My Week: A Rap Up
Last week, we went house hunting, and met with our mortgage broker. All matters aside, we have settled on getting a house. With all the sub-prime hubbub going on, it’s definitely a work to make sure my budget is intact so I’m not over borrowing (Read: I = We = My wife and I). We’ve been approved for a large sum - but what’s funny is no one is telling us what we can and cannot afford! Of course, is this *anyone’s* responsibility? NO! It’s ours to figure out what we can afford and cannot afford.
Could we get a $200,000 home? Yup.
Do we need a house that is that expensive? Heck no!
We’re aiming for an extremely low monthly payment to allow for maximum payments (paying off all debts, paying off the house early) and that way, should something unexpected come along, it won’t be a problem.
For instance, Mary Pope’s comment on the Digerati Life. We are honest with our numbers, and we’re not being wishful about being better at budgeting - we know we can ‘afford’ more, but we like the idea of merely spending what we’re planning and not going all out.
What do you have against condos?
ASSOCIATION FEES! And… the condos we looked at had no yard, and if I’m going to be ‘renting’ so someone else will do my (meager) lawn and supply a sub-standard ‘pool’ and ‘work-out facility’ for $100+ a month. For $1200 a year ($2400 at some of them), I could buy an above ground pool and get a weight bench and treadmill or an exercise bike! I’ve got a real bike presently in storage - it’ll be pulled back out after the move. It’s like a fee for making a bad investment choice.
We’re looking at a few more houses this week, some more expensive than the first, but just to ‘keep our eyes open.’ We don’t want to pounce on the first house when something better (bigger yard, cheaper payments, not near a rail road track).
So the quest continues!
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