Aside: Everyone has told me all my life that California has the highest home values in the country. My wife and I have been checking out homes for the past several months and we’ve found that for our income and credit, we barely qualify. Actually, to be honest, we still haven’t qualified for a reasonable amount but we are told we may. It has got me to wondering what the houses go for in other states. I’ve heard of the amazing properties in Colorado’s Winter Park real estate and I’ve looked into Arizona and a few other so called “cheap states.” The results are mixed. Yes there are some significantly cheaper homes but the teacher pay is also significantly lower. It looks like we are destined to stay in California for now. This is kind of a personal post, or what I call an “aside.” Keep my wife and in your thoughts as we continue to apply and fax and refax and mail etc. in our quest for home ownership. I will be updating our progress here as it unfolds. Currently we are waiting on an FHA loan for 180-200K. There have been a lot of letdowns so far, so we’ll see. We aren’t losing hope.
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5 Comments
I have a built in 1957, 1600 sq. foot, 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a one car garage 3 miles north of the city of Chicago. Similar houses in my area have recently sold for about $450,000. The four bedroom houses go for closer to $600,000 and the new construction on my block is listed at $759,000. It’s ridiculous. Our property taxes aren’t cheap, either. Mine run just over $7,000 a year. If I hadn’t been so obviously injured by a doctor years ago, I never would have been able to have a house in this area.
Jessica The Rock Chick’s last blog post..Stand By Your Man
Girl, you sound set! It also shows me that 3 bedrooms aren’t necessarily cheap outside of California. Were you in Michigan? Sorry I don’t think I ever bothered to ask!
Jessica, it sounds like we are fairly close to one another – although we opted to head west for a little cheaper real estate.
Damien, I believe it will all work out for you when you find the right place. My wife and I regularly contemplate a move to a lower cost of living state yet we still are here in the same house and haven’t gone anywhere yet. I’ll keep you in my thoughts.
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Well, Sorry to heard the “let downs”, but with all those foreclosure homes out there and you are not one of them. Just consider yourself fortunate. Or perhaps, the forclosure/hud homes could be the opton for you. Here is one question that I have you is, why don’t you go to your credit union? Usually teachers have a credit union that you can go to and they are more lenient as well. If that doesn’t work you should go check out FHA (first time home owner). Fha is goverment loans. I hope this help and good luck to ya!!!
Thanks Suzanne! This post is a bit outdated, but thank you for your nice words. FHA is not based on credit so we ended up getting that. Teacher’s unions are great when you have spotless credit, otherwise they want nothing to do with you. Not all teachers are geeks who straighten up and fly right all the time ;)
I wrote a post about our new home and it has pictures, please read it and comment …
http://www.postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com/my-piece-of-land/
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