Loan update...

There's good news and bad news. I'll start with the good first:

We qualified for way more than we need or want. We know exactly what we can afford right now, and our monthly payment HAS to stay under $500 a month. In fact, our goal is more around $400. I know most of you are saying, WHAT?! $400 a month for a house - that's not possible! But it is possible...if we can keep the price of the house at or under $65,000. And that is possible. I found a house that I love (brick, large fenced yard, 3bdrms, remodeled kitchen, etc) for $70,000. Unfortunately, someone else loves it too and has a contract pending. But they ARE out there!

Another good thing: we qualify for a VA loan, which means no down payment required. We do have a modest downpayment of about $7,000 available.

I know, I'm prolly not supposed to tell people that stuff but I wish more people were a little more open about the home buying process. Most of my help has come from hearing other people's experiences of purchasing a house.

Anyway, so, say we found a $70,000 home. With our $7,000 down payment, we are looking at a loan of only $65,000 ($63,000 plus about $2,000 for tax & insurance), at 5% interest (that's the percentage we were given today), so our payment would be about $400 - $425 a month.

That's the good news.

Bad news is: they will not loan us money on a manufactured home, which is what 80% of the homes we have found, in our price range of $70,000 and under, are. That is prolly one messed up sentence, but you get the point.

Modular, yes. Manufactured (i.e., single wide, double wide) NO. I don't love manufactured, but you have to do what you have to do to put a roof over your family's head, and that seemed to be what we have to do. Except now, we find out they won't even loan us money for one. They don't appreciate at near the level of a "real" house.

It is such a big bummer since I found a double wide with 4 bdrms, 2 dens (aka, I get an office!), only 6 years old, sitting on 2.4 acres. Better still, it is in same school zone so no switching schools, AND it is out in the country. Surrounded by horse farms, cows, hills, trees...only one near neighbor, and on a dead end road. That's a DEAL - right? Oh, asking price is $69,900. So I was jumping up and down - till today. They will not loan us money for it.
Now, she did say we could just start dialing morgage companies, find one that loans on a manufactured home. But she said it will be very difficult, and they have more fees than a bank typically does.

Anyway...that's where we are. Just lost about 80% of the houses in our price range. That's a blessing and a curse. Helps narrow down the field, cuts out wasted time, but makes it more imparative to find that hidden gold mine, that more excellent deal.

Again, with God, ALL things are possible.

And that's my update ;)

I don't know about you, but I need another moment of zen for this day, so here it is:

I thought I saw a bud on my pepper plant and took a picture. Later, after I downloaded it to my laptop, I found that amazing butterfly. She (remember, ugly males, beautiful females ;) is gorgeous, with red & blue stripes. See if you can blow the picture up. May have to copy & paste it to your computer first, but it's worth it!