House Hunting for our First home!

[Fuzz16]

Currently We live in a 2 Bedroom, 900sq ft apartment. Its on the second level which i hate more than anything and no washer/dryer hook ups. So lugging kids and laundry up and down is dangerous, specially in winter.

-Our living room fit the dog kennel, 40" tv, a couch, printer table as side table, and a rocking chair.
-Dining room was converted into the babys room, her crib/changing table, and a shelf for toy storage
-Our kitchen is TEENY tiny and only big enough for one person and not enough storage space for dishes, let alone food. And its cheaper buying in bulk, just no where to put it!
-The bathroom is decent sized, big enough to do what you need to, and the hall linin closet is pretty small and only holds our towells and a couple sheets and pillowcases.
-Our bedroom is HUGE. Our queen sized bed, dresser, the 20 long fish tank sitting on another dresser, and my giant corner desk hubby insisted i needed. which i do LOVE now.
-And the second bedroom is medium sized...but full with a twin sized bed and dresser, and her train table she got for xmas. hard to find room for storage.

So I found this house i like...its OLD--from the 50's. in a retirement or just married couple neighborhood, quiet and safe. its 960sq ft, which is more than we have now!
living room is so small, idk if our couch would fit, or our tv!
kitchen is nice and good zied though, a lot of room to make something good out of it and not overcrowded
the garage was turned into a bedroom, which would be my oldest daughters room.
Then of course the teeny room would be big enough for a crib/changing table and her shelf lol, maybe a couple bigger toys
master room might fit our bed...idk.
oh, the bathroom!!! you can sit on the toilet and brush your teeth, and soak your toes in the tub at the same time!!! lol
But the backyard is BIG, and a sunroom would be an easy playroom add on! and the front of the house is really beautiful. its just so small...so im sitting there with the floor plan drawing out and erasing where i could put things...desk will have to go!

how do people fit in tiny houses? lol

i am a stay at home mom, after loosing my job that i worked at for 19 months for being pregnant...harhar. we live off 1200 a month with 4 of us, we do not receive any govt assistance except wic for formula. no food stamps. i actually keep our food budget under 300! Buying a home for us would be cheaper than renting...about 300$ cheaper a month with this house. Cept for the bad fact of no one coming to fix something when it gets broke...not that they do here anyways!
I want a yard for my kids...to be able to run around and roll in the grass, have a swing in my backyard! and dog would like the room too
I want a washer and dryer...i spend sooo much on laundry mats.
i want a driveway my kid can safely go outside on and play...without me worrying shell get run over or stolen.

sadly, i dont know if we can even afford a house!

anyone else out there live in a teeny house and make it work with the budget going negative every month?
Any house hunting tips?

But

 

[Thyra]

Fuzz, I sympathize with your situation, but at $1200 a month you can't afford to buy a money pit. No matter what kind of house you would buy - a move costs money - lots of it. Do you already own a washer and dryer? How about a fridge? Does a stove come with the house? These are some of the things you need to consider. If you never bought a house before, you will be surprised how closing costs can add up and unless you can put a certain amount of money down, in most places they require mortgage insurance - costly (this is besides home owners insurance). And there are property taxes also. And beware of any house that is part of a "home owners' association because they will require certain things for upkeep besides dues. There are also incidentals like curtains, shades, drapes, or carpets that can mount up quickly. You also will be responsible for more utility bills than you usually are in an apartment - like garbage and water which is frequently part of your rent in an apartment. You also should consider how resalable the house is should you need to move on to a bigger place or because of a job opportunity. A 960 sq ft. home is only about one closet bigger than what you have now and has a limited market. Until your budget isn't going negative you will save yourself a lot of heart ache to just stay put until things are more secure. I am sure there is a lot of information available for first time home buyers and how to avoid some of the pit falls.

 

[Fuzz16]

All appliances we have cept a dishwasher and stove, which around here you can get free ones.

on this house, we coulda payed 15% and they cover closing costs and i had found out all the total closing costs and insurance and PMI, we had that worked out. ive been to a couple seminars and been house hunting for 2 years.

and we have no backyard, where this one is huge and a sunroom could easily be added on for extra room. and a driveway...which weve never had. and a yard. its a LOT more than ive ever had. its not about the size of the house, i could stay in a 900sq ft house with the layout like my apartment if it had a backyard and driveway.

i pay water and garage here-40$ a month. and electric 80-250 a month. the other houses in the area are all worth 90+ but this is a foreclosure so its lowered to sell quick-which it did so im out of luck on this one.

and at 1200 a month i cant feed my family and afford this apartment either i could live with ugly tile and tiny bathrooms for 300$ extra a month to go towards things we need.

 

[KcMopar]

So is this house more or less then where you are now. I am talking total end of month comparison to both. If you can get into a house that YOU WILL OWN that is less then what you have now and its been taken care of VERY VERY VERY VERY WELL. It might be a better option. This is provided that the loan is not due in full in a five year ballon or any of that hidden crap. If this is a place that you could be for at least 10 years and make about 20-50 dollars extra a month in payments and maintain, plus improve, and put a bit back in savings you could put a little equity in your pocket when you are ready for an upgrade in about ten years or so. If it takes more money it would not be a good idea. Home ownership can take a big swing at the money when stuff breaks or mother nature goes bad!!!!!!

 

[Thyra]

You say you have been to a couple of seminars on buying a home. Were they able to tell you specifically whether you would qualify for a loan and how large of a loan you could obtain on $1200 a month? I've been involved in some pretty sad situations and just trying to help. Another thing anytime you move you should consider your furniture. My daughter recently bought an old house and the door ways weren't wide enough to get their new, rather expensive sofa through any of the doors. Replacing the doorway was about $1000 plus another $500 for the damaged sofa. I also helped someone move one time who discovered that there was no way they could get their bed up the stairwell in the house they just bought and no place to put it downstairs. They had to buy a complete new smaller bed. Please understand - this is not meant to discourage, but to help avoid a later disaster - kids and dogs need fences - ours cost $3000 and they are not pretty wood fences, but rather woven field wire. When you own a home there always seems to be something, just like with an older vehicle. It eats up any of the extra money you think your saving. At the moment I can't imagine getting by on $1200 a month with out being in debt. $300 for food, $40 for water & garbage, $200+ for electricity, - your rent, auto and health insurance must be pretty cheap. If you need 15% down, you better have it saved up - borrowing for the down payment is a very bad idea. The scary part of this whole thing is without more resources, you could wind up homeless.

 

[Fuzz16]

we qualify for 80 at a 30 yr FHA

and wit taxes, insurance and mortgage, is 400$

this house has a fence already...really really big backyard. it was almost a .25 an acre of land total. so a lot of space. having a fence alrweady is one of the things i am looking for

my rent is 700, our auto insurances together is 200$, which he has tickets so his are high cause he was irresponsible and dumb a couple years ago. phone is 80$.

in the case that we did end up close to homeless-we always thankfully have our parents to rely on. his parents took me in when i moved out and we stayed there for a few months. we have no credit card debt and always try to keep 500ish in the bank...not sure how lol. backup, i have about 15g in bonds i could cash in.

coampring the costs of a house for basic payments on top of fixing costs always seems less than the apartment, and the highlights outweigh the apartment too. this apartment is CHEAP. theres a prostitue that lives down stairs though...shes nice, but this isnt the nicest place and i dont want my kids growing up here

 

[Thyra]

It sounds like you have done your homework and I wish you luck. There is another thing that should be considered. Jobs come and go and a $1200 a month job sounds more like job than a career. If you have other plans, will you be able to find suitable employment where you set up roots? Its a lot harder to be mobile when you own a home than rent an apartment. I saw what happened in Flint, MI. They kept expecting work to come back and didn't want to move and then when it didn't and they absolutely needed to move, there was no one to buy their houses. It was the same with the silver mines in Idaho - their fathers and grandfathers had worked the mines and that was all they knew. The families didn't want to move - we spent a night there once and visited with some women. Their husbands had found work - in Nevada, but they either didn't want to move or they couldn't find buyers for their home so they could move. Anyway, it is food for thought. In this day and age jobs or careers don't necessarily last a life time like they did for our fathers. You also don't really want to spend your time commuting like one of our neighbors, who has a really good job, but spends a minimum of 6 hours a day driving - if there are no traffic problems - otherwise more!

 

[Fuzz16]

hes training for assistant management and he will be moving to the store down the street from where the house is to work there. and the position would be 10$ an hour compared to his 9 right now (reason its only 1200 a month income is rounded, based off comission, but some months the income is 1300, and then when child support is paid its an extra 200, but that goes to a bank account for my daughter tht we dont touch unless it would be an emergency where wed end up on the street)

with a newborn and toddler, we cant afford daycare, state wont help us, ive asked, we would make too much money to be considered by SRS to receive aid. which doesnt make sense. but i would get a job once kids were in school. the house is 20 minutes from us, and where i grew up, so i know everything there, and there are possible places to work nearby, but not realistic for me to work.

i couldnt imagine driving 6 hours for work a day, gas alone would take half the paycheck. and we are starting a business also that has a small income atm, but hoping once it takes off it will be a steady 200-300 a month

thank you for the input, it does bring up questions that i need answers to. but olathe is a big place and being 30 minutes from Kansas City there should always be a demand in the area. my parents-n-laws were thinking about investing in it as a rental property if we dont buy it, and theyve been helping us a lot through the decision making and giving us things to think about also.

 

[Orion]

Wish I could say the same! lol

The best advice I can offer is dont rush. 2 years may seem like a long time waiting and looking, but the wife and I waited over 8. And when we did we found a decent deal on a house, in an area we loved, and we got that 8k first time home buyers thing. Also, the more down payment you can bring to the table, the easier it seems to swallow signing your life away. And Thyra is 100% about it being a lot more expensive that anticipated. Our house was right at 10 years old when we bought it, so not a lot of things needed done right away. Course then we had a hail storm and every roof in the neighborhood got replaced, but that's what insurance is for. hehe

It sucks, it's stressful, but in the end it was worth it for us. Good Luck!

 

[Fuzz16]

ya, we decided to stick at the apartment untl the end of the lease and then look into moving. i am going to a few seminars to get 0$ down or 100$ down when we decide to get a house...its just so unrealistic to pay rent when it could go to a house. and were going to save what we can for down payment and go from there.