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My fiancee and I would love to buy a starter home for $180,000. I am currently working as a teacher, bringing home $2700/mth. My fiancee will graduate from grad school in March and will then begin working in the public school system as a substitute teacher until the fall, when he will work full time. Our income will jump to about $5,000 in the spring and $5,400 in the fall. Currently, neither of us have much to speak of in savings, but my fiancee has about $30,000 in stocks that we're thinking we can liquidate for a down payment on a home. Right now, we are spending about $1900/mth., including rent and utilities. Neither of us have any credit card debt or student loans. We are planning to help my parents by spending about $5,000 on our wedding in July. We'd like to move to a new home in the spring, before the wedding. ANy advice you can offer would be so helpful! Thanks!
I would not be liquidating any stocks right now unless you have some phenomenal stocks that have not suffered over the past year and most recent few weeks.
With you being teachers do some research. Many states have first time home loans for teachers - e.g., downpayment assistance, straight downpayment etc.
You know, you could scale down your wedding plans and ask for a gift towards getting into a new home instead. You can have a great wedding without a big outlay of money. I am not sure how much downpayment you would need right now since things are headed back to 20% down.
I would ask a banker or a mortgage broker. You sound like your in a good spot. the stocks may not be worth what your saying considering the turn of events in the last few weeks.
I would not liquidate stocks right now. hold them until they return to thier expected value.
Many banks and credit unions and even mortgage companies have teacher and first time buyer assistance. check em out.
My fiancee and I would love to buy a starter home for $180,000. I am currently working as a teacher, bringing home $2700/mth. My fiancee will graduate from grad school in March and will then begin working in the public school system as a substitute teacher until the fall, when he will work full time. Our income will jump to about $5,000 in the spring and $5,400 in the fall. Currently, neither of us have much to speak of in savings, but my fiancee has about $30,000 in stocks that we're thinking we can liquidate for a down payment on a home. Right now, we are spending about $1900/mth., including rent and utilities. Neither of us have any credit card debt or student loans. We are planning to help my parents by spending about $5,000 on our wedding in July. We'd like to move to a new home in the spring, before the wedding. ANy advice you can offer would be so helpful! Thanks!
First, congratulations! All the best of luck to you and you future bride.
Second, and I very clearly know that this does not answer any of your questions -- however, just curious, do you know how much (approximately) a $150,000 mortgage will cost you (at a fair rate)? Any idea how much the taxes are on this home?
As far as your questions -- anyone who is qualified to answer these questions is absent of facts they would need in order to do so. You should sit down with a qualified financial advisor -- not a mortgage broker, not a real estate agent, and not a simple, one dimensional, myopic calculation that says you should spend no more than X % of your income(s) on housing costs.
Liquidating stocks now, generically speaking (and I hate speaking generically) is a bad idea. That is why an extremely high % of "retail" investors end up with pitiful rates of return over time . . . because they are their own worst enemy.
In addition, you might be left with very little savings, emergency fund, etc. Seek professional and expert advise and counsel. Good luck!!!
Generally a bank will use somewhere in the neighborhood of about 32-36% of your monthly gross income for housing expense depending on the lenders guidelines. Meaning that if your gross monthly income is $2,700, then somewhere between $864 and $972 can be used to cover your mortgage, taxes and insurance. Depending on how much your going to put as a down payment, it looks like it will be a little tight qualifying with that income. Obviously if you wait until he is working full time, you will be in a much better position to qualify for a loan. There is more information that would be needed to guide you correctly, but I hope this helps.
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