Damn the luck....

[SS Junk]

Worst time in the world to buy a house around here. Seriously.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You'll be fucking yourself sideways buying right now. Logic > emotion.

[johnboy]

If you are looking to buy outside the large metroplex area, check into a USDA loan. They offer 100% financing. I'm currently in the process of closing on a house on Cedar Creek lake. You can find out the requirements online. My broker works out of the Addison area and is a great guy. If you have any questions just PM me.

[jluv]

Good luck, man. I had a similar situation 3 years ago. The landlord decided to sell, so we moved out. Was near impossible to find a decent place to live with two pit bulls, so we rented a room from the in-laws, and started paying off bills and saving. Now we're buying a house in CO and going through this whole process. Thank goodness the market is different where we're going. We got it for $55k under asking price, and it was already priced below appraisal value. Buying a house around here right now seems like a beating.

On that same note, I imagine rent houses are expensive as shit right now, too.

[slow84lx]

Well I damn sure appreciate all of your advice and I will definitely take it into account. Unfortunately my wife is a hard headed mother fucker sometimes, so even when I tell her, "hey look, like 20 people told me right now is a terrible time to buy, we need to rent for a bit so I can sell some shit and stack some cash." She's still going to say, "well, maybe we can still just check with the bank and see if we can get pre-qualified and we can still be looking at houses that are for sale....."

I don't want to just settle and buy a house just for the sake of buying one. I want to buy a fucking kick ass house and be able to stay there a while. Moving fucking sucks and I don't want to have to be doing it a shit load of times.

Besides, I need to find a house with a full size, two car garage so I can work on some of my projects that I'm actually going to be able to keep after all this is over with.

You forgot to include the shop building already standing or at least a place to add one down the road.

[Ruffdaddy]

If you're doing FHA be very mindful of the Mortgage insurance. I don't think it drops off anymore and FHA insurance is pretty pricey. I think you can do as low as 5% down conventional.

We did 10% down conventional and the insurance is much lower than FHA...and I still got to keep a decent amount of cash reserves in the event that oil stays low for long. I know all the ballers here do 20% if not full cash, but being in O&G...i definitely want a safety net.

You can also finance or buy outright the mortgage insurance on a conventional

[John -- '02 HAWK]

I just won a house @130k. There were 22 offers not including mine on it and over 50 people viewed it in the 2 days it was up on market.I don't know what your price range is but you will need any advantage you can get and you will not find what you want in ~60 days.

Is that in garland?

[snacksnack]

Ask the guy who you are renting from if you can buy that house? (if you like it enough to do that)

Bought my first house this way and had a great experience.

[Big A]

Talks of the market in here are probably the primary contributing factor for the guy deciding to sell.

I agree that, assuming that you can get the financing, that you see what the guy wants for where you're at. Even if you don't see yourself there for more than a few years, you're buying on the upswing, let that rent turn into a mortgage, and build equity towards buying what you truly want. This will also save you the expense and hassle of moving, and him the expense of whatever prep he was planning (paint, carpet, etc). You can use those as bargaining chips on the purchase price, and also the fact that the house won't be sitting empty for any period of time.

In the meantime you can also keep looking for that dream home, you'll likely have to put in offers on a few places as it is. If something better comes up, bail on the rent house.

[bluecollar]

Build a big metal shop building with an apartment in the back, and a loft space above it as an open air living room.

I'm trying to talk the old lady into letting something similar happen in a few years.

[HarrisonTX]

Build a big metal shop building with an apartment in the back, and a loft space above it as an open air living room.

This is a fantastic idea.
I lived in a metal building with an apartment inside it for 2.5 years in waco.
Racrguy has seen it. The building was a 40x60 and the apartment was 14x40. With a wife I'm sure you'd want a bit more space, but that was perfect for me.

I've also played around with the idea of something a bit bigger like a tall 50x60 and building an upstairs inside apartment thats the upper back half of the metal building. You could have a lift in the front half, and work benches under the house against the back wall.

[BradM]

If it was just him, I could see that. But I bet his wife doesn't want her and the daughter to live in a garage.

[SS Junk]

If it was just him, I could see that. But I bet his wife doesn't want her and the daughter to live in a garage.

Burly drunk guy gets it.

[bluecollar]

If it was just him, I could see that. But I bet his wife doesn't want her and the daughter to live in a garage.

Meh, you could build it to accommodate and be pretty cool I think.

We have kids, but I think someone could come up with a pretty kick ass combo.

[HarrisonTX]

If it was just him, I could see that. But I bet his wife doesn't want her and the daughter to live in a garage.

My old man just built one for him and his wife. They finished it about a year ago as a temporary living area while they build their house in front of it in the coming year. It's actually pretty great. Mine was 100% bachelor pad, but my dad's wife has made it pretty damned livable.

[Sleeper]

It wont hurt to get approved through the bank. It doesnt mean you have to buy but it gives the confidense to put down a offer if you do run across one you like.

Sucks about your landlord. Buying a house can be a nightmare if you let it.