sephiroth3650 t1_j2ew8hw wrote on December 31, 2022 at 7:24 PM

Generally, the $282k home would be at the very top end of your search. What does your entire monthly budget look like? It’s concerning that you live with your parents and are carrying credit card debt. It would seem to be foolish to choose to spend 20% interest on the cards if you don’t need to. If you’re already in a spot where you’re running up debt while living rent free….what will your budget look like with a $200k mortgage? How much are you planning on putting down? Unless it’s well more than $20k, I’d assume your payments will be a lot closer to $2200-2300, depending on taxes/insurance/PMI.

killaho69 OP t1_j2exp8h wrote on December 31, 2022 at 7:34 PM

The CC debt is old debt, a lot of it from a layoff years ago, supporting myself thru college, and 1-2 bad choices. It's down a lot from 13-15k. I'm not adding any new debt. At most, I might would use my Best Buy card for like a 18 months no interest type purchase on refrigerator, but I've sworn off carrying high interest debt. In fact, paying down the debt caused me to miss pre-2022 prices and interest rates. I started a job making 60k in Oct 2020, houses were there for 150k with 2-3% interest, but I was like "I'll pay off my truck and cards first" and I did, just in time for everything to go insane.

I could pay it off before I moved in easily, but I'm just trying to keep all my cash liquid for now until I have a clear picture.

Other than that, I have about $90/mo truck insurance, I have a few streaming services, yearly amazon prime, and a cellphone bill for my daughter and I. All could be cut back if necessary, except the insurance. Well technically even it could be cut back but I like carrying full coverage.

sephiroth3650 t1_j2fblj6 wrote on December 31, 2022 at 9:15 PM

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.