Leaving home...

We're thinking about moving. Not very far, but a couple hours away, towards the coast of NC. I'm wondering, for those who have any advice, is it better to rent until you can settle down and then try to find a home, all this in the midst of finding jobs? I'm so confused. We've been looking and looking but it's difficult to know what your looking for sometimes. We're also having a problem with renting and dogs, especially 4 dogs. We want to rent a house but they're so hard to find and apartments normally only allow 2 dogs. -sigh- It's making my brain hurt.

My DH and I moved 9 hours away 3 years ago. We had planned on buying a house once we settled in. We rented an apt for 6 months and then found a house to rent (can't stand apt living anymore). We started the process of looking for a house to buy but here in CA the housing market is ridiculous. For anything 'manageable' it's $400,000 and up.

Sooo we're now in the process of moving again. Across country this time, midwest somewhere. Housing is much more reasonable where we're planning on moving, so we'll buy right when we get there, as opposed to waiting.

He's transfering with his co. so he'll have a job and I'm pregnant and will be a stay at home mom for awhile after the baby gets here, so I don't have to worry about finding a new job.

If you can afford it, I'd say try to buy ASAP. Renting sucks and I only wish we would've figured this all out sooner, instead of paying someone else's mortgage for 3+ years :rolleyes:

Where did you learn about home buying? The biggest thing I wonder about is the whole down payment thing, right now I have no money saved. Once the family decides what to do about my mother's house I may fall into the money that I could use for a down payment but I have no idea when my sister's, my brother, and I will figure things out. Plus I'd have to hope that one of my family members buys the house, I still can't imagine some stranger buying my mom's house but if it came down to that, I'd have to wait for the home to sell.

Hi! I have moved so many times in my life. I am originally from NY. I would checkout the job market and put out inquiries even before making a decision. I had moved to Las Vegas and thankfully I dint buy but rented my future husband could not get a good job their. So hence stayed back in NY. I would set some time limits for yourself if you do rent. Since it is alot of money that could pay a mortgage. I loved visiting Vegas but when I had to work their it was so diffrent. The sun and heat I loved on vacation was not the same when I had to deal with it everyday. I would visit anywhere I am going to move and do normal day to day things I would normally do and look at house and taxes and stuff first. Another option is looking for a house that you can rent with an option to buy so if you do decide to buy it then you have some of your rent money that went toward the price of the house. I wish you much luck with what every you decide. I learned one big thing its not so much where you are its who you are with.
RIo&Nickysmommy

Thank you! I did see a few places that were rent to own if you wanted to do so. That would be a nice option. We found a home today though, that has a garage that Shannon wants so badly and a large fenced in backyard that I want badly. haha It's a very inexpensive house and so we've decided to take a look at it. Shannon's going to look at it this next week while he's down there job hunting. If it turns out to be nice we figure what the hey, we'll see about getting it. I think we'll like it. It's not too close to the coast, not too far from Wilmington, and it has everything we want. Just as long as the house and neighborhood are nice it sounds like a place where we can't go wrong. Still looking though and trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves.

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Originally Posted by dappledoxie

Where did you learn about home buying? The biggest thing I wonder about is the whole down payment thing, right now I have no money saved.

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I know next to NOTHING about buying a house, my DH knows everything. He's been saving up to buy a house for 10 years now (he's 34) so he has quite a savings in the bank for a down payment. It's just that here in Ca the housing market is so darn expensive. It's quite ridiculous actually.

I think if he didn't have that money saved, we'd have to save it somehow in order to come up with a down payment. He used $10,000 of his savings 3 years ago to put a down payment on his truck and we were able to put that back within a year and a half.... He does make good money though.

Does your husband know anything about home buying? Family? Anyone who could help you 'figure it out?'

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Originally Posted by PinkSunshine

I know next to NOTHING about buying a house, my DH knows everything. He's been saving up to buy a house for 10 years now (he's 34) so he has quite a savings in the bank for a down payment. It's just that here in Ca the housing market is so darn expensive. It's quite ridiculous actually.

I think if he didn't have that money saved, we'd have to save it somehow in order to come up with a down payment. He used $10,000 of his savings 3 years ago to put a down payment on his truck and we were able to put that back within a year and a half.... He does make good money though.

Does your husband know anything about home buying? Family? Anyone who could help you 'figure it out?'

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Yeah, we have like no downpayment right now. I'd have one if the family would decide who/what we're doing with mom's house.

He doesn't but I've been discussing it with my sister and looking up things on the Internet, I've learned quite a few things today from different sites.

Seems like the first order of business would be to get the job situations worked out. It doesn't seem like you should even be thinking about buying a house until that aspect is settled. Why do you want to move to that particular area? Do you have family or friends there?

Whatever you do, be very cautious with that inheritance. It can mean the world to you if you use it wisely, or it can be gone in a heartbeat if you aren't careful.

Yeah, I'm always the type that I want another job before I leave the one I have kinda person. Shannon's the opposite. We've got to have a place to stay though, we're leaning more towards renting first. We want to move to that area because we both love the coast and my sister lives that way, the one I'm closest with. I don't want to work in Raleigh, and next to that area Wilmington is a big city with lots of opportunity. Where I live is way to far away from any area with good jobs that will pay decent salaries so our only option is either comute or move closer to one of those cities, so if we're moving we want to go for it. :)

Yeah, I'm going to try and keep things for getting bad.