Hi, PF. First time caller, long time listener. 30, trade worker married, two children (8 and 2).
My wife and I make a combined $65k, give or take (she works part time to stay home with the kids). My mother lives with us (she works full time still @ 67 years old). She's single, helps with the kids, and I want her to keep saving for retirement. She owns no property and just has a small savings.
Anyway. The house we're renting now we are being forced to leave within the next 12 months (more like 6 months) but can leave whenever we want before then. I live in New Jersey, where property tax is insane. But all of our family is here, my oldest is in school and loves it, and all of the surrounding towns (that aren't crummy) within a 30 mile radius are the same or more expensive.
Anything I look at (has to be 3 bedrooms because of my mother) is in the realm of $2500 and up. Even if we split up, our rent would hover around $1500 and my mother's would be in the ballpark of $1100, so we wouldn't be saving anything.
I've been looking for nearly 3 years and that's just what it is in this area. And even those properties that are for rent are few and far between. Perhaps one pops up every few weeks. The random cheapy pops up (say $2100), but is always a complete shithole when I go check it out.
A mortgage for a modest house (all we really want. Something along the lines of a 3 bedroom/1-2 bathroom with a basement I can one day finish or is finished already), including the outrageous ~10k in taxes would be on par if not cheaper than rent. On par due to insurance, repairs, etc. But, still likely cheaper.
Now, with my mother's income as a co-signer, we're around $80k-$85k. We have the down payment, though we've discussed PMI. Our credit scores are 820, 810, and 720, respectively. Yet I still have this feeling we're not able to swing it. Maybe that's just because I was brought up not watching my mother own a house and it feels like a pipe dream.
We have no debt aside from my $250 car lease (we own the other cars). I just paid off my trade school loan. Credit cards are zero. And so on.
What do you guys think we should do? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.
*Edit: I expect to buy something in the $275k to $325k range. That's a starter around here (or a fixer upper), but I really have no desire to move once I'm in. I'd like to buy and own for good. I have close to 20%, and would likely have that 20% by the time push came to shove. I have 6 months emergency saved.
Submitted February 08, 2017 at 10:17PM by blowingthecartridge http://ift.tt/2lsYS7R
