Payday Loan in Mentor

We are moving to the Dallas, ohio area (from Seattle) and we are considering buying our first home. We are already pre-approved for a $200K loan. With that, we have absolutely no savings and about $53K in debt (includes student loans). My husband would be making about $85K (w/ a yearly bonus) and I'm a stay-at-home mom. If we buy, we'd have no downpayment, so we'd be using a ohio loan and the condition is that we'd either have to pay for the closing costs or the seller do it...well, we wouldn't be able to buy unless the seller agreed to pay them since we have no extra money. We were looking at maximum house cost of $175K and w/ that and the other estimated costs added into the loan w/ around a 6% rate (if we go lower, we'll be paying for the points), our estimated monthly payment would be around $1,200-1300. I figure we'd be paying that in renting a house, so why not buy? Our concern is WE HAVE NO SAVINGS!! Do you think it is absolutely stupid to buy w/ no savings? I guess my thinking is that we can start to save up a little in case of any emergencies... I feel like I know the answer already, lol...It's just the whole having to pay a rent that would equal to what we could be paying for in a mortgage...

The only time you should consider buying a house is if you meet all of the following conditions: 1. You know you will want to stay in that home for at least five years (less than that and the costs to resell the house will more than wipe out any profit you might make. 2. You have sufficient cash to make at least 5% down, and have 5% of the purchase price in the bank for any necessary repairs and emergencies. 3. The total payment including bank note, property taxes, and insurance is no more than one week's gross pay, and that payment, plus all other debts, is no more than one-third of your month's gross pay. 4. You have sufficient money saved up in an emergency fund to cover at least three months worth of expenses in case your husband loses his job. 5. You have a sufficiently high income that the mortgage interest deduction and property tax deduction will reduce some of the cost of the house via tax savings. 6. You have an extremely good credit rating. Unfortunately, you don't really meet any of these conditions, except possibly the staying there for five years part. My advice - get a job yourself, even part time if you are raising children, and use that money to build up a downpayment of $20,000. You will qualify for a significantly lower interest rate if you have money to put down, and you will have a lower payment. Plus, it will probably take you a year or so working part time to save up that amount, so it will give you time to shop and really understand the neighborhoods you are considering buying into. Also, look for first time homebuyer education programs. Often if you complete one, you can get assistance with the downpayment and/or discounts on loans. I got one under the "mortgage credit certificate program" that saved me 20% off my loan rate. Instead of paying 5.5% on my loan, I only paid 4.4%, which saved me a huge amount in interest.

While it sounds like a better idea to buy instead of rent, you need to remember that the house payments may be the same but the upkeep of a house and the cost of utilities runs much higher than rental living. Without a savings, you will not even have money for moving expenses. If something breaks in the house, you will not have money to fix it. Also, you will not be able to get the seller to pay for all the closing costs, only a percentage. Some closing costs the seller can pay for, others you need to pay for. I really do not see how you can pull this off with no money in hand. You would be better off continuing to rent the lowest rental possible, and start paying down the student loan. Also, start a savings account. Have a set amount taken out of your checks each week and auto-deposited in a savings. 5-10% would be a good start. After a couple of years, you should be ready and long as you keep your credit looking good. No late payments and no extra debt. Good luck.

This is an extremely risky move. Before you can buy a house you need a cash reserve - shoot for $30,000 minimum. If you rent and the furnace breaks down, you call the landlord. If you buy and the furnace breaks down, where are you going to get the $2K for a new one? And that's a CHEAP repair. What is the roof leaks, A/C breaks down, etc. Home ownership if much more expensive than just the mortgage payment. In reality, unless you plan to stay in the house for a decade or more, it's cheaper to rent.

"To build a house or a hotel, the player must own all properties in a color group. Development must be uniform across a monopoly, such that a second house cannot be built on one property in a monopoly until the others have one house." I got that from Wikipedia. I have played this game since I was a little kid, and I have played different ways with different people. Sometimes we played like your mom is describing. Other times we would buy whatever we could afford, but you can't put a second house on a property unless all the other properties have one house already on it (like Wikipedia says). Hope this helps.

The possibliity of you being approved for a loan with no money in the bank even witha 740 credit score and 53K in debt is quite low.