Buy a House

The house I wrote about last time: I actually went ahead and signed the sales contract – then changed my mind a few hours later.

Legally, you have three days to back out and I’m glad I did. The house was a nice house, but the location was stupid – which is why is was so affordable. There’s a reason nobody says “floor plan, floor plan floor plan”.

I’ve been waffling back and forth on it – but house buying is on hold for me. For at least a year.

1. I’ve only recently got out of debt and I need to save money right now.

2. I’m in business building/career rebuilding mode and I don’t need to needlessly tie myself to a location.

So, for now, no house.

The house will be better when it’s right. Right means

1) I can afford it – not barely afford it.

2) I feel good about committing to a location.

I actually put a “hold” on a new house today.

I wrote a check for $100 and I offered an amount less than the list price. I’m waiting for an answer. Either way, I can get my $100 back if I decide not to proceed.

Even if they counter with full price, it’s still not a bad deal.

They only want the $100 as earnest money. So, even if I sign the sales contract, I’m only out $100 if I decide not to go to closing.

I’m conflicted about it.

On the one hand, I really want a house. Really bad. It’s a nice house. Not too expensive so that it’s scary because I can’t afford it. But, not so low priced that it scares me because it’s just horrible. It’s in the middle. Just right.

On the other hand, my job isn’t stable. I could get fired soon. I’d use up all my savings to buy it.

On the third hand, if I don’t get fired or replace my job with a job that pays the same or better, I’m living on half my salary and can save. In other words, I can afford to have my salary cut in half and I can still qualify for the mortgage. I could afford to have my salary cut even more than half and still afford to pay. Not comfortably, but still pay.

I’m running out of hands, but on yet another hand, buying this house, or any other house, reduces flexibility on where I can work. If I take a job out of state, I have to maintain two households or rent this house.

They will counter with something tomorrow. Naturally, if they accept my offer, I’m expected to sign the sales contract.

I’m glad I didn’t buy that other new house I looked at. This one is the same price (if they accept my offer) and it’s far better. House wise anyway. I still need to examine the location in more detail. Seems ok, but I have more research to do. Besides I have over a month before closing to research away and only be out $100.

But house wise – this one is way better. Bigger. Better floorplan. Although the other one did have some nicer upgrades. Overall, the new house is much better.

It’s already owned by the bank. They’ve had it listed for four months and ignored a couple of really low ball offers.

Roof needs work. Otherwise in pretty good shape. Let’s see what the inspection says.

I want it.
I’m afraid of it.

I’m going to sleep on it.

==================

Update:
Not doing it.

Too expensive to get to the built in equity.

I like the house a lot, but I can’t afford it.

As Columbo says.

I despise this apartment more than you can imagine.

I’ve put up with it because I was digging my way out of debt.

The police are here all the time. Gross. I actually live in a place where the police come all the time.

Management invents reasons to enter my home on a regular and ongoing basis. This week’s excuse is to check the smoke detectors. A few weeks ago, it was to inspect the fire extinguishers. Before that, the water heater. Before that, the air filters. On and on.

DO YOU KNOW HOW INSANE THIS MAKES ME???????

These are contrived excuses.

It is a horrible violation of my privacy.

I’m a renter, sure, and I always pay on time. But, dammit, this is my home. Even though I’m a renter – this is my home.

I HATE THIS VIOLATION.

I can’t be home every time they do this.

Sometimes, I’m even out of town and don’t know it happens unless a neighbor tells me.

With a house – you need a damn search warrant to come in without my permission.

This sucks. I must get out now!!!! Not all apartments do this.

There are more reasons to hate it here- but that one is the worst.

I know my last message on this topic said I wanted to wait and rent a year and then move to my dream house.

BUT – today, two super annoying things happened regarding my life here in this apartment from hell.

Plus, that house with the 1/2 acre and the septic tank probably isn’t available anymore. Someone else bid on it.

BUT- if I buy a house or condo and keep the cost low – monthly payments not to exceed what I’d pay in a better apartment and as long as I can rent it out later – that’s just as good as far as I’m concerned.

My housing cost stays the same. I will own something. I will own something I can rent.

Yes, it would be a hassle if I had to rent, but not the end of the world.

I’m too tired to think about this any more.

BUT-

I don’t feel ready to buy.

I JUST got out of debt. JUST.

Actually, I’m only technically debt free. That means that my meager savings is slightly greater than my meager debt.

If I bought this house now, I’d put myself back in debt by 1) having a mortgage and 2) using ALL of my meager savings to do a minimum down payment on this house.

Then – there I am tied to this area by this house. My housing expense just soared while I have: no savings, still have debt to repay (but only for 3 more months), and a job I hate more than you can possibly imagine. Worse still – I’m unsure of my ability to get a new job in this area at the same (or greater) pay.

If I move, I can rent the house. This is true of any house I would buy – but this house, specifically, has a septic tank and a half acre lot. That’s a concern. But with a buyers market and me doing a minimum down payment – I’m probably still lose money each month if I did that.

I think it boils down to this:

1. I want a house badly.
2. I’m not ready for a house.

What I REALLY need to do is this:

1. A way to earn money indefinitely doing something I love in a location of my choosing.
2. Debt free.
3. Down payment.
4. FU fund. (Otherwise known as X months of expenses saved.)
5. Credit report cleaned up.

Now, I do despise the place I’m renting. For many, many reasons.

My lease?

I just paid October’s rent.

I owe November, December, and most of January.

The cost to break the lease at this point is about the same cost as paying it out.

I worked hard to get out of debt and now I need to save and focus on my career – ( as well as my personal life – I’m really rebuilding it my whole life.)

A home purchase wouldn’t serve me the best right now.

However, I do want to love the place I live. I’m thinking that I should rent for one more year. I’d love to build a place from scratch and get everything exactly the way I want it – with the confidence that I can enjoy it for as long as I want. Ideally, I should rent a place that isn’t much more expensive but my home should be a place that I really enjoy.

I’ll rent a place I love and I can focus on the rest of my life – including saving money.

A year later – with my life seriously improved, I can buy a house that I’ll really love.

As for the house I was thinking about buying. I like it. I don’t love it.

If I’m patient, I can have a house I love – and feel good about being there.

If I bought that house now, it would bring short term happiness because it would get me out of this hideous apartment that I despise so much, but I predict that it would quickly become a prison.

Do I hate this place $2500 worth? (That’s what it would cost me to pay my rent on this place till done.)

I don’t know.

What I know for sure is this: buying a house right now would probably work but I wouldn’t enjoy it as I should; it would probably add unneeded stress to my life. I can enjoy my home while I rent, continue to rebuild my life, and then get the place I’ll really love : custom home on private runway.

So – let’s not waste money on rent – I need to save for that down payment.

Let’s not waste money on duplicate rent – I need that money for down payment.

But – I will focus on my life, being happy, and loving the place I live. That will make my whole life better.

I’d rather have two marshmallows later than one marshmallow now.

But I DO need a new place for the next year – but I need to do it as inexpensively as I can and still love it.

I really like it.

I like the location.
I like the neighborhood.
I like the huge yard.
I like the porch and the porch swing.
I like the trees.
I like the fireplace.
I like all the storage space.
I like the back deck.

I hate the wall paper – but that’s easy to fix.
I’m not crazy about the long commute that this will create.

Literally and figuratively.

I want to own the place I live. Yet, I hate the idea of spending money.

I’ve been all over from looking seriously at a 42,000 condo to a 200,000 house to buying raw land and building something.

Quite the swing, eh?

How did I go up in price over $150,000 in the span of a single weekend?

Because the $200,000 house is way nicer than the $42,000 condo – that’s why.

The house has a wonderful master suite with a balcony, a huge game room, an awesome kitchen, and it’s just basically a nice house. I don’t love everything about it. But, it’s a nice house. The condo is only 480 square feet. I wouldn’t have room for all my stuff. Bikes, bike cart, skis, and other stuff. Right now, those things are in my garage. I’d have no place for them in the condo.

Besides, I truly hate the idea of living in a condo. I want to own dirt. A condo seems more like buying an abstract idea than buying a thing. So, no condo for me. Besides, it seems like it’s the negatives of home ownership and the negatives of apartment living all rolled into one. Not the best of both – the worst of both!

Then, I started looking at older, inexpensive houses.

Then, I thought older houses are a pain. Stuff is broken. So, I thought I’d look at inexpensive, new houses. They’re a pain too. Everything is cheap. So, then I started looking at newer, nicer but not extravagant houses.

And here we are.

I don’t know what to do.

Put off buying a house until I can pay cash?

How certain do I need to be that I’ll stay in this area before I buy?

I think I’ll sleep on it.

I’ve given so much thought to this goal lately and spending lots of time looking at houses.

I do want to buy a house so I’m not removing it from my list – but it’s not top priority as it once was.

Because I’ve been working so hard to get out of debt and regretting selling my old house and hating apartment living – I’ve been damn near obsessed with it.

To me, this goal hasn’t really ment, “Buy a House”. It’s ment “Make Your Life Good Again”. Normal.

However, buying a house isn’t really what I need right now. If I buy house I’m stuck in it for a while. This is a terrible market to try to sell in. If I buy a house, I’d better plan on living in it for quite a while. That doesn’t meet my life’s goals right now. I want to be better than normal. I want extraordinary. I want great.

My life is bigger than a three bedroom, two and a half bath, two car garage wherever. There’s a whole world out there.

Once I’m out of debt, I’ll celebrate and be happy! No doubt. Not only do I need to begin saving again – but I need to be magnificent. My life must matter.

I can certainly change my environment. I want to experience new things. I intend to move – but renting is just fine for now. I’m not ready to settle in. There’s a world to explore.

This decision doesn’t preclude buying a place either.

I think it is progress to move from a place where owning a home again has moved from the most important thing in my life to something that I take for granted.

I sometimes spend time looking at houses for sale even though I’m not ready to buy one.

It makes me happy.

but I will be patient.

For now, I’ve made my apartment nice and enjoyable as it can be.