I need advice

[Jspafford]

I am at a big point in my life right now. For those of you who don't know, Heather and I are getting married September 7th, of this year. We are currently looking for a place to live. This is where the problem lies.

We both went in and talked to a realtor's financial person. Heather just graduated from college in December, currently she is a subsitute teacher. It appears as subsituting is considered part time work.

I have been working since 2002. When the guy asked us who made the most money at this time, it was obviously me. I don't know if I should tell this or not, but it may help with the story. Last year I made $29,800. After he checked my credit he approved me on the spot for a $99,250 house loan. I was stoked, I though there was no way we could afford that much, let alone me on my own.

So the house hunt began. We cannot find ANYTHING in our price range worth a shit. We found one house that was built in the 70's that is immaculate. Everything is new, it is a split level. The problem is, it has a one car garage with a single driveway. The ATV and trailer would take up the garage, Heather's Ranger and my B2 would take up the driveway, that would put me parking my F-250 on the street... I never drive it, so it would sit there ALL the time. It has a huge backyard, but there is no way to access it with anything more than foot traffic.

I have thought about selling the F-250. I love the truck, I really do, but I cannot stand to drive it when I know I can get twice the mileage with my B2. However, the B2 does breakdown sometimes, so if it wasn't for the Super Duty I wouldn't have another set of wheels. I also use it sometimes to make money pulling trailers for people. If I sold it I would have to get another newer vehicle (most likely a ranger) so I could have a backup set of wheels. My F-250 costs me $355 a month. If I sold it my insurance would drop to almost nothing, so I would be saving $355 plus $171 a month. Just selling the truck would almost pay for the house payments.

I just can't seem to convince myself than I need to give up everything I have busted my ass to buy.

I want a house with a 2 car garage, but none of the houses we have checked into are worth anything.

I don't know what to do, I feel like I am going in a circle.

Anyone want to buy a truck?

 

[Muddycowboy]

how much bud my fiance wants one really bad. she wants a silverado but im still trying to convince her otherwise. ill be down at the ohiostate fair grounds april 12th. maybe you could meet me at the mc'ds or something take a look at it

 

[Captain Ledd]

pre-manufactured home?

I kind of know where you're comming from about getting rid of stuff you've worked so hard for. but they're are nice houses out there. My old room mate picked up a repossesed pre-manufactured home for like 45,000. dead serious (and it WASN'T a pile of crap, very nice actualy), and that was before the collapse (here in Mi. at least) I'd keep looking around a little bit more, something will crop up.

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

That's a really nice truck man. I'm sure you won't have any problems selling it if you decide to.

It sucks, but I'd say sell it and buy another set of wheels, like a Ranger, that gets better mileage and costs less to operate. Just my two cents. Grats on the wedding!

 

[Jspafford]

And to think I took that pic because I was proud of the truck and the $800 new tires, I never dreamed I may use it as a classified picture.

I had the fifth wheel hitch out of it in that pic.

 

[97BlackBetty]

I want to. But im in school. I dont know what the housing market is like down there, but I would talk to the banks about foreclosed homes. I was looking in the fall for a house to buy. I was also 19, and with my dad co-signing I could have bought anything up here. I was finding houses that were appraised in 05 or 06 for anywhere from $130,000 to $150,000. Those that had been foreclosed on I could have bought from the bank for anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000. Unfortanately time just wasnt on my side so I decided to rent for a year and I will be looking next spring.

I will admit, the houses that were foreclosed on were always in the worst shape. I mean I wouldnt take care of something if I new that my life was essentially ruined and someone was going to take my home from me. But those houses were going so cheap from the bank that I could have afforded to pay someone to come in and do the work. One place I looked at, I could have bought from the bank for $30,000. It was in BAD shape, but nothing im not capable of fixing. My deciding factor was distance from school and work. It put me about 45 minutes away and at that point I decided not to go for it.

Right now most of the banks I have been talking with are so worried that they are willing to give places away just to get the residence out from under them. The guy I have been in contact with at my bank sends me updates every 2-3 weeks on new forclosures, and "dropped" price foreclosures.

Either way, good luck to you and Heather in this new search. It sure is fun moving into a new stage in life.

*Edit- Just wanted to say that most of the places I was looking at were either 4 or 5 bedroom, with 2 or more car garages and most were 1 or more acres. Most were also within 5-10 minutes of town. As well as being in "up class" neighbor hoods. Including taxes and insurance as well as house payments and utilities, most monthly payments would have been between $1000 and $1500 a month.

 

[Hardwareman]

You have to look at it like you're giving one thing up to gain much more. If you can't look at it that way you'll never be happy.

The house you buy (wether this one or not) will ultimately allow you to buy a much larger, newer, nicer home eventually, which in turn will lead to more net worth in your favor. Then you can go out and buy another F-250, or F-350, or F-450, or whatever size you need to start a business later even.

You have to look at it that way and hopefully your wife does too.



Allen

 

[Jspafford]

Right now this is a big argument, everytime we try and 'discuss' it, it turns ugly. She doesn't understand why I need a 2 car garage. Working on trucks is a hobby. I want a place to do it.

That is the major hangup. If I sell the SD, I can't work on the B2 because I have nothing else to drive. Six of one, halfdozen of the other.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That is a tough call, your F-250 is a really nice looking truck, I know I would have a hard time selling either it or one of my trucks if I had to. But if you are going to be selling a 5.4 F-250 you better do it as soon as you can or wait until next fall. Nobody will want one this summer with gas in the $4-5 range, I think the pickup market as a whole will be going pretty soft.

Have you tried finding a place to rent? That might be cheaper all the way around until this market thing gets halfway straightened out again and you two get a little more established.

 

[Jspafford]

We looked into apartments, but by the time you find a nice one and they add all the fees and BS, you have more than a house payment.

I just found this place, I like it!

http://www.realliving.com/tricia.argabrite/SearchDetails.asp?mls=110120850&prop=9389655&ID=10446#

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

What about houses? My parents rented two (they were nice acreages in the country too) before they finally bought their first one.

 

[97BlackBetty]

We looked into apartments, but by the time you find a nice one and they add all the fees and BS, you have more than a house payment.

I just found this place, I like it!

http://www.realliving.com/tricia.argabrite/SearchDetails.asp?mls=110120850&prop=9389655&ID=10446#

Very nice. All I can say is dont jump into anything to quick. But that one would definatley be worth looking at.

 

[Jorley]

I'm not trying to to be a smarta$$, but just because you qualify for a $99,000+ house doesn't mean you have to get one. A 4 bedroom is kinda big for just 2 people. If you were to get a smaller,say 2 maybe 3 bedroom house the payments would be lower and you would be able to build equity faster. Another factor is location. If you could find one in a more rural area, you could not only get a house, but land also, plus with the lower paymets, you could build the garage/workshop you wanted.

 

[Turbo-T]

That house, in this area, would go for over 200K.

 

[Hahnsb2]

That house, in this area, would go for over 200K.

Housing prices around here are just stupid aren't they? Our home is now worth twice what we paid for it 10 years ago