All Forum Posts by: Caitlin Bushong

@Dan H.

Great advice! After a few weeks of spreadsheets and showing my wife the numbers we both have finally agreed to go the apartment route and are moving out Jan/Feb! The numbers and this market we're in speak for themselves. 

Thank you for taking the time, EVERYONE! Your advice has truly humbled us and gave us a leg up in making the best decision moving forward.

@Jaron Walling

Yes!! I grew up in Black Mountain, NC, went to HS here. I literally watched Asheville go from a literal ghost town to what it is now. My wife and I also love hiking, camping and spending time in these mountains. Plus, SO many incredible local breweries and restaurants! Next time in you're in town, we should all grab a beer. :)

Thanks again for your advice!

@Timothy Howdeshell

Well said and a humbling reminder. I very much appreciate your reminders, advice and well wishes. I've thankful I came to the BP forum; it's helped so much!

@Austin J.

Thank you so much for the information. NC has several first-time home buyer options I've stumbled upon. I'm currently working with a loan officer who's been extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

I will definitely look into these resources, thank you!

@Theresa Harris

Thank you for this information. You're right, we're not getting evicted as we pay rent on time and never miss. We're more so being asked to move out so they can have the house.

We're absolutely working diligently on building up our savings. My wife has a high, steady income with bonuses and what-not and I'm securing a job with a company I've worked with for years! So, all steps in the right direction.

I am currently working with an amazing lender who's advocating and working his hardest for us, which has been an incredible experience. But he's also said we need to work and pinch pennies for 3-6 months to bulk up our savings, etc.

Thanks again. :)

@Jaron Walling

Thank you for your feedback. Great idea about contacting the RE, never thought of that! I have no issues with reaching out and asking questions, I've been doing it like crazy these last couple weeks and am exhausted. :) But it's worth it if I can make this difficult situation into a positive outcome. 

I definitely want to see what I can swing with current conditions, a pre-approval and the timeline we have, but instead of looking at renting being a negative, I need to shift and think of it as a bridge to better things. 

Thanks again for taking the time!

@Timothy Moore

Incredible insight. Thank you for taking the time to detail those options to me. You've really given me a lot to process and I'm very hopeful for next steps. Asheville is a very difficult market, that's for sure. It's nice to see everyone saying that renting for a year isn't terrible, I just need to convince my wife of that. ;) 

I can't thank you enough, my wheels are turning in a positive direction.
 

@Nicholas L.

Thank you for that reminder! We definitely do not want to go into a bad deal, and I'm trying to fully educate myself on what that looks like. I have a pretty good idea, but there still are some factors I'm not sure would fall into that category of a "bad deal." I'm most worried of wasting my advantages as a first-time home buyer, so I am trying to proceed with caution.

Thanks again :)

Hello!

I am a first-time homebuyer. My wife and I are working towards owning our own rental properties and have been wanting to house hack. Our financial situation has been scarce as over the past two years I was working to support my wife through college, living paycheck to paycheck. She graduated 3 months ago and is established at a wonderful fulltime job. I am about to take my real estate exams to get my license and become a real estate agent (just waiting on the application to be accepted). I've been unemployed for 3 months but am picking up a low paying parttime job that will be flexible with my real estate schedule, so my wife and I can start beefing up our savings again. 

We're currently renting from family (which I know is a BIG NO NO) and they're now pushing to evict us within the next 6-8 months if not sooner so they can remodel the house to better suit them and their life. We signed no contracts or anything with my family, so there's really no legal way around this. 

With that, we have $560 in savings and can have around $11,000 saved by February 2024(if not more). We're looking at an FHA loan with DP assistance. Considering my wife and I want to house hack, what suggestions do you all have? We're looking at houses within the $270,000-$330,000 because we can't have a heavy monthly mortgage payment at this time. So far, I've spoken with 3 lenders all putting us around $2,900 - $3,100 monthly mortgage, but that was with a $385,000 house price which I now realize is VERY unlikely. We were thinking more like $2,500 MAX is what we can afford, but interest rates are high, putting us around 7-7.6%

Another thing I was thinking was getting a house in a great location and eventually moving and renting it out to pay the mortgage. Most things in our price range are modulars and I'm just not sure if that would be a good investment? Anyone have any insight on purchasing a modular? There was a triplex posted for $300,000 that was contingent within 3 hours of being posted, crazy. Ideally, we'd love a property that is a duplex/triplex, but everyone gobbles those up. 

We could easily have a DP saved within a year that would help with the monthly mortgage payment, but unfortunately, the short timeline is our issue. We absolutely cannot have a family co-signer and we are unable to receive a DP gift, so those are also both out of the equation. Someone said we'd just have to go back to renting an apartment, and that for us is truly LAST resort as we're hoping to have a family within the next couple years.

Any and all feedback, tips, suggestions are very much welcome. I'm reading tons of books and talking to multiple lenders to find out the best route and knew coming here asking you all would be a huge help.