How Much House Can You Afford?
With interest rates at an all time low and housing prices stagnating, now is a great time to buy for the right person. Using an emortgage calculator to figure out how much house you can afford is a great start. But first you need to determine if you have what it takes to own a home. As someone who is on a mission to own a house within the next few years, I’ve done some research and realize if a person has their financial house in order (oh the pun, the pun) they’re off to a great...
Read MoreI Know I Should Buy But I’m Not
A couple of years ago, when property values plummeted, I was inspired to finally begin the journey towards purchasing a home. I live in an area of very high property values compared to the rest of the nation, hence why I waited so long. I knew I had to do three things: improve my credit, pay down my debt, and save for a down payment. I’ve completed two of these three things with the last one being a bit more challenging for me. However, I know I should buy a home in the near future before...
Read MoreUsing Mortgage Calculators to Guide Your Home Buying Decision
For the past two years, my goal has been to purchase a small-ish house in the near future. My “near future” has changed a bit over time from 18-months to more like 2-3 years mostly because I really would like to save an ample down payment on a house. But with all my research on the price of homes in my neighborhood or a neighborhood in which I’d like to purchase a home, it really comes down to “What can I afford realistically?” During the housing boom, many people...
Read MoreCalculate Home Building Costs Easily
Finally, a building cost website that makes it easy to calculate how much it would cost to build your own home. Each time I find a new little house plan website with creative plans to drool over, I can’t get my head around how much it would actually cost to build a particular design. Most home plan sites either estimate a ball park figure (regional prices vary greatly, so this is no help at all) or prompt you to call them once you’re ready to begin purchasing the blue prints....
Read MoreMoving to a New City, Part 2B – Rent or Buy
This is part two B of a three 1/2 part series on Moving to a New City. I’ve narrowed down my search to four cities in California I’d like to research further before visiting them individually. I realized that before I could actually visit each city, I needed to compare prices for renting vs. buying property in each city. A recap of the cities I intend to visit over the next few months: Roseville, CA – closest metro is Sacramento. Concord, CA – closest metro is San...
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