Too much house for you on your income...

• When's the best time to buy a house? - Luke S.
  • best time to buy a house - sarmt
  • I sort of know where you are coming from - sm
  • That $6K a month I presume is before taxes - sm - XXX
    • This is w/o health insurance either - sm - XXX
  • When you can afford it. - nm
  • Are you putting down a lot, like half? - sm
    • a family member will help us.... - Luke S.
      • You have to have your own financial backing - Jane
      • You need professional advice - Rad MT
        • thank you for the advice .... nm - Luke S.
        • it's an overwhelming response - Luke S.
  • It's a buyers market. Just hold on to that job. - Good luck.
  • Does anyone else thinks this sounds - sm
    • please don't be rude - Luke S.
      • I apologize for coming off rude - sm
        • It's okay. - Luke S.
      • Not rude, just realistic...you asked... - mtc
  • House poor - MIMT
    • With the prices of homes and property taxes today, just about everyone is house poor. - SM
      • We are also fortunate here in our area... - mtc
      • House costs here are not that fricking high - Lana
        • I guess you are right; it is where you live :( - sm
          • Where are you? Wish I knew how to send - Lana
            • NJ and well over 200,000 for a cracker box - NJfool
  • Too much house for you on your income... - mtc
  • Did you talk to a bank or mortgage company and see if you can get pre-approved? Seems - like your income is too low for such a costly hous
    • if we get to their 75,000 annual income qualification - Luke S.
    • ...house. Baby will only add on more expenses and maybe loss of - wife's income??? Plan it out! NM
      • Oh, and you forgot, his is not on a regular basis - Faith
      • interest-only payment - Luke S.
        • Here is an idea to find out if you can afford 2700 a month. - SM.
        • I know about the no interest loans - Annie
        • Wow, sounds like you want to jump right into the fire. - MSMT

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I have to ask - what are you spending the money on?  Rent is the first thing you should pay, then food, and then transportation.  If you are worried about paying credit cards first, or some other debt, you are cutting your own throat. 

I would advise you to do some looking at Dave Ramsey.  He has several excellent books, available usually from the local library. 

Also, as for the husband, sit down with him and talk to him - I don't know if you have done this or not, but his playing the video games may be a way for him to escape.  If he has always been responsible in the past, then his irresponsibility now is probably a defense mechanism. 

You both need to step back and take the emotion out of it.  If you are not able to do that, the situation is not going to improve.  You both have to show commitment to making the relationship work, even on so little money. 

If you have a pastor or some sort of mentor/advisor, that might be a good place to start, once you have talked to your husband.  A neutral party who can look at the situation from all sides can help. 

Good luck, from someone in similar shoes.

HC

in fair condition about 10 years ago, got into some medical problems, and have just now paid off the mortgage.  Hubby and I agreed we would do nothing to the house for remodeling because we wanted to pay it off first, then the medical bills.  I need to know of some websites/magazines/books to start researching for how to go about this.  These will be major repairs - roof, septic, basement, windows, pretty much everything except wiring.  Where do we start?  Maybe hire a general contractor just to do an evaluation and give us recommendations?  Hubby is a handyman but cant seem to get a handle on where to begin.  We would like to do as much of the work ourselves as possible - labor of love and all that...   

Thanks for any and all kind suggestions!

but you would never know it by our lifestyle. We don't need to impress anyone or put ourselves in debt for material things that depreciate the minute you walk out of store with it or drive it off the lot. Americans need to SAVE money, a concept that has been long lost through the generations.

I am a self-employed IC and have purchased 4 homes in 4 different states as a single person.  I was able to obtain a Stated Income Mortgage based on my credit, rather than my W2.  No tax info was used, needed or requested.  I guess, if your income is needed along with your husband's to qualify for a loan, then you would need the W2 info.  But as a single person you can obtain a home loan based on your credit and not your tax info.  Also, if you don't have enough for a down payment, you can take out a "second" against the house you are purchasing to finance your downpayment.  You will have a short-term payment for the downpayment and your 30 yr note on the home.  I was also able to obtain very low interest rates based on my credit rating.

Good luck, I did have to provide extra documents when I purchased one home with my exhusband.

I definitely agree that she should take the dog inside, but if she absolutely refuses maybe you could buy her a well-insulated doghouse so at least the animal will have some protection from the cold.  Animals have survived cold temperatures for years, but they need a place that shelters them from the cold, and she needs to provide that for them!!

I feel for you - vegetarian here :)  One of the big reasons I lost respect for my ex-best friend was the way she treated her animals.  She was always buying dogs and cats and then leaving them at the pound or pawning them off on people.  It really made me think less of her, because what kind of person does that! She also won't admit she did anything wrong!  arrrrgh! It drives me crazy when people don't take proper care of their animals.  They are a big responsibility - not just a cute puppy to show off when it's convenient.  I hope your daughter straightens up, but again, if she doesn't I highly recommend purchasing a good doghouse for the poor dog!

Girls, has your hubby ever gotten you a "practical" gift that you did not appreciate?  This video will put a smile on your face!  Enjoy the lighthearted fun. 

http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/video.aspx

I chuckled reading your post. I have 9 - yes 9 - cats, three of whom are kittens in the range of 7 months old.  I got them all about a week apart and they're each about a month apart in age.  They are refugees from the neighbors really bad decisions.

Nothing in the house is safe any more.  All of my bigger plants are now in hooks on the ceiling - the smaller plants were already there.  It looks silly, but it works.  There is nothing left on any flat surface.  It cracks me up when they get going and chasing each other.   My house is very cat friendly at this point.  I made the choice to put the good furniture in storage for now and I have washable furniture.   There are cat beds everywhere.  My office shelving unit is more cat bed than it is storage and I have 2 beds on the desk beside my computer.

Yes, I am the crazy cat lady. 

Rotel tomatos

Velveeta cheese

taco-seasoned ground beef

Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning (as in making tacos). Melt Velveeta and Rotel in microwave; add meat mixture. I transfer to a crockpot to keep it hot.  Serve with corn chips. This recipe is made with 1 lb ground beef, 1 packet taco seasoning, 1 small can Rotel, and half of a big block of Velveeta. Of course, you can vary it to the amount you need to serve.

the people who lived here before us had a rabbit that got out of the hutch and they couldn't get it back in, so it lived in our yard.  One nice warm evening I took our house cat out with me while I was outside.  I looked away for a minute and in the blink of an eye, the male rabbit was...um...having nonconsensual relations with my poor, terrified female cat.  I could not believe my eyes. Needless to say, my cat stayed in the house after that.  

My 16-year-old daughter was also smoking on and off since last summer.  When her dad actually caught her red-handed, she was grounded indefinitely - no phone or computer and no friends.  She had exercise-induced asthma as a child and I thought I had drilled it into her from little on up how stoopid (censor wouldn't let me spell it right)   smoking would be.  Not to mention that my parents both smoked and mom has severe asthma and dad has the start of emphysema as well as many other health problems. 

Anyway, she started again and finally, I went through her purse and found 2 packs of cigarettes, which I took and she was grounded from seeing the boyfriend, which was far worse than the phone, I think.  She threw a fit because her older brother also smoked in high school, but he was already 18, so not much we could really do about it.  She's only 17.  Plus the fact that she just started oral contraceptives and her doctor told her right to her face no smoking. 

But, I think we are on the right track at the moment.  Good luck to you because this sure isn't fun.