As you all know, one of my main goals is to become a homeowner by April of 2008. After touching base with my real estate agent, evaluating my situation, and praying for guidance, I have decided to put off my homeownership dreams for another year or so.
Why?
Well there are a few reasons why. I have tried numerous online mortgage calculators and all of them have calculated that the amount of home I can afford is around $80,000. This calculation is based on my income, debt payments, and amount of down payment available. The only homes I have seen for under $100K have been the "handyman specials" and that aint me. I called my real estate agent to speak to him about this and he transfered me to the company's mortgage broker. She did some calculations and said that I was looking at a house payment of $2000 a month for a $200K home. I wouldn't be able to afford that at all on my current take home salary. Paying $2K a month in home related expenses (mortgage, PMI, insurance, taxes) plus $1200 for debt leaves about $500 for my daughter's school, food, gas, utilities, savings. The only way I can afford that is if I got a huge raise before February 2008 or if I got myself a second job.
Don't get me wrong. Homeownership is still in my plans, just not by April 2008 like I planned. I want to become a homeowner and STAY one. Foreclosure and bankruptcy have no place in my dreams. When it came to homeownership I don't believe I was looking at the big picture. I could probably wing that $2K house payment and my bills but what kind of life would my daughter and I have. I wouldn't have any extra money to LIVE. And I don't think I want to sacrifice that just to own a home. What good would it do to own my own home and be miserable.
So I need to get myself in the best position I can financially before I take such a huge step. I am reevaluating my goals and plans and revising them yet again. I know that my main focuses now will be building up my emergency fund and eliminating my credit card debt. I have moved all but 75 cents of my home purchase fund money into my emergency fund. I am currently @ 93.4% of my $3000 goal. I have set up a monthly automatic transfer from my checking account to my E-fund account of $200. I will reach my initial goal next month. Once I reach my E-fund goal I will move my goal out to $10,000. As for my credit card debt, I will continue to attack that with everything I got. I intend to beat that biotch done till she is annihilated. She is really urking the ish out of me. I hate her with a passion. Dumb behind heffa........oopps.......sorry, got carried away there. :-D I will apply majority of my bonuses and tax refund to my cc debt on top of the monthly amount I have set up. My goal is to be completely freed of it by June 2008 but I think I will hit my mark way before then.
Well that's some of whats been on my mind. I got some other things in my life I need to focus on right now. Such as my daughter, my health, and my relationship with God. I'll get into those another time.
Why?
Well there are a few reasons why. I have tried numerous online mortgage calculators and all of them have calculated that the amount of home I can afford is around $80,000. This calculation is based on my income, debt payments, and amount of down payment available. The only homes I have seen for under $100K have been the "handyman specials" and that aint me. I called my real estate agent to speak to him about this and he transfered me to the company's mortgage broker. She did some calculations and said that I was looking at a house payment of $2000 a month for a $200K home. I wouldn't be able to afford that at all on my current take home salary. Paying $2K a month in home related expenses (mortgage, PMI, insurance, taxes) plus $1200 for debt leaves about $500 for my daughter's school, food, gas, utilities, savings. The only way I can afford that is if I got a huge raise before February 2008 or if I got myself a second job.
Don't get me wrong. Homeownership is still in my plans, just not by April 2008 like I planned. I want to become a homeowner and STAY one. Foreclosure and bankruptcy have no place in my dreams. When it came to homeownership I don't believe I was looking at the big picture. I could probably wing that $2K house payment and my bills but what kind of life would my daughter and I have. I wouldn't have any extra money to LIVE. And I don't think I want to sacrifice that just to own a home. What good would it do to own my own home and be miserable.
So I need to get myself in the best position I can financially before I take such a huge step. I am reevaluating my goals and plans and revising them yet again. I know that my main focuses now will be building up my emergency fund and eliminating my credit card debt. I have moved all but 75 cents of my home purchase fund money into my emergency fund. I am currently @ 93.4% of my $3000 goal. I have set up a monthly automatic transfer from my checking account to my E-fund account of $200. I will reach my initial goal next month. Once I reach my E-fund goal I will move my goal out to $10,000. As for my credit card debt, I will continue to attack that with everything I got. I intend to beat that biotch done till she is annihilated. She is really urking the ish out of me. I hate her with a passion. Dumb behind heffa........oopps.......sorry, got carried away there. :-D I will apply majority of my bonuses and tax refund to my cc debt on top of the monthly amount I have set up. My goal is to be completely freed of it by June 2008 but I think I will hit my mark way before then.
Well that's some of whats been on my mind. I got some other things in my life I need to focus on right now. Such as my daughter, my health, and my relationship with God. I'll get into those another time.
Comments
I have been reading your blog for about 2 months now. Thought I would comment on this post because it hit close to home. I was so stuck on buying a home that I didn't realize all that it really took to be a home owner. Especially the finance side. On top of the mortgage, PMI, taxes, and home insurance there is also maintenance costs and HOAs. I didn't think about all this when I bought my first home and winded up having a house payment of $3000. That's not including utilities, food, or my other bills. For a year I was in hell. I could barely afford food. I resorted to taking out a personal loan to make ends meet. I finally had to sell my house a year or so after I bought it. After the sale and paying off some deliquent bills I had profited $876 bucks. I am now back in an apartment and loving it. I am making sure I am financially sound in all ways before I attempt homeownership again. So I applaud you for coming to that realization before you took that big step. Do what you need to do and get your debt down. You will own your home one day. Just be patient.
Carol
Now that the "housing bubble" is shrinking, I'm actually glad I ran into these problems and couldn't buy a house. I'm looking forward to saving up for the next 2 years or so, having a big down payment, and potentially getting a house cheaper than I could today to boot.