A NEW INCOME

A New Income Q&A

Q: Which house to buy? fixer upper or perfect "expensive" house?

Rural or city? I have the option to pay cash $19,000 city house with problems (I'm sure. I plan to have the structure fully examined.... roof I think, needed, for $12,000 next year... and.. the crazy thing is the SEPTIC in city limits???! what?!! sounds like big $10,000 trouble. I called the city Environmental health inspector about that. The septic has not been pumped in a long time, but it was new in 1996. It is a mere 800 gal that may be overflowed baffles -structure-by the renters 3 adults and one child. (As I understand it, I may need 1000 gal tank for family of 3, house built before 1971 with non low flow water gadgets?) OTHER HOUSE: $60,000 (not "expensive" to the rest of you, but we'll call it that for this question.) House Could have a new roof. (In theory.) I have seen several nice "perfect" $60,000 houses. Any one will do for this example. How long will the "new" roof last? In 30 yrs I will have to replace it anyway, right? So, Do I go with the current headache house of $19,000 cash replacing both a roof and septic in 3 yrs. but NO house mortgage payments. or do I buy the "perfect" no maintenance house? and make payments for the rest of my life like most grown adults tend to do? Of course, we worry about the economy and our source of income. What if it goes away????? We only make $1000 to 2000 per month "fixed income", and we would need to pay the heat, elect. ,phone, and Food.($200-300 per month, we are good at budgeting with beans, I guess. Vegetarian and vegan.) We currently have no car in the city. but some of the $60,000 "perfect" houses could be located in the city OR rural area that we long for . (We grew up there. It's a familiar loved favorite small hometown area....) So, we would need to add the expense of a car to that budget as well. We could find a $60,000 house with a decent roof in the city , but it would not be our "perfect dream house". Do you have any advice for me? I'd really love to hear it. We are just a single mommy and baby. Sometimes daddy can be included in the budget, but the PRE APPROVAL loan is for $65,000 based on my income alone. ($1500 per month, yeah, extremely low, but very high down payment). If you run the numbers: $60,000 house minus the $10,000-19,000 cash down payment (could save $9,000 towards car) and then minus the $6000 cash back from the government Obama house stimulus plan,... the loan would be for about $44,000 (depending on my downpayment.) If I buy the "problem" house at $19,000, add a new roof for $12,000, then add a new septic or city sewer pipe hook up -I called- both equal $10,000 (and need to be approved by city). so, both houses ,actually end up costing the same around $44,000!!! Isn't that crazy??!! Can you believe it? So, should I go for the "expensive " $60,000 house???? what do you think? Can I make payments for the rest of my life???? (I'm 33 now. I'll be 63 when it's paid off! yikes!!!!) We could always sell the problem city house and move back to the rural country side, but ... who knows what the house market will do. Now is the time to buy (and sign and finish by Dec. 1) .... I've been looking for over a year now. Free College tuition option in the city, by the way. VERY very very low taxes in the rural area (1/3 of the city taxes). If we buy a $60,000 house in the city, we can rent it out to "college friends' if we have trouble paying the mortgage and loose our source of income someday. We live in a college city. We could buy a $60,000 house by the noisy college district. (I don't mind the noise. They are not doing crack, just drinking and studying sometimes.LOL) We might like to walk to attend a college class or two anyway. We all get disability. Our finances will never get "better" than this. This is our best options. YES!!! Time is valuable! I've worked many many odd jobs!!! but now, I'm on disability...We have nothing BUT time. I can make phone calls during the child's two hour nap. but yeah, even Stay at home mommies value TIME. TIme is of the essance! It's difficult to just get laundry and dishes washed sometimes. Yeah, we have problems. but I have help/support of a good mental health system, family, friends, etc.

A: It depends on how much patience you have.............

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