I plan on living there a while...3-5 years minimum. Basically I've applied for a full-time postion which was created by congress...which replaces my current position. Obviously if I get that job, I'll be locked in on my location.

If I don't get it, then I can start my own business like I've wanted to, although I'm too much of a ***** to do it and need the push of unemployment to walk the plank, and be a man for the first time in my life. If I end up starting my own business I'll make sure to buy and sell each of you trashy ******. Somebody has to be the pimp, and you have to be the *****. I keep a strong pimp hand.



thanks for the help on this ****. I have no clue how all that tax action works, but thanks for tipping me off to it. I'm looking at throwing down more like $30k now with some recent professional, interim decisions I've made.

 

Good luck with this. If you can get something like the ones you posted for that money, you'd be foolish to continue renting - assuming you do get a stay-in-one-place job. Even if your mortgage and taxes are 30% higher than you're paying for rent, you'll probably get all or most of it back in the tax deduction the next year.

My advice, for what it's worth:

Be very wary of "handyman specials" unless you love working on **** in your (less than you think) spare time. Cosmetic stuff, like paint, wallpaper, some patching are one thing, having to rearrange walls or clean out and re-mortar your brickwork are something else. Unless you don't mind paying the pros - in which case you might be better off buying a more expensive house that doesn't need the work.

The other thing is to make sure you can live there more than 3-5 years if you decide to do something dumb like get married and spawn. I've known a couple folks who got screwed by buying a 2-BR house and then having a boy and a girl - kind of forced them to move when they weren't ready, or who got stuck with a house they hated but couldn't sell because of a shitty market.

I finally got off the travel team about 10 years ago - got a house with a garage that actually hold 2 cars along with my other crap. It is sweet, but it's still a chunk of work to keep it up.

 

Holy crap houses are cheap in Dallas! I just did a quick search on Realtor.com for Dallas. $100,000 to $175,000. There were hundreds of houses in that price range. Can't tell about the neighborhoods but housing looks to be about 1/3 of the cost around here. I'm not even in an area known to be expensive like SoCal.

Hit the big real estate websites and do some searches. Get a feel for what areas you like, what features you want, what prices are out there. Drive by lot's of houses on your own. If you know anyone in real estate that's a plus. If not start asking aquaintances if they know someone they like or trust. A good agent is a big plus when you aren't sure what you are doing. A bad agent will cost you lots of time and money.

 

Don't get any bright ideas, TX is full.

We're deporting Californians one at a time.

Chris

 

I hope you ain't inferrin I'm a Californian. Around here that's a shooting offense. 4th generation Oregonian.

All the californian's are coming north and Californicating our state. That's why our real estate prices have doubled in less than a decade.

 

I'm capable of doing work aside from big plumbing and electrical jobs. I helped daddy remodel the house when I was a kid, and I'm fairly handy...I just hope I can find metric hardware because I refuse to buy imperial tools.

 

If you are seriously looking at a fixer-upper, you should consider holding back what you anticipate spending on the "fixing" part out of that $30k and go with a lower downpayment. The reason is you will not likely be able to borrow money for the fixing part as cheaply as you can for the mortgage part.

If it will take $15k to fix, try to buy with $15K down and use the cash to fix. You will have a larger monthly payment, but only $100-$150 more per month. The valuation will still go higher when you dump the money in on the back end. Also, finding the money to fix it usually ends up being the stumbling block for a lot of people, or they start using the credit card or a home equity loan, both of which will be higher interest rates.

The only downside to this is if you can put 20% down, you won't have to have PMI insurance on your mortgage. But, if you do it the way I suggest, you can still fix the house, up the value and have it reappraised after the work is done to show the mortgage company that the original loan is now under 80% LTV (loan to value) and they can get the PMI insurance dropped.

 

Just keep in mind the time it will take to do what you want with the house. You don't think you have time now...just wait. And don't forget the cost of tools, which you will need.

 

No ****. I've got tremendous equity in my constantly renovated flipper house... and absolutely 0 time. I typically spend each weekend 8 hours "fixing" the house, and then 6-8 hours on yardwork.

I've also had to buy a table saw, circular saw, riding mower, push mower, hedge clipper ($300!!), edger, weedwacker,....