Buying a House

MissingTheBGene Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:23 PM

Buying a House

How many of you were able to purchase a house while planning your wedding?

FI and I have been discussing it, and it seems like a possibility, but I'm uncertain about how we're going to come up with all this additional money for a down payment.

mtdr1106 Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:23 PM

Re: Buying a House

borrow from your 401k if you have one.

ali120206 Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:25 PM

Re: Buying a House

We were talking about doing it for awhile but, changed our minds because our financial situation would be tight.

We were going to borrow against FH's home equity line he has on a rental property to make up some of the down payment or possibly take a home equity loan out on the house we would buy to make up the additional amount we would have needed for a down payment.

kissy27 Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:31 PM

Re: Buying a House

we purchased our house in August 2005! It definately was hard to be doing both but well worth it in the end!!! I don't regret it one bit!!!!

kaklesmay Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:33 PM

Re: Buying a House

We are just saving up and hoping we have enough when we actually find something we can live in in our price range.

We will get more serious about it after the wedding.

Its a lot of stress to do both and we have a great rental right now.
Good Luck!

FallBride05 Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:33 PM

Re: Buying a House

We did

ZuzusPetals Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:47 PM

Re: Buying a House

Posted by mtdr1106

borrow from your 401k if you have one.

I know that sounds like a great idea but before anyone does that they really need to do research. Borrrowing from you 401K should be a LAST resort. There are thousands of articles of why you should NOT borrow from you 401k like paying double tax and if you borrow from 401K accounts and god forbid you get laid off, the loan must be repaid within a month or two. Otherwise, it is considered by IRS as a taxable distribution on which income taxes, and perhaps a 10% early withdrawal penalty, are due.

google it - you will see a lot more information

leese Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:49 PM

Re: Buying a House

we bought a condo and we have no idea where the money for the wedding is coming from!

tracy2246 Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:50 PM

Re: Buying a House

If you borrow from your IRA or 401K for a first time home you do not have to pay back the loan-you need to prove that you purchased a home within a certain time frame of taking out the cash.

BEANS Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:53 PM

Re: Buying a House

We decided to wait until after the wedding. All the planning is enough stress & we wouldn't be able to pay for both. We saw no point in borrowing money for a down payment-to-borrow money for a mortgage. We will be househunting as soon as the holidays are over this year & will keep saving after the wedding.

ETA: To all those doing both at the same time-congrats & good luck.

Preshy7 Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:53 PM

Re: Buying a House

before we got engaged i was ready to buy my own condo so i had saved alot of money .

so when we got engaged we bought a house first-then did the wedding planning-it put our money into perspective and if you can do it now before getting married, thats great

Beth1210 Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:53 PM

Re: Buying a House

Posted by ZuzusPetals

Posted by mtdr1106

borrow from your 401k if you have one.

I know that sounds like a great idea but before anyone does that they really need to do research. Borrrowing from you 401K should be a LAST resort. There are thousands of articles of why you should NOT borrow from you 401k like paying double tax and if you borrow from 401K accounts and god forbid you get laid off, the loan must be repaid within a month or two. Otherwise, it is considered by IRS as a taxable distribution on which income taxes, and perhaps a 10% early withdrawal penalty, are due.

google it - you will see a lot more information

this is true- I was looking for the info to make sure I was correct before I posted it

why not wait- you'll have all of your wedding money and the prices are only going to drop from here- not go up- so if you don't have the money now why put yourself thru that- JMO!

hsacks23r Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:55 PM

Re: Buying a House

we did :):)

ChrissynRicky Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:55 PM

Re: Buying a House

I wouldn't get a loan against your 401K - if that's an option, I would get an EARLY WITHDRAWAL from your 401K and pay the taxes (federal and local) at time of withdrawal. Doing this you will not have to repay at a later date. Whatever you've vested is yours - there's penalties.

ChrissynRicky Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:56 PM

Re: Buying a House

Posted by Beth1210

why not wait- you'll have all of your wedding money and the prices are only going to drop from here- not go up- so if you don't have the money now why put yourself thru that- JMO!

I agree 100% - I would wait - your wedding isn't that far away Jenn!

cantwait2bewed Posted: Jan 30, 2006 02:56 PM

Re: Buying a House

we have purchased two houses one that is in construction and one that we are going to live in until the home const. is done. It has taken allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllot of discipline.

MissingTheBGene Posted: Jan 30, 2006 03:02 PM

Re: Buying a House

It's not me who isn't willing to wait

FI is really serious on this, and I told him I would consider it if he did the research on it. We don't live together right now, we're going to need something, and most leases are for a year. FI is adamant about not paying someone else's mortgage, he wants his own, lol.

Borrowing against the 401K really wasn't an option for us, it's something we just don't want to do. We can scrounge together some money, but we'd have to move further out east to afford anything in our price range if we were to buy something. I guess it can't hurt to look and see what we can get.

Beth1210 Posted: Jan 30, 2006 03:13 PM

Re: Buying a House

I wouldn't buy a house just to buy a house

like buying one further out east then you would want to live-

you need to stay in the house an average of 5 years to recop all costs involved

what about buying a condo or co-op?

LaurenluvsTJ Posted: Jan 30, 2006 03:21 PM

Re: Buying a House

not gonna happen for us!
we know we will have to rent for a few years and then see what happens.
going out east is not really an option, we both work in the city and don't want a 2hrs+ commute.