Our Buying Goals:
- Don’t buy during the first year of marriage (learn to live with each other first). Check!
- Buy a house once we’ve paid off all our debt. For us, that means student loans (yes, we both went to private Christian colleges).
- Buy with a 20% down payment.
- Call us crazy, but we’re serious about a 15 year mortgage. We hope to pay it off before then anyways.
- Mortgage payments would not exceed ¼ of our combined take-home income.
So here's why we believe this is the best route for us:
- We want to have as little debt as possible, for as short a time as possible.
- We don't want to be "house poor". We don't want our mortgage payment to wipe out most of our income each month.
- We want to put ourselves in a position to be able to save for our other goals. For example; our future kids' college, fun trips, or maybe a lake cottage (a long way down the road).
- We kinda like being different.
We've been looking but have a lot more to do. (It did take us 5 months to buy a cheap used car.)
Here’s our list of ideal characteristics for our home that awaits us:
- Character. No vinyl villages for us.
- A fixer-upper.
- Mature trees and a yard.
- Large kitchen or potential to expand it. I truly believe the kitchen IS the heart of the home.
- 20 minutes (or less) commute to work for both of us.
Now after reading what we want and how we want to get there you may think that we’re crazy! I realize that we are, but that’s ok. I guess I’ll need an extra dose of patience. That day will be fun when it comes!
Here's our dream, we know we may have to wait until we're 60 to see it...
Please share any advice if you have already purchased a home, or share some of your goals if you're waiting like us.
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