House Hunting Woes...

Heidi - that is really tough!

 

do you have any flexibility with your budget?

 

if you can go to $250K - there are a lot of nice homes for sale in your area. Are you pre-qualified?

you / Reggie may be able to get pre-qualified for a FHA loan with no money down and you would only need 3% to come to settlement - this could help you spread your budget a little bit?!?

We are also busting at the seams in a 1br apartment, but we make it work. I'm really happy with our cheap rent. Recently we went through the house & made multiple piles.
stuff to give to friends
stuff to give to goodwill
stuff to send back home to store (probably pack on a future flight)
stuff to sell on ebay
stuff to throw away

We go 4 big boxes of stuff out of the house. Except for the stuff we plan on storing in his mom's attic. Those boxes are nicely stacked up in the bedroom corner. We have to do this about every year once we start feeling cramped.

Another thing that has helped is getting a white noise CD of ocean sounds. It allows me to nap or sleep later than him. That was a big problem before. it also helps with noise from upstairs neighbors.

Mike built a big wood box with a lock to put on the patio & store our camping supplies.

The small place also keeps me from shopping much.

We've been in the 1br 1 bath 660 sq foot place for almost 4 years now. Hopefully we can stick out another 2-3 depending on when I graduate). The cheap rent allows us to save up for a house so when the time is right we can get a place we'll love.

I swear when I read these threads with the prices of homes where you guys live I wish I were born anywhere but CA If it were that affordable here we would have bought a home before we even got married...at this rate a home is not in our immediate future unless we move to the high desert, but under $300k is still unheard of, more like $600k for a decent area in the city! Lucky duckies )

Heidi - I so feel your pain. Sam and I have been living in a 600 sf apt for the past year with our dog and 2 cats. We went through the ups and downs of looking for about 5 months until we finally found a place that worked. I'm sure you've already talked to a mortgage broker, but FHA was totally the way to go for us. You only need 3% down, and the rates for us are better than a conventional mortgage would've been. The market is great for buyers right now, and because of that, we were able to negotiate the house we wanted for $55k less than its original asking price! The right house will come along, so please don't get discouraged. And as others have said, if you can find something with great bones, go for it! It will be a great investment with some sweat equity

I feel your pain!

 

We just recently bought a home where I never thought I would live in 100 years.

 

Don't get me wrong our home is beautiful and so is the neighborhood and city, but it wasn't my top pick.

 

Now when I go home and the wind is just right I can smell the dairy cows. Yuck!

what area r u looking

I have a question...I've never had to pay for my own heat - always been covered under my rent. Anyone have any idea the cost differences between oil, gas & electric heating??

 

My mom keeps telling us to not even consider a home that uses electric heat, but it seems like everything we like has electric!

I have gas heat I pay aabout 100 or so a month. a woman at my job said she got 20 gallons of oil and paid 360 lasted her about 1 mo nth

electric when power goes out so does your stove and heat.

i turn on an electric heater for Amir at night because he kicks from under the cover as for me I grew up with out heat at night.

i have gas. there is a giant tank in my basement that i fill at my conveniance. so there's no monthly bill, but to fill it is about $700. i think it's better than a monthly payment because that $700 of gas will last me a long time.

Electric isn't so bad. My apartment and townhouse were electric, and we just put the heat on low in the rooms we didn't go into often and it was cheaper than gas.

 

We are paying a rediculous amount for our gas in our house right now, $160/month. BOOOOOOOO!