It just doesn't seem right...

There is a house for sale. 5 Bedrooms 1 bathroom. It's in the school district we like, right by a brand new park, and in a great neighborhood. Plus, it is only a block away from grandma and grandpa's house. If they looked out their kitchen window, they could see the front window of this house.

The house is on a "short sale" and going for only $89,900.

Russ and I wanted it. Bad. It's perfect...the house isn't perfect...but we could just see ourselves living there for a long time. And the house has lots of potential, new windows, bay window in the front living room, new flooring in kitchen and bathroom, lots of square footage for a family of our size. Like I said, it's perfect.

We found this house last night. Russ's mom is the office manager of a real estate company in town and she told us about it. We started looking into things more, we thought, "Hey, what if we could actually get this house?" We gave it a try. I called a lender.

This is what is awesome and at the same time frustrating.

Through Idaho Housing, we can get a loan for 3.97% and we wouldn't have to pay monthly mortgage insurance for not being able to pay 20% down. With the interest rate of 3.97% our loan amount would be $87,200. Pretty sweet for a 5 bedroom house. Even better, the monthly house payment would be $414.80!!! What??? Who reading this ever paid a rent payment for that little? With taxes, the payment for the house would be just over $500/month. And this is money that goes towards something you will OWN. When we lived in Rexburg, we paid rent for a 3 bedroom apartment with no dishwasher, no washer or dryer, and the smallest kitchen/dining area ever! In the living room, an adult could take 4-5 steps to get from one couch to the other. And we had to deal with newlyweds living above us, who were always chasing each other around the apartment, playing their game system too loud, drumming on the kitchen table at night, shaking our ceiling, not to mention the ridiculous amounts of squeaking we had to listen to coming from their bed or living room couch! I even could hear them singing in the shower! When we moved out, our rent was $650/month for a year contract, and tenants paid electric. We made the payments, even when Russ was making WAY less than what he makes now.

If you want to be approved for a loan, the lender looks at your debt to income ratio. Your debt can't be over 45% of your monthly income. Our ONLY debt right now is what we owe on our van, and we pay $60.00/mo on my student loans. Our van payment is only $182.00/mo. That's it. But the lender has to look at student loans. Because Russ is not finished with school, we aren't paying on his loans yet. The amount the papers say we will pay on a monthly basis isn't really the amount we will ed up paying. We will end up paying less. But the lender can't account for that or for the fact that Russ will be making more money when he graduates from college.

So, as frustrating as it is, we can get approved because of student loans. We can't get a house for just over $500.00/mo. and will end up renting something we will never own, and pay up the wazoo for something smaller with fewer bedrooms, and no ability to update, paint, change anything.

Russ has had struggles in school. Who doesn't? There are thousands of students who have to work their butts off, some getting A's and some who are just average. There are students with learning disabilities, students who have test anxiety, everyone faces their own individual challenges. We have. But Russ kept at it. He has 2, at the most 3 semesters left. He did it. (well...almost!) And he has done it all for his family, so that one day we can have hope for an easier life. But where's the hope in America for our family when we have to accept the fact that we have to pay high costs for a rental because we can't get a house that we can actually afford? In this day and age, you HAVE to get a college degree. The sad fact is that MANY men and women who have degrees are working minimum wage because in so many areas and communities, it's hard to get  a job. There are many lucky students who manage to get through college with minimal debt, the majority HAVE to get student loans. Because of many factors, we are in that group. We go into debt to get a degree, so that we can have a career that brings success. But those loans are often the cause of holding many families back...like keeping families in high-cost rentals instead of owning something.We aren't stupid with our money, we CAN afford that house! Russ is a hard worker...

I'm just sayin...

It just doesn't seem right.


*thank you for allowing me to vent. I think I am done now. And maybe I will feel better about this someday...when I can learn to be more patient and realize that yes, we will have a house of our own, someday...