Members ericlaurence Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by MattACaster FallofEmpyrean, My girlfriend and I recently did the same thing. She's 22 and I'm 23 and we make about 70k a year. In high school econ they told us that a good rule of thumb is to get a house thats about 2 1/2 times your yearly salary. Our house was about $150,00. We didn't do a down payment and pay about $1000 a month for morgage. Granted, that is on the high side, but it's less than the rent for the couple apartments we were looking at. We're very happy. where did you find a $150,000 house in chicago?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by ericlaurence where did you find a $150,000 house in chicago?! I actually live in a south sub of Chicago called Homewood. It's just easier to put Chicago because no one has heard of Homewood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ericlaurence Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 ahhhh. that's kind of what i figured. still, that's pretty cheap for the chicagoland area. nice score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beergoblin Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Theres plenty of places in the Chicago AREA to get houses for that price, you're just going to be on the outskirts a bit. That whole Oswego/west area is booming with new, affordable houses, they're just a bit out of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MitchSchaft Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 My only advice is to not put her on the mortgage! How old are you guys? Me and the ex-wife were together for 7 years. She still doesn't have the house sold after a year, I'm still on the mortgage, and she has ruined my credit due to a few late payments last year. A couple/few months late payments!Do what you have to to protect yourself. 50% of all marriages end in divorce. If you guys are high school sweethearts, that raises the stats even higher . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LOCO5150 Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 My advice would be to wait until you're married to this girl to buy a house. Seriously man, women are a {censored}ing headache to begin with and if you two move in together and something goes wrong, trust me my friend, it will be a bigger headache than you have ever imagined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MitchSchaft Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Not to mention that living with somone is a whole different ballgame. Dating for 8 years is nothing like living with someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by MitchSchaft If you guys are high school sweethearts, that raises the stats even higher . Uh oh.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MitchSchaft Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 I wonder what "notagayfag" has to say, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hendrix95 Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by BerkleeBill True dat!I never believed that Massachusetts was the most expensive area of the country to live in until I started looking for a house here. Hell, the slum crack houses start at $350k!! Anything half decent is $600-750k, and there are just way to many properties in excess of the 1million mark. I agree, its totally rediculous. My fiance and I will probably have to move to Southern New Hampshire when we buy just because anything in a decent town is just way too expensive and the cheaper ones aren't worth buying. It will probably take atleast a few more years. We're gonna have to save like $70-80k just for a downpayment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FallofEmpyrean Posted January 9, 2006 Author Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Well, we've been living together for the past 6 months in an apartment, as well, so we do have that experience a bit. I understand the concern, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Syrnett Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by Hendrix95 It will probably take atleast a few more years. We're gonna have to save like $70-80k just for a downpayment. how is that even possible???? we pull in a decent living in the range of your downpayment ... and between my house, 2 modest car payments, student loans, 1 CC bill, living expenses and 2 kids am just a few steps ahead of living month to month... how the hell can anyone in my situation make it on their own or buy a house where u are at???? -Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MitchSchaft Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 The only way that would happen, which is what should be happening now, is to pay off the CC, tear it up and never use it again, pay off the student loan. Sell your cars, buy a used cheap car and pay it off quick. Even cut back to 1 car only if you can swing that. Other than that, no, you're not moving out of your current house because all your money is going towards debt instead of saving:D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mysticaxe Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by Syrnett how is that even possible????we pull in a decent living in the range of your downpayment ... and between my house, 2 modest car payments, student loans, 1 CC bill, living expenses and 2 kids am just a few steps ahead of living month to month...how the hell can anyone in my situation make it on their own or buy a house where u are at????-Erik You grunt and bear it. In the Boston area, a 1300 sqft house on a 0.1 acre lot sells for about $450K in a decent town. My car is almost 10 years old and paid for. We just paid off my wife's 2 year old car and will drive that mofo into the ground. My wife is having a baby in a few months, so I will have to spend some time weather-proofing the basement more so I can play on something other than a POD for the next 5 years! To the original poster. Your best deal (IME) is when you can come up with 10% of your own cash on top of the normal closing costs/moving costs. If you can't swing that, then 5% isn't too bad if they write you a 2 mortgage deal (80/15). I hate PMI - it ran me $90/mo for a year and a half on my condo until I refi'd and got rid of it - that's money down the toilet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MCon Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by mysticaxe I hate PMI - it ran me $90/mo for a year and a half on my condo until I refi'd and got rid of it - that's money down the toilet. That depends. 20% down on a $450K house is $90K. That's a considerable chunk of change. I would think that if you invested it you would get a return of a whole lot more then $90/mo. Of course your mortgage would be higher too so you'd have to take more then just PMI into consideration. Time to get out the ol' financial calculator for that one. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mysticaxe Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by MCon That depends. 20% down on a $450K house is $90K. That's a considerable chunk of change. I would think that if you invested it you would get a return of a whole lot more then $90/mo. Of course your mortgage would be higher too so you'd have to take more then just PMI into consideration. Time to get out the ol' financial calculator for that one. Matt The PMI was on a previous place where the loan value was $210K and the value of the place had appreciated to about $300K in 2 years. We only put 5% down when we bought it and refi'd the PMI later.For the current place, we only put 10% down (from the sale of the last place) and did an 80% loan with a 10% HELOC (which is annoying because of the rising interest rates), but avoided the PMI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by mysticaxe The PMI was on a previous place where the loan value was $210K and the value of the place had appreciated to about $300K in 2 years. We only put 5% down when we bought it and refi'd the PMI later.For the current place, we only put 10% down (from the sale of the last place) and did an 80% loan with a 10% HELOC (which is annoying because of the rising interest rates), but avoided the PMI. If you split the loan into 2 loans (80% and 20%) you don't have to pay PMI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mysticaxe Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by MattACaster If you split the loan into 2 loans (80% and 20%) you don't have to pay PMI. Most of the prime rate loans I've seen set a max total LTV of 90%. You can borrow more, but it will cost you either PMI, or a higher interest rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MCon Posted January 9, 2006 Members Share Posted January 9, 2006 Originally posted by mysticaxe The PMI was on a previous place where the loan value was $210K and the value of the place had appreciated to about $300K in 2 years. We only put 5% down when we bought it and refi'd the PMI later. For the current place, we only put 10% down (from the sale of the last place) and did an 80% loan with a 10% HELOC (which is annoying because of the rising interest rates), but avoided the PMI. Well, I guess it all depends on what makes the most sense and, more importantly, what will cause you to pay the least amount of money. Damn nice appreciation on the first house though!Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mysticaxe Posted January 10, 2006 Members Share Posted January 10, 2006 Originally posted by MCon Damn nice appreciation on the first house though! Matt That's what I thought, until I realized the place we bought afterwards had gone up closer to $100K over the same time period... :eek: F**K BOSTON REAL ESTATE!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members psychodave Posted January 10, 2006 Members Share Posted January 10, 2006 Originally posted by Hi-Gain Just a couple of thoughts...Who's house will it be if your friendship ends? Buy a house that is within your means...don't be house payment poor...you'll be miserable. Very good advice. When my wife and I bought our house we made sure that we could afford it on ONE salary...just in case. We put 20% down and have 6 months of mortgage payments in reserve...again, just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ratter Posted January 10, 2006 Members Share Posted January 10, 2006 The problem I have with generic real estate advice is that, IMO, the market where you live should go a long way towards dictating what you do. Case in point, for our first house, we stretched our budget WAY too far and financed with an interest-only loan (in other words, NONE of the payment went towards the principle, it all goes towards the interest). Not only that but the house was a {censored}hole, literally falling apart. Why? Because the market was insane. A year and a half later, it had appreciated over a hundred grand (this was a townhouse, mind you, not a house-house). The profit from that sale allowed us to put down 20% on our second (current, hopefully last) house with very good loan terms. So my point is, that was the best financial move I ever made, but in a different time/place it would have been absolutely retarded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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