Especially when the market was booming. It was better to lock in a price then continue to save for the downpayment

My lender was able to beat any FHA program, piggyback, etc. with an LPMI because of my wife and my credit scores, and because we were buying so much under our "purchase potential" ($400k? Methinks no).

We bought a foreclosure from Countrywide. We got a killer deal on price, they paid all closing cost, and paid our taxes and insurance for the first year, as well as owners title insurance, AND they fixed some stuff in the house before we took possession :fawk:

nice going ben...i bought mine from the US marshalls, i am doing all the repairs though, it wasnt a foreclosure though, it was a seizure 4 years ago
but i dont mind doing the work, i enjoy it, only thing that sucks is that i have not had time to work on my car any...
if you dont mind, what kind of equity were you able to walk into? if youd rather not say i understand...no biggie, just trying to get an idea

The appraisal on move-in date was only 15k above purchase; however, once I did a bunch of my own clean-up, updating, etc., the appraisal was $42k higher than my purchase. Similar house down the street was put on the market the day my for sale sign came down for $40k more than my purchase. Conservatively, I'd say I have ~$25k-$30k equity if I were to sell today. Fortunately, houses are still actually selling in my neightborhood (well, the few that are for sale).

How did you guys find the properties?

here
there are many ways...lots of stuff in chicagoland

thats good, i was able to do something similar, i am spending a lot on it though and i hope to walk away with at least 15K after realtor fees and taxes etc....
charlotte market is still up about 3%, so i want to hurry up and put it on the market asap, and get this, its walking distance from an elementary school and most the neighbors are original owners in a 20 year old neighborhood...i am really hoping that will make a difference to potential buyers...

No go for yo

huh?

Seems like you did well. Congrats man. This is the one with the big @ss detached garage right? :)

Haha, I wish. Wife didn't like the location of that one. The house we ended up with is nicer, but the garage setup isn't as nice. We have a drive-under two-car...so no room for a lift, but the whole basement could be the garage. Right now I have 3 cars in it, plus two workshop areas...one for household, the other for car stuff. You're welcome to come by sometime.

renting may make more dollars and sense in some housing markets right now.

my mortgage is about 25% of my net. If you have other debts- car, credit cards etc then you need to subtract that from your net before calculating how much you can afford. don't be a dumbass and buy more than you can afford. 25% is a good max but in some areas like NOVA or SF or NYC you may have to spend more for the "privilege" of living in that area. deduct that from your entertainment budget :p

I need to learn how to budget. I want someone to give me net percentages to live by.

rent: 25% of net
food: 20% of net
utils: 5% of net
stupid shit: 0% of net


how's those numbers?

damn, your rent is low or your food bill is high...

mortgage is roughly 19% of my gross income... after taxes that jumps to 25-30%

those aren't my numbers. those are his numbers. i made them up for him.

The economy gets a lot better when you get a place together with your girl and share rent.














and then she starts to buy stuff.

$790 per month for rent, I bring home $2900 after taxes if I don't travel. When I travel though, its caviar and cris.

Rent is currently 22% of our net take-home after taxes. We're looking at houses now, preferably ones with garages (it's common to NOT have a garage around here) so I can stop keeping car parts in the bedroom and living room. I've run the numbers based on our actual expenditures and figured out what I think we can reasonably afford, and it works out to the ballpark of 28-30% of net. But I have some built-in safety margin to accommodate future offspring-related costs.

Once you start getting to 35%+ of your net, you are getting towards "house-poor" which is a bad spot to be if you don't have significant savings, especially with the market how it is now. In NoVA, 60% of homes on the market are either short sales or foreclosures, so there's just not going to be much rebound in prices for a couple years. It is one of the worst markets in the country right now, so yours may be different.

I would have thought that banks would be more careful about how big a loan they'd approve you for these days, and was a bit surprised when we were approved to buy waaaaay more house than I think would be prudent in this market. Maybe I'm a pessimist but I think the economy is going to be in the shitter for a few years, so it's more important now to stay comfortably below that 35% figure since house prices aren't rocketing upwards like they were 5 years ago. Everyone's budget is different, but for me, going to 40% of net would mean a lot of Top Ramen and a big dent in the fun budget. If you don't have any hobbies that cost money (nobody on this forum) and are content with dial-up internet and watching over-the-air TV, then you can buy more house.:)