Honest question

[RaspberrySwirl 20]

Lots of good 'first time homebuyer' benefits out there.

Such as?

I don't know, we're kind of looking into it but we still have the car to pay off the next 5 years.

Our landlady just sold the building we live in so we'll be looking for another place to live in the next few months.

And how cute is this little home? But goodness, that's alot of money.

I couldn't see the price on that listing btw

Our problem is the credit/work issue. My credit sucks. J has no credit yet. He's only been in his job a week.

Our rent is super cheap $500 per month for a 3 story house. (It's a duplex actually). We have 3 bedrooms and 1 bath upstairs, a living room, a family room, a bathroom, and a kitchen on main floor. And in the basement we have a walk out basement. The room that walk out is in (great for storage and outside toys and our big freezer), a laundry room, and a front room that could be used as a bedroom. But my landlord is super old and has no clue how much he should charge, so he charges $500. We need more space and really want to buy but can't for 2 years so J can build up a history.

Price: 159900.

We are currently renting a 2 bedroom apartment in the same town for $500. Which is cheap, but our electric bill is high during the winter months (heat is electric, we're in Minnesota, you get the picture) and we don't have laundry facilities.

The apartments we're looking into right now are more expensive, about 680 a month for a 2 bedroom (we really need the extra bedroom for just our books heh) but heat is included, washer and dryer, dishwasher, controlled entry and a garage.

I was browsing on a local realtor's website and found that "super starter home" listing and I'm wondering how much we'd end up paying each month.

BTW, that is a charming looking little house...

Isn't it? I think it's cute.

We were able to buy by using a combo of things...

-having about $3000 tax return money to use towards things we'd have to pay while buying a house (home owner's insurance prepaid for the year, and a deposit of $1000 to go to contract, plus home inspection fee, etc)

-going through Florida's first time home buyers program, which has 100% financing at a very low interest rate, plus supplemental loans with even lower interest rates for paying closing costs. I'd suggest everyone to check what their state has to offer!!

-both of us have good credit scores

-Sujeet has a salaried job, making decent money

He'd only been working in the US a year and we were able to get our mortgage done through him as the money maker(I don't work right now).

I really didn't know we'd be able to so soon, but it all seemed to work out well! The hard part is the monthly payments after buying a house...but Sujeet just got a raise so we're ok!

I'm glad for you and congrats to Sujeet on the raise!

We'll be using our tax returns to pay off the car we've bought recently. Well, except this year, we're going to need the tax refunds for a down payment or whichever on the new apartment.

Congrats. I am really happy for you that it worked out so well.

I was just curious as to how people manage it, is all.

Edited March 28, 2006 by RaspberrySwirl

[almaty 19]

good info here swirly girl...fha..is the way allot of 1st time home buyers go..good luck..

[faith 0]

I couldn't see the price on that listing btw

Fact Sheet

Address: 13805 Central Ave

Neighborhood: Becker

City: Becker

State: Minnesota

Zip Code: 55308

Price: 159900

Bedrooms: 2

Baths: 2

House Type: Residential

House Style: Two Story

Property is available from: 11/01/2005

Square Footage: 912

Garage:2

Year Built: 1923

School District: 726 Becker

There, how's that working for you?

I swear to god I'm blind

[RaspberrySwirl 20]

I couldn't see the price on that listing btw

Fact Sheet

Address: 13805 Central Ave

Neighborhood: Becker

City: Becker

State: Minnesota

Zip Code: 55308

Price: 159900

Bedrooms: 2

Baths: 2

House Type: Residential

House Style: Two Story

Property is available from: 11/01/2005

Square Footage: 912

Garage:2

Year Built: 1923

School District: 726 Becker

There, how's that working for you?

LOL ET. Faith, no worries, I had a hard time finding the price as well. I almost emailed the guy to ask but double-checked the Fact Sheet.

If your state has a first time home buyers program, then they should have first time home buyer classes that are free. We had to take it as a requirment to get the loan we got. You can sign up to take the class even if you are not in the process of buying a home. They go over every detail possible about credit scores, how to make your score better, how to find a house, how to do just about everything when it comes to wanting to buy a house.

Cool, I didn't know about that.

Thanks for all the info, guys and gals!

[ChristinaM 0]

Check out the American Dream Initiative also - it's designed to help lower-income first time homebuyers.

And beware predatory lendors - there's a whole sector of the industry known to the insiders as "buy-to-foreclose". It's not nice.

[junglee069 0]

i paid cash (450k) from my the pimping business i run on the side.