NWR: House?

BrittneyRN · February 2012

So, FI and I had this plan, We were going to live in his apartment for the next 2-3 years (rent is amazingly cheap because we rent from his mom) and then buy his mother's house when she moved out. FI wanted this house because his dad built it and his dad was killed 10 years ago, so it has a lot of sentimental value. We knew from the beginning that the house needed a lot of upgrading (we estimate around $50,000).

She was always going to give us a break on the house, but I guess she changed her mind and told us last night that she wanted about $40,000 more than we had discussed before. Fi and I had a long talk and realized that we're better moving into a move in ready house, because it would save us a ton of money.

We looked online last night and, wouldn't you know, we found one we love! Price is great, completely updated and it has a back yard for our dog.

Here's the problem- If we buy it now, we will have little to no down payment. We could manage the payment but, money would be a little tighter because 1/4 of my paycheck goes to the wedding. If we waited until after we got married, we'd have a little bit of a down payment, plus we'd use whatever money from the wedding we had. Also, FI wants a news truck, so he'd have over half saved for the truck by then, and would be able to have much less of a truck payment. BUT, this hous ewas just put on the marker, it;s gorgeous, and there's nothing comparable that we've seen. We have a showing later this week. I know we just started looking, but we're both so excited.

BrittneyRN · February 2012

Sorry, that was rambly and long. Feel free to ask me any questions to clarify if you need to!

achiduck · February 2012

Speaking as someone who just lived through renovations it's an absolute nightmare and there's ALWAYS problems that you don't expect. Even when you plan for the unexpected there's more still. It was a huge test of our relationship and while we go through it, it was pretty miserable somedays.

When you say money is a little tighter, what exactly do you mean? Will you still have money left for incidentals (i.e. car repair, emergency vet visit, etc)? If the answer is no, I would wait and look for a house when you can truly afford it. Have you thought about things that don't have to do with renting an apartment like property taxes, water bills, gas bills, and other city taxes (garbage)?

I know how exciting it is to look at houses, and especially when you find one that fits your budget but here's a lot stuff to think about - have you been pre-qualified? Have you found out what type of downpayment is needed. With the housing crisis, a lot of times they won't sell houses to people who don't have at least a 5% downpayment.

I'm sure I sounds like a bit of a debbie-downer but there's so so so much to consider before committing to a house purchase.

BrittneyRN · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_october-2012-weddings_nwr-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:56b9bcef-1e34-456e-81f5-cfaa107456b2Discussion:cf53c34c-3cec-4991-9500-a6e3b7e77c14Post:6aad7eb5-67a2-4b35-8ff6-2b04171d648d">Re: NWR: House?</a>:
[QUOTE]Speaking as someone who just lived through renovations it's an absolute nightmare and there's ALWAYS problems that you don't expect. Even when you plan for the unexpected there's more still. It was a huge test of our relationship and while we go through it, it was pretty miserable somedays. When you say money is a little tighter, what exactly do you mean? Will you still have money left for incidentals (i.e. car repair, emergency vet visit, etc)? If the answer is no, I would wait and look for a house when you can truly afford it. Have you thought about things that don't have to do with renting an apartment like property taxes, water bills, gas bills, and other city taxes (garbage)? I know how exciting it is to look at houses, and especially when you find one that fits your budget but here's a lot stuff to think about - have you been pre-qualified? Have you found out what type of downpayment is needed. With the housing crisis, a lot of times they won't sell houses to people who don't have at least a 5% downpayment. I'm sure I sounds like a bit of a debbie-downer but there's so so so much to consider before committing to a house purchase.
Posted by achiduck[/QUOTE]

We would have a several thousand dollar cushion.

We definitely looked into all the taxes because that's a huge thing for us!! Luckily my mother was a real estate agent for 10 years, so she has a huge knowledge base about all of this.

I estimed all the bills (actually probably overestimated based on the house size and how much people around the area pay and what kind of heating). I know we would be fine. Money would be tight as in we wouldn't be putting too much into savings, couldn't eat out as much etc.

I know we're probably jumping the gun here, but I'm just so happy that FI is excited. In hind's sight, had I known that we would be buying a house sooner, I would have cut down the wedding guest list.

And I need a little debbie downer now. I know, in my head, that it would be much smarter to wait until after the wedding when we could have a 20-30% down payment, and have half down on his truck. Homes in this area don't sell too fast (knock on wood) and we have a few others that we like. I just know this is going to be a long process and FI is type A and hates when things don't go his way.

Thanks for the input!

achiduck · February 2012

Sounds like you're well prepared and have logged the hours doing the necessary research.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that the house stays on the market for awhile!

BrittneyRN · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_october-2012-weddings_nwr-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:56b9bcef-1e34-456e-81f5-cfaa107456b2Discussion:cf53c34c-3cec-4991-9500-a6e3b7e77c14Post:3f54aa58-eacc-4828-aedc-eb8054014796">Re: NWR: House?</a>:
[QUOTE]Sounds like you're well prepared and have logged the hours doing the necessary research. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that the house stays on the market for awhile!
Posted by achiduck[/QUOTE]

Thank you! Best case secnario is that it stays on the market for months until we're ready. We'd probably get it for a better price then also.

I'm just excited that we're not chained down to his mom's house anymore.

sarahperhaps · February 2012

I know it's exciting to look at houses (I definitely am guilty of perusing the real estate listings in my area!), but if you were originally planning not to buy a house for another 2-3 years, there is no rush to buy a house now. It is definitely disappointing to learn that your MIL's house is no longer financially available to you, particularly because of the sentimental meaning it carries for your FI. I could see wanting to replace that loss with a fabulous new home of your own, but it doesn't sound like this is what you and your FI had planned, and it sounds like you have a lot of other financial obligations right now.

It might be less stressful and less of a burden to stick with your original plan to live in your FI's apartment for a couple of years, save the money, and then search for your dream home when you are able to better afford the mortgage. Again, I totally get the excitement of finding a great house, but if it's beyond your means, it might not be worth it. There will definitely continue to be other great homes on the market in a couple of years, and you will find your dream home!

BrittneyRN · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_october-2012-weddings_nwr-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:56b9bcef-1e34-456e-81f5-cfaa107456b2Discussion:cf53c34c-3cec-4991-9500-a6e3b7e77c14Post:33cc2d8f-b69e-4df7-9aac-75dda24b8dfb">Re: NWR: House?</a>:
[QUOTE]I know it's exciting to look at houses (I definitely am guilty of perusing the real estate listings in my area!), but if you were originally planning not to buy a house for another 2-3 years, there is no rush to buy a house now. It is definitely disappointing to learn that your MIL's house is no longer financially available to you, particularly because of the sentimental meaning it carries for your FI. I could see wanting to replace that loss with a fabulous new home of your own, but it doesn't sound like this is what you and your FI had planned, and it sounds like you have a lot of other financial obligations right now. It might be less stressful and less of a burden to stick with your original plan to live in your FI's apartment for a couple of years, save the money, and then search for your dream home when you are able to better afford the mortgage. Again, I totally get the excitement of finding a great house, but if it's beyond your means, it might not be worth it. There will definitely continue to be other great homes on the market in a couple of years, and you will find your dream home! :)
Posted by sarahperhaps[/QUOTE]

We will definitely buy within the next year. The thing with his mom's house is that we would have had to pay about $30,000 more than we were planning on spending, and then at least $50,000 in rennovations. The reason we were going to wait so long is because we wanted a substantial down payment to offset the cost of the renos. Since we decided to not buy her house, we've found move in ready houses that are much more in our price range, and that we can definitely afford in the near future.

trawas01 · February 2012

We just bought last October. To be honest, we hadn't planned on buying then either but things just worked out that way.

I love my home. Love, love, love it.

BUT, things to consider...

We bought a move in ready home (Freshly painted neutrals on all walls, new carpeting, tile and laminate and relatively new appliances, house was only six years old) and we still laid down an easy 7K from move in day to the first month we had been here. Things we hadn't considered....the fridge kicked it literally day two after we moved in. There were no screens on any windows, the window line had been discontinued and we needed to order all custom screens. We had zero yard care equipment. I didn't realize just how much I'd miss a garbage disposal... All of this adds up quick, and thats with my FI being handy and my parents coming down to do a lot of construction work for us.

Also don't underestimate your own sudden desire to decorate once you buy. My apartment I could have card less. Now I have this gorgeous sunny dining room and I can't stand my table and chairs anymore. Three bedrooms meant I suddenly had a guest room....and no guest furniture. Its intoxicating.

Like Achiduck said consider taxes....in addition don't forget about homeowner's insurance, PMI (private mortgage insuance which you may need to carry if you put less then 20% down).

If you decide to push forward check out the program Homes for Heroes. They started out helping only veterans but the program now covers cops (like my FI) and nurses (which I'm pretty sure your one right?). They saved us a TON of money. We found a mortgage broker through the program who cut 90% of their fees for us. Our real estate agent gave us back 25% of her commission towards our closing costs. We even got breaks on the cost of our pest and home inspections. The program costs you nothing. It was a huge, huge help and got us in touch with reptuable people in the business.

Also look into first time home buyer programs. I'm not sure what state your in but a lot have them. In NC we qualified for a program that gave us 8k towards our down payment. If we stay in the home 7 years we won't have to repay any of it. With the low price of our home, low interest rate and the higher downpayment it helped keep mortgage payment really low (half what we were paying in rent).

All that being said, I don't regret us buying for a moment. We'd have more money for the wedding if we dind't. I'd have more time if we didn't. But I love my house. And its made both me and my FI happier (he's digging a fire pit in our backyard as I'm typing this lol).

trawas01 · February 2012

And we also kind of "jumped" into buying. Our rent was unexpectedly going up and we decided now or never.

Obviously a lot of people frown about going about it that way but life doesn't always go smoothly. It was stressful though. There were some times with the mortgage process that I wanted to cry. Again, in retrospect, it was all worth it.

RockyNFrankie · February 2012

I say wait. Another house will come along, or possibly that one will still be around in a year. Houses are taking a long time to sell right now and the longer its on the market the lower the price will go. Also, if you don't put 20% down you will have to pay PMI untill you have paid off 20% of the loan. Its a rediculous waste of money if you can just wait till after the wedding and then have more of a down payment.

udream05 · February 2012

I completely agree with everything trawas01 said. If you put down less than 20% you need to pay mortage insurance which ends up being I think about $50 a month which can really add up. Also we just bought a in June, it was a short sale and took forever to close. We had kind of jumped into the house buying process because we hated our landlord and I thought i found an incredible home online, although after looking at it, it wasn't so great but it got us started. We had thought we found our dream home but the realtor for that home was horendous and left us hanging for over a month after putting in our offer so we moved on and found an even better one. Ours thankfully was very well taken care of and move in ready because we really didn't want a fixer upper because it can be such a headache. They do however reccommend that you have at least $10K in savings to cover emergency costs. Our water heater died a month into our moving in. Luckily it was under warranty but we still had to pay $300 to get it installed. We also had to get our roof fixed right away which was another $2000 and then of course the decorating costs like PP said. That gets expensive too!! We still haven't bought a bed set but figure that can wait until after the wedding. Also don't forget the cost to move. Such as hiring movers and cleaning the old house. We rented a uhaul but it was still a pain and our landlord hit us with cleaning costs out of our deposit because I didn't clean the baseboard.

While they say the market is starting to recover rates and prices will stay low for a while longer and there will be other gorgeous houses, so I'd say wait til you do have enough at least for emergeny expenses. I know once you get started looking it's hard to pull back but I think you'd be better off in the long run.

violakat03 · February 2012

trawas01 - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for posting about Homes for Heroes!! You said that cops and nurses were included and out of curiosity I checked what other professions were included - teachers were the first on the list! My FI is a high school teacher. We will DEFINITELY be looking at utilizing this service now that you've brought it to my attention. We are planning to buy a house within the next 6 months.

trawas01 · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_october-2012-weddings_nwr-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:56b9bcef-1e34-456e-81f5-cfaa107456b2Discussion:cf53c34c-3cec-4991-9500-a6e3b7e77c14Post:2f0a0c83-2838-4394-8264-4aef2b59d0cc">Re: NWR: House?</a>:
[QUOTE]trawas01 - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for posting about Homes for Heroes!! You said that cops and nurses were included and out of curiosity I checked what other professions were included - teachers were the first on the list! My FI is a high school teacher. We will DEFINITELY be looking at utilizing this service now that you've brought it to my attention. We are planning to buy a house within the next 6 months.
Posted by violakat03[/QUOTE]

Glad to be of help :) I honestly can't say enough great things about the program.

pengy16 · February 2012

if its the best option to buy now or at least before the wedding, then do it, if you think it would be better to wait until after the wedding, then do that. You can start looking now, and talk with mortgage lenders to find out what you can afford, what you need to put down, and you can ask them when they think might be the best time espeically if you are utilizing any credit lines while you plan your wedding. It might take you that long to find the place you want. We started looking online and getting pre-qual in Jan 2011, really started looking in March when we got pre-approved. We didnt put a contract on the house until late June, and since it was a short sale it took it a couple of months, so we didnt close until August 2011. We love our house, but our realtor took us to probably close to 100 houses until we found this one. We had to do some minor repairs so far, the backyard is getting a lot of work done this spring and summer, and there are more updates we want to do but we are taking our time to do it. For us, the house was more important than the wedding, plus our apartment was going to increase rent by 10% and all the apartment rents in my area was running higher than the cost to buy. We are actually paying 30% less than we were paying in rent. Our lease actually ended before we found a house so we went to go stay with family until we found our house.

fishinflagrl · February 2012

While FI and I were house hunting over the past 2-3 years, we have noticed that this year house prices have gone up. We talked to our realtor and he agreed and he believes houses are going to steadily increase now. Personally, I think buying a house right now would be very smart if you can afford it and all its other expenses and responsibilities. I hope the showing goes well...let us know!! Good luck in deciding!!

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