I've always wondered how people buy a house... I'm in debt up to my ears with credit card bills I started eons ago in college. Combined FH and I make a little over $100K. We aren't really able to save because of our debts and expenses.
Did you guys just get like $30K in wedding gifts? Did you live home for a long time and save, save, save? Do you simply make a very generous salary?
Are your folks helping you - even if your folks help you, how do you then pay the monthly nut? Like sure your parents can co-sign and donate $40K to your down payment, but you still need to fund the monthly mortgage and insurance and utils.
I can understand this is a very personal thing, if you prefer to FM me, do so. I'm not trying to be rude or come off as woes me, I'm honestly just curious as to how people under 40 do it...
Looking back now, I wish I lived home and paid off my debts instead of running off to NYC to rack up more debt
Bridezilla2009
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
we both lived home with our parents for a LONG time! best thing we ever did, even tho it was really hard at times!!
RockysGirl
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
you're not alone, i have wondered the same thing!! I know that personally, I have always lived with my parents and had planned to until I got married. That saved me a LOT obviously. When FH & I get married, we're not going to be getting a house right away. We wanna stay in a small apartment while it's just the two of us and really do some heavy duty saving. Because we DO wanna own a house by the time we start a family with kids & all that. Hopefully that all works out. Seems like we may need to leave the Island to do so, however
autumnbride08
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
My DH is *obsessed* with saving and he is a firm believer in having a budget and sticking with it. At first I complained (b/c I am a spender by nature and I missed my shopping sprees) .. but all the hard work and complaining has paid off!
I guess my advice is to sit down and work up a budget.. and stick with it! It will work!
ChristineAaron08
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Don't feel bad. We are in the same boat. We make decent salaries, dont have cc debt or high car pmt's or anything. We save all of DH's salary and don't spend $$ on entertainment and going out to dinner much. Yet, we STILL can't afford a house on LI. It's nuts!
Mrs. V 2008
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
I lived with my parents until i was 26..dh until he was 24..we saved while we lived at home..that meant.. no designer anything...while other people were buying coach bags, louis vutton bags, prada, and new cars.. we were saving for a house (since i was 19, fh 21) I drove a piece of crap car until i think i was 25. Well over many many years we saved enough for a house between the two of us and our salaries from working full time..We both have NO credit card debt, and had NO car loans (that is until recently). While others splurged we lived frugal..I think thats what helped most! Luckily we were able to put a good amount down and bought the house before the wedding! Now that I look back on it, at 19 and 21 years old..other people splurged on themselves and we almost felt we missed out..we were cheapo..but it paid off in the long run!
JodyLC
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
We aren't affording a house... We bought our house in 2006 and based everything on what we earned in Boston, which by those standards was cheap for our house payment, then we moved... (Ohio) Our house is now in foreclosure thanks to me being out of work all summer and an APR that kicked in, on the bright side we do have hopes of saving it with the new government program that kicked in. BUT it has ruined our credit. It is hard but if you REALLY want it, it can be done.
Im a Pepper
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
09er crashing. FH and I could afford to buy something now, although since we recently moved to PA, we're choosing to wait a while before making a permanent committment here. Like a PP said, we have a budget, we stick to it (with we deviate from it only rarely - like when a good friend comes in to town and we want to go out for dinner and drinks). I don't buy things I really want (clothing, purses, etc.), and if I don't have the cash in my bank account to pay for things, I don't buy them. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out when my closest friends are going out every night, toting around purses that cost them hundreds of dollars and buying clothing that would cost an entire pay check, but I know this will pay off in the end and we'll have the home of our dreams. Be frugal, make a budget and stick with it, and try to find small ways to save money (buy in bulk if that helps, bring lunch to work, and don't buy anything if you don't absolutely need it. That doesn't always work if you're one of those people who tries to rationalize buying unnecessary things). GL! It's hard but it pays off!
LauraD419
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
We're in the same boat. I am only 23 and while I lived home, I was only working for like 9 months after college before the wedding and we used some of that money for wedding expenses. DH had a lot of credit card debt that we paid off with the wedding $$. We are trying to save save save, but It's hard sometimes. We are like everyone else who lives beyond their means even though we try to be frugal. i work 2 jobs and we're trying, but it's sooo hard!! Good luck to you!
Jonas9281
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
we both lived at home after going away to college (except for one year i spent teaching in hawaii!) until the day we closed! (i'm 27 and FH is 30) so it was LONG overdue! Actually, I am still living at home for the next 25 days until I am officially married!
We both have awesome credit scores, and no debt besides my relatively small student loan. We basically saved a lot. I opened an ing account and it was the best thing i ever did bc i never felt like i was missing anything! I never once took money from it! Definitely recommend it!
Good luck!
deb08
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
fh had a co-op when we met and sold it and took that money he made and got a house in south bellmore-after our tax bill came last sept and it was over 10grand we put our house up on market and sold it and moved up state- it just got to bad on the island for us.
lizzie217
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
Well we both lived home and saved....to be honest we are lucky in that we didnt have any college or grad loans ..and even with saving saving my parents still helped me with a down payment...and we both make very good salaries...it's insane in NYC or LI....I mean nuts...we opted for a coop to start bc we didnt want to dive in with a house and have that HUGE payment we didnt want THAT huge lifestyle change I love my coop I recc looking into that or a condo and we got a 2 bedroom so no need to run when we have a baby its a good alternative to a house
Kricket212
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
We just got a house in Feb. although we are older then most 36 & 38. Fh lived at home until this point & saved every dollar he ever made. He had 25% down paymnt for house & he also basically paid for the wedding too. When shopping for the house he knew his budget what he could afford & stuck to it...even after all the stress & crying while looking for the perfect house. At least now he knows he can afford on his own & we hope that when we have kids I will stay home. We don't touch my salary & Just save it.
Nobody gave us money or cosigned. Good Luck to you all who are in search of your dream home.
msabla1
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
thank goodness I saved since I was 16 while working my first job at a day camp. We were blessed to have the help of our parents for the wedding, so we just combined our savings plus the wedding $$ for the downpayment. When shopping for a mortgage, it's all about the down payment, not just your income.
we were both actually thinking of getting part time jobs to supplement our incomes so that we are not too tight every month.
Butterfly123
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
If we do decide to buy a place my parents will help us by cosigning a loan. But we wouldnt do that anytime soon or we'd end up like all the people who had to foreclose
bensgirl
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
hi ally. DH and i live in a tiny tiny tiny apartment and will not be buying a house anytime soon so i can't answer the question but i just wanted to say thanks for asking it b/c i've always wondering this too!
lucamon
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DH and I jumped into buying a house 3 years ago. Now I am very concerned because the economy is not doing so well. We have a lot of debts to pay off from the wedding and DH has been unemployed for awhile now.
lucamon
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
Posted by AllyDrew1108
I've always wondered how people buy a house... I'm in debt up to my ears with credit card bills I started eons ago in college. Combined FH and I make a little over $100K. We aren't really able to save because of our debts and expenses.
Did you guys just get like $30K in wedding gifts? Did you live home for a long time and save, save, save? Do you simply make a very generous salary?
Are your folks helping you - even if your folks help you, how do you then pay the monthly nut? Like sure your parents can co-sign and donate $40K to your down payment, but you still need to fund the monthly mortgage and insurance and utils.
I can understand this is a very personal thing, if you prefer to FM me, do so. I'm not trying to be rude or come off as woes me, I'm honestly just curious as to how people under 40 do it...
Looking back now, I wish I lived home and paid off my debts instead of running off to NYC to rack up more debt
Sorry, to answer your questions. We don't make much more than you and DH, especially not with unemployment. We did not get 30K in wedding gifts. We got maybe 1/3 of that. I guess people were really conservative with the wedding gifts due to the poor economy. My mom has helped us out a bit but I feel bad because she's a widow. We got really lucky with our house because we are paying only $1300/ year for property tax in a really nice neighborhood for 1/4 acre. That was the ONLY way we can afford the house. My neighbors pay 5-6k per year for property tax. You never know what will come your way. So don't give up! One day you will have your dream house.
AllyDrew1108
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
Girls, I am shocked at your honesty and appreciate the advice and all of your input. I was afraid I would get a lot of 'mind your own business' or 'hello, you should have saved your money like we did.' But you were all, as usual, supportive and helpful.
Thank you. It's just annoying because houses here in NJ are going down in price and even so, we can't afford the downpayment. There are decent homes here for like $275K and towns with taxes $5K and under per year.
You girls are so awesome.
AllyDrew1108
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Re: 'Fess Up. How are you girls affording house?
Oh we are not getting much in terms of wedding gifts, FH's family and friends have gotten us mostly real gifts, like they're sending items to us, we most likely won't even make back what we spent on our portion of the wedding. We're just going to have to hang in there. I wish we could move to Ohio - I see all of these cute homes for like $130K on these first time buyer shows on TV.
Posted by lucamon
Posted by AllyDrew1108
I've always wondered how people buy a house... I'm in debt up to my ears with credit card bills I started eons ago in college. Combined FH and I make a little over $100K. We aren't really able to save because of our debts and expenses.
Did you guys just get like $30K in wedding gifts? Did you live home for a long time and save, save, save? Do you simply make a very generous salary?
Are your folks helping you - even if your folks help you, how do you then pay the monthly nut? Like sure your parents can co-sign and donate $40K to your down payment, but you still need to fund the monthly mortgage and insurance and utils.
I can understand this is a very personal thing, if you prefer to FM me, do so. I'm not trying to be rude or come off as woes me, I'm honestly just curious as to how people under 40 do it...
Looking back now, I wish I lived home and paid off my debts instead of running off to NYC to rack up more debt
Sorry, to answer your questions. We don't make much more than you and DH, especially not with unemployment. We did not get 30K in wedding gifts. We got maybe 1/3 of that. I guess people were really conservative with the wedding gifts due to the poor economy. My mom has helped us out a bit but I feel bad because she's a widow. We got really lucky with our house because we are paying only $1300/ year for property tax in a really nice neighborhood for 1/4 acre. That was the ONLY way we can afford the house. My neighbors pay 5-6k per year for property tax. You never know what will come your way. So don't give up! One day you will have your dream house.
