MAYBE moving from an apartment to a house...

ashleycharee

If you really are seriously considering this, you should consider posting your budget on Money Matters on the Nest.  The girls there can really help you figure out how much you can afford, and show you places that you can cut back to find extra money.  Good luck!

Temp376294187501565

I don't understand the responses, "If you can make it work, do it!" How exactly would you make this work?  I think everyone is just so blown away at how low your rent is, that they are missing the point that you barely make enough to cover $375/month rent.

$550/month is a stretch for you and you buy $50 outfits.  That will be puked on.  If you're lucky enough that he actually gets to wear them once.  Is this really in your child's best interest? 

Please, please get serious about managing your money for your child's sake.  How much money have you spent on clothes and nursery items?   Can you return them and put that money into savings?

tboneangel87

I'm with pp's in that I have major rent envy. We pay $655 for a two-bedroom apartment, and the place we are getting orders to will be almost $700. And a house? Forget it. Townhouses here run in the $200,000 for nice ones to buy, and are about $800-$1200 to rent. Even with the housing market where it is, the houses DH and I have looked at have all been in the $200-$225K range. I say that you should only go for it if it won't blow all of your savings (God Forbid something should come up), and also if you can work out a feasible budget. GL

Suparstarz714

sam19:

Suparstarz714:

Around here it is like you MIGHT get your security deposit back.  I would expect we would, nothing is damaged or anything, but our landlord is a ***.  And we did not pay last month's rent.  But there is time enough left in the month that we may be able to get out of here and in the house by the end of the month and get the old apartment ready.  Maybe our new landlords would work with us, letting us in ASAP so that we could get the old apartment cleaned out. 

umm.....why didn't you pay last month's rent? I don't see how you could even contemplate getting a place with higher rent/expenses when you aren't even paying your rent now.  And you said in another post that you couldn't cut out cable?? I think you have your priorities a little screwed up here.

I do school from my computer, which requires internet and in like 2-3 months will work from my computer so unless I want to NOT HAVE AN INCOME I can't cut out the internet, which is through cable.  The way everything is set up if you have one, you pay like $15 more for the other and for $15 a month, for as much as DH watches TV it is worth it. 

Suparstarz714

Mrs.ND:

 

You haven't paid rent for this month

We pay the month ahead, rent is due by the 1st, so our rent is paid until the 1st of April (but I think somewhere in our lease it says we have until the 4th to move out)

I just honestly don't think we will be able to live comfortably in the house.  I am going to check it out tomorrow.  Pretty much the only way we would go any farther in considering moving is if the house is like WOW and blows us away.  The more I think about it, the more nervous I get about being strapped for cash and not being able to make my bills. 

Suparstarz714

So it's not that we BARELY make enough to pay $375 a month's rent... We make more than enough to cover that and all of our bills.  We would be able to afford the house IF basicly if we didn't spend ANY extra money (which isn't realistic).  It is our rent being so low that allows us to spend money on things we don't NEED and buy the higher end items for baby. 

If we move to the house it would #1 drain my savings (but DH even said he doesn't want me to use my savings just so that we can move into the house) and #2 it WILL be a stretch, we wouldn't be able to eat out all the time like we do and spending would be on things we NEED (food and bills), not things we want (clothes, electronics, ect)...

jaxgev

First of all, $375 a month is how much we pay for parking each month here in SF.  You're more than welcome to live in our garage--in a 5' x 10' spot.

Seriously though, you're out of your mind for even considering this.  I'm in Finance/Investing and while I don't focus on individuals, I can tell you that this is a classic case of needing getting your priorities straight.  You can PM me more if you want more advice but the short answer is stay where you are.

sam19

I still don't see how you could even be contemplating this. Your expenses are already going to increase with a child so why stretch yourself out so thin?

JeniLovesNeil

Where on Earth do you find a rental house for $550?!?!?

That's an AWESOME deal, but I live in HCOL, so I'm not much of a help. 

cindy453

Suparstarz714:

??It is our rent being so low that allows us to spend money on things we don't NEED and buy the higher end items for baby.?

If we move to the house it would #1 drain my savings (but DH even said he doesn't want me to use my savings just so that we can move into the house) and #2 it WILL be a stretch, we wouldn't be able to eat out all the time like we do and spending would be on things we NEED (food and bills), not things we want (clothes, electronics, ect)...

If you had saved some extra money each month instead of blowing it because your low rent "allows" you to buy nicer things, you would be able to move. If we moved in with my parents for a few months we wouldn't have to pay rent... but that doesn't mean we should go blow 2k on a new TV just because we have the money. ?

MrsJerseyJets

This is just a BAD BAD idea....draining your savings right before a baby is NOT good--do you even have the start up costs for a house?  Right now you only pay 2 utility bills...opening up other utility accounts may require deposits since you haven't been with them before.  Plus getting things ready for the baby and you'll be out of work for a while?  VERY RISKY without any savings.  I personally wouldn't even bother looking considering your financial situation.  It would be a terrible mistake--wait until after the baby's born and consider how your finances are then to be able to wage whether you can handle a higher monthly expense.

Also--no lease??  Absolutely NOT.  Don't let a nice house cloud your judgment.  When the landlord decides to kick you out in 6 months you will have no recourse, and who knows if you'll even get your money back for security if it's not protected by a lease.  Basically you're throwing the money away.  

And you can't look at it like it would be the same as your mortgage payment and you'd walk away with nothing in the end.  Lots of people bought houses recently and have only seen their house values decline, thus LOSING money on their purchase.  At least with renting you can leave without needing to sell at a loss and losing even more money--if you had bought a house and wanted to move and it lost it's value, you would be stuck there because you'd have to bring the difference to closing.  We had to bring $25K to the sale of our townhouse closing.  So don't look at renting like it's a waste! 

Chrysallys

It doesn't sound like it would be the wisest choice at the moment considering DH's financial situation and the fact that you have money saved specifically for your maternity leave that you'd use up before hand.

And OMG holy cheap rent Batman!!! Even $550 is ridiculous!