So, I did it.

Did what, I'm sure you're asking.  Well... I decided, just on a whim you understand, to talk to a mortgage lender about possibly getting a house this year.  I looked up a few properties that I was interested in, and found one for 130,000 dollars.  130k isn't very much in the world of real estate, I know, but I saw the house and really liked it - at the time - so I thought, why not, and called the lender just to see if I could be approved for the mortgage.

 

Yesterday, I received a call that I was.  Talk about a shocker.  So, one might ask, now what?  Am I going to do this?

 

I'm sorely tempted to go ahead with it... but I need to think about my decision carefully before I proceed.  There are a couple of factors involved here -

 

1.)  I'm a classic overachiever.  I want to accomplish so damned much in as little time as possible, and that - coupled with my illness - might not be a good thing at the present.  I have work (which as you all know has been killing me as of late), and school (3 classes this semester, none of them easy), and I'm thinking that for right now the added stress of a house purchase might be too much.  I've been in a situation before where I've bought a house, and it was unbelievably stressful - it was easily the worst 90 days of pins and needles I've ever been through.  I don't think my mental state can handle it right now.

 

2.)  The lender was straight with me about my FICO scores.  They're high enough to qualify for the mortgage, but they're low compared to a lot of other peoples'.  I want to try to get them up some so that I can get better terms.  Right now they're hovering around 600 - it's okay, but not great.  I want to be able to be in a position where I can say, "Hey, my credit is excellent - I want the best terms you can give me."  I think that with time and increased fiscal responsibility, I can get them there.  It's to my advantage to wait that out.

 

3.)  Right now if I want to buy the house, I need a down payment of about 5000 dollars - 3.5% of the mortgage, he said.  That's fine, and I can scrape it together - but right now it will require assistance, mainly from my family.  And we all know how I feel about my family.  I'd rather do it on my own, anyway, it will give me a source of pride, something that I desperately need more of.  I'd like to have much more as a downpayment, too, maybe about 10% of whatever I get.  It will take a bit to save that, but I think it'll be good discipline.

 

4.)  Transportation, my job, and where I'll end up is going to play a huge role in this, as well.  If I stay with the federal government - and right now that's how it's looking - I may need to eventually relocate to D.C., anyway.  The house prices where I live right now are far, far beyond my reach - over a quarter of a mil or more - and to move anywhere else in Baltimore (the good neighborhoods, anyway) will add time and hassle to my commute.  There's a new transit line being built in Canton/Patterson Park, which is a nice area, but that'll be years down the line, and I really don't feel like adding an hour or more to my commute.  Being a mere 5 minute walk from the train station is a definite plus.  Besides, as stated, I may have to move to D.C.  Or I might want to move out West, or even to another country.  I don't know where I want to be, so it seems silly to put down roots when I just don't know where I want to go.  Make sense?

 

Right now I'm seriously considering not doing it.  But it makes me feel really good to know that my financial situation isn't nearly as precarious as I believed.  I can qualify to do the deed if I want to.  That's definitely a positive.  In some ways, my goal for 2010 has already been achieved, in that case - but why stop there?  Why not make it more than what it could be?

 

I still need to think about it some.  Opinions would be nice, if anyone has any. 

 

Other than that piece of news, nothing new.  But what a piece of news it was, huh?

 

I'll write more over the weekend, after I get this homework shit done.