(no subject)
So, McKenzie and I have decided to buy a house. We've come a long way in our plans recently. At first, it was, "we'll probably never be able to afford a place in Portland, oh well." Then it became a long-distance kind of plan...maybe one day we'll somehow have the kind of money to buy a nice place here...but even then, I wanted city and Z wanted rural, so it was a very hazy idea. Now that we've been living in the 'burbs for a year, I'm really, really in love with this particular neighborhood, and I've been totally jonesing for a house on the street next to our apartment complex. There's a little neighborhood there with mostly older, smallish houses. Some of them are kind of in disrepair, but some of them are so super cute, and the perfect size, and it's just exactly where I want to be. Only trouble is none of these is for sale -- not that we were looking at buying anything soon anyway, but it's hard to fantasize about a house that may never be available.
Still, whenever we'd walk through the neighborhood, I'd point out houses to Z that I love and we'd have another conversation about Oregon homeownership. My feeling has always been "I know it's not possible now, but as soon as possible would be nice." When I got my new jobs, it started to look like a year or so would be a realistic time frame to save up a down payment that would be enough to bring our monthly housing costs down when switching from renting to paying a mortgage on the size house we want. The more we talked about it, the more Z moved closer to my timeline...and then he leapfrogged me. We both agree that we love Beaverton and would love to buy in this particular neighborhood. We agree on the size place we want and the price range. But now Z thinks he wants to buy right away. No, we don't have money for a down payment right now, but we do have good incomes, and with the prices and rates so low, it does make really good sense to try to get in on something before the market turns again. So the plan is to borrow money for a down payment from my parents, to be paid back over 2-3 yearsish, and then borrow the rest of the mortgage from the bank. My parents are on board with this idea, so basically it's totally doable...we just need to find a house we want.
The problem with that is there's not much on the market at all. In any price range. Right now, most houses are getting lots of offers, and there's a lot of competition among buyers -- at least if the house is any good. There are several that have been sitting on the market for over a year...but no one wants them. This whole competition aspect is very stressful for me. I don't mind paying a competitive price for a house I want (within my range), but I just don't want to be in a hostile, time-pressured situation with other buyers. And I wish there were more options, though I do like some of the ones out there. Hopefully some more will come on the market soon.
Z has the car in Canada all week, so Wed-Fri I'll have to bike to work. I've mapped it out and more or less know the way, but I definitely want to do a test ride tomorrow before I have to do it for real on Wednesday. Today would be a perfect day for it except that I have a training session at 3. Probably not a good idea to ride 21 miles before the session, and definitely won't have the energy to do it after...so tomorrow it is.
Still, whenever we'd walk through the neighborhood, I'd point out houses to Z that I love and we'd have another conversation about Oregon homeownership. My feeling has always been "I know it's not possible now, but as soon as possible would be nice." When I got my new jobs, it started to look like a year or so would be a realistic time frame to save up a down payment that would be enough to bring our monthly housing costs down when switching from renting to paying a mortgage on the size house we want. The more we talked about it, the more Z moved closer to my timeline...and then he leapfrogged me. We both agree that we love Beaverton and would love to buy in this particular neighborhood. We agree on the size place we want and the price range. But now Z thinks he wants to buy right away. No, we don't have money for a down payment right now, but we do have good incomes, and with the prices and rates so low, it does make really good sense to try to get in on something before the market turns again. So the plan is to borrow money for a down payment from my parents, to be paid back over 2-3 yearsish, and then borrow the rest of the mortgage from the bank. My parents are on board with this idea, so basically it's totally doable...we just need to find a house we want.
The problem with that is there's not much on the market at all. In any price range. Right now, most houses are getting lots of offers, and there's a lot of competition among buyers -- at least if the house is any good. There are several that have been sitting on the market for over a year...but no one wants them. This whole competition aspect is very stressful for me. I don't mind paying a competitive price for a house I want (within my range), but I just don't want to be in a hostile, time-pressured situation with other buyers. And I wish there were more options, though I do like some of the ones out there. Hopefully some more will come on the market soon.
Z has the car in Canada all week, so Wed-Fri I'll have to bike to work. I've mapped it out and more or less know the way, but I definitely want to do a test ride tomorrow before I have to do it for real on Wednesday. Today would be a perfect day for it except that I have a training session at 3. Probably not a good idea to ride 21 miles before the session, and definitely won't have the energy to do it after...so tomorrow it is.