House buying advice.
We had a couple of comments from people about our looking for a new house. I thought I would share their ideas in case anyone is looking to move right now too!
Tawra
From: Dorothy
Hello! We have lived in a bi-level home about
your size (also 2 story). With retiring from the
military we purchased a 1700 sq ft ranch, that
with five children, 7 mo to 17 yrs, seemed much
larger then it is. After many years here, I have
decided it is the lay out of the house, not
necessarily the amount of sq feet we have that
gives us the room.
Also, out the back of the
house is a deck w/a kinda of u shape ramp
(previous owners had a wheel chair) and that with
a on again off again bad knee and carrying babies
have made all the difference. Going out the
front we are on level ground. Your are right no
stairs!.
Thanks for the input! I think 1600-1700sq. ft would be perfect for us if it was laid out right. We need an additional 200 sq. ft or so for an office which is why we decided on 2000 as a round number. We don't like "living" with the office in the family room or living room and we like to have the door closed so we aren't "working" all the time. Thanks for the input. I know we are on the right track! Tawra
Tawra--I just wanted to share our house/life-
changing experience with you. I think buying a
ranch is a very good plan. We moved from 900
sq.ft. to 2600 sq.ft. house that we had built.
It's a two-story. We have lived there 4-1/2
yrs. We are ready to move.
We bought a house that we could afford (according to the bank) and
now I had to go from part-time work to full-time
work. My girls are nearly 15 and 19. We are
very stressed with me being at work full-time
because no one is home to take care of everything
and do all the frugal, money-saving things I did
when I was part-time. Not only that, but the
size of the house makes it overwhelming to clean
and take care of.
When we bought the house the finances were fine. We have since had to replace
our van and buy a second car. We have had other
bills to pay as well. Our goal is to find a
house that's affordable so we can pay our
mortgage and all our other bills on my husband's
income. We are looking for a house payment that
is 25-30% of his take-home pay. I wanted to wish
you well and warn you not to make the same
mistakes we did by buying too big of a house with
too big of a mortgage. You do not need this kind
of stress.
Take good care of yourself.
Angie
I totally agree! I do not want to get more house than we can afford. I NEVER go by what the bank says we can afford. One of the ways we have made it on such low incomes is to make sure our housing costs do not exceed 30%. That includes taxes and insurance.
Also, I can not for the life of me figure out why some people buy these HUGE 3000-6000 sq. ft. houses! I was watching TV shows on house buying while I was in Colorado and these people are buying huge houses for 2-4 people. It's crazy. Why in the world do you need that much room for such a small family? I would think the stress alone from cleaning it would be enough to send anyone over the edge let alone the financial strain!
I think you need to get what works for your family but don't go overboard!
Tawra
Tawra
From: Dorothy
Hello! We have lived in a bi-level home about
your size (also 2 story). With retiring from the
military we purchased a 1700 sq ft ranch, that
with five children, 7 mo to 17 yrs, seemed much
larger then it is. After many years here, I have
decided it is the lay out of the house, not
necessarily the amount of sq feet we have that
gives us the room.
Also, out the back of the
house is a deck w/a kinda of u shape ramp
(previous owners had a wheel chair) and that with
a on again off again bad knee and carrying babies
have made all the difference. Going out the
front we are on level ground. Your are right no
stairs!.
Thanks for the input! I think 1600-1700sq. ft would be perfect for us if it was laid out right. We need an additional 200 sq. ft or so for an office which is why we decided on 2000 as a round number. We don't like "living" with the office in the family room or living room and we like to have the door closed so we aren't "working" all the time. Thanks for the input. I know we are on the right track! Tawra
Tawra--I just wanted to share our house/life-
changing experience with you. I think buying a
ranch is a very good plan. We moved from 900
sq.ft. to 2600 sq.ft. house that we had built.
It's a two-story. We have lived there 4-1/2
yrs. We are ready to move.
We bought a house that we could afford (according to the bank) and
now I had to go from part-time work to full-time
work. My girls are nearly 15 and 19. We are
very stressed with me being at work full-time
because no one is home to take care of everything
and do all the frugal, money-saving things I did
when I was part-time. Not only that, but the
size of the house makes it overwhelming to clean
and take care of.
When we bought the house the finances were fine. We have since had to replace
our van and buy a second car. We have had other
bills to pay as well. Our goal is to find a
house that's affordable so we can pay our
mortgage and all our other bills on my husband's
income. We are looking for a house payment that
is 25-30% of his take-home pay. I wanted to wish
you well and warn you not to make the same
mistakes we did by buying too big of a house with
too big of a mortgage. You do not need this kind
of stress.
Take good care of yourself.
Angie
I totally agree! I do not want to get more house than we can afford. I NEVER go by what the bank says we can afford. One of the ways we have made it on such low incomes is to make sure our housing costs do not exceed 30%. That includes taxes and insurance.
Also, I can not for the life of me figure out why some people buy these HUGE 3000-6000 sq. ft. houses! I was watching TV shows on house buying while I was in Colorado and these people are buying huge houses for 2-4 people. It's crazy. Why in the world do you need that much room for such a small family? I would think the stress alone from cleaning it would be enough to send anyone over the edge let alone the financial strain!
I think you need to get what works for your family but don't go overboard!
Tawra
posted by Tawra Jean at 12:04 PM
1 Comments:
when we bought our home i begged my husband to buy this other home, which was 50% less than what we paid for our home and about the same size and not much less property... but nooooooo he wanted the one we bought (bc the bank assured him we could afford it)... i hated that house... i dont know who designed the outlay of the home but it looked like rooms were just stuck together bc it fit... and it was huge!!!!!!!!! between the size and the price of the property, i could never get comfortable with the home... lo and behold, the hurricanes of 2004 and we had so much damage of the house we ended up selling it... the other home??? not even a scratch... i was able to sell the home for what we owed so at least i wouldnt have a foreclosure on my credit...
bottom line is this, as per my stepdad: never ever ever buy a home for as much as the bank says you can handle... you never know what the future will hold...
you are soooo right tawra... advising people of the same thing... i told my husband the next time we get another home (which will be in the future) i will not put my name on any mortgage that i am not comfortable with... if he wants it then, he can get a mortgage on his own...
thanks for letting me share this... :D
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