[twinofangelize56]

Originally Posted by Farmgirl22

LOL! You could fit probably 6 or 7 of our current house in that one... The thing that's too small on that place is our budget!! We wouldn't even be able to afford the garage!!

The garage is my house size!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!

[Farmgirl22]

So a question for all you homeowners out there....what kinds of things were you flexible on? I'm sticking to the number of bedrooms, price range, and location....however, that's not giving me anything to work with. Literally....our budget is keeping us from buying anything, and with rentals nowhere to be found, I'm not sure what to do. Should we just tell the hubby's new boss that we can't make the move since we can't find a place in our price range based on what he's willing to pay? Is that grounds for reneging on a job?

We've never been in a situation like this, so it's like stumbling around in the dark and tripping over furniture...and my metaphoric shins and toes can't take any more.

[ashes@work]

Can you go there and drive around? And really look. how about location.. maybe 10 more miles out then what you were looking? In all directions?

[grandma77]

That is something to think about what Ashes said

Check with realtors about places 10-15 miles out from where he will work. It may be cheaper too. I have really been hoping this would work out for your family. Will keep praying.

[jesseem]

Yea FG, what Ashes said is what's happening in my city. It's the capital city and it's all pretty much saturated and over saturated and we still have migrants coming in from all over the country looking for jobs. It's really difficult to find the real natives here. There are so many languages and so many cultures and so many religions blended in together, it's really truly multicultural and multi everything.

So the city has been expanding outside of it's borders and satellite cities have sprung up all around it. Even there, it's getting extremely costly what with all the new development and factories and IT companies setting up shop here. So people are constantly on the lookout for places, even if it's like 20-30 KM out of the city, and they commute everyday (bus, train, cars, motorcycles etc.). That's another huge problem with the traffic congestion.

One other reason to do that is you get homes that are a bit cheaper and also bigger. You get to have your own garden and parking, individual house rather than an apartment/flat type thingie and all the rest of the good stuff. The only minus, commute.

Good luck FG. I hope things work out for you and will pray for that.

[Farmgirl22]

I don't know--see in our budget, something had to give...it was either gas or cost of home.

[ckphilli]

Originally Posted by Farmgirl22

So a question for all you homeowners out there....what kinds of things were you flexible on? I'm sticking to the number of bedrooms, price range, and location....however, that's not giving me anything to work with. Literally....our budget is keeping us from buying anything, and with rentals nowhere to be found, I'm not sure what to do. Should we just tell the hubby's new boss that we can't make the move since we can't find a place in our price range based on what he's willing to pay? Is that grounds for reneging on a job?

We've never been in a situation like this, so it's like stumbling around in the dark and tripping over furniture...and my metaphoric shins and toes can't take any more.

Hi. Forgive me if someone's already said this, been kind of out of pocket with the travels. Anyway, if it were me I'd stay firm on the price range and get a little flexible on location. Like Ashes(I think) said, you may find something 10-15 miles away from where you originally wanted. You do really need to put feet in the new location. Drive around the potential neighborhood at night, talk to the neighbors, etc. As far as condition, think about all those TLC shows. Visualize what you and your husband can make the home in to, not what it looks like presently. As long as the structure, plumbing, and heat/air are sound you shouldn't experience any huge expenses in upgrading if you do it yourself. I think of my house as a five year flip. Anyway, don't take my word for it, do some pricing. If at all possible you may consider getting a relative to watch the little one and you and hubby take a weekend trip to check out the area...just my two cents...good luck!

Chris

[jesseem]

Originally Posted by Farmgirl22

I don't know--see in our budget, something had to give...it was either gas or cost of home.

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought you guys had carpool or something of that sort over there. But our gas (actually petrol/diesel here) price was just hiked and almost half of it is tax, not to mention almost all veggies, groceries, medicines, commodities and everything under the sun has all gone up because of them gas prices.

[Farmgirl22]

Originally Posted by jesseem

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought you guys had carpool or something of that sort over there. But our gas (actually petrol/diesel here) price was just hiked and almost half of it is tax, not to mention almost all veggies, groceries, medicines, commodities and everything under the sun has all gone up because of them gas prices.

There are cities that have public transportation, however, small towns generally don't. Since we can't afford to live in a city (nor have either of us ever tried to get jobs in one/don't particularly care to live in one) those sort of things aren't really options. With the area we are moving to, all the surrounding communities are just as expensive and may or may not have amenities like a grocery store/school/daycare, which are kind of things that we consider a must. (i.e. it's not going to save us money if we buy a slightly cheaper house but have to drive 10x as far to work, and out of the way to find a daycare.)

I don't know--there is one town that is slightly cheaper, and they have a ton of houses for sale...however, the town is a flood plain (which floods often). Our lender(s) requires us to have flood insurance through the entire mortgage if we live in a flood plain, and that adds an extra $X per month--which doesn't save us anything on price, plus there is no daycare there, no grocery store for 20 miles, it's 20 miles to work for the hubby, and no places of work for me. We have kinda decided it wasn't worth it.

I guess we should have checked on the housing situation before we decided to take the job. It just never occurred to us that it would be such a problem. We finally found one house that is within our budget--it seems to be pretty much sound structurally, however, the roof has some weirdness going on...and since we are trying to get an FHA loan, we've been told that the inspector may not qualify the house because of that, the peeling paint, the cracks in the plaster, and a couple of other insignificant things. The house seems to be pretty airtight, insulated relatively well, and the basement is dry as a bone (which is something that surprised all of us--even the realtor!!) leaky basements seem to be a norm in that area--probably because there is a flood plain so close by. The roof isn't leaking--it just has some funky bubbling on it which will supposedly shorten the life span of the shingles. However, the roof has made it 10 years and still looks pretty good, so I'm not sure that the "bubbling" is a real issue. Cracking plaster and peeling paint isn't something that hurts my feelings at all--I'd personally prefer the excuse to paint (in a color of my choosing, not theirs), and that plaster needs to come off to put more insulation in anyway, so again, it doesn't hurt my feelings...but they say that FHA gets their panties in a wad about that sort of thing...

We aren't even sure we'll be able to get that house, so we're trying not to get too excited--2 other people looked at it the same day we did, and they probably aren't as desperate as we are--the ones who need things the most are the ones that get screwed in the end.

We also found out about a grant which may allow us to get up to 15% of the purchase price, however, we are maxed out on the amount of money you can make to qualify for that (read: no job for me), and it takes an extra 60 days+ to qualify for it...which a lot of times the sellers aren't willing to hold a "contract" for that long. We are going to try it if we don't get the house we are looking at right now, because that will slingshot us up to the next price level which has a couple more houses to offer us. We're thinking of it as a last resort though, because we really can't afford for me to not have a job for a year--that was kind of the whole reason we were moving up there--better job/opportunities for both of us.

[jesseem]

the ones who need things the most are the ones that get screwed in the end

Words of wisdom. *nodding head*

I feel your pain FG. I just wish and hope and pray that it all works out for the better in the end, for you and me.

[Farmgirl22]

Originally Posted by jesseem

Words of wisdom. *nodding head*

I feel your pain FG. I just wish and hope and pray that it all works out for the better in the end, for you and me.

Me too sis...I'm praying for us both.

We turned in our offer on the house this morning--wish us luck!! We heard there might be another contract in the makings, so we don't have a lot of wiggle room on the bargaining, but we're giving it our best shot. I just hope we don't get the contract and then the inspector says "no go"....that's actually more of a fear for us than the other contract.

[hannab]

I'll be praying for you,too, FG ( and crossing my fingers, too )

[grandma77]

Praying all goes well for you Farmgirl.

[wordsmith]

any luck in finding a home; I sure am praying for you.

[jesseem]

Good luck FG and ya know I'll be praying for you. I kinda feel that if it works out for you, it just might work out for me. Don't know why I feel that way. Weird. No pressure or anything.
HUGS sistah.