Should I or shouldn't I? (car registration, mortgage, credit card)
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This is a house we're talking about. It's not a car purchase where nothing else is tied to it and you'd just get the car repossessed. $300 is much too tight. Hell even $1k would be borderline - how do people ever grow wealth for retirement by hamstringing themselves so badly in their prime years?
As someone else said, surprised you got approved by the bank.
I'm assuming you're a single person; no spouse, significant other, etc.? In that case, have you budgeted anything for a social life (especially if you're a male)?
Well, I may be old-fashioned but I am pretty sure that even in this day and age, the who-asks-for-the-date ratio is still skewed in favor of the male doing the asking... and the paying-for part as well.
Let's put it this way: If a guy asked me out for dinner and then expected me to spit the check 50/50, there would never be a second date. That's just tacky. And as for a show or concert date, if I'm asked as a guest I'd expect him to provide the tickets. (And vice versa if I'm the one doing the asking, of course. Fair's fair.)
It's different if you only socialize in groups, and the checks/costs are split up evenly but once it gets to be a one-on-one situation, IMHO the guy had better be prepared to pick up the checks etc if he plans to be the one doing the inviting-out. And $300/month left over for everything but essentials isn't likely to leave room for anything much more elaborate than Micky D's. :-/
If you are expecting an increased income in the near future, I would say go for it. You will get an increased tax return next year, plus a nys check this year.
And $300/month left over for everything but essentials isn't likely to leave room for anything much more elaborate than Micky D's. :-/
Mickey D's from the dollar menu.
What's supposed to happen if you need a new roof, or one of dozens of possible household disasters? A prudent budgeter should allow several thousands a year for house updates and repairs. Take my word for it, a house always has something wrong with it.
The charm of chickens clucking at your back door wears off quickly when you have constant money worries. It's nothing less than servitude. If you can think of a way to draw some kind of an income from the house it may not be so bad.
Suppose you decide to take the plunge, pay your $600 or whatever to a home inspector, and he/she finds nothing of major concern. You think you're home free re: major expenses, right? Wrong. The fine print at the bottom of the inspection report says that the inspection is not guaranteed to find everything that may be wrong, and does not cover any parts of the house that are not open to view, such as behind walls, under carpet, behind cabinetry or furniture, etc. Even if the inspector screws up bigtime and misses something like a crack in the boiler (ask me how I know), you have no recourse. The cost of repair or replacement will be on you.
And don't think that sellers don't deliberately hide stuff that they know perfectly well is either a problem or will need fixing ASAP.
A good rule of thumb is to double or triple the cost of whatever you think you will need to do to a house you're considering buying. Partly because you WILL find problems after you move in and partly because however much you think you can fix or do the thing for, that number is lower than the actual cost will be. Home ownership ain't for sissies, lol
That said, I would never live in anything else but a SFH, even in my most annoyed and/or discouraged moments. And I still get sticker shock on occasion. As in, just this past week when getting estimates for re-grading and hardscaping, neither of which we can do ourselves at our age, and we don't want some hack doing the work either.
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