Well Dean and I saw the other townhome which was bigger, but the layout sucked, so we are making an offer on the smaller less expensive one. We will offer $78,000 with 3% closing costs rolled in on an 80/20 loan which will bring the total to $80,340. What this means is that we will have 2 loans; one for 80% of the loan (64000) and one for 20% (16000) because you cannot get 100% of the value covered without having to pay Private Mortgage Insurance. We don’t have a lot of money for closing and the expenses of moving, so we will get the seller to include 3% of the offer to help with closing costs.
Based on both estimates we got, the closing costs will be about 4k. We will get $2340 of the closing costs from the 3% and because we have been paying every extra dollar we have to our debts and paying off the credit card every month, the minimum due is 0. This means we will have 3 paychecks between now and our target closing date of MAY 25th, which will total about $4,000. We still have to pay 2 months worth of rent to get out of our lease, which will be $1516.
lol this is a lot of number crunching at 7am but I had to get it done so we can talk to both of the lending agencies today (GMAC and Wells Fargo) and choose one to go with.
Well I will close this with our monthly mortgage payments which INCLUDE taxes and insurance, will be LESS that $1,000 a month. That is only about 100 more than we are paying for rent. And so we will be able to pay the loan off way early (making sure the extra goes to the higher apr 20% loan first) which means we will build equity quickly as a springboard to our next home!
*singing* I’m so excited and I can’t hide it!
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 am
That is exciting indeed!
Be sure to ask whether there’s any penalty involved in paying off that 2nd loan early — probably not, but it’s something to verify.
We wish we were in a position to help out with the closing costs. But I’ll sure be excited about helping outfit that courtyard area with some purty plants!
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:23 am
Hehe - yeah, Kaston’s already been researching plants that are feline-friendly so that we can let the cats play in the courtyard without having to worry about them eating something they shouldn’t. I’d like to get some herbs too, potentially; fresh oregano would be awesome.
I’m pretty sure I already know what my first project will end up being once we have a few hundred socked away in the home improvement fund: removing that stupid popcorn ceiling stuff and painting (ceilings and walls). I’ve thought about trying to do venetian plaster on the ceilings and walls instead of painting, but I’m not sure if the extra time and money involved would be worth the (admittedly very cool) finished product.
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:24 am
Oh, and there aren’t any penalties for paying off the 2nd loan early - we were very specific about asking that when were talking to the GMAC rep. (Of course, we’ll verify that Wells Fargo has the same policy if we’re going to go with them.)
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Ah, the infamous cottage cheese ceilings! GMom & GDad’s house used to have cottage cheese ceilings — WITH SPARKLES! Scraping that off and re-mudding is one of those tasks it’s well worth using a drywall contractor for. They can do it SO much faster and more efficiently than the swiftest do-it-yerselfer — and probably not too expensively, if you do the subsequent painting yourself.
May 4th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I was looking at the townhouse pics again. Where are washer & dryer connections — in garage?
Are washer, dryer, or fridge included?
May 4th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Washer dryer connections are in the kitchen in a closet at the back. It comes with a fridge, but not a washer and dryer. Those will have to be our first large expense.
May 4th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Yeah - we’ll go for a couple of weeks without a washer/dryer probably, but it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Anyone have any particular advice about washers/dryers, while we’re on that topic?
May 4th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Congratulations … owning a home will give you a lot of pleasure but, just so it doesn’t always feel great, a few headaches as well. You’ll love it, I know I do and I do it on a single salary.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I’d love it if we could afford one of the new more-efficient front-loading washers. They use lots less water and energy, but cost lots more up-front. Other than that, I’d just go with whatever name brand is on sale at Lowe’s, Home Despot, or Sears — particularly that they’d sell on a 0% interest installment plan!
May 4th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I think we will hold out for a while and get the front loaders. I have had my eye on several models, but the one that will sell me will be the one that can wash a king size comforter.
May 4th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
I want this one