We were to go along with buying a home in Minnesota, while still staying in VA for about 2-3more years and paying both mortage and rent ??

When Dh came over to my side about moving to Minnesota so we as a family have a support system, and in a sense slower pace of life. And all my family is there and they well are completely opposite from his. We get together when people are still alive ;) lol not when someone dies and then try to catch up on what all has gone on in your life between deaths - pretty sad imo.

Anyways....when he said YES .. I started to browse homes forsale online to guage what the prices really were in the area. I knew I wanted a different school distract then what I went to ( Princeton has boomed in residential since I moved away 6yrs ago ) the schools are all over crowded. The town just north is all 1 building still k-12. I have 3 cousins that started in Princeton for school and then they moved to Milaca and all agree that they enjoy it much more and are thriving.

I saw this house, and price seems right, has land just enuff not too much for us imo and not too little either. Would suite dh rc flying hobby just fine with open pasture ect. One of his concerns LOL he has to have somewhere to fly his airplanes. It was forsale I know at beginning of November when I saw it, I wanted to schedule a visit while in MN those 3wks but Dh brushed the thought off and said forget about it while not even looking at the actual posting of the house. I SO regret not going to see it to even see if its truly something worth thinking about.

WELL its been over 2months and I can NOT get the dang house out of my head!!! I think about it all the time. So I told my mom this since she knew I had told her about the home ( 7miles from them ) and she said print the stuff off she will go see it, my dad has his gulbladder out on Monday and will be off 3wks so he said he will go and crawl around to see what he thinks too. I told her bring the video camera so I can have a virtual walkthrough and lots of pics :)

It needs obvious updating in the kitchen but looks liveable while in the process yk? I love the woodwork and mission style builtins .. its 3bdrms , drawback only 1 bath - its 1.5 stories and maybe itd be possible to put a half bath upstairs ( 2 bedrooms up , 1 down and bathroom is on the main floor ) it really truly looks like it could just use a coat of paint here and there and it will pop to life.

Mike would love to walk the land, and he asked if I would truly take their word on the house without seeing it. I told him dad wouldnt let us get into something he didnt feel was doable or liveable. He knows about houses enuff - the lake house they bought as an investment was pretty poor condition and he polished that baby up and is beautiful. This house is far better shape- looks solid from the pics ( and I know pics dont say everything ) but just from appearence things look well taken care of.

SO when it comes down to it - we can financially pay for a mortage on the house roughly $834 with 0% down or around $40 less with $3000 down ... and rent here in VA is $775 ... its totally doable, just be tighter and maybe debts wont get paid down as quick but itd only add 1-3 months to the small ones and DH already said last week we arent paying more then min on the car payment til its paid off and that will get paid off in Dec.

I know it all depends on what my parents think about it in a whole. I know they are close, I know my dad would keep an eye on it -- flush the toilet kinda thing to keep things flowing... mom probably would get board and go clean it LOL since shes that way!

One one hand its exciting to think we could become homeowners within 2months maybe if things worked out -- on the other I know we wont be able to live in it for 2-3years LOL

Our debts other then car would have all been paid off in March/early April and we were going to be able to save far more then the mortgage payment is a month. We would have used the money saved to put down on a home in MN. When possibly prices would end up being a lot more. So do you think its also smart to go into this in a way that we could end up simply making money with it just sitting there and us not living in it from land value going up, house prices generally going up do to Princeton growing sooo much and it will only spread north. Its out in the country surrounded by farm land - it has hay/alphalfa on it now and looks like beans,corn around the property. It has some wooden and open.

Overall - there is just something about it that says its MINE -- Im sure someone has to know what I mean. The house has me drawn in!! And I havent even walked into it! I can only imagine what Id put in the built in cabinets and buffet ... how Id redo the Kitchen - looked at the wood cooking stoves online today and thought hmmmmm one says it could comfortably heat 1500 sq .. the house is 1450sq

OK Im babbling now ... but figured Id post to get it off my chest - that whole excitement of something big possibly happening lol

eta: changed the monthly mortgage amt had that as $65 more then what it actually is

and I also just wanted to note that when DH actually sat down and took a look at it, he told me to get someone to look at it -- I wish he would have done that back in November!! LOL

The noly way I'd do it is if I could get enough in rent for it to pay the mortgage until I could move in. It's actually what my dad and step-mom did w/ the house they wanted to semi-retire in MN with. It's rented out now, and they actually make $100/mo on it after the mortgage gets paid.

I would do iy if it would be possible to rent it out until you can move.

Yes, I'd look into renting it out. But I'm sure you could rent it for around that much, or even if you took a few hundred dollars' a month loss, that would be a lot better than taking the full loss and letting it sit empty. Your parents could help out with repairs or anything for the renters, maybe?

A house is a good investment. Just be sure in your heart of hearts you know you're not stretching too thin. Calculate the interest paid on the debts you'd be putting off paying, too.

Good luck with your decision!

Thanks for the input - I know Id love to be able to give my brother a break and rent to them .... BUT I wouldnt in a million years which is sad. Ive seen far too many homes that they rented or the house they owned go down drain quick with not cleaning, letting the dog scratch chew up anything it wanted truly damaging and causing a lot of repairs.. and just plain gross garbage build up -- so that would be the absolute hardest thing to do - tell my brother no if it came up.

Im sure before it got rented itd have to have some upgrades - kitchen for one that I see. But Ill defiently think in those terms. Rent for a 3bdrm home with land is at or around $1000 in that area -- so a bit more then the mortgage payment, which I would be nice to get a gain of even $100 if that were the case. My aunt and uncle are 7miles south from the home, my parents 7miles west of the home if something were to come up. Im sure Dad would be able to manage to deal with it on my behalf.

Ill be talking to mom today and Ill bring this all up. I failed to notice the slot for annual property ins -- is there a site to figure this out? I just guessed and went by tax amt known which is given and it upd the mortgage a little but yet doable.

Ive calculated a lot - Im a number cruncher lol yet dont always stick to the numbers sometimes when it comes to dictating where $ goes ... Ive worked up all monthly given bills, debt and food/gas along with the added mortgage - theres a little bit left over that if not needed would go towards the lowest debt to be paid off then down the line afterwards.

Ive also been thinking the past 4months about getting a pt job if not a ft one. I believe both Caden and I would benefit. I long for some adult conversation most days lol and Caden he absolutely loves being around other kids. We go to MOPS every other Monday and he gets a few hours in with other kids his age but I know hed love more of that.

We would have to get a second car - a junker for me to go to work. Dh got word last night he has another month here at this job then he will be relocated south ( will commute ) so Id be without a car everyday all day and no chance of even taking it for the day because I wouldnt want to drive an hr to drop him off, then drive back, then have only a few hours then have to drive back an hr to get him lol So weve thought about getting a junker just for the sake that Id have one incase needed before this came up or even the whole get a job thing.

I know we have a lot to way. I know that if we didnt go through with buying that wed have a pretty good savings when the time came, and if something came up from now to 2-3years left here in VA we wouldnt be getting stressed or worry about that other payment due. A lot to think about, a lot to decide upon. I do truly wish dh said go look at it back in November while I was up there though so if it really isnt worth thinking about I wouldnt be sitting here thinking about it LOL

What is keeping you in VA right now?? NO WAY would I buy a house and let it sit empty for 2 or 3 years. I was nervous letting my house sit empty for 2 months. And I know you said you crunched the numbers but have you actually sat down with a mortgage lender to see if it is really possible for you to qualify? I would make that my very first step.

Oh, and don't forget your closing costs. That can be from $2-4K up front (unlesss you get the sellers to cover some/all) and the inspection fees, etc.

DHs job is keeping us here - security of a good job, making good money. I defiently think wed look into filling it with a renter isntead of leaving it vacant. Our plan was to follow the company til Caden became school age,since we would not want to uproot every few years and take him out of school or away from friends. ( they move every few years to new jobsites )

Talked with mom a bit ago and she believes too that wed get more then what the mortgage is a month on it and totally agrees to the not letting my brother rent it as well. lol

I got the number to my aunt shes a mortgage lender and Im going to give her a call tonight when she gets home and have a talk with her. According to the calculators Ive found online it looks like we qualify for more then what the house we are looking at is listed. So tonight Ill get the ball rolling in that court.

Our goal would to get the sellers to cover all or some. And yep figuring in inspection fees ect Ive taken that into acct.

The only deal really is we dont have nothing in savings ( dont have a savings acct actually ) I was starting to pool money to send in the full balance on one credit acct on Feb 3rd. I plan to still pool but by that time I may need that pooled money to go forward with the house if we decide to try to get it. I checked into airplane tickets for Caden and I since Mike would stay behind and we will do POA and Ill do whatever in MN that needs to be done.

It truly is all up to what my Dad says when he sees the house. If he feels like itd be a good move. I trust my dad.

Theres a lot to think about of course ;)
lots to way good and bad. How idealy wed love 1.5baths at least but its only 1 bath.. possible prices to update kitchen - la de da lol

I appreciate you letting me babble and talk about this. Kinda helps me sort things out and get some feedback also.

If it were me I'd wait until I were ready to move to look at homes. Unless I could pay the mortgage and repairs to the house and possible months without renters without it impacting my quality of life right now (as in I had the money extra to invest). I wish I could talk my dh into moving closer to my family for support. I wish I could talk myself into it. I would love to live closer to my family but the area has a really inflated cost of living and housing. I will talk to him about it probaby in a year when the housing market here is not so dead. A house is just a house and you build a dream around it. You haven't even seen it yet, you are planning based on a dream of the house. I say hold onto your dream but be practical when it comes to finances.

We paid two houses for 8 months and it was SOOO hard! But if you're sure you can pull it off financially, then go for it!

I don't think I could buy a house if I wasn't going to get to live in it for 2-3 years. I'm very doom and gloom though and think of all the horrible things that could happen in that span of time (deaths, accidents, etc). But I do understand the calling and if it's something that you feel strongly about, you should go for it. It sounds like your family would be able to help take care of it which is a plus!

here's something to consider.. Eric's mom has a duplex she rents out in Boise.. family deals with the management when an issue arises rather than having a property management company. There's pros and cons about handling it this way, but since there's family in the area that can deal with things for you (think things like finding a plumber, fence repair, etc). Everything *has* to be spelled out in the contract, like who is responsible for lawn maintenance, etc.. but, because she is the property manager, rather than someone else, she's able to write off a trip to Boise each year as 'business expenses' related to the rental. Can't write it off for her husband, but she can for herself.

Another thing to consider is if you're purchasing it with the intention of it being a rental, at least for now, you may be facing a different mortgage than if you're purchasing with the intent to be a primary residence (they don't care what you're doing in several years, the concern of mortgage lenders is *now*) and you may not qualify because of that (since they'll make the assumption you'll be paying in two places and may or may not find renters, etc)

Thanks for input .... its been nice to type about whats going through my head today -- I appreciate no back lash lol

The more I deeply think about things, the more I really think about it - even with a pro and con list ( like would love a garage - this doesnt have one ... a half bath would make a big difference in the long run ... that kinda thing ) It seems great still yet the pull is getting weaker lol

We do qualify for it, but Im not completely sure now -- boy how much changes over a few days.

Ive tried to crunch numbers from every angle. And it seems about best we just start stashing money aside instead of buying at this moment. Just incase. ....... just incase.

thanks for listening, thanks for your input and thanks for bringing up different angles.

Taking a step back and rethinking :)