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Old 04-03-2013, 01:37 PM
 
Location: NJ
516 posts, read 1,002,746 times
Reputation: 482

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Also, rereading your last post about renovations, etc. I think you are panicking because you are trying to wrap your head around too many things at once.

First, figure out how much house you can afford. Then, you can divide that into purchase price + renovation + furnishing budgets. E.g. say you can afford $500K. You may want to buy a up to 500K move in ready house, or a 400K older home and spend up to 100K on upgrades, or a 300K fixer upper and spend up to 200K on fixing it, etc. Deciding what type of home you want to buy in which town comes after you come up with a "size of my pot of gold" number.

Hope that helps.
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Old 04-03-2013, 01:47 PM
 
208 posts, read 467,242 times
Reputation: 55
Thank you. I have all of my purchases (except for cash) in an online tool. I just never really looked at it. So what I will do is bring that to my accountant and see if he can help me work out the numbers. We should not buy a house that costs as much as the house we have right now. This purchase was before having the baby - and I was making more money - side job that I no longer have... and actually don't want (it was Saturdays and with a baby, I'd rather spend that time with my family).
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Old 01-30-2014, 08:08 AM
 
220 posts, read 378,366 times
Reputation: 165
When we bought our home, we really crunched the numbers. A house will probably be the biggest (and most illiquid) purchase most people will ever make in their life, so you want to be absolutely sure you know what you're getting into. This includes doing massive research on the neighborhood, schools, flooding issues, and commute. My wife and I went as far as staying at a nearby motel for 2 nights to try out all the different commuting options to be 100% sure we were comfortable with the commute to work, which can have a significant impact on overall happiness.

Anyway I attached an Excel spreadsheet you can use to determine what all your monthly expenses would be. Just plug in the appropriate numbers in only the blue highlighted cells, I already put in some of the info you provided. Hope this helps!

- One other thing, it's highly recommended you have leftover after all furnishings, renovations, downpayment etc. enough cash to cover at least 6 months worth of your total monthly expenses. We try to maintain enough cash in our investment/checking/savings accounts to cover at least 9-12 months worth of expenses at all times.
Attached Files
File Type: zip Home Expense Calc.zip (13.1 KB, 22 views)

Last edited by jpf723; 01-30-2014 at 08:27 AM..
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Old 01-30-2014, 08:28 AM
 
Location: NJ
31,771 posts, read 40,580,083 times
Reputation: 24590
just sit down and do your budget with your own numbers. don't use an online calculator. the online calculator is for fun, once things get serious you should be sitting down and making a spreadsheet.

its not exactly rocket science, your new home expenses will replace your current home's expenses. so just find out what you spend on everything, deduct your current homes expenses and add in your new home's expenses. the mortgage, property tax and insurance should be easy enough to estimate. then you have utilities, maintenance, etc. to estimate. see if you have enough left over after paying all expenses that you are saving a decent amount.

Last edited by CaptainNJ; 01-30-2014 at 08:48 AM..
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Old 01-30-2014, 09:11 AM
 
Location: NJ/NY
18,432 posts, read 15,184,095 times
Reputation: 14296
This post is 9 months old. I doubt it is relevant to the OP anymore.
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Old 01-30-2014, 09:17 AM
 
Location: NJ
31,771 posts, read 40,580,083 times
Reputation: 24590
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnesthesiaMD View Post
This post is 9 months old. I doubt it is relevant to the OP anymore.
son of a b! that jpf was so proud of his excel spreadsheet that he bumped an old post to give him an excuse to post it.
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Old 01-30-2014, 09:24 AM
 
220 posts, read 378,366 times
Reputation: 165
LOL sorry! I was searching for info regarding utilities (considering switching electric/gas providers), and this thread was on the list of results. I totally didn't pay attention to the dates haha, apologies...
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Old 01-30-2014, 09:41 AM
 
1,883 posts, read 2,819,996 times
Reputation: 1305
I wonder which house she decided on.
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Old 01-30-2014, 10:45 AM
 
Location: NJ/NY
18,432 posts, read 15,184,095 times
Reputation: 14296
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainNJ View Post
son of a b! that jpf was so proud of his excel spreadsheet that he bumped an old post to give him an excuse to post it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jpf723 View Post
LOL sorry! I was searching for info regarding utilities (considering switching electric/gas providers), and this thread was on the list of results. I totally didn't pay attention to the dates haha, apologies...
Hahaha.
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Old 01-31-2014, 12:07 PM
 
359 posts, read 1,097,470 times
Reputation: 258
I live in my benz.............paid 187k , did I tell ya it has heated seats and next year im getting a bigger benz????
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