Tuesday, 20 January 2009
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Renting or Buying- We're Looking for Another House...
by Mama Pig
We are in the process of seriously starting to look for another house. Our landlords have thus far been unsuccessful in their attempts to refinance the house and I want a plan in place in case things turn ugly quickly.
For all the talks of bailing out the homeowners, it is just not happening. The banks are foreclosing and taking the loss only to turn around and sell it at a reduced rate. Good for them, but bad for those that are unfortunate victims. (Um, us.)
I have thought about contacting the bank directly and seeing if they would be willing to work with us when the time comes, but I'm still not positive this is where I want to make my home for the next twenty years. I love the property, but the land is on the side of the mountain and there is not a ton of usable area. To pay taxes on property that is more than three fourths mountain is not making a ton of sense.
Renting it has been awesome, but to purchase it; well, not so sure.
Are you currently renting or do you own your home? How is the current economic situation affecting your housing status?
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About the Author
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- From: mamapig
- Name: mamapig
- About Me: Hello everyone. I am Mama Pig. I am a very busy mom of eight children. Five by birth and three my marriage. While it is a busy life, it is one I wouldn't change for the world. Our oldest is 18 and will be graduating in May. We are even in the boys/girls department with four each. Two just turned 14, two just turned 12, one will be 10 this year, and the babies are 4 and 2. There are no twins in the mix, just step siblings that happen to be close in age. You will read alot about Down syndrome when you read my blog. Our youngest daughter was born with Down syndrome as well as a congenital heart defect. These are two issues I am extremely passionate about. I just resumed classes at the local community college. My goal is to someday reach law school with the hopes of focusing on family law.
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Comments (11)
We are would-be first time home buyers.
We started to get serious in February of last year.With the status of the economy then, we were not successful in getting a loan for a house.We have spent the last year paying of TONS of debt, establishing some new credit accounts, saving money and generally working on our credit portfolios.With the current status of the economy, I fear that we will still be in the same situation we were last year.We aren't planning on making any serious moves until we file our 2008 tax returns, but I am not getting my hopes up.It is extremely frustrating to us. Our monthly rent is equal to what a house payment would be for the amount of house we would want to purchase. I just don't understand how someone can say, "I see you pay $X amount in rent each and every month on time. Sorry, we just don't think you could pay that same amount on a home loan."
We're still trying to work with our mortgaging bank, but having lost $50k in 2008, it has proved to be "interesting". Since we're having trouble getting a definite answer from them (they seem to be super-busy...who knew? heh), we've also started looking at rental properties as a "Plan B".
I'm actually one of the few who can benefit from the current mortgage crisis. We are looking for short sales and will be putting an offer on a house tomorrow. Luckily I have excellent credit so I'm benefiting. It is still sad to think of the family who lost their house but, being a first time buyer, I have to take advantage of this situation while it benefits me.
Best of luck to everyone out there. I hope things start to improve soon.
We just bought our home this summer. So far the economy hasn't really affected us. We both have jobs that are pretty study, I am a teacher and my husband is a computer tech. I pray that nothing happens, but if ones of us lost our jobs we could still afford to live here. We bought a house that was completely in our price range so it wouldn't be stretching us. I just wish everyone was as fortunate as we have been.
We bought our first house in February for a pretty good price. If we were to try to sell it within the next year or two though we'd probably lose money on it because of the economy. But since we plan on staying here for a while we're fine.
we was renting all last year and started to look to buy in the middle of it. we were told that we were fools what with the price drop and job market .. however we hunted for 3 weeks and had a short list off 11 after viewing them all we got down to 3 that had a second chance in september last year we moved into your very own first house. we got the price down by 20 grand and that has been a great help the banks looked better at us for it and was greta with their help. we taken out a mortgage long enough for the time we went to be here by then things shouldve turned around enough to be even if not better when we sell. talk to the bank they aint the big bad orge the are being painted as ... as long as you dont go in with stupid ideals
@spook5@xanga - People don't understand that some of us are at an advantage right now. The property we are going to put an offer on is going for almost $30 grand less than what it is worth. This is the best time to buy because banks are going to be more cautious about how much they lend. Less likely to lend you more than you should be taking on.
Congrats to you!
@myfate22@xanga - you are so right and i think that if people are able to take that step and afford what the rates are they should go for it. come the time when things settle again they'll be in such a strong position market wise. although i must say the money saved we are spending on make the house just as we want it lol
We are renting. I don't like it. My husband has rubbed off on me with that -- we see it as throwing your money away. Putting money to live somewhere that isn't ever going to be yours. Ugh.
We are HOPING to find something before our lease is up in June. My husband even talked with our landlord and he said he MIGHT be willing to purchase something we like and we can do rent to own through them. How awesome? Everything we have found is a little bit on the higher side though -- I did find four places (close to 2000+ square feet) between $75k & $95k. I was excited.
We have very sucky credit, with our tax returns, we're hoping it is enough and we can pay off everything that looks bad on MY credit and then start fixing mine up with some good credit and also pay off the two small things that are going to look bad on the husband's soon. We are hoping we get $5k+ back. That would be pretty sweet, but I'm not getting my hopes yet. My father-in-law said he is going to do our taxes for us, so we'll see. *crosses fingers*
Good luck to you and finding something!
I actually have an appt. with our bank tomorrow to see how much we can get pre-approved for. My hubby works about an hour away from where we live right now and we just found out the main road for his drive is going to under construction all summer. So, we are looking at moving sooner than originally planned. But, we also happen to be in a place where the current market may be an advantage for us. We have good credit and good report with our bank. The home we own now is paid off so we won't be paying two morgages if we have a hard time selling. And home prices right now are low so we will be getting a lot more house for less money. For us, it just doesn't make sense not to move now.
We just paid off our mortgage! Hooray for us! We did want to move, but with the market the way it is we would never get for our house what we would need in order to buy and not have a mortgage payment out of this world! We are very cautious and would never buy a house that stretched our budget. So, we decided to stay and with enough money in the bank and the economy the way it is, decided to pay it off and stay put until God tells us for sure it is time to move.