Nervous soon to be new home buyer... (mortgages, buying)

[ChosenGSR]

Originally Posted by uncjohnny

Now I am getting really worried...I just bought in PG (Upper Marlboro). I had been looking all over metro D.C and could not afford anything until I found this TH. My mortgage is $1863 a month including taxes, ins, HOA, ect...I do not make more than 60K a year, and after reading all these post I feel like I am making a big mistake. I knew we were going to be living tight, but HECK!

That does sound like a hefy payment for that salary level. Manage your money well and you'll be fine.

[lscalder]

uncjohnny that amount of money for mortgage is still good. Do you know how much people who love to pay that amount in mortgage including myself.

[ChosenGSR]

Originally Posted by lscalder

uncjohnny that amount of money for mortgage is still good. Do you know how much people who love to pay that amount in mortgage including myself.

I would assume those people have higher income level as well.

[shockerfd]

Originally Posted by Njrover0216

I am trying to leave this state because my house is a nightmare! My mortgage was 1210 when I first bought it back in 2003. That too included my taxes, insurance etc. With taxes going up by 2008 my mortgage will be 1380 a month. That is a huge increase. On top of that the electric bills are skyrocketing. My husband is the only person who is working right now and he brings home about 63K a year. Our electric bill on a duplex with budget billing is going to be $280 a month! That is $170 dollar increase in 3 years. Now I am stuck in this house, which needed a lot of work that is almost completed, because I can not afford a single family home. So we are thinking of relocating to the Carolina's where we can buy a beautiful brand new home for 200K!

We're all feeling the electric crunch, that's for sure. Our winter electric bill doubled over last years!!! We were freaking out! I'm not sure what our new house's bills will be like but you can bet we'll be conservative with the heat and AC until we see how things look.

[shockerfd]

Originally Posted by uncjohnny

Now I am getting really worried...I just bought in PG (Upper Marlboro). I had been looking all over metro D.C and could not afford anything until I found this TH. My mortgage is $1863 a month including taxes, ins, HOA, ect...I do not make more than 60K a year, and after reading all these post I feel like I am making a big mistake. I knew we were going to be living tight, but HECK!

Living on bread and water!!-lol hope not.

[hokiejane]

One piece of advice that's already been thrown your way, but I'd like to expand upon...

Since you're already worried about the finances, this is something that could weigh on your mind and diminish your enjoyment of the house. Do what you need to do right off the bat to reduce some of your worry and anxiety by building that rainy day/emergency fund. Once you have a cushion, you'll probably be able to relax more and have a better state of mind.

And don't rush to get the house decorated and accessorized the way you want it. I know so many people who have added their financial stress of owning a new home by running up their debt to get it furnished and finished the way they want it right away. Now they're so busy stressing over how they're going to pay their bills, they can't even enjoy what they have!

[Njrover0216]

I did budget for this home. I made sure my credit was squared away and I had not credit card bills. I have only one car payment, utilities, cheap cable, phone and a cell phone plan with only 600 minutes. There is no where else to squeeze. I think it is ridiculous how they can continue to raise our bills. Hopefully O'Malley will do something about it. I doubt it but we can always hope. Hey he helped defer the death rate in Baltimore City...oh wait that was by covering up the deaths...well there is no covering up my electric bill. I barely used any AC or heat this month and my bill was over 200+, when I first bought this home 4 years ago it would have been 80 bucks!

[shockerfd]

Our home inspection came back good with the exception of the roof having 2-3 years from one inspector to 5-7 from another. So, we'll have to budget for that in the future to come. I do plan to try and put as much away as we can to build back a cushion. The house has been remodeled so that's good as far as not needing to update much of anything. The electric bill and oil bill does worry me the most. Not to get into a political debate but O'malley worries me on things to come but that remains to be seen.

[ReefAreCoolToo]

scary!....Even after I am getting about $10k closing cost money + a couple grants here and there..with 6% rate...

We are looking around $1000-$1200 piti....Funny thing is...we are paying $1k rent on our apartment

[Aneal138]

My husband and I make $125,000 together on a bad year and our mortgage payment will be $1380 starting next month and I don't like it. But the house/school/location/lifestyle combination is everything I could ask for. I don't like having a house payment or rent payment over $800 honestly. I thought that was the max I'd pay but there is a house shortage here so all new nice houses like the one we are buying have a higher price tag.

One thing that gives me peace is making sure the house was in an in demand area so that in the event we hit hard times we could sell in under a year. I think well be ok but I really like to have $350-500 per week spending money per person after saving, gas and bills. That's what I've been used to. And now it's gonna get cut back a hundred or so. That's a bummer, but I have lived on much less. Like $100 per week after bills/gas with nothing left to save so it could be worse but is no way to live.

The whole 40 x rent stuff is such bull. To be truly comfortable your house payment should be no more than 1/80th of your gross annual income. That's where you can think of being comfortable and think about saving to travel and do something with your life besides sit at home and look at a big house.

Good luck to you! I think with proper budgeting (I am a firm believer in mint.com usage to control personal spending) you will be fine. Other things you could do: find ways to increase income, for instance, I went back to school and got out of that pay check to paycheck situation I was in. Just a thought.