI, escrow, P&I...
Remember all things will work out for good, whether you get the house or not, it was meant to be, in realstate everything is a crap shoot.
ReplyDeleteYep. This house is fantasy land. Heck, we may see it and not like it! It will work out...I am just ready to GO!
DeleteJust curious but is property taxes cheaper where you are moving? That can make a huge difference in monthly payment. In utah I only pay $2400 a year in property tax. The same house ($290K) in Wisconsin is $4K+ and in the Chicago area forget it. It's like Over $6K!!
ReplyDeleteYES! When I said earlier that the monthly payment was lower, that was taking into account taxes.
DeleteIn the new area...the taxes are about 25% of what they are here! We pay almost $5k in taxes for our house now (between fire district and city). The taxes on the houses we are looking at are about $1200!!!!
EVERYTHING is cheaper there. Gas is over $.60 per gallon less expensive. Electric rates are less, no oil heating.....it is a huge difference for us!
Ha, I love the demographics of people who read personal finance blogs. When the rest of the world is saying to buy bigger, newer, faster, better, etc. we're all saying to take it slow and don't spend too much. I know you will think it all through carefully. Good luck to you and your family on this move.
ReplyDeleteA 5 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood for $225k!?!?! WHAT THE HELL AM I STILL DOING IN MIAMI!?
ReplyDelete