For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

Is your goal to save for a house right away, or pay off credit debts? We own a condo, and now I think I need to focus on paying down debt...but I hate not having a lot of money in the savings. What is everyone else doing?

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

We met with a financial advisor the other night...We live in my parents basement apartment, and it's brand new, so it's really nice (full size windows, very big), but we won't be able to stay here for ever. Houses are so expensive, and it's so frustrating. I don't want to have to live for my house you know? So we're shooting for like 5 years so we'll definitely be able to put 20% down, and I'll be making more money.
I would contact a financial advisor, this way you can invest your money, and not have it just sitting in a bank where it's collecting little interest. That's what we're doing...oh yeah and we just paid off like 5 grand on credit cards,and we have 5 more to go :)

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

we are saving for a house and trying for a baby (we havea 2 bdrm apt) at the same time. We figure in a year when the lease is up it'll be perfect timing to get a house. We also moved out of NY to be able to do all this sooner than later. We also paid alot of debt off with the wedding money, now all we have are car loans and student loans and your typical bills.

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

We've been saving for a house for 2 years now. We live in a one bedroom co-op right now and I'm due in June. Hopefully, within the next year or two we'll be in a house. It's very discouraging because houses are soo expensive and you pay a lot of money for junk!

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

I am grateful to own something, I guess my focus now should be our debts. (Since we used all wedding money to buy our condo). I just wish I could pay things off sooner, I am so impatient! Dont even get me started on our student loans. They are like a mortgage payment by themselves, that I will have for 30 years!

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

As you know, we have a 1BR co-op...and I am really glad we bought instead of renting...because that will make life so much easier when we find a house we want....

I think we're planning on staying here for at least 3 years....in the meantime, we'll be saving as much as we possibly can. We dont' have a lot of debt......only my student loan ($100 a month) and a loan from my father. But we'll be done paying my father off next December...so after then we can save bigtime!!!

It's frustrating!!!

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

We own a condo as well and have been saving already for our house!

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

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Posted by mosh913

We met with a financial advisor the other night...We live in my parents basement apartment, and it's brand new, so it's really nice (full size windows, very big), but we won't be able to stay here for ever. Houses are so expensive, and it's so frustrating. I don't want to have to live for my house you know? So we're shooting for like 5 years so we'll definitely be able to put 20% down, and I'll be making more money.
I would contact a financial advisor, this way you can invest your money, and not have it just sitting in a bank where it's collecting little interest. That's what we're doing...oh yeah and we just paid off like 5 grand on credit cards,and we have 5 more to go :)

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This sounds like our situation. We are also living in my parents basement apartment. I am presently doing a full-time internship and I am not working. I took a LOA from my job. We are living on DH salary. We are fine, but it is hard to save when paying rent, student loans, car loan, car insurance, phone bills, credit cards, etc!!!

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

We also are living in an apartment and trying to save for a house. We figure that in 3-4 years we should be able to have enough saved to actively look.

My DH is in grad school at NYU at the moment (can we say huge student loan debt??) and when he is done in May, we will be able to focus on saving a huge amount of money every month.

We are also paying down as much debt as we can while he is in school so that we only have to worry about his student loans when he is done.

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

First we are trying to get through the holidays without going broke. Then we are going to worry about debts that we need to pay off. I have a high credit card bill, and she has a school loan. My creidt card will be paid off by Christmas and Danielle still owes a good amount of money on her school loan. After that, we are going to be putting all of our money into our jonit account and start saving for a deposit on a house. Right now we have all the gift money in there. We havent touched a penny of it and don't plan to.
Scott

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

I am a financial planner, so I'll give you a quick piece of advice - pay off all of your credit card debt ASAP!! Don't invest anything if you have credit card debt. The rates you are paying on that are insane. After you have paid that off, be sure to always pay it in full every month. Then you can start saving and investing. Don't worry about the student loans, they're 'good debt' and won't affect your credit when you try to get a mortgage. Pay the min you owe plus more if you want to pay it off quicker, but don't worry about getting rid of that debt, you're better off investing than paying off all of the student loans upfront.

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

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Posted by SeptemberBride03

I am a financial planner, so I'll give you a quick piece of advice - pay off all of your credit card debt ASAP!! Don't invest anything if you have credit card debt. The rates you are paying on that are insane. After you have paid that off, be sure to always pay it in full every month. Then you can start saving and investing. Don't worry about the student loans, they're 'good debt' and won't affect your credit when you try to get a mortgage. Pay the min you owe plus more if you want to pay it off quicker, but don't worry about getting rid of that debt, you're better off investing than paying off all of the student loans upfront.

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Thanks SeptemberBride03 for the advice. We live in NYC and are renting. We have credit card debt that we are paying off, and quite honestly, it is nearly killing us. A lot of it was accrued while DH was in graduate school and following his graduation while he was looking for a job--it took him a few months. We are both looking for higher paying jobs in our field and if we can get the increases in income that we are looking for, we can get the cards paid off in two years. So then if we want to buy it will probably be two years after that, so I guess in another four years

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

We bought a co-op and have some credit card bills to pay... I would love to get a house but that won't be for a couple of years.. I am just glad that we own something and that we have the opportunity to pay things off.

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

bellepoque - I empathize with you - my DH is in graduate school full time now. He is in his second year of a 2 yr program. We are taking out some loans for him and paying some on our own. I have a good job and am able to cover the bills and anything we buy so we don't accumulate anymore debt than the loans. But we have depleted a good portion of our savings and want to buy in June/July. I can't wait for him to graduate and get a job We figure then I'll continue to pay our bills and his salary can go towards student loans and a down payment.

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

It's comforting to know that I'm not alone in this situation. It's so hard these days for Newlyweds to get ahead and purchase homes right away. Well at this moment, my Husband and I have so much credit card debt that we are focusing on paying off ASAP! We rent a one bedroom co-op and probably end up staying there for a few years maximum. My DH just finished a two year Physician Assistant program so was going to school fulltime while I cover all the expenses and bills. Now he has to look for a job and I can't wait because then we can really make a dent into the credit card debt, we'll worry about his school loans later. It's a little stressful, but I try not to let it get me down. As long as we are happy and work as a team for what we want in life then it will all work out.

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

Husband is still in school so we will have to wait it out for now!! I'm fine in our apartment for now but would love to have a house!! But these prices are alot!!!

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

yes!! I want a house sooo bad.I tell ya I live in a apartment and the Rent is sooo ridulious . I told my Dh I want a house hopfully by the end of next year but he said we have to see how the prices of houses and the interest rates are.

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

WE USED OUR WEDDING MONEY TO PAY OFF ALL OUR DEBT. I THINK THIS WAS THE BEST THING BCS NOW WE CAN SAVE MONEY INSTEAD OF WORRYING ABOUT CREDIT CARD BILLS. WE AGREED THAT HIS PAYCHECK WILL PAY BILLS AND STUFF AND MINE WILL BE DIRECT DEPOSITED INTO A SAVINGS SO WE CAN SAVE FOR A DOWN PAYMENT. BUT HONESTLY HOUSES ARE SO EXPENSIVE. WE ARE LOOKING IN JERSEY THAT IS CHEAPER THAN NY/QUEENS/LI BUT IT IS STILL A LOT. THE FURTHER AWAY FROM THE CITY YOU GO THE CHEAPER IT IS. IF I WAS YOU I WOULD PAY ALL YOUR BILLS AND FOCUS ON SAVING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN A MONTH BCS IF YOU WANT TO ABLE TO LIVE WITH A MORTGAGE YOU NEED TO PUT DOWN A NICE SIZE DOWN PAYMENT. OR YOU'LL END UP WITH YOUR BILLS AND A MORTGAGE....

Re: For Newlyweds that do not have a house yet...

We own a co-op apt. Our goal is to eliminate debt as much as possible, sell it and then buy a house.