She wants a house...

[SmokeyLisa]

Dreamy46, I agree with you on the fundamentals. I think housing is going to be a mess for years but people have different reasons for buying and their are not all based off of whether the market is going up or down in the near or long term. I'm in the process of buying but I do believe the market will continue to go down, especially if the tax credit goes away, unemployment rises and the fact that eventually the fed will be forced to raise rates because they are artifically low. I think the government will continue to intervene to keep people in their houses and that they will try to keep interest rates low, however I think they will need to let rates rise. Although the recent economic data did scare them, alot.

If interest rates go up / prices will need to come down because it comes down to affordability and house payments, they go hand-in-hand. If people can't buy a house now with 5% rates, they will not be able to buy them with 10% rates if prices do not offset them.

Personally, I do not see anyway out the housing mess except for us to stop intervening in the market and have a painful drop in prices and then a recover instead of what we are currently doing which is going to be a perlonged slow drop to the bottom and then a slow rebound.

[Batista GT]

Originally Posted by PenguinSix

Has she looked at getting another job (I mean seriously looked) somewhere on the other side of the bridge, or are their other reasons she wants to stay in Easton (i.e. family or something).

She was also hired by Montgomery and Anne Arundel as well. The issue was that she was hired by Talbot first so she stayed loyal to them. She loves her job and Easton everyone has been great to her so I feel bad making her leave a job she loves, when I am not too crazy about me .

[beilart]

The main thing in purchasing any home is to "buy what you can afford" and plan for any problems down the road ie illness, layoffs, firings etc... Combine your salaries and cut that in half for affordablility. No, you probably won't get that dream home the first time around but the home will be yours and you can make it your own with decor and landscaping and even in something as simple as a condo, you can make it your own and be proud. The dream home will come later on down the road. If more people had done the above, we probably wouldn't be in this housing mess. If your combined salaries are 120k a year, you really can't afford a 300k home. Rent for a while longer or go a bit smaller and trade up later.

[jayman1981]

Well my friend I think it's all about give or take. I think everyone that has posted has given some sound advice. The question is not about the strategy for buying a house, but it's about what is best for both. Being married means compromise. As the man of the house it is your responsibility to make sure that you and your wife can live comfortably. This means if you can't buy a house, then look at a condo or a townhouse. If you can't afford new guess what honey, lets look at resales.

Also I understand that 45-60 mins to travel to work is crazy. I think the norm around the area if you work in D.C. is about 45mins with traffic, Not 45 mins and then traffic. It's all about the quality of life. I would wait until the end of the school year for her to look for another job. It's not all about her. You have to feel comfortable about your living arrangements as well. In the long run if you live in a house you don't care about with a ridiculous commute your not going to be a happy camper. This most definately causes strife in a marriage, especially if you have kids or planning to have them. How would I know well I'm married and this has happened to me before as well.

I encourage you to look at what's important to both of you and work it out from there. If she is so set on buying a house, well guess what were not moving until we can save enough money to do so. I wish both of you the best. There are plenty of townhouses and condos in Anne Arundel County that are reasonably priced so look at all your options.

Originally Posted by Batista GT

Not a condo, not a duplex, and not a townhouse. My wife wants a house...do I even have a chance?

A run down of the situation:
I work in DC making 60k she works in Easton, MD making 44k. We currently rent in Annapolis. She is a school teacher who doesn't have to commute year round and I work in a job where I can't really call out due to weather issues. Even though I commute year round I don't like her driving 45-60 mins to easton everyday over the bridge (A guy thing I guess). We are looking basically anywhere between annapolis to Kent Island (Maybe even further east). Oh yeah another issue is we are from jersey and she doesn't like having to drive "far" to stores.


We liked the arnold/severna park area..due to it being more suburban, but the shore seems cheaper and more spacious. Do we even make enough to buy a house in arnold/severna park?
Any ideas?

[beilart]

Absolutely correct, Jayman. We bought out first home in 1973 right after Vietnam. It was shabby and we found out later we got screwed because it had once been condemned. But it was what we could afford on one salary at the time. We worked, we decorated, we made repairs as we could afford to, we landscaped and we made it our own. 8 years later it was the prettiest little house on the block and when we sold it, we trippled our money on it. Bought another shabby bigger house where we lived for 18 years and raised 4 kids. Sold that one when the kids were grown and moved South and paid cash for a small condo for just the two of us until we decided if that was where we wanted to stay. 18 months later, got a job offer here in Maryland that quadrupled hubby's salary. We could have purchased one of those McMansions had we wanted to. We didn't. Bought a reasonably decent condo instead. Have spent the last 11 years, remodelling, upgrading etc... Now, as soon as it sells we can retire to that dream home on the lake. Sure, it took almost 40 years, but it was never about the house. It was about quality of life and the journey from there to here.

[jkyj1976]

You might want to look into Kent Island, especially Stevensville. There are single family homes available from $ 300k, and Baldwin Homes has a New Home community, where you can get a pretty good home at $ 370k, $ 380k. Plus, they pay all the closing cost. If you are going FHA, you might be able to pay down points using the $15k they are allowing for closing cost. But with $ 350k, 360k mortgage, even with good intest rate, will run you over $ 2,000 after adding in prop tax, prop insurance, and HOA...

[kinkytoes]

Originally Posted by jkyj1976

You might want to look into Kent Island, especially Stevensville. There are single family homes available from $ 300k, and Baldwin Homes has a New Home community, where you can get a pretty good home at $ 370k, $ 380k. Plus, they pay all the closing cost. If you are going FHA, you might be able to pay down points using the $15k they are allowing for closing cost. But with $ 350k, 360k mortgage, even with good intest rate, will run you over $ 2,000 after adding in prop tax, prop insurance, and HOA...

300K for a house on Kent Island? Wow inflation is really not a joke. BTW, on a 120K salary or whatever ot os tey make, I don't think they should buy a 380K house. Even though we are in MD, and prices here are INSANE, inventory here may still increase, and prices may go down.

[Batista GT]

Thanks for all the advice!