Well, today was a financial mixed bag, though I would definitely say we came out on top. I started the day spending some pretty big money on unexpected car repairs, but then Brian and I met with Kari, our new loan officer. I don’t think the appointment could have gone better.
Kari answered all of our questions, and then some. She definitely calmed down my debt fears, and explained that we are much better off using both of our incomes for the loan, even though I have more debt. My fears of being left off the contract are over! Not only did she answer all of our questions, but she said that we are able to afford more than we thought!
According to a quick credit run and some research, Kari said we could comfortably get a loan from the bank within the $150K range. Maybe even up toward $160K. But, unlike many corporations who make money off of such transactions, Kari explained that we obviously may not want to take out the full amount we could afford, and that only we can possibly know our monthly allowance. We really appreciated her patience and honesty.
Based on everything we found out today, we will probably keep our price range close to where we had it, around $130K. But at least we know we can comfortably raise that number if we were to find an incredible place. From some of the research I have done, even a five to 10 thousand dollar increase can open up a lot more opportunities. In the end, we would like to keep our monthly payments under $1,200. It looks like we could manage that with both a $140K and $150K house, but our payments would be even better if we stayed closer to $130K. Not only that, but we might be able to have some money left over for groceries!
Speaking of houses, Brian and I looked through some more online listings tonight since Anthony is taking us out again on Sunday. We narrowed the results down to five more potential candidates- four houses and a townhouse. As much as we are trying avoid townhouses and duplexes, we have come to the realization that we would rather live in a nice townhouse for a few years and save for a house rather than buy something we will just come to regret later.
