well perhaps you just need to enjoy renting for a while longer. really a house is just a "thing." as long as you have shelter over your head, you're all good.
In the Boston Area, you're looking at $350-$400K for a very small condo (most likely with no parking, that's separate).
Oh I know! I am a former east coaster (Philly area) and part of the reason we moved to chicago was because we wanted to live downtown in a large city, and Boston and NYC were just not an option! We'd never afford a place.
I am okay with renting for as long as it takes, however, in this market its so temping to be able to get a deal since its a buyers market, you know? The problem is, the rents in chicago have really gone through the roof since the economy took a nose dive because people aren't buying. Our place is just a bit too small for us, and after our lease is up next year, I'd hate to waste money moving to a new place to rent, but I don't think we can keep going here after this year.
Yeah, I'm contemplating going back to school in 09 to become a teacher and the thought of taking out loans to pay for it makes me queasy... quote]
student loans are a fact of life. who can pay a year of grad school out of pocket? it's nearly impossible. my grad program was 2 years and even with my $12,000 scholarship tuition alone was about $45K...plus you have to live at the same time so you need loans for rent, food, and just living.
Yeah, and I have a kid so that's an added expense!!! And then my original student loan (plus my husband's). Why didn't I just do education the FIRST time around? ARRRGGGHH!!!!
Yeah, and I have a kid so that's an added expense!!! And then my original student loan (plus my husband's). Why didn't I just do education the FIRST time around? ARRRGGGHH!!!!
*sigh*
do you KNOW how many times I have said that exact statement..
I was an education major for a year and 1/2 too in college.. but NO a major in Painting and Drawing was SO much better..
$112 a week for 3 years and the down payment is there.
Cut out one dinner out a week, a few less new pairs of shoes and drink Sam's cola instead of Pepsi and you'll be staring at that white picket fence in no time.
yeah right, if only that was the solution.
ick though! white picket fences? where am I buying this house, the middle of nowhere? have you seen my screen name?
If you can afford a nice place in downtown Chitown, then I assume between you you make a decent living. If thats the case, then you can also afford to save for a down payment. You just have to take a hard look at where your money goes, trim some spending for a time and set up a separate account that you won't withdraw from and put that excess in there.
Its not easy, but since mortgages are a little harder to get these days, you'll need something. Renting is just pissing your money away.
this is good advice
it takes hard work and sacrifices to get there
but so worth it
We were able to save up a few thousand the year before we bought our house. My parents also gave us 8k for the down payment. Like someone else said, we did FHA which allows for a lower down payment. There are a few other advantages too.
We are just outside of chicago so you get a little more for your money.
Awhile back you could by a house with 0% down... I don't think banks allows that anymore since all the foreclosures.
Also, it sounds like you are grad school. I would try real hard to get some sort of assistantship, T.A. position or a job that will pay for it. I got my masters a few years back and got the whole thing paid for because I got a job at the school newspaper. Although I still took out 3k for spending money... that was a mistake.
"hear my name, take a good look, this could be the day."
We were able to save up a few thousand the year before we bought our house. My parents also gave us 8k for the down payment. Like someone else said, we did FHA which allows for a lower down payment. There are a few other advantages too.
We are just outside of chicago so you get a little more for your money.
Awhile back you could by a house with 0% down... I don't think banks allows that anymore since all the foreclosures.
Lockport. Southwest suburb. Right off the new 355 extension. Lockport is still pretty reasonable and it is blowing up since the extension went through.
"hear my name, take a good look, this could be the day."
We just saved everything...we came up with a savings plan and started putting away a small amount every month...then as we got raises, etc - just put that all into the savings as well. I had it automatically deducted from my paycheck and after a while I never noticed it. All our extra money went into the savings as well - gifts for Christmas, anniversaries, etc and any tax refunds. It grows much quicker than you think. I thought it would take us forever, but we had the down payment saved in less than 3 years.
We just saved everything...we came up with a savings plan and started putting away a small amount every month...then as we got raises, etc - just put that all into the savings as well. I had it automatically deducted from my paycheck and after a while I never noticed it. All our extra money went into the savings as well - gifts for Christmas, anniversaries, etc and any tax refunds. It grows much quicker than you think. I thought it would take us forever, but we had the down payment saved in less than 3 years.
3 years! holy cow!
my LIFE savings only total $15,000 and I automatically deduct from my paycheck and all that. I even lived with my parents for over a year after college to save- I saved $40,000 but then had to spend almost all of it after a $20K pay cut and subsequently, graduate school.
Saving money is hard work. What I do is immediately upon getting my paycheck, I transfer $200 to savings. I do this twice a month. At first it hurt, but we made adjustments in our way of life....don't eat out often (take out your eating out budget in cash, and once cash is gone, no more eating out until next paycheck), look at problem spending areas (clothes, DVD's, music, Starbucks or the like?) cut out those expenses.
Here is another tip...when tepmted to purchase a non necessity in a store, ask yourself, do I want this or a house more? If your answer is the house, then if the product you were going to buy costs $20, immediately go put $20 in your savings account.
Look at other areas....what kind of cars do you drive? Is it more car than you can afford? If so, consider selling it and purchaing a cheaper car. Can you get by with one car? If so, and if it will not be a huge inconveneience, then consider getting rid of a car.
You will be amazed at how quickly it can build up. It is not easy, but once you get started, you can save a good deal of money over a couple of years.
I'm interesting in knowing how you came up with a large sum of money for your home down payment. That is, if you own a home, and put down a down payment.. haha.
My husband and I have been discussing how things have changed in society, and how people used to get a lot of help from their parents, and get big signing bonuses and such.
We're at a loss as to how to come up with 40-50k. Its not like a year of saving would get us there, or even 10 years.. haha.
How did you do it?
i have not read the entire topic......we simply purchased an inexpensive home, invested some money into the house (home improvements), then resold it. took the profit and repeated the process two more times. we are now in a home we think is our dream home, in kansas.
now if i lived in southern utah, it would be a different plan.
live and let live...unless it violates the pearligious doctrine.
Saving money is hard work. What I do is immediately upon getting my paycheck, I transfer $200 to savings. I do this twice a month. At first it hurt, but we made adjustments in our way of life....don't eat out often (take out your eating out budget in cash, and once cash is gone, no more eating out until next paycheck), look at problem spending areas (clothes, DVD's, music, Starbucks or the like?) cut out those expenses.
Here is another tip...when tepmted to purchase a non necessity in a store, ask yourself, do I want this or a house more? If your answer is the house, then if the product you were going to buy costs $20, immediately go put $20 in your savings account.
Look at other areas....what kind of cars do you drive? Is it more car than you can afford? If so, consider selling it and purchaing a cheaper car. Can you get by with one car? If so, and if it will not be a huge inconveneience, then consider getting rid of a car.
You will be amazed at how quickly it can build up. It is not easy, but once you get started, you can save a good deal of money over a couple of years.
We don't really eat out anymore, we have one car now, we don't vacation (with the exception of going camping on a lake, which is free aside from gas to drive there) I don't get my hair done at salons, I don't buy lots of clothes.. I'd be hard pressed to cut out much. I understand what you're saying though.. every little bit does help. We have a lot of bills, and god, if I could cut out old credit card debt we'd have a down payment in a heart beat.
I am proud to say its been over a year since we've used a credit card. Now living full off of debit/cash. It's good living in the present tense
hve you thought of renting a cheaper place until you are ready to buy?
We'd have to move to a shady neighborhood for a cheaper rent. We live in a great area, with one of the lowest rents heard of for this area. I can't complain about the price of our rent. Its very realistic.
We don't live in an extravagant place. Sure we could go somethere with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, etc, but we live in the place we do with no dish washer, shared laundry, and no a/c to be able to live in a great area and keep it cheap. Sadly we don't seem to pocket enough each month to make a decent dent in the savings.
One of the ways we stick to our budget is by taking out cash for the week (for groceries/gas and whatever else comes up) and then *only* spending that much. There are weeks that we go over our cash allotment...sometimes on "fun" expenses, and sometimes on annoying ones, like a $100 ER copay (grrr). It's hard at first, but spending only a certain amount of cash each week really helps you learn how to evaluate your wants/needs and forces you to stick to your budget.
We don't really eat out anymore, we have one car now, we don't vacation (with the exception of going camping on a lake, which is free aside from gas to drive there) I don't get my hair done at salons, I don't buy lots of clothes.. I'd be hard pressed to cut out much. I understand what you're saying though.. every little bit does help. We have a lot of bills, and god, if I could cut out old credit card debt we'd have a down payment in a heart beat.
I am proud to say its been over a year since we've used a credit card. Now living full off of debit/cash. It's good living in the present tense
I feel the same way-I don't know whatelse to cut. the only thing I could possibly do is move in with roommate off craigslist, and I'm at the point in my life where, well, that just aint gonna happen.
We don't really eat out anymore, we have one car now, we don't vacation (with the exception of going camping on a lake, which is free aside from gas to drive there) I don't get my hair done at salons, I don't buy lots of clothes.. I'd be hard pressed to cut out much. I understand what you're saying though.. every little bit does help. We have a lot of bills, and god, if I could cut out old credit card debt we'd have a down payment in a heart beat.
I am proud to say its been over a year since we've used a credit card. Now living full off of debit/cash. It's good living in the present tense
That is a wonderful start!!!!! You are on the right track. It sounds to me like it may not quite be the time for you to buy. Work on paying off that debt. Once you are close to doing so, or have it paid off, then you can focus on buying a place.
Stay far away from credit cards! You are doing a great job, and keep it up.
Once you have those paid off, you might not even need as large of a down payment to get a loan.
Best of luck. It is hard work getting out of debt, but it is one of the most freeing feelings in the world. Buying a home is expensive (insurance, upkeep, maintenance, appliances, etc.) Think about all of these costs before buying. Once you have your debt paid off, you should be able to save for all of these things.
my LIFE savings only total $15,000 and I automatically deduct from my paycheck and all that. I even lived with my parents for over a year after college to save- I saved $40,000 but then had to spend almost all of it after a $20K pay cut and subsequently, graduate school.
We just saved EVERYTHING. I mean every raise - no matter how small - automatically got deducted and put into savings - I didn't even acknowledge that I got a raise to myself, so I wouldn't notice it was missing. We started saving when we were in grad school and were used to not living on much - so once we both graduated and got better jobs it was like a windfall. We just continued living the way we had been living and ALL of the extra went into savings. It's pretty much like Poncier said - it doesn't take that much - even $100/week adds up to a lot of money over the course of a few years.
Oh, another thing we've started doing is once a month, we have freezer/pantry week. I'm pretty good about buying only what we are going to eat each week at the grocery store, but inevitably we end up with leftovers that can go in the freezer or with leftover ingredients from meals that don't get eaten. So, one week every month, I don't buy anything to make dinner....just breakfast and lunch stuff, plus fresh fruits and veggies. It usually cuts down our grocery bill by at least 1/3.
I also am careful not to stop at CVS or Walgreen's for things throughout the week. Whenever I walk into one of those places, I end up buying 2 or 3 times as much as I need...not to mention spending more on every day items that would be cheaper at Target or the grocery store.
Oh, another thing we've started doing is once a month, we have freezer/pantry week. I'm pretty good about buying only what we are going to eat each week at the grocery store, but inevitably we end up with leftovers that can go in the freezer or with leftover ingredients from meals that don't get eaten. So, one week every month, I don't buy anything to make dinner....just breakfast and lunch stuff, plus fresh fruits and veggies. It usually cuts down our grocery bill by at least 1/3.
I also am careful not to stop at CVS or Walgreen's for things throughout the week. Whenever I walk into one of those places, I end up buying 2 or 3 times as much as I need...not to mention spending more on every day items that would be cheaper at Target or the grocery store.
Thats a great plan.. It saves us a ton of money that I work 3 or 4 nights a week and eat dinner at work. My dinner is paid for, from my boss every night, so we totally cut dinners down MAJOR! My husband eats cheapo food too like mac and cheese and hot dogs, so thats a big help.
When I do cook I plan meals for 4 and save the other 2 helpings for his lunches.
even $100/week adds up to a lot of money over the course of a few years.
I don't know how I could possibly save $100/week. I save that per month. I pay rent, heat, electricity, gym membership, cable (not parting with it, I'd go nuts without a TV, and it's just basic cable), old credit card bills (don't use them anymore, don't have to, but it's from grad school and times when I was so struggling I had to buy food with them), and student loan payments. that's it. I almost never buy food even, and I don't drive a car.
Comments
Oh I know! I am a former east coaster (Philly area) and part of the reason we moved to chicago was because we wanted to live downtown in a large city, and Boston and NYC were just not an option! We'd never afford a place.
I am okay with renting for as long as it takes, however, in this market its so temping to be able to get a deal since its a buyers market, you know? The problem is, the rents in chicago have really gone through the roof since the economy took a nose dive because people aren't buying. Our place is just a bit too small for us, and after our lease is up next year, I'd hate to waste money moving to a new place to rent, but I don't think we can keep going here after this year.
Yeah, and I have a kid so that's an added expense!!! And then my original student loan (plus my husband's). Why didn't I just do education the FIRST time around? ARRRGGGHH!!!!
*sigh*
You got taken to the cleaners.
I expect Phantom Pain to show up with a large wad of cash on my first day!
do you KNOW how many times I have said that exact statement..
I was an education major for a year and 1/2 too in college.. but NO a major in Painting and Drawing was SO much better..
Not a day goes by I don't kick myself.. hard.
yeah right, if only that was the solution.
ick though! white picket fences? where am I buying this house, the middle of nowhere? have you seen my screen name?
actually, for my purchase it was more like 17K
damn westchester taxes and fees
I hear you...it's so frustrating. I wish I could just have a "do over" on my college major!
it takes hard work and sacrifices to get there
but so worth it
and my parents paid for college. I had NO loans.. no expense.. Makes me what to shoot myself..
but its not like a graduate degree is useless! haha.. hopefully I will land a great job..
We are just outside of chicago so you get a little more for your money.
Awhile back you could by a house with 0% down... I don't think banks allows that anymore since all the foreclosures.
Also, it sounds like you are grad school. I would try real hard to get some sort of assistantship, T.A. position or a job that will pay for it. I got my masters a few years back and got the whole thing paid for because I got a job at the school newspaper. Although I still took out 3k for spending money... that was a mistake.
Do you live in a Burb? Which one?
Lockport. Southwest suburb. Right off the new 355 extension. Lockport is still pretty reasonable and it is blowing up since the extension went through.
3 years! holy cow!
my LIFE savings only total $15,000 and I automatically deduct from my paycheck and all that. I even lived with my parents for over a year after college to save- I saved $40,000 but then had to spend almost all of it after a $20K pay cut and subsequently, graduate school.
Here is another tip...when tepmted to purchase a non necessity in a store, ask yourself, do I want this or a house more? If your answer is the house, then if the product you were going to buy costs $20, immediately go put $20 in your savings account.
Look at other areas....what kind of cars do you drive? Is it more car than you can afford? If so, consider selling it and purchaing a cheaper car. Can you get by with one car? If so, and if it will not be a huge inconveneience, then consider getting rid of a car.
You will be amazed at how quickly it can build up. It is not easy, but once you get started, you can save a good deal of money over a couple of years.
now if i lived in southern utah, it would be a different plan.
We don't really eat out anymore, we have one car now, we don't vacation (with the exception of going camping on a lake, which is free aside from gas to drive there) I don't get my hair done at salons, I don't buy lots of clothes.. I'd be hard pressed to cut out much. I understand what you're saying though.. every little bit does help. We have a lot of bills, and god, if I could cut out old credit card debt we'd have a down payment in a heart beat.
I am proud to say its been over a year since we've used a credit card. Now living full off of debit/cash. It's good living in the present tense
We'd have to move to a shady neighborhood for a cheaper rent. We live in a great area, with one of the lowest rents heard of for this area. I can't complain about the price of our rent. Its very realistic.
We don't live in an extravagant place. Sure we could go somethere with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, etc, but we live in the place we do with no dish washer, shared laundry, and no a/c to be able to live in a great area and keep it cheap. Sadly we don't seem to pocket enough each month to make a decent dent in the savings.
I feel the same way-I don't know whatelse to cut. the only thing I could possibly do is move in with roommate off craigslist, and I'm at the point in my life where, well, that just aint gonna happen.
That is a wonderful start!!!!! You are on the right track. It sounds to me like it may not quite be the time for you to buy. Work on paying off that debt. Once you are close to doing so, or have it paid off, then you can focus on buying a place.
Stay far away from credit cards! You are doing a great job, and keep it up.
Once you have those paid off, you might not even need as large of a down payment to get a loan.
Best of luck. It is hard work getting out of debt, but it is one of the most freeing feelings in the world. Buying a home is expensive (insurance, upkeep, maintenance, appliances, etc.) Think about all of these costs before buying. Once you have your debt paid off, you should be able to save for all of these things.
He said "if you want it now - you can have the $5,000, or if you want, keep the stock for a while and see what the money turns into".
I kept it (hard to do at 16) and that company was purchased outright. The Stock turned out to be $55,000 and I took that money and bought a house.
Lucky bastard.
my parents bought me stock when I was baby too...
they sold it all to pay THEIR mortgage :(.
I also am careful not to stop at CVS or Walgreen's for things throughout the week. Whenever I walk into one of those places, I end up buying 2 or 3 times as much as I need...not to mention spending more on every day items that would be cheaper at Target or the grocery store.
Thats a great plan.. It saves us a ton of money that I work 3 or 4 nights a week and eat dinner at work. My dinner is paid for, from my boss every night, so we totally cut dinners down MAJOR! My husband eats cheapo food too like mac and cheese and hot dogs, so thats a big help.
When I do cook I plan meals for 4 and save the other 2 helpings for his lunches.
I don't know how I could possibly save $100/week. I save that per month. I pay rent, heat, electricity, gym membership, cable (not parting with it, I'd go nuts without a TV, and it's just basic cable), old credit card bills (don't use them anymore, don't have to, but it's from grad school and times when I was so struggling I had to buy food with them), and student loan payments. that's it. I almost never buy food even, and I don't drive a car.