@Anonymous wrote:
I had those thoughts too. But then my partner said, if we couldn't afford to make our mortgage payment, we also couldn't pay our rent, so really we'd be in trouble either way. He's right, made me feel at ease. 30 years worth of making something my own..... Sounds great! We bought a home that actually costs us $25 less a month then rent. Just remember that bad things WILL always happen periodically but if you set yourself up well, you can usually weather the storm. And owning your own home is a special privilege that not everyone gets to enjoy.
The above is right on point. Remember also, having money in savings will help tremendously in alleviating your worries. [ BTW, you wouldn't be normal if you didn't worry about such a large purchase.] If you have 6 to 8 months of monthly expenses set aside in savings plus a maintenance and repair account your worries will almost disappear. I'm not talking about what the bank requires because FHA doesn't require reserves. I'm talking about peace of mind.
Putting aside funds for repairs and actually taking the time to do a little bit of preventative maintenance will help a lot. It sounds like common sense, but you wouldn't believe the number of homes I see that are run down because the owner didn't do the simple things (paint, caulk, a/c filters, change out wood rot etc). I've seen homes that are less than ten years old look 40 years old because the owner just didn't take a little bit of pride in keeping his/her home well maintained. It really doesn't take a lot of money. Just a little time and a little bit of work.
