Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
UPDATED: what do you ladies think? house...
I keep telling myself that H & I aren't financially ready to buy a house yet, mostly because we don't have the down payment for something that wouldn't take a lot of work. Yet I often torture myself by looking at local real estate listings.
Today I found a house that's basically what we're looking for and at a price we could afford now. It needs some updating but it's all cosmetic, things we could move in and handle over time like outdated kitchen cabinets and gross green living room paint. And it would be less than what we're paying now for rent. I wish I could find out more about it online, because basically it's too good to be true and I don't want to involve the bank, a realtor, etc. only to find out there's something hugely wrong with it, since we're not actually looking.
H is away until Thursday or Friday so we couldn't even look at it until then. What do you ladies think, is it worth looking into further?
Re: UPDATED: what do you ladies think? house...
Is there a way to email the realtor or seller and see if they can send you extra information. That way if all they do is email you it makes it easy to delete later on. I do think it is at least worth getting extra information on. And then talking to your H of course.
It doens't cost anything to look (at least around here anyway... maybe things are done differently in the states). I'd say if it's still around on the market when Hubby gets home, talk to him about it and go take a look at it. Contact the Realtor and set up a showing. Usually sales are conditional on financing.. so if you REALLY like it and decide it's something you want to do than go to the bank and get them involved.
I don't think anyone is really "ready" for the big things like that in life, but if the oppotunity presents itself sometimes you just have to take a leap and do it.
Maybe it will be all you're hoping and just need some cosmetic upgrades, which you can pick away at over time... or maybe it'll be a hole, and you'll just go back to living the life you have now.
You won't know unless you look! I'd say go for it...
it's free to look in the states. the realtor only gets paid on the sale of a house, if they tell you otherwise, RUN!
it couldn't hurt to contact the realtor selling the property, but be prepared for an onslaught of mail, emails, phone calls from everyone and their brother that finds out you're in the market to buy a house, even though you're not really.
i would suggest using a different email address than what you normally use everyday (maybe you have one from all the junk email from when we were planning out weddings) but it definitely couldn't hurt to find out more info on the property!
also, i would wait for your hubby to come back to town. maybe sleeping on it will help you decide if it's worth moving forward. that always helps me
My BFP Chart Danger Love Blog
I don't think it would ever hurt just to look.
However, I'd look more into the real costs of owning a house - a lot of time it does seem cheaper than renting, but by the time you add on all the extra costs, it isn't always...things I'd factor in:
-closing costs
-home inspection costs
-gas, electric, water, sewage, garbage that are monthly/quarterly
-property taxes
-homeowner's insurance
-PMI (private mortgage insurance, usually required if you have less than 20% down payment)
-things needed to properly maintain a home (lawn mowers, leaf blowers, hoses, sprinklers, etc....these things add up VERY quickly!)
-money for home repairs, when necessary
Most of the time PMI, taxes, and insurance are escrowed (meaning you pay them monthly along with your mortgage). Each month, 30% of our total payment is actually PMI/taxes/insurance, and only 70% is actually towards mortgage principal/interest.
I guess I'd just keep all that in mind and be on the careful side, since you said that you financially weren't sure if you guys were ready or not. I always second guess when people say that it is cheaper to buy than to rent...because I don't really believe this is the case most of the time. Maybe if you are renting a 3BR house and buy a 3BR house...but if you are upgrading in the amount of space of you have (IE, going from an apartment to a house) I'd really make sure to do my math first. I know our monthly payment ended up being quite a bit more per month, and I even thought that I had calculated everything out correctly!
UPDATE: I spoke to H and emailed the seller's realtor (OK, I emailed the realtor THEN talked to H). The house is in an okay part of town. H & I decided I'd drive by and check it out tomorrow and then we'd decide whether or not we want to look in the house. He's also friends w/ a lot of police officers in the city so we could ask their opinion of the area as well. Neighborhood is important so if it's a sketchy area we definitely won't pursue it.
When I looked at what our mortgage would be I included PMI, insurance, taxes, closing costs and a couple different interest scenarios. The payment difference would be $100-150 less a month. We currently have electric heat and the house is oil, so we'd certainly have to consider the difference there, plus the increase in size (2 bedroom apartment to 3 bedroom house). I know my boss looked at the utilities of the previous tenant before she bought her house so she could get an idea of cost and we would look into doing the same.
Overall it's not something we'll take lightly. Homeownership actually scares the sh*t out of me. I'm trying not to get my hopes up and remind myself that if it doesn't work out we're in no rush.
Talking to the Police officers is a good idea. Also go on the local police department website and see if you can look at the area and find what calls came in recently. Or google police records for that zip code.
Good luck!!!
THIS!
We are totally not ready to own a home. When my furnace blows or washing machine floods my apartment, I don't want to deal with fixing it/cleaning it up, not to mention paying for it. Having a house may be cheaper as far as mortgage goes. However, it is most certainly not cheaper when you need a new appliance or an emergency comes up.
I'm not saying don't buy it, but really look at your finances and how much work the house needs compared to what you have now.