Truly, I am focused on Boston real estate. Still, there are lots of interesting stories that people are writing about who live in other cities. Here, for example, is how one person is hoping to afford to buy sometime in the future. Notice that this person is DELAYING their self-gratification in order to do something. That’s a unique idea!
Link: BK Squeeze – for Brooklyn Real Estate Buyers: A bubblehead with a purchase plan
It has been a while since I made a personal post. I promise I will not rant. I just got through crunching numbers on how waiting to buy a house for two years might work in my favor.
First, there is the matter of savings. I will be living rent free at my inlaws (of course I will contribute to other household expenses). If I follow Suze Orman’s advice and “play house” (i.e., pretend to spend a set amount of money on a mortgage and other house payments above and beyond my current rent), I can put away $2200 a month in one of those super-sized 3% APR bank accounts or CD’s. Nice and safe, just like me! With steady payments and my existing cashola squirreled there, my down payment goes from $100k to $180k in two years.
This will help improve my purchasing ability.
Second, there is the issue of how much monthly nut I can afford. Currently, we are comfy with at most $2200 (see playing house issue above). Conservatively, barring my bold schemes of worldwide capitalistic dominance, I can safely assume a 4% raise in my current position, based on history. This brings my monthly bearable nut to $2400. With a larger down payment and more cash per month to burn, the picture looks better already.
