With moving to our own place fresh on our minds, we sit back and wonder just how we’re going to go about making ends meet. We’re not overly concerned about it because we know that if we properly budget ourselves, we’ll be able to accomplish just about anything. The big thing for me is whether or not we’re going to take the route of Mortgages or if we’re going to look into houses for rent in whatever area we happen to choose.
The option of Mortgages means that not only will we own the house, but the bank will own it as well. We figure if we happen to find something in a decent price range, either way I’m going to be taking about $60,000-$100,000 out on a loan and that particular number scares me. And I also know that the last 10 payments of the mortgage means I’ll be doing nothing more than paying off the interest rates. In order to save some money I’ve been looking into tax-sale properties, but lord knows how accurate those are. They say that some houses start in the say $10,000 range, but what I didn’t realize is 50% of the time you’re also dealing with a bidding war. So if a realtor is looking to flip the house and can come up with $40,000 on the spot. It’s almost impossible to out-bid them if you know what your budget is.
In regards to looking into houses for rent, that’s basically what we’re doing now. We’re in a community where while they are manufactured homes you’re still paying a “lot rent” to cover all of the maintenance. That’s just something we’re not interested in doing because that adds an extra $400 a month to the bills (as of right now at least) on top of the actual rent charges for the home itself. So yea, in theory it’s a great idea but it heavily depends on where we’re looking to wind up.
It’s just really hard to sit down and figure out exactly what we’re going to do. I think it’s based on the fact that the money isn’t actually in our pockets yet so we don’t have to decide anything. I’m not looking into a mortgage, I’m looking into personal loans because again, we’re on a set budget based on the income we have and while our combined income exceed $4,000 a month – this doesn’t mean we want all of that to just go right back out to bills either.