We found the perfect house for us.
That’s my big news. I know some of you must be picking your jaws up off the floor, because it was only a couple of weeks ago that I talked about being comfortable renting, and that buying a house was a “someday” thing. And in March I said, “We will be renting for the foreseeable future.” So what changed?
We Found a House
I love to browse the real estate listings in our area. Since we moved to Southern Oregon six years ago, I have frequently browsed the websites of our local realtors. In the town we’re in, the price for an average starter home is $200,000 and up, well above our price range.
As I was browsing real estate sites over the weekend, I found a house that seemed too good to be true. A 1996 manufactured home (permanent foundation) on almost a quarter of an acre. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, plus a den. In our price range.
There was only one picture on the listing, and that was of the outside of the house. The listing said the inside needed some work. I called my dad, who lives nearby, and had him go take a look at the outside. When he approved, we called a realtor and toured the inside. To say it needs work is an understatment. But it appears to be all cosmetic. So far so good.
It’s in a Town We Like
The house isn’t in the town where we currently live. It’s actually closer to my husband’s workplace, though it’s farther from church. It’s in a different school district, but it’s in the one other school district we’d consider moving to.
My daughter is OK with switching schools, and my son is just starting kindergarten, so he doesn’t have any local friends yet anyway.
A huge part of the reason we made the offer on the house is that our daughter is starting 5th grade. In our area, kids start middle school in 6th grade. If my daughter is going to have to switch school districts, I’d rather her have another year in the relative calm and safety of elementary school than have her switch districts in middle school.
We Qualified for a Loan on my Husband’s Income
After walking through the house twice and taking my dad’s handyman friend through to do a preliminary check, I called a mortgage person. Over the phone he told me we qualified for an FHA loan on my husband’s income alone, which shocked me. But when I ran the numbers myself, I was surprised to find the mortgage official was right.
The mortgage payment will be a stretch for sure. But, I’m currently bringing in enough money every month to almost make the mortgage payment, leaving my husband’s entire paycheck for other expenses.
Furthermore, by only using my husband’s income to qualify, we know that if times get tight, I could go out and get a regular job to make ends meet. So we have a safety net.
I’m going to be working on the mortgage aspect today, and I should know more in the next few days. Things are looking positive, though.
We Will Have Pretty Much Instant Equity
We’re putting down 3%, which isn’t much. However, before we even move into the house, we will be repainting the interior and replacing the flooring. Once that is done, the house should be worth a whole lot more.
We’ve closely examined all the comps in the entire town, and we have a pretty good idea of where this house should appraise out with a little work. A low estimate will still give us some equity, so there’s little chance of us going upside-down in our loan.
So all in all, this is a good investment.
We Can See Ourselves Living There for Years to Come
At almost 1800 square feet, this house will give us plenty of room to grow. Once we buy, we don’t intend to move again. Ever. Or at least until the kids are out of school.
In the end, I think the best time to buy a house would have probably been a year down the road. However, it’s not often that an opportunity like this comes up, where a house in the country, yet close to the city, with nearly every “want” we have in a house is available. And it’s even less often that a house like that is in our price range.
And as I said before, a huge factor is where my daughter is in school. Though financially it makes sense to wait a year, it doesn’t make sense considering where our daughter is at in school, and to us that’s more important.
I was hoping to hear back from the realtor before I wrote this post, so I knew for sure our offer was accepted and signed. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard back yet. We’ve been working out the details of the offer in counteroffers back and forth with the seller. I really have no doubt that we’ll come to an agreement soon, and hopefully I”ll be able to announce that later today.
So stay tuned with how all this goes. I’m confident that it will work out, but we still have to jump through the financing, inspection, and appraisal hoops. I’ll update as we go along. It’s going to be one crazy summer.
Photo by netan.
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July 7th, 2008 at 4:35 am
What wonderful news! We just bought our home in November of last year with an FHA loan also. We only needed $100 to move in, and the insurance and taxes are included in our mortgage, which is less than we were paying in rent. We found an equity accelerator program that increases our mortgage payment slightly, but it saves us almost half the value of our loan in interest, plus it cuts 7 years off the life of the loan. We live in the country also, but we are close enough to the city and nearby towns for work and shopping.
It has been just over a year since we first saw the property, and we watched the house being built from the ground up. We even brought some myrrh oil and anointed the property at each stage of the construction, and we anointed and blessed the completed house before we moved in. What a summer it was last year! So much documentation to do, so many details. But it sure paid off.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:35 am
congratulations!! i hope everything works out well for you!
July 7th, 2008 at 4:52 am
How exciting!I hope everything works out well and you get moved in soon
Thanks for including us in this process!
July 7th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Congratulations! That is awesome news! I love the idea of fixing one up a bit (cosmetically), because it won’t take much sweat to build some equity. Sounds like a good investment.
We may be in the market soon ourselves, and like you I think we are still 6-12 months from a bottom, but when a deal presents itself you have to jump on it.
July 7th, 2008 at 5:44 am
Congrats!
July 7th, 2008 at 5:51 am
How exciting!! Congratulations!
July 7th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Congrats! Please be sure this manufactured home qualifies for good coverage insurance. In Florida, home of the hurricane, good coverage is very expensive if available.
July 7th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Congratulations!
July 7th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Congratulations…that’s exciting! We just moved into our first house last week, and it is financed through FHA. Originally, it was supposed to be 100% financed, but…that’s a long and stressful story. We ended up putting 3% down, which was a stretch since we weren’t expecting it (YAY for savings accounts), but in the long run it will make our payments lower, so I’m not complaining!
I never expected that we’d buy a house in our first year of marriage, but we found the right house, and the price was right: the mortgage payments will be about $15 higher than our apartment rent was! In the end, I think it will be SO worth it to be able to make this place our own, and not feel like we’re throwing our money away by renting.
Good luck with the offer, and with getting ready to move!
July 7th, 2008 at 6:24 am
Congratuations on the house! It sounds perfect!
Fixer-uppers can be a great way to learn those handyman and decorating tricks, and you can make the house the way you want it. Plus, you’ll have lots of great fodder for your blog!
July 7th, 2008 at 6:24 am
I’m so excited for you!
July 7th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Wow! That is wonderful news! I am so happy for you guys. It is definitely a buyer’s market right now so I am glad you were able to capitalize on that. Now we can watch what you do with your new digs too
July 7th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Congrats!
Looking forward to hearing about your home improvement adventures now. 
July 7th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Congrats! If all goes well you’ll be set for years to come, ow ing a good piece of land, and a ride-on lawn mower to mow that much space
July 7th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Congrats!! How exciting. I’m sure you guys will be very happy!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Congratulations!! I look forward to hearing how everything goes. My fiance and I have started browsing for homes. We definitely need to get out of the rental home we’re in shortly after the wedding (which is only a little over 3 weeks away. Yikes!). It’s not in a good neighborhood, and the house itself is incredibly small and has some safety issues. The thought of buying a house is very scary to me, but I know it will be a good move in the long run as long as we do our homework and buy within our means.
July 7th, 2008 at 8:35 am
I’m so happy for you and your family! Many blessings!
July 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Congrats!
July 7th, 2008 at 9:47 am
WHOO-HOO!!!! YIPPEE! It’s great to know exactly what you are looking for so you can take advantage of a great deal when it just jumps in your face!
And a BIG house! Nice!
Think Edible Landscaping…Garden!!!! If you get a 30 day close, then there will be time for a fall garden!
Enjoy the chaos! And the good feeling of knowing it is pretty permanent…Settle in and call it HOME!
July 7th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Great news! I’m glad to hear it. It’s wonderful to finally buy a permanent home that you can call your own, to fix it up like you want. It’s amazing that it’s got all the things you were looking for within your price range.
It’s been 9 years since we bought our current double-wide manufactured home, and it’s one of the best decisions we’ve made. We love the country setting and the school district for the kids. They’ve done wonderful here. We’ve also got blueberry bushes and apple trees planted. It’s been great to have the land and home to improve on.
Hopefully, you’ll have such a wonderful experience…I’m looking forward to hearing all about your new home.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:09 am
no that your buying a house you can get some chickens
July 7th, 2008 at 10:11 am
BTW the picture above should say “sold” shouldn’t it?
July 7th, 2008 at 10:22 am
I hope your seller accepts. I will put your home acquisition in my prayers.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I think that the purpose of getting our financial houses in order is that we can take advantage of opportunities that the Lord puts in our path. We fully intended on renting and getting 20% down. But the Lord had other plans and we recently moved into a house with only 7.5%down.
July 7th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I’ve lived in a double wide. I am going to be a bit of a downer - you do realize that it will not increase in value… right? But, the size was great, and it was on 3 acres. Unfortunately, it was in the 500 year flood zone and guess what - we had 18″ of water in it…
Dave Ramsey, Dave Ramsey, Dave Ramsey… WWDD?
July 7th, 2008 at 11:06 am
@Janice — There is a difference between a manufactured/factory built home and a double-wide. I’m not sure exactly what type of home Lynnae is purchasing. But, there are many manufactured homes that are just as good as stick built homes, except they are assembled in a factory, which in some ways is better because things like the Tyvek wrap aren’t exposed to the elements during the construction process. Those types of homes do gain value.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Congrats! Sometimes timing isn’t exactly what we think it should be but it works out anyway.
I’m excited for you!
July 7th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Congrats !
We are wanting to complete our remodel.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Awesome, Lynnae!
You sound like me… even though we’re renting, I enjoy scanning the “for sale” listings to see what comes up.
You never know when “the perfect deal” will come along!
July 7th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
That’s wonderful! The night before we decided to buy our house we were talking about waiting a year to buy. Oops. Sometimes you just have to jump in when the timing is right.
July 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
@Rob - I’d love to have chickens! My husband isn’t on board, though…yet. LOL
@Marci - I’m definitely going to be planting another garden, if not this year, then next. And I want blueberry bushes, too!
@Janice - You’re right in that a manufactured home doesn’t increase in value, and we’re going into this knowing that the value we’re getting is from the land.
That said, manufactured homes get a bad rap, because many of them are built tighter than stick built homes. This one is a 1996, and except for the standard shape of MH windows, you’d never be able to tell it’s not a stick built home.
And when we ran the comps, we looked at the other MHs in the area, and that’s where I got my numbers. So even though it won’t appreciate like a stick built home will, we’re still going to be in good shape. We look at the land as our investment and the house as a comfortable place to live.
And we already checked. We are not in a flood plain. My parents went through that in their manufactured home. It’s no fun, and I’m sorry you had to live through that. 
July 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Very exciting! I remember when I bought my first home…I was in heaven. Renting makes sense, but over the long run a well bought home makes the most sense.
July 7th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Congrats, and as a another S.Oregon resident…Welcome!
July 7th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
My home before this one was a 96 Fleetwood Manufactured Home…. Super Good Sense insulation package, wood cabinets, and upgrades all thru it… and yes, when I sold it 8 years later I DID make money on the deal…. double lot and secluded private area helped
It held up with no problems at all during all the storms and bad weather we get here on the north OR coast.
May you enjoy it to the utmost!
Let us know when you get that final ok! We’re all so excited for you!
July 7th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Talked to both the mortgage person and the realtor today. Final OK should be coming later today or tomorrow, but neither realtor had any doubt we’d reach a deal. And we got the preliminary OK from the mortgage computer program. So it’s looking like we’re on!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Congratulations! I think this is the first time I’ve commented here, although I check you out daily. Just a friendly reminder that buying a house is a very stressful process, no matter how smoothly it goes. Just keep on top of stuff and don’t stress out too much!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Congratulations!!!!! Think of the tax benefits you will be reaping along with all of those yummy vegetables and fruits. I know you will keep us updated with all your trials and tribulations as moving day nears and the packing and unpacking begins. Best of luck.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Amazingly, I’m not that stressed out yet. And we’re taking a little vacation later this week, so we can relax before the craziness hits. I think the most stressful time is probably going to be trying to get the painting and floors done before school starts. I’m not going to worry about that now, though. First we have to close.
But yes, I’m sure I will have many stories to tell over the next few months. Hmmm….do you think I could write off the house as a blogging expense? Just kidding.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:33 am
Very informative article. Buying a house is a serious decision. It is the largest purchase one has ever made in his life. It is not an easy task to find an ideal place to live. Recently I have come across one interesting service http://climate.fizber.com/ With the help of climate watch homebuyers can check what the climate is like in another town or city before they move there.
July 8th, 2008 at 6:52 am
That is exciting when you buy a house. It certainly sounds like you have sound financial sense. My advice is to make a budget and monitor monthly and then also make a net worth statement and monitor that at least yearly if not semi-annually or quarterly.
Congrats.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I love reading your blog. I am so happy for you. I hope you take before and after pix during the interior fixes! I did have one suggestion for your kid’s school situation. Have you considered homeschooling and then you could also get involved in a local homeschool group and share all of this frugality with everyone there? Homeschoolers love frugal living… kind of like a ball and a glove … goes hand in hand.
I changed school 25 times growing up… at least with homeschooling my kids, they have not had to change even though we moved 50 billion times. I know it is not for everyone.. just an idea. Have a good day!
July 24th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I’m so pleased that you’ve managed to find a new home, I myself moved two weeks before Christmas which was extrememly stressful but we ensured that one of the first things to be placed was the tree for the kids. Good luck!
August 1st, 2008 at 9:14 am
Congratulations! Property virgins I suppose? Right now the United States real estate market, is very low. Finding a house is a time worthy thing to do. It requires a couple to decide which house they envy the most.
Usually a couple would look at 30 houses before making a decision. Find yourself a nice fixer-upper. These usually go for cheap, however if you are not the handy man type, find a new house for a higher price. These usually don’t have many flaws.
Good Luck!