|
Inept posted:Unless you are putting a significant amount down on that 40K car, your payments will be 750+ on a 5 year loan. I plan on putting between a 5 - 9K downpayment on it.
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2009 22:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 00:45 |
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:We have $32,000 for a downpayment - a certain amount was given to us by our parents for a wedding, but we decided to go cheap and spend the majority of it on a downpayment for a house and this, combined with a $15,000 line of credit we have taken out creates the $32,000 downpayment. Out of curiosity can you clarify this for me?
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2009 22:45
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:Thanks so much for the really great advice guys, definately something I'm taking to heart. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but your down payment includes a line of credit? As in, you only have $17,000 actual cash in hand for a down payment? How much do you have in a savings account for an emergency fund?
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2009 22:55
|
|
|
Yes we have $17,000 in hand and in an emergency fund I have 6k.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2009 22:57
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:Yes we have $17,000 in hand and in an emergency fund I have 6k. I'm going to go ahead and say that you should hold off on buying the house for a while. Edit: Oh, and your car payments are going to be ~$1000, not $500, unless you're putting $20k down and financing out to 5 years. swenblack fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Jul 16, 2009 |
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 01:24
|
|
|
swenblack posted:So you're saying that you make $111k/yr, the majority of the money you have saved was a gift, you have ~1-2 mo worth of an emergency fund, half your down-payment is an unsecured loan, and you're going to buy a $40k car as a gift to yourself? Ok. I'm not disagreeing...but I need you to explain it to me. And I really don't get why you think my car payments will be $1000+. Every "online car payment" calculator I do through websites states if I put $5k down and finance for 60 months, it will be like...$567 (approx) a month. So here is how I see it and this is why I'm having the trouble: I make: 7150 (approx) a month before taxes. We are looking to purchase a house that is between 250 - 270 K. We estimate our housing costs (mortgage/property taxes/water/hydro/insurance) will come come out to approx $2200 a month (divide that by two for my portion) = $1100 - line of credit payment (used for downpayment) = 1000/2 = 500/month - car insurance ~ 200/month - phone ~ 100/month - food ~ 260/2 = 130/month - cable + internet = 150/2 = 75/month all = 2105 taken away from 7150 leaves me with $5045. Obviously my monthly income will be lower when taxes are taken off, but I'm still not seeing why I can't afford a nice car. I'm truthfully not trying to be difficult, I am just not getting it obviously. I need you to explain to me why it is a terrible idea for me to purchase an expensive car. Maybe my concept of housing payments are low or whatever it is. Edit: Here is proof of the "$500 monthly payment". I was wrong, it will be $605. 
Ophelia's Ashes fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Jul 16, 2009 |
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 01:56
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:Ok. I'm not disagreeing...but I need you to explain it to me. And I really don't get why you think my car payments will be $1000+. Every "online car payment" calculator I do through websites states if I put $5k down and finance for 60 months, it will be like...$567 (approx) a month. Do yourself a favor and save up 20% before you buy the house, NOT from an unsecured loan. You make entirely too much money to not be able to save $40,000 inside of 1.5 years, maybe 2. The house is certainly not outside your budget, that's a relatively cheap house, the car maybe stretching it--I don't know too many people in the $100-120K income area who own a car like that. Then again, said people generally live in much more expensive houses. Just the fact that you have no savings with that kind of salary puts up a red flag in my book--by saving the down payment for yourself, you'll not only save yourself money but you'll prove yourself that you are fiscally responsible enough to do so; it's win-win. There's no rush to buy a house, don't do it until you're ready.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 02:01
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:but I'm still not seeing why I can't afford a nice car. bottom line, its your money.. If you wanted people to pat you on the back and say "you work hard, treat yourself", you came to the wrong thread. Yes you may be able to afford the "nice things you deserve" but its thoughts like that that lead so many people down a devastating path. If you want the car, buy it, but I don't think anyone here would agree its a sound financial decision.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 02:27
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:I make: 7150 (approx) a month before taxes. Your fiance makes $25,000 /yr and you expect her to pay for half of a $250,000 house? Will you be gracious enough to feed her after she's spent her entire take home pay on the mortgage? You're also very likely underestimating maintenance costs (1% ad valorem per year is reasonable) and costs of "stuff" to fill the house - furniture, tools, hardware - that goes with home ownership. That said, you certainly make enough money to afford that car, if you want it. Most people in this forum see cars as expensive depreciating appliances, so they're not gung ho on fancy cars. But you get to spend your money on things that are worth it to you.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 03:24
|
|
|
The others have summed up why it's probably not such a great idea to jump into buying a house with a loan for a down payment, and I don't want to add to any car talk derailment lest this become Cornholio thread v2. However, I would like to point out that you don't have any portion of your budget allotted to charitable works. It might be worthwhile to consider adding a charity to your budget - aside from helping out those who are less fortunate, it will make you feel much better than driving a nice car could ever do (happiness studies have shown!)
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 03:30
|
|
|
Thanks so much everyone for the advice! I really appreciate it and def. take it all to heart. I don't want to derail this thread as well, but I appreciate everyone giving me their input, it's nice to have some objective views. And just so you know SlapActionJackson, I'm the female 
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 03:33
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:Obviously my monthly income will be lower when taxes are taken off, but I'm still not seeing why I can't afford a nice car. I'm truthfully not trying to be difficult, I am just not getting it obviously. I need you to explain to me why it is a terrible idea for me to purchase an expensive car. Maybe my concept of housing payments are low or whatever it is. My original point is that buying a house will be one of the biggest financial decisions you will ever make, and should be made only with adequate consideration. If your justification for going $35k in debt to buy a car is that you are almost out of debt, you probably aren't mature enough to buy a house. While its true that you can probably afford it and that many other people in your position do it and it works out, you're still opening yourself up for a lot of risk if you do it for the wrong reasons and without considering the risks.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 03:35
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:And just so you know SlapActionJackson, I'm the female My bad. The point still stands, just reverse the gender of the pronouns.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 03:39
|
|
|
So I just bought my first home that is currently being built which should be ready in late September. 2 stories, 2320 sq ft. Here is how the numbers break down so far: $214,300 - Home $4,500 - What I need to bring to the closing table $31,000 - Savings by late September ($27,000 currently) $15,000 - 401K by late September ($13,500 currently) I'm curious to see if I'm overlooking anything, underestimating, overestimating, etc: + 3340 - Take home pay after 10% in 401K, 2 federal/1 state claimed + 650 - Rent paid by girlfriend, pays for all shared expenses - 1175 - Mortgage (206.8K @ 5.5%) - 90 - PMI - 160 - Property tax - 45 - HOA dues - 60 - Home owner's insurance - 350 - Utilities (electricity, sewer, gas, trash) - 80 - Car insurance - 175 - Gas for travel - 20 - Pest control - 25 - Termite bond - 20 - Car tags - 80 - Cell phone - 350 - Groceries for 2 people - 200 - Going out entertainment (dinner, movie, museum, etc) - 150 - Personal entertainment (DVDs, video games, etc) - 250 - Misc (things for the house, lawn care, etc) - 50 - Lunch - 13 - Internet - 25 - TV - 20 - Netflix - 15 - Usenet = ~635 - Remainder/savings I have $0 in debt right now. I own a 2005 Mustang totally paid off with 2 years left on a premium extended warranty. Since this is my 1st home, I'll qualify for the $8000 tax credit as well. I wrote this budget as pretty much a worst case scenario. I doubt all my utilities will be $350 every month, but will probably hit that during really cold winter months, and once I buy most of the stuff I need initially I doubt I'll be going to Home Depot every month buying $200 worth of tools and pine straw when I've been there 2 years. What are your thoughts on this budget? Anything I should add, change, or remove? What can I expect back on a tax rebate every year since I claim a 2 on federal? Zombie Dictator fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Jul 16, 2009 |
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 13:13
|
|
|
Zombie Dictator posted:What are your thoughts on this budget? Anything I should add, change, or remove? What can I expect back on a tax rebate every year since I claim a 2 on federal? Looks pretty good - assuming your girlfriend doesn't move out and leave you with $0 left over every month. I was going to say $650 wasn't much until I saw you budgeted your entertainment costs as well. What you really should do though is use the IRS withholding calculator and immediately update your W4 as soon as you move into this house. There's no reason to give the government a tax free loan just so that in April you can have an excuse to buy a big screen TV (I'm not really speaking to you directly as I am the mass of idiots who do this). Also, I assume health insurance is paid for by your job.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 13:49
|
|
|
Ophelia's Ashes posted:Thanks so much everyone for the advice! I really appreciate it and def. take it all to heart. I don't want to derail this thread as well, but I appreciate everyone giving me their input, it's nice to have some objective views. Are you in Canada? I saw "Alberta" on car website dealer locator thingy. If so, I'm not sure how mortgages are in Canada, but when you apply for a mortgage here in the states it's sent to underwriting, so basically someone looks over all your bank statements for large deposits so that they determine you're not financing any other part of your down payment/closing costs. So in theory, they would easily flag that $15k you're borrowing for a down payment and potentially deny your application because of that. Also, there are some strings attached to gifted money as well, I'm not sure if it's just an amount limit or just a time limit (the money has to be in your account for so long). You make really good money, so you've got that going for you. But if you really want a house and all you've saved so far that wasn't gifted money is under $10k, you've got a ways to go financially. This would probably involve driving around your old hoopty a while longer. If you really want a house more than a nice car, make that your priority. If you find a house and can afford it and live in it for a while and you're comfortable enough with your finances to get a nicer car, I think that's a better plan. Also - I see you're looking at BMWs. There is no reason to buy new. You'll be able to find a 1-2 year old car still under warranty for literally $10k less (or more, who knows with this economy) than you'd buy new. It really makes no sense. In any case, good luck! ---- Unrelated note: I closed yesterday and I'm now a home owner! The closing was the most anti-climactic thing yet, it was like "sign these bunch of papers, here's a key ok see ya!" I had some sort of super moving team at my disposal, we packed the uhual, moved, and unloaded at the new house in right around 2 hours. A 24' truck full, too! I love it already 
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 14:44
|
|
|
dreesemonkey posted:Unrelated note: I closed yesterday and I'm now a home owner! The closing was the most anti-climactic thing yet, it was like "sign these bunch of papers, here's a key ok see ya!" Me too! I was searching for the words to describe how I felt to my husband the other day. Anti-climactic is perfect. We signed paperwork Monday, and were just waiting for the phone call from the lawyer saying the transaction was properly registered and we could pick up our key. I told him, it wasn't really a let down, but it was certainly anti-climactic. There's been so many other steps along the way where I've been able to say "Woohoo, we bought a house! ... but not really". In our case, it still doesn't feel like ours quite yet, because we won't be moving until close to the end of August -- want to get some work done first.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 16:54
|
|
|
dreesemonkey posted:Unrelated note: I closed yesterday and I'm now a home owner! The closing was the most anti-climactic thing yet, it was like "sign these bunch of papers, here's a key ok see ya!" I think the people around me were more excited than I was. I wasn't excited at all. My experience was more like "Thank loving god this is over..." followed up shortly after by "poo poo, this is just the beginning." Over a month later, I'm still living at home and finally last night got a decent kitchen remodel labor quote. I'm really tired of having to go at the pace of the slowest link. I want to be finished!
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 17:46
|
|
|
geetee posted:I'm really tired of having to go at the pace of the slowest link. I want to be finished! Welcome to the wonderful world of homeownership. If you want my advice, I would learn to do as much as you can yourself, it makes it so much more rewarding, easier and cheaper.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 19:57
|
|
|
Cheesemaster200 posted:Welcome to the wonderful world of homeownership. If you want my advice, I would learn to do as much as you can yourself, it makes it so much more rewarding, easier and cheaper. It will also mean much more of it gets done correctly the first time.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2009 20:32
|
|
|
Zombie Dictator posted:So I just bought my first home that is currently being built which should be ready in late September. 2 stories, 2320 sq ft. Here is how the numbers break down so far: Do you have a quote for that home insurance or are you guessing? The quotes I've gotten for my place lead me to believe you should probably be budgeting closer to 200 for reasonable coverage. If you do have that in writing, what company? I wanna get in on it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2009 02:51
|
|
|
So my job is moving down to Vegas and I will be going with it. The area I'm told the new office will be is in Summerlin which is in the Northwestern part of Las Vegas. After doing a little bit of research with Zillow in the area it seems like there are some really good deals right now. My budget is in the 180-210k range and I feel like there seems to be a lot of houses in the area listed for around that. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or knew the area enough to provide some guidance? Is now the time to buy in the area or will housing prices continue to drop (seems like they have been hit pretty hard already)? Thanks.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2009 03:07
|
|
|
xgalaxy posted:I was wondering if anyone had any advice or knew the area enough to provide some guidance? Is now the time to buy in the area or will housing prices continue to drop (seems like they have been hit pretty hard already)? I do want to caution you about Summerlin - there are a TON of old people neighborhoods (my grandparents live in Summerlin) and if you're younger it might be the most boring place in the world and you'll get cited for noise if you're even a little bit loud (not to mention a lot of neighborhoods have HOAs which suck). I'm sure there are younger/better neighborhoods around there, but I'd do a lot of research before buying a place just because of that. I find Las Vegas in general to be a terrible place - see if you can get a month to month rental there at least for the first few months because it's definitely one of those cities where if you don't like it, you hate it. And it would suck to be stuck with a house in a city you hate.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2009 06:11
|
|
|
Doodarazumas posted:Do you have a quote for that home insurance or are you guessing? The quotes I've gotten for my place lead me to believe you should probably be budgeting closer to 200 for reasonable coverage. If you do have that in writing, what company? I wanna get in on it. I was figuring his $60 was a monthly. Insurance on my house is considered low for my area on a 230k house is $438/y which is roughly $36/m. But we're not in a flood or disaster-prone area. But it is NJ and everything is expensive here.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2009 13:10
|
|
|
moana posted:I find Las Vegas in general to be a terrible place - see if you can get a month to month rental there at least for the first few months because it's definitely one of those cities where if you don't like it, you hate it. And it would suck to be stuck with a house in a city you hate.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2009 18:54
|
|
|
I just had my offer accepted on a house that was built in 1890 and had a large living room added on sometime between 1950-1970. I have an inspection lined up for Monday. My main question is, how common is it to test older homes for asbestos? None of the local places offer it, and no one I've talked to has any experience with it, but it seems like it could be a big deal. Not really worried about my health, but I can just imagine it killing my resale value when I find out a few years down the road. Any advice? I'm in Indianapolis, IN if it makes a difference.
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2009 03:35
|
|
|
Dik Hz posted:This is great advice (and what I'm currently doing). Rent for a year in your new city. It costs you a year's worth of equity, but you get to learn about the area and different neighborhoods and maintain the needed flexibility at a transitional time in your life. Let me third this. I did exactly the same thing, in Las Vegas, having moved out here for a job located in Summerlin, over the past year. I ended up NOT buying in Summerlin. Houses there are sardine-canned, even by Vegas standards, and overpriced relative to the rest of the city. Las Vegas is easy enough to get around that you really can cast a very wide net when you go fishing for a house, either to rent or to buy. While as Dik says, you will indeed lose a year's equity by waiting, you'll find that a year's equity in a house that you hate is something you'll be willing to pay dearly to get rid of.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2009 22:12
|
|
|
nouia posted:I just had my offer accepted on a house that was built in 1890 and had a large living room added on sometime between 1950-1970. I have an inspection lined up for Monday.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 00:07
|
|
|
FidgetyRat posted:I was figuring his $60 was a monthly. Insurance on my house is considered low for my area on a 230k house is $438/y which is roughly $36/m. But we're not in a flood or disaster-prone area. But it is NJ and everything is expensive here. Be happy you think that is expensive, best I've found so far on a 145k house is 1000 a year. Thanks Katrina, Rita, and Ike.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 04:00
|
|
|
Wuhao posted:Let me third this. I did exactly the same thing, in Las Vegas, having moved out here for a job located in Summerlin, over the past year. I ended up NOT buying in Summerlin. Houses there are sardine-canned, even by Vegas standards, and overpriced relative to the rest of the city. Las Vegas is easy enough to get around that you really can cast a very wide net when you go fishing for a house, either to rent or to buy. What areas of Las Vegas would you recommend I look into? The Summerlin website does a good job of selling the neighborhood (no surprise there). But if there are better areas I'd definitely like to hear about them.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 05:47
|
|
|
xgalaxy posted:What areas of Las Vegas would you recommend I look into? The Summerlin website does a good job of selling the neighborhood (no surprise there). But if there are better areas I'd definitely like to hear about them. The whole west side of town is very new. I'm living down in Mountain's Edge, which is in the southwest. It's like a less complete version of Summerlin. Prices here are lower, because Summerlin has had time to develop stuff like shopping centers, and Mountain's Edge has not. I'm not sure where the borders of this development run -- I think it's roughly south of Blue Diamond, from Fort Apache over to Rainbow. But the whole southwest is worth looking at, since I think as a general rule it's kinda undervalued compared to Summerlin. Rhodes Ranch might be the exception; it's a fairly posh golf course community. I didn't look at golf course-adjacent homes enough to tell if a house overlooking Rhodes is cheaper than a comparable house overlooking, say, Red Rock Country Club. As a point of reference, I would say that coming from around Durango and Blue Diamond, I am in light traffic about 20 minutes away from Red Rock Casino, by Charleston and 215, which I'm guessing is going to be fairly close to your offices in Summerlin. I found my rental through Craigslist. This worked out very, very well. You'll see lots of listings in Summerlin, Alliante, Mountain's Edge, Green Valley, and all the other big new developments, along with plenty of older houses as well.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 10:33
|
|
|
Doodarazumas posted:Be happy you think that is expensive, best I've found so far on a 145k house is 1000 a year. Thanks Katrina, Rita, and Ike. Yeah, not complaining. But considering I live in an area of the country where the only natural disasters are 2 inches of snow (people around here seriously head out for canned food and bottled water when it flurries), thats expensive. Insurance companies must use our money to offset costs of people who live in your area.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 13:09
|
|
|
Dumb question. I'm getting ready to put my first offer in on a house ever. I suggested coming in 10% under list, and the realtor said that is a good idea. Should I come in at EXACTLY 10% under list, or round up or down to the nearest round number? For instance, should my offer be $118756 or a flat $119000? Or does it even matter? I know I can ask the realtor this question but save me from looking like a dumbass.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 19:51
|
|
|
Cmdr. Shepard posted:Dumb question. Personally, I think not rounding makes the offer sound retarded. I don't think the seller will mind losing $244 if you are already gouging him/her for 10%. Furthermore, don't knock down 10% just because "its the thing to do".. Bid on what you think you are willing to pay for the house, not some random number. If I were selling my house at or around market value and someone came at me with 10% lower, I'd be insulted.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 20:03
|
|
|
FidgetyRat posted:Personally, I think not rounding makes the offer sound retarded. I don't think the seller will mind losing $244 if you are already gouging him/her for 10%. It's bank owned, I'm not really gouging anyone I don't think. It has been on the market awhile so I'm sure they'd like to get rid of it. But thanks, I will round up for the offer. Going to talk to the Realtor tomorrow and put it in.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 20:05
|
|
|
Cmdr. Shepard posted:It's bank owned, I'm not really gouging anyone I don't think. It has been on the market awhile so I'm sure they'd like to get rid of it. But thanks, I will round up for the offer. Going to talk to the Realtor tomorrow and put it in. True if its bank owned, have at it. Just keep in mind, banks generally like to sit on offers for quite a while, sometimes making the buyer wait over a month only to say "oh, sorry we got a higher bid".
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 20:07
|
|
|
How often can you find home listings with the floor plan of the house listed as one of the pictures? I like to be able to see room sizes and the flow of the house without having to actually go there.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 20:27
|
|
|
ObsidianBeast posted:How often can you find home listings with the floor plan of the house listed as one of the pictures? I like to be able to see room sizes and the flow of the house without having to actually go there.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 20:29
|
|
|
ObsidianBeast posted:How often can you find home listings with the floor plan of the house listed as one of the pictures? I like to be able to see room sizes and the flow of the house without having to actually go there. To second what Moana said, the lack of floorplans really sucks. On top of that, the pictures are always small, grainy, from the worst angles, and don't paint an accurate image of what the house interior looks like. I'd have saved myself a handful of trips looking at houses if the pictures were decent enough for me to judge from my computer rather than wasting my time, the realtors time, and the sellers time.
|
|
#
?
Jul 21, 2009 21:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 00:45 |
|
|
Some of the pictures of houses we saw were in no way reflective of the current state of the house. Since so many houses are short sales/foreclosures, people really don't care about the state of their house or the house has been on the market for 6+ months and has fallen into disrepair. I also noticed that if there is only one picture of the inside of the house, that is the only redeeming quality of the house. Too bad smell-o-web hasn't been invented yet because I wouldn't have checked out a few houses based on the smell alone.  I close on my new house next week! 
|
|
#
?
Jul 22, 2009 00:13
|
|
