Around a month and a half ago, my husband came to me and said that we really need to buy a house right away. Scary! I’m the one who handles the budget and all the money, I was freaked out.
I knew without a doubt that we hadn’t completed my list of conditions for buying a house, I didn’t think we were ready to buy our first house yet.
I know my first reservation about buying a house should be financial, but it wasn’t. I don’t want to live where we are, I want to travel and probably live in another country. I don’t want to be tied down to an area I’m just itching to get out of.
Of course, my honey had already planned I’d say that. He said that buying a house here doesn’t mean that we’re stuck here, we can always sell the house and move. Plus, he’s the only one who is working and he’s pretty much stuck in this location anyway.
It takes money to travel and move to other countries, money we don’t have if he isn’t working.
Then of course, I told him we couldn’t afford to buy our first house yet. It’s more than just trading rent for mortgage payments, there’s:
- property taxes
- private mortgage insurance (PMI)
- fixing things and replacing things
- increased utility bills
- homeowner’s insurance
- and who knows what else
Still, he believed that if we could find a house that would be around the same amount of our apartment rent, we’d be okay. I still doubted whether we could do it.
I’ve noticed his increased interest in buying a house ever since he discovered that I dramatically improved his credit. He actually said, “we should buy a house now that we both have great credit,” right after he found out.
After doing some research, my husband thought the USDA Guaranteed Loan was the way to go. He was so excited, I told him to give it a shot. He applied us for the loan and we were approved with flying colors for a USDA Guaranteed Loan for up to $175,000 at 3.75%.
That’s a ton of money, but not so much for a nice house in the areas we can purchase a home in. I’d honestly never even heard of USDA Guaranteed Loans before he told me about them, but I also hadn’t been looking into buying a house either.
Does anybody (who does the budget) ever feel ready to buy their first house?
Hope you guys find something great! We felt ready to buy one. Our mortgage is similar to rent payments and we would rather have a house of our own.
Thanks Michelle, me too.
If you pay the same amount each month anyway, why not build equity and have the privacy of your own home. Makes sense to me.
We felt ready once we had 20% down, stable income to cover the mortgage and other expenses on one salary in case of job loss, and were planning on staying put for at least 5 years.
We know plenty of people who bought and thought they could sell if things went wrong and then they couldn’t.
Very, very smart. Being able to cover all the expenses on just one income is one of the wisest things you can do.
Awesome! Congrats! How exciting
I feel ready to buy a home, but the boy is a little more cautious. I think the market in Vancouver is good right now and it’s transitioning to a buyers market. So it would be a good time, but we want to stay put until at least I get a steady job.
Thanks, Daisy.
I think you guys are making the right choice by waiting until you have a steady job.
Congrats. I remember those days. It’s a great scary feeling.
Thanks Jai, it really is a great, scary feeling—quite a weird mixture.
I have to say that we have enough to put down 20% on a home and in various places around the country, could probably put down anywhere between 30-100% at this point in order to purchase a home. But we are here for the time being.
My point is with that said, I still have not felt quite ready to purchase our first place. There are so many factors that go into this decision and so many different scenarios that we have played out that we just don’t know what we want anymore! It definitely makes me nervous.
Buying your first house is such a huge decision, there are just so many variables to consider. With such a big decision, I just want to make sure that we don’t make any mistakes.
Great job saving up so much money. 😀
Yeah, I don’t think you can ever be “ready” but owning a home has changed things a lot for us. It’s just different when you walk into the door and sit down. I can’t explain it but you’ll experience it once you get settled.
Good luck and congrats!!! I hope you find something that fits within the budget!
Thanks, Jason. I’ve pretty much lived in apartments my whole life, so owning a house is going to be a huge change. I think I’m more excited about the land around it and all the possibilities.
I thought I was ready to buy my first place since I had a decent down payment saved up. Then I started thinking more about how unstable my career is. I just couldn’t handle the stress of trying to figure out what to do if I get in a rut with no work and a big mortgage to pay off. I’m actually thinking about going back to school for a career change before making the move with buying my first home.
It’s probably best that you waited then. That’s cool that you’re thinking about going back to school, do you know what you want to do?
Awesome, congrats! A house is probably like kids – you’re never really “100%” ready, but at some point the pros heavily outweigh the cons. Plus, it’s 50% off from a few years ago…
Thanks, PK.
That actually makes a lot of sense.
I get scared of commiting to a piece of furniture let alone a house, even though I’m dying to buy one. Think of it as a great return on investment-you can ALWAYS rent it out and move someplace else and then you may have the chance to own several properties as you age!
We have always been interested in own rental properties.
We’re definitely not. But we need to beef up the downpayment savings first. So that would be why.
Oh, and CONGRATS by the way!
Thanks; good luck with your savings.
Big step. can’t wait to see more stories and such as you work through the process. I was 24 when I bought my first place and it was definitely stressful but in the end, I’m glad I did.
I’m glad we waited, we were so bad with money before, we would have just lost the house.
congrats! I’m looking forward to the nifty posts about the process! I’m not ready to buy a house yet but the good thing is that neither is my fiance 😉
Thanks, bogofdebt.
At least you two are on the same page.
Congrats!! Buying a new home is so exciting. I love buying houses.
But you are wise to factor in all of those additional expenses as they can add up and they can change from year to year as well.
As well maintenance costs are hard to predict, even for people that buy a brand new home.
I hate not knowing exactly what our financial situation will look like, it’s the scariest part…so far. 😉
Congrats on the new home Jen! Now is a great time to make the plunge, just watch out for the maintenance costs.
Yep, they can creep out of nowhere sometimes if you’re not prepared for them. Thanks Paul.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
That’s huge, and so exiting for you guys.
We’re not anywhere near ready – we’re planning to travel soon and may want to live overseas after that, plus prices here are back on the upward swing.
I was wanting to travel and live overseas too, but we just can’t afford to do it right now. Thanks eemusings.
We recently made this decision. It’s a big jump of faith.
But worth it in this market.
I sure hope so.
So awesome! Congrats!
Thanks.
I was ready years before I actually bought, but I was too young to get a mortgage. I’ve owned for 6.5years and it’s good to see you are taking into account more than just swapping rent for mortgage payments because it is not that simple.
Good luck finding your house.
Thanks Kylie.