I apologize for the long post, but I don't know where else to go to get advice on this topic. We currently feel like we are stuck in the renting cycle, even though we feel like we are doing everything right. For reference, we are looking to buy a home on the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas.
Here is a general breakdown of our finances. We had some credit card debt from college, and life just kept throwing curve balls at us (medical bills, vehicle repairs, etc..), and this has prevented us from paying down this debt. We currently have a debt consolidation loan (roughly $11k or $456/mo) and two car loans for $350/mo. One of these loans will go away in November of this year.
Our current net pay is around $6,800/mo and our monthly expenses after bills and misc expenses is usually around $5,900/mo. Our credit scores are both over 730. We have currently been funneling all of our extra income into paying off debt so that we could buy a home debt free (minus one car loan), but I'm starting to wonder if we should shift to paying the minimums, and funnel extra funds to saving for a down payment and closing costs. The reason I say this, is because this is an extremely hot market. With very low supply, it is expected to be a seller's market for the foreseeable future. Sellers routinely receive 100+ offers after homes have been on the market for one or two days. Home prices have increased steadily each year, and I'm concerned that if we don't buy now, our pace of saving may not be able to keep up with the rate that home prices are increasing.
We each commute about an hour to work currently, and we are hoping to move to within 15-20 minutes of our jobs. The location we are looking at has lower property taxes than all surrounding areas, we would save money on child care, and we would save money from not having to commute. Once we are in a home in this location, our expenses should drop quite a bit.
My wife is a teacher, and there are several programs in Texas to assist teachers with down payments, or other grants, but our income exceeds the requirements, and I can't find any other programs that we qualify for. Is there some assistance for first time home buyers that I'm missing that could help us?
We would like to stay around $250,000, to keep our monthly budget lower, but I think once the debt is gone, we could afford more if we really wanted. We are perfectly fine with an older home, or fixer upper. I have quite a bit of experience doing work like this, so that doesn't scare us. We aren't looking for some lavish new home with all the amenities, we just want a home that we can call our own and raise our family in.
We are open to any ideas or suggestions!
Submitted March 31, 2021 at 12:59AM by TXAspiringHomeBuyer https://ift.tt/2PkSljy
