Did you watch Obama’s thing last night? I did because N and I are all opinionated about the government and we’ve been looking real hard at the governments ideas to help the housing market.
We’ve officially come out of our state of delusion and are actively looking for a new home that we want to be in BEFORE Tater Tot arrives (it is our perfect world goal but we’ll move after the baby comes if we really have to). Unfortunately this is dependent on several other things like getting out of our current lease… can we buy a home, will we just have to settle with renting, etc…
One specific tax incentive has us looking for more info, it is the home buying one that is proposed to be included in the stimulus package. The house passed a version of it that few republicans supported and now it is being messed with and voted on in the senate today.
Personally I don’t prefer to keep offering incentives and tax breaks to those who already have money and are doing fine. I am hoping that we’ll get something in place that will actually help middle to lower class families. We don’t need more investors or multi home owners to buy right now we need to get non-home owners and first time buyers in homes they can afford.
I am sure many of you remember how often we’ve been home hunting. We have actually been in the market to buy for several years but because of economic reasons and lending practices we’ve been shut out.
We have a hefty down payment in an IRA for our first home purchase and we (as a couple) have less than $8,000 in revolving credit card debt (unlike most Americans). We aren’t making a car payment and the only other debt we have is N’s student loan that we are paying as agreed. Still we couldn’t get a mortgage to buy a decent home in Arizona when we tried.
Now that we are in a different housing market we are gearing up to try again for a mortgage, we’ll see though. It would be nice to be able to finally get in on the real estate market without overextending ourselves. It seems for many in our age group this is just not an option though.
In other news I am still eating conversation hearts like crazy and Tater is kicking me as a result. Tater is going to be a sugar addict before even coming out of the womb thanks to valentines day candy, the OBGYN would be so pleased…
Speaking of the OBGYN we are going in for our rescheduled ultrasound appointment Thursday. Oh and I gained another 3 pounds in 2 weeks briging my weight to about 115 and my waist is measuring at almost 29 inches so growth is still not an issue here. That is 25 pounds of gained weight and almost 5 inches in waist growth (that is not even the biggest part of my belly!). Now go enter your baby weight guess and get in on the betting pool guys!
So what are your thoughts on the stimulus package and all the stuff going on in the house & senate right now?
Well, I hope you do find that perfect home (or at least perfect for a number of years home) so that you will be able to settle in to the next one for a while and not worry about it again for some time. Moving is a lot of work. You two are probably the old pros by now though. I’m glad you seem to be feeling good. Save some of those hearts for Valentine’s Day! 😉
We were going to claim the first time home buyer credit this year, until we truly realized that it is a loan that has to get paid back. I haven’t officially decided how I feel about the stimulus package.
Good luck on the home search, or rental search. I hope that you guys can find a way to get of your lease early!
Beckys last blog post..Quickies…
I hope you CAN take advantage of the real estate market. You’ll be able to get a house you may not otherwise be eligible for! Good luck!
Hyphen Mamas last blog post..Words
I really hope you guys can buy! Thats what saved Chris and I!
I don’t know about the banks out there, but when we bought Bank of America had an awesome first time home buyers deal! Thats who we went with: we got a 40 year loan, 10 years is interest only, then once we hit the 11th year we go to a principle with our interest rate locked in at what we singed at 6.5%. for the next 30 years.
God knows we wont be in this small of a house for 40 years, but we couldn’t pass it up. We also got a $4,000 1st time hb grant, our builder gave us $3,000 back plus a $1,000 visa gift card. Then my aunt was our realtor and she gave us her 4% commission. So we made out like bandits. Our house was originally 145k and after all was said and done we paid 133k!
So I would recommend going and talking to all the banks in your area and see what they can offer you! But dont let anyone run your credit tell you find a bank you like. Loan officers can see how many times and on what dates your credit was pulled and it doesn’t look good to have it pulled a lot.
Krystal McCarthys last blog post..If I blog it, they will come!
well shoot. sorry i didnt discover your webpage before ya left. i hope all is well with your family,which seems to be increasing.
im getting from the blog that N got a good offer of a job and am glad to hear it in the times such as they are
all we gotta do is listen to obams constant diatribe.lord knowss im allready wishing theyd take him off the air way to much of him on tv for me !!
anyway hope all is well