I looked at a house yesterday that I loved. LOVED. And I can't afford it.
I mean, technically I could afford it, and my finance guy is telling me I could afford it, but, realistically? I can't afford it.
I walked through this house, thinking, I love this house, I love this house, I LOVE this house, and then I got back to the office, emailed the numbers to my finance guy, he emailed me back a number, and ......... crap.
And I tell myself, "it's okay, nothing's changed, it's just one house, blah blah blah, shake it off", and I swear, I'm starting feel like stinkin' Job here or something, and then I had to take The Runt back to the vet last night and he still has the ear infection which means new meds and more money and ........
whoops. I'll stop now. Sorry about that.
On the bright side, my hyacinths and daffodils are blooming. The neighbor's forsythia is getting ready to pop. And it is Friday, so there's that. Whoopee!
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You can e-mail me at rockycat24@yahoo.com
About Me
- rockygrace
- I was born in 1962; you do the math. (See also: I'm too lazy to remember to update this thing regularly.) I bought my first house in the summer of 2009; I share it with four cats and with the memories of The Runt and Little Girl, who both passed away in 2011. Rocky, the cat for whom this blog was named, passed away in 2008; I miss them all. I wish I lived somewhere where the winters weren't eight months long; other than that, life is good.
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3 comments:
The up sides: You find that you really can love a house (which, up to now, weren't you wondering?). You find that it's a matter of moving up some in price, so now you know what you have to do. You find that saving more is not only possible but that you are making concrete efforts (pack by pack, every pack you don't smoke is money in the kitty). You have strong fiscal incentives to remain a non-smoker. You know how to save money.
The down sides: You don't get that particular house.
Yep. More upside than downside.
I don't know if this will change your mind, but have you talked to your finances guy (not just mortgage but a financial advisor) about the future of the first-time homeowner credit? This year, it was an absurdly high sum...maybe $7500...to be reinvested in improvements or some such? Not clear on the details, but I know that people who bought homes last year have used it to do some pretty significant fixing up. I would look at what you can use it for and when you can get your hands on it, as it might change the amount of capital you have to hold back liquid to do emergency repairs etc and thus increase your down payment...
I am no financial whiz, god knows. I just want to find a way where good people can get what they want.
The not-smoking thing will definitely help me, money-wise, if I can just tough it out.
Truthfully, the thing that queered the deal on this particular house was the need for flood insurance (because the back yard flooded, ONCE). If I didn't need the damn flood insurance, I coulda swung it.
Then again, do I really want a house that needs FLOOD insurance? I'm a strong swimmer, but still ....
And oh yeah, the tax incentive thing. I'd get back 10% of the purchase price when I filed my tax return next year, as long as I purchase by 12/1 of this year.
And I was thinking I could just pay down the principal by that amount when I got the money back and reduce my montly payment, but then I learned it doesn't work that way - payments on principal will reduce the length of the loan, but not the amount of the payments, unless you refinance. Of course, I could just put that money in the bank and use 50 bucks of it every month against my payment, but bottom line was, I want to feel comfortable with my monthly payment, and it simply wasn't going to happen with this house.
*sigh* moving on ....
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