Hey Guys, I know a lot of you are looking or have bought a new house recently. FH and I have been talking about it a lot. We are having a hard time figuring out our budget. Right now, we rent with utilities included. Obviously, when we buy something...there will be a ton of extra expenses besides the mortgage payments. Can anyone share their experiences? We don't want to end up buying something out of our means.
drivwal
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Re: Buying a house
my sister bought a house right after she got married like two years ago. my mom gave her the advice of 1. buy a modestly sized house...if you don't want kids you don't really need a lot of extra space. 2. make sure you have a fixed mortgage rate 3. don't let them persuade you to take our two mortgages to meet the criteria...its not worth it and you will end up paying over 3,000 a month or something 4. don't buy a super fixer uper if you are not into fixing it or if its soo bad that it will take a loooong time to fix
my sister ended up not listening to most of her advice and they are paying out the rear but their house is nice....
hope this helps....at least my moms advice may be good for someone
20mrsc10
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Re: Buying a house
are you talking about the bills that you'll have to pay?
water phone electricity cable internet taxes mortgage gas/oil for heat lawn person
hmm i know im missing stuff bc i dont have a house, but i know these are the biggies
iHeartMoogle
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Re: Buying a house
Figure you'll add about 1,000 a month to your mortgage in utilities/taxes/insurance. Then, you have to add cable/phone/internet. Don't forget your own bills car insurance/cell phone/credit card/health care?/prescriptions?/any other bills you might have.
Figure how much you make in a bad month (if your hourly or your pay changes), deduct all of your bills, figure in food shopping, gas and eating out costs and see what you're left with.
Decide on how much you have for a down payment. If you don't put down 20%, you get charged a PMI, which you then have to figure into the mortgage. Make sure you include closing costs and how much a real estate agent will cost if you're using one. Put away money for fixing immediate problems in the house too.
Figure out what you can afford per month.
From there, use a mortgage calculator (I suggest bankrate) and see how much you can spend on a house with your down payment at a 5.5% interest fixed rate for 30 years that equals an acceptable monthly mortgage payment for you.
And TA DA!!! You now know around how much you can spend.
It's long...FM with questions! HTH!
grkbarbie
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Re: Buying a house
id start off with a co op then ease into a house. if u can afford a house right away then just do that. renting = throwing money away. but i understand most ppl dont have enough money down for a co op/house.
maybe start with a 1 bedroom?
IrishBrideASmiling
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Re: Buying a house
I am close to the end of the house purchasing process. There was some already good advice posted, but I will add this. If you can do a house, now is the time to buy and do it well in advance of your wedding. FH and I are still waiting for a closing date and I am hoping to have it done before June since we are getting married in July. Planning a wedding and buying a house is alot of stress all at once and it makes you go crazy! We would have started earlier but FH lost his job for 6 months and we never thought we would actually be buying a house right now.
Good Luck and hop on over to the Home boards on LIF if you want to ask any more questions! The girls on there have been so much help to me through this process.
bride2b57
Posted:
Member since
Re: Buying a house
Posted by IrishBrideASmiling
I am close to the end of the house purchasing process. There was some already good advice posted, but I will add this. If you can do a house, now is the time to buy and do it well in advance of your wedding. FH and I are still waiting for a closing date and I am hoping to have it done before June since we are getting married in July. Planning a wedding and buying a house is alot of stress all at once and it makes you go crazy! We would have started earlier but FH lost his job for 6 months and we never thought we would actually be buying a house right now.
Good Luck and hop on over to the Home boards on LIF if you want to ask any more questions! The girls on there have been so much help to me through this process.
