so, a lot of us live in apts., huh?

jenerally · November 2008

Noticing in the Oprah post below that lots of ladies would buy houses.

We live in an apartment, because we haven't been able to scrounge up a downpayment and don't have rich relatives who will give one to us.

But lately, I'm loving the "maintanence free" living that is an apartment.

What's your story/excuse?

phishphood · November 2008

We have pretty crappy credit and can't save up enough for the down-payment either.

Brittany Goodwin · November 2008

One word. A-R-M-Y. I hate the place we picked...had I known that space would be such an issue, I would've made dh find a realtor and a house to rent. Bleh. We're moving right before my due date though, and if I have to pay out of pocket we'll be renting a house!!

BerBus · November 2008

One word for me , too.

Navy. We are in housing right now. Dh gets out of the usn in about 18 months, and we'll be buying a house then.

tran0314 · November 2008

same reason as SC, the army. We wont be buying a house until he retires from the Army, and plan to move to Rochester, NY and hopefully get a house on the lake! Until then, it'll be on-post housing for us!

skaplan000 · November 2008

If you go through the state they are offering first time buyers help to stimulate the economy. I think some states even give you $$ for a down payment. DH and I were unaware of state assistance when we bought our home but since we had good credit we were approved for a first time buyers loan with 0% down and a great interest rate.

chudek · November 2008

I just moved out of a house to an apartment because the father of my baby is making a HUGE mistake.

thecraftymom · November 2008

We live in the Silicon Valley where the real estate is still obnoxiously overpriced and out of our price range.

Chrisy-Wyobride · November 2008

I don't but we bought our first house no money down..and I mean, we put like less than $1000 in total (I think that was for insurance) ;o) Luckily we got out of Vegas at the height of the market so we sold for over twice (almost 3 times) what we paid 3yrs later & were able to put over 50% down on our next house. Best investment I'll probably ever make.

jenerally · November 2008

skaplan000:
If you go through the state they are offering first time buyers help to stimulate the economy. I think some states even give you $$ for a down payment. DH and I were unaware of state assistance when we bought our home but since we had good credit we were approved for a first time buyers loan with 0% down and a great interest rate.

You can't get away with $0 down anymore. No bank will loan a mortgage without at least a 3% downpayment. Most prefer 10%.

Our state also has that program, but you have to make a certain amount of money to qualify for it. I think we fall *just above* the cutoff line.

PlannedChaos · November 2008

We're in a house, but it's DINKY, and my family is Huh-uge. We're going to have to be VERY creative in moving everybody around before the baby gets here.

april_sikora · November 2008

We are actually living in a 3 bedroom duplex. We are living here instead of a house because we aren't sure if we are moving to a different state yet or not. We have dreams of moving to CO, but are waiting til the time is right.. so we are just waiting it out until then! No sense putting money into a house we aren't planning on staying in for a long time!

librarianlisa · November 2008

I own but now wish I had waited a little longer. My small house was perfect when I was a single woman, but fitting my SO, his two daughters, and now a new baby into 1200 square feet is feeling a bit cramped.

Incidentally, I paid not a penny when I bought my house (in 2004). First time home owners program, folks. The sellers not only paid my closing costs but also my enrollment fee into the MCC program (which gives me about a thousand extra bucks back on my taxes every year). In fact, I even got a small check at closing! I'm very fortunate to have a mother who's been a mortgage underwriter for 25 years and knows the ins & outs, but really any realtor can set this up. (The trick is getting the seller to agree.)

Louiej · November 2008

I am pooooor....

(Well, the eat frozen fish sticks but buy ridiculous shoes kind of poor anyway)

librarianlisa · November 2008

I should also note that the seller also had to take a small hit on their equity in order to pay my down payment, which was only a few thousand dollars - definitely not 10 percent.

Girlyontheway · November 2008

jenerally:

skaplan000:
If you go through the state they are offering first time buyers help to stimulate the economy. I think some states even give you $$ for a down payment. DH and I were unaware of state assistance when we bought our home but since we had good credit we were approved for a first time buyers loan with 0% down and a great interest rate.

You can't get away with $0 down anymore. No bank will loan a mortgage without at least a 3% downpayment. Most prefer 10%.

Our state also has that program, but you have to make a certain amount of money to qualify for it. I think we fall *just above* the cutoff line.

Both my husband and I are in real estate and mortgage.

As far as down payment goes, 3% down is going up to 3.5% down as of Jan 1st. But depending on where you live there are a lot of programs available that still might offer some assitance programs. It all depends on where you live.

If you want to go with a FHA mortgage it is 3% and a Conventional mortgage it is 5-10% depending on many factors. (Interest rates are better with a FHA right now!)

velvetflip · November 2008

We live in an apartment that we own which costs more than a house. ?Don't assume that the only people who live in apartments are broke. ?We are far from it.

jenerally · November 2008

velvetflip:
We live in an apartment that we own which costs more than a house. Don't assume that the only people who live in apartments are broke. We are far from it.

you're absolutely right.

Mitzie · November 2008

I think we should tie this thread with the "how old are you with first baby?" thread. I think there is a correlation... I am older and have a house

Annie_1208 · November 2008

Just hadn't made the leap yet. Alwyas lived in an apartment. We are getting a house this February. Can't wait. Must have a house with 2 dogs and a baby coming!

apb9cwru · November 2008

We almost made the leap last year...but the house we wanted failed the inspection...big time! So glad we paid for the inspector. But, approaching 30 and having the student loans come due from two of my degrees...no house for us anytime soon!

We also live in Ohio which was hit very hard by subprime mortgages and houses just are not selling very well here.

I am so tired of moving from apartment to apartment (looking for THE right one) that even though this is a one bedroom, we really like it and will stay until the baby is a toddler!

So where financially, a house is not in the near future, we don't mind. I especially don't mind having a lawn to mow or driveway to plow

Belle15 · November 2008

We live in a house, but still have space issues. I feel like no matter what people will always just have to much stuff! It looks like were going to have custom closets put in, that should help.

finn07 · November 2008

city living! dh works until very late (average 9ish) and i can't imagine him commuting more than the 10 minute subway ride he takes now. we are going out looking at houses tomorrow actually, but only because my real estate broker mother is insisting that we are "pissing money away on rent". the thought of a down payment scares the crap out of me. more space, of course, would be fabulous.

New_York_Dad · November 2008

Yes. I did however buy some land in sunny hills florida, so I'm just waiting on it to be built before we leave new york city.

FutureHernandez · November 2008

We own TWO apartments (one he owned and I owned before getting together). The housing market is so terrible here in Miami that we can't sell both to buy a home.

It's pretty sad and unfair.

misslady79 · November 2008

SC Native:
One word. A-R-M-Y. I hate the place we picked...had I known that space would be such an issue, I would've made dh find a realtor and a house to rent. Bleh. We're moving right before my due date though, and if I have to pay out of pocket we'll be renting a house!!

I know what you mean when you say ARMY. That's why we moved off post. Actually saving more money, especially now that they're not taking all of the BAH. I enjoy having more space.

Oh yeah, saw that you're in OK. Don't tell me you're at Sill?

Aprilynn0206 · November 2008

We lived in apts for 3 yrs until we decided to save up for a house. We were able to buy one for no money down otherwise we wouldn't have one. We saved up for a bout a year and only had about $2,000. That was blown on the 3238094 inspections we had to get done but it still worked out! For me personally, I love having our own home to do what we want.. when we want. However, my husband is driving me nuts with home improvements. He wants to do more than we can afford and its the cause of many arguments. Embarrassed

the_blacks_attack · November 2008

Mitzie:
I think we should tie this thread with the "how old are you with first baby?" thread. I think there is a correlation... I am older and have a house

Personally I'm 24, have one and another on the way, and own a house. SO maybe age is not such a factor and lifestyle choice is....I wish I didn't own a house . I miss the ease of apartment living. Yes there are benefits to a house... yard,storage, etc. but I would give up this house in a blink to go back to my old loft in CO

mma1029 · November 2008

yeah I wouldn't say age is a always a factor - I'm 28 now but was 25 when DH and I built our house - I wouldn't trade our home for anything!! Yes, it's a lot of upkeep but it's SOOOO worth it, especially thinking about that fact that I'm making a true home for my child (and future children) that will hold memories for a lifetime - we did get lucky when we built, interest rates were still low and it was a perfect time to buy building supplies of high quality for smaller prices. It's a house we always dreamed of and we know we're very fortunate at such a young age to be enjoying our "dream home" already. Will we stay forever in this house, I don't know - at least another 10-15 years if not longer.

By no means am I knocking apartment living - what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander, and I know owning a home isn't for everyone. It works for me though.

oh and Happy Thanksgiving all!!

jenber77 · November 2008

I'm 31 and we live in a crappy one-bedroom apartment. We both have decent jobs but we live in an expensive city, and taking on a major commute doesn't work out either ? as we move further out from the city housing becomes more affordable but transportation costs would put it out of reach again.

I want to move back to my hometown, where we could easily afford a house, but we both have the kind of jobs that are only available in the big city. We're effectively trapped here. It sucks.

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so, a lot of us live in apts., huh?

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