own a home

Owning my own home is something of a raison d’etre for me. I’ve always liked making my own space comfortable and feeling that it was my little haven.

So I’ve decided that losing out on my dream of owning my old family home is no bad thing after all. It was really upsetting but I’m trying to turn it into a positive. It’s not by the sea and my ultimate dream is to own my own house by the sea. So I’m going to focus on that and see what can be done to move towards that goal.

Of course budget is an issue but I’m going to start by doing a bit of research – that won’t cost anything.

I owned a home but then this recession hit and I lost the house and now I am moving to cali and I plan to take advantage of the recession by getting a house on the cheap.

this is going to be on the list for awhile, since I cant afford one right now.

Well, he’s all moved in, got moved in back in November. I’m still in the apartment until after the wedding, but I hate having to leave at the end of the weekends. Just three more months and I’ll be in there preminantly.

time….goes by…so slowly…

We spent today looking at places. It was interesting! My other half has never really thought about what he wanted in a house but just like so many other things, our tastes run in sync. We found a place we like, now just to see if we can get the rest of the pieces to fall into place.

We now have offers on two other houses – one a “mid-century boring” short sale in a regular neighborhood – a perfectly fine little starter home, but not exciting (other than the excitement of owning our own home!) and one that is a run-down foreclosure in need of some major renovation, but on a dead-end street, with a farm at the end of the street on one side, open land in the back with a view of the Sierra (it’s 3 houses down from the first place we made an offer on but didn’t get, and over 100,000 cheaper).

We are really close to getting a yes on the short sale – we should hear from the second mortgage holder next week (the first already accepted our offer).

The run-down mess with a view has countered our offer, but there are all sorts of scary strings attached. The foreclosees are still living in it, and it really is a mess – it smells, is piled up with stuff – so much I don’t think a proper inspection can be done, a tree fell on the roof… but that view…

So decision time is coming.

i lost my first house to this recession nightmare. i hope to redeem myself and buy another soon

lets say I can get a reasonable starter home in PA for 150K.

Estimate 6,500 closing costs and 30K for a 20% down payment.

That means I need to save 36,500 before I can start looking. By then a house will probably cosyt a LOT more. I will also need to be able to afford 950/mo for a 15 year mortgage, or 650/mo for a 30 year. That shouldnt be too hard really. And insurance. I dont know how much that costs.

With 10% down I would still need 21,500. and would pay 725-1070/mo.

I am graduating in 4 months and moving to a new city somewhere in the US. I would like to buy a house when I move with cash.