Submitted by killaho69 t3_zzs878 in personalfinance
sephiroth3650 t1_j2fblj6 wrote
Reply to comment by killaho69 in Wanting to make sure I can afford the houses that I'm looking at. by killaho69
You mentioned in one comment that you've lived with your parents for 7 years. I hear all the things you're saying....but it's still alarming that you're carrying a credit card balance after that many years living at home. It's also alarming that you're choosing to carry that high interest debt for no other reason than to have cash on hand. And I strongly disagree with the notion that you made a mistake by trying to pay that debt down before and you "missed out" on favorable buying conditions by paying it down. Sure...you could have spent less on the monthly mortgage payment....and that's immediately offset by having tons of high interest revolving debt on the books.
Beyond that, you really didn't break down any real budget. You mentioned $90 car insurance. You mentioned some other items, but assigned no numbers to any of it. You didn't give any number for gas. I realize you work from home and expect gas to be lower, but surely you drive a bit? You didn't mention how much your cell bill was. You didn't estimate anything for food or utilities if you buy this house. You mention "a few" streaming services. How many? How much? Do your numbers include retirement savings already? You mentioned in another comment that you have $15k saved now, and might be able to save another $5k by the time you'd close on the house. How much of this are you planning on putting down on the home? Surely not all of it, right? It wouldn't be wise to totally burn your entire savings/emergency fund in the purchase up front. And the flip side is....if you're only putting down $10k, your monthly payment is very unlikely be under $2300-2400/month. And just how much will you need to buy to furnish the place?
Saying all that....that doesn't mean you can't afford the house. There just isn't enough info given to say for sure. It feels like you're just very desperate to get out of your parents' place, that you're jumping on the first deal you see. It doesn't sound like you've really drilled down and listed out all the specifics to check your potential budget if you make this purchase. If I pull up a spreadsheet and plug in estimates for the things I believe you'd have to pay for, it feels like the budget is pretty compressed. I can balance it, but there isn't a ton left over after plugging things in. So it'd appear you can make it from a monthly cashflow standpoint, but you'd be equally screwed the minute you have to pay for anything unexpected. Because there isn't a lot there to build/rebuild savings aside from paying the monthly expenses. But that's just guessing, and without seeing your actual numbers and expenses.
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