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Ryanc1339

Hey guys, Me and my girlfriend are moving out of California, and into Idaho to finish are last years of college.We decided to buy a house, since we plan on beginning are life there. And renting a house would seem useless, because i rather make payments on a house i could own, rather than just be renting one for the rest of my life. But we started looking at houses, and my girlfriend got all excited about the $450,000 houses with 5bed, 4 bath. But i had to bring her to reality and put the limit at 200,000. Which is probably still pretty high.The question i have is:Obviously we would have to get a loan, and the montly payments would be around $900 a month. From personal experiences, is that to much to pay? For us starting off?Im now getting move happier with the $150,000 houses, because payments would be around $600-$500 a month. And i understand that everywhere is different. But i just want to get everyone's opinion. I just dont wanna be eating tuna from the can every day because we dont have enough money. Thank you in advance!!!

AskMeAnything4631

The payments for a 150-200k house are NOT $600 to $900 a month! LOL Not sure what mortgage calculator you are using, but it would be closer to $1500-2000 a month! You must be taking the lowest interest rate, and not factoring in either PMI if you do not have 20% to put down and taxes and insurance! I also would advise NOT to buy property with a girlfriend. What do you intend to do if you break up? Who gets the house? If you read Yahoo Answers often, you will see couples who made this mistake and now wonder HOW to get their name off the loan or deed..or how to force the ex to buy them out by getting their own loan. (Which usually, cannot be done, because the ex cannot qualify on their income alone) Another problem you have is your g/f having a desire for a dream home instead of being realistic. Get married before you buy a house. Much simpler to divide assets in divorce court.

godged8582

$600 on a $150,000 a month mortgage? NOT going to happen unless you have significant down.You really need to research what you are doing, get a local broker to help you and then move forward.

lathom013379

I'm not throwing stones because I was in your position once too but, I swear, if you do not read up on home buying first, you will regret it for a very long time to come. It boggles my mind why people are so willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars without the first shred of education about what they're doing. The lender isnt going to hold your hand---he wants as much out of you as he can get! And the real estate agent, the one who smiles and acts real nice to you, is actually being paid by the sellers and is looking out for THEM.....not YOU. Although they are helpful, they want as much out of you as possible too. You're on your own. Read the book "Home buying for Dummies" or "Complete Idiots Guide to Home Buying" and you'll be ashamed that you were even going to try to do this without any prior knowledge. Both books are written in plain english and are very easy to understand. Both books discuss how to figure out what you can afford, and what kind of loan to get. It explains all the real estate jargon, like points. PMI, escrow, and all that other stuff that may be very foreign to you right now. I live in the south, where real estate is still fairly cheap, and I can tell you for a fact, that even with our very good credit rating and interest rate, our $170,000 is costing us $1200 a month. I dont know what home prices are like in Idaho, but when you sit down to figure out the monthly note, you need to also factor in the amount that will be added for Private Mortgage Insurance, and yearly taxes, as well as Hazard Insurance (better known as Home Owners Insurance). NONE of these are optional. Look on realestate dot com and type in the general area you'd like to move to, then look up some homes and click on the "mortgage calculator estimate" to get a rough idea as to what your monthly payments will be. AND, dont forget about all the closing costs. On our $170,000 home, we had to pay almost $7000 JUST in closing costs alone. This isnt money that is applied towards the purchase of the home. This is all the money it takes to pay the lawyers, the appraisers, and their multitudes of fees. And you have to have this in your hand on the day of closing. Home ownership definately has it's rewards....in pride, tax write-offs, and future investments....but for you, my friend....since you arent even yet married and obviously havent a clue about what a home costs, you will CERTAINLY do better to find a home to rent with your girlfriend. If you stay together forever, great!!! THEN go buy a house. But to buy a house with a partner that you are not legally committed to is (first of all) a real hassel to even do, and (secondly) even MORE of a hassel if you two split up. Renting is NOT a waste of money so dont look at it that way. It's only a waste if you arent getting anything but, in this case, you'll be getting a roof over your head. You wont have to worry about closing costs, and yearly taxes, and repair and maintenance costs. Once you two have finished college and are certain you arent going in opposite directions, and after you've "played house" for a while and are committed to each other and to home ownership, THEN buy your first house together. I rented a house for 4 years and dont consider any of it a waste. It suited my needs at the time, and I wasnt ready yet to buy. Dont rent for the rest of your life----just do it for the next few years until you both are done with college. I dont even think you can get a $150,000 house for the $500-$600 you wrote about, and that's not really a geographical thing since all loans are based on your credit score and income. You should be able to RENT for about that amount, and not be forced to eat tuna every day.

Trevor

Yikes man...time for a reality check. If you wanted a $900 payment, you'd have to be looking at homes in the $120K-$130K price range I think. A $200K house is going to be like $1400-1500 a month. Things you have to take into account in figuring this out: Taxes (varies by house price and location), PMI (anything less than 20% down will result in PMI), insurance, association fees (for townhomes and condos and some homes). When you use a mortgage calculator, use one that takes into account PITI (so it will roll in your insurance and taxes).