So far, I’ve reviewed our student loans and retirement accounts. Today is as good as any to begin the story of our home. We made our move to purchase in 2004, a couple of months after we got married (don’t worry, we had been dating for 10 years prior to getting hitched, so we had been discussing the idea for awhile). We had a couple of reasons for wanting to switch from renters to buyers:
1. The monthly cost of renting was coming pretty close to the monthly cost of a mortgage. Our apartment complex was becoming disgusting – we had roaches from our neighbors downstairs (there were at least 12 people living in a 2-bedroom apartment), and most of our wonderful neighbors on our floor were moving. In general, the whole complex was changing to a place that was not as nice to live at. Renting a nicer place in the same area would have increased our rent from about $800 to over $1100 (we had just gotten our dog, so there were some other places that were nicer for less money, but they did not accept animals).
2. We were living in an area where our commutes were pretty convenient (I was only minutes away from the train station, and my husband had a scenic commute), but the costs of living there were beginning to outweigh the benefits. The area was becoming too congested, and it was taking a mental toll on both of us. We dreaded going out since it was a pain to get anywhere, and because the area was becoming popular, it was costing more. We knew we did not want to start a family while living in this area, and we also wanted a yard for the dog. In general, we just really wanted a peaceful and quiet place to live.
How did we decide where to go? It actually wasn’t too difficult, since we were easily able to eliminate a lot of areas where we did not want to live or could not afford to live. We didn’t want to live in the city, and most of the immediate suburbs convenient to the highways were too expensive. Our desire to live in an older home in an established area (as opposed to a newer home in a development) also helped cut down our choices.
My husband had a friend/co-worker who lived about 30 minutes away from us in another state. We had actually been in the area a couple of times, and always commented on how nice it was. We started looking into the area, and found that there were some great benefits. State and local taxes were cheaper, and single-family homes were still affordable. Although our commutes would increase, mine was temporary (I had to graduate someday…) and my husband could carpool with his friend. Our car insurance also dropped by a significant amount.
My husband’s friend could also refer us to a trustworthy realtor, which was a huge plus. When we met with him, we gave him an idea of what we were looking for, and also made it clear that we only wanted to use our husband’s income when applying for a home loan. Why did we do this?
1. We knew that at some point I may be a stay-at-home mom for a couple of years, so we didn’t want to take on more home than we could afford.
2. I was a graduate student with a small stipend and a lot of debt. Most of our debt was in my name (we did this on purpose to increase my husband’s credit score), so it made sense not to use my information.
We were pleased to find out that we could afford a nice little single-family home. In my next post, I’ll talk more about our interesting search and purchase of a home.
