I've been reading everyones post and everyone of yall gave me some good info and feedback. I'm going to try to work out all the numbers tonight see where i stand. Its tough because i know im getting $2-$4 raise in October and get a $1.60 raise every year after that unless i move up. So in my head i think i can afford it but then again i never had my own home and know the full expenses. Yesterday: i was all in lol This morning: 50/50 After reading clutchfans : 75% chance im not going to go through with it.
Never underestimate the power of Clutchfans to slam your self esteem and confidence into the dirt! Can't live life off of formulas.
My bank gave me a conventional 30 yr 100% loan with no mi payment. Which brought my payments to about 1587. Don't you usually put 20% down to get rid of mortgage insurance?
That's all good but sometimes opportunities come and if you live by arbitrary rules you'll regret it sometimes. I say if you view the house your looking at as an investment over a place you want to spend 10-20 years in then yeah stick to formulas. If you let the house of your dreams pass you up to buy a cheap one you'll hate your home.
You need have a stable job, so you can stay at this home more than five years, and you can pay 20% down payment. Someone can help you if you need it financially.
I live in lake jackson btw and for the past 5 years this place has been booming. I grew up here and now it seems like it will be pearland pretty soon. Apartments, hotels and homes are hard to come by. People from all around the world have moved down here to work in the plant.
Sorry if some one mentioned already but: consider 5-10% of purchase price per year for appropriate maintenance/improvements/fixes. We totally underestimated this factor on our first real home. Best wishes either way!
Die, no really, but still.... Get the most you can out of what you can. Go to school, don't be an *******.
You're responsible for all repairs and maintenance, including the ones the inspector missed; and that the next buyer will demand if you want to make money on the sale. Buy a much cheaper house at $100k, then challenge yourself to make those higher payments to build equity more quickly. Ultimately you should probably just be saving and investing in stocks right now.
That's fine if you are making enough money to easily cover the mortgage, taxes and MI. The house of your dreams can be nice until you're house poor. with no disposable income. Then its not worth it anymore. This isn't San Francisco where you just go all in on the first affordable house you can find because supply is so fixed. You should be smart about investing in a house. Patience and timing are virtues. Especially for a place like Lake Jackson. Wait for the petro industry to take another dive. Inventory will open up and good deals will become available. Plus the OP has a cheap apartment. Pocket the savings and save up for a down payment.
if you transport the same house to Montreal its worth 650k,Toronto 800k , Vancouver is beyond my estimates, Houston area is an amazing place
Not sure if it's been suggested yet, but the best way forward for the OP: use his saved money towards a payment for a CLA. Those beauties are flawless and are only going up in value.
I totally agree with everyone about just settling on a cheaper home. I made about as much as OP when I bought me present house. My Mortgage including insurance is $680 but I've be feeling upset about not buying my forever home. I'm impatient I admit and now that my fiancé got her masters we'll probably be on the look out in a year. That's all Chinese retirement money. We are getting some Mexican cartel money but it's still not close.
I'm not in Texas and the market in Los Angeles area is probably quite different. I'm currently selling my first home and buying my second one. The market is really crazy. It seems to be a sellers' market right now. But there are always fluctuations.
Well, to make my decision easier the seller backed out and decided just to stay and not sell. Lol I'm looking in a lower range more like 160k-180k. I wish i could convince my gf to move out to rosharon, alvin or manvel. We could have a brand new house for that price instead of a 1950-1970 year home in lake jackson.