Did you buy a house? Did you do it on your own with no

amother

Tue, May 20 2014, 4:47 pm

assistance? Can you enlighten me please with how it can really be done? How long did it take you to save how much money and did you have to scrimp on everything until it happened? My husband and I both have good jobs but we're completely on our own with every possible bill to pay and absolutely no assistance. We're saving but veeeerrrrrry slowly. I'm worried it's never going to happen...

Liba

Tue, May 20 2014, 4:55 pm

We moved an hour from our OOT community and jobs, took on hour long commutes (without traffic), and moved to a cheaper place with a small Jewish community sporting two tiny shuls and elementary school with classes containing 2-3 frum, 6-8 total children per class. That is how we were able to buy our first home B"H.

aka

Tue, May 20 2014, 6:11 pm

We did it with no ones help, never had parents or in laws give us a cent, BH my husband had some savings pre marriage. we lived very frugally for 4 years we purchased a 2 family home so we had an income to help us pay the mortgage. We lived even more frugally for a few years after the purchase.

SplitPea

Tue, May 20 2014, 6:36 pm

Research first time home owner grants when they happen. I know many who got homes that way with very little down.

Also first time home owner loans are a way many do it. (Pretty much take a loan for the down payment.

We are in a similar situation of saving and saving (then spending it on emergencies that come up). In a few years we will probably just do a first time homeowners loan if no more grants come up.

amother

Tue, May 20 2014, 7:17 pm

Yes, we both had savings from before we got married, although we did get married in our early 30s, so late for the frum world. Dh's parents tried to give us money but it was with too many strings, like they wanted to choose the house Rolling Eyes

, so we said no thanks and went it alone.

We were both very frugal before and were individually saving up for a downpayment, so that helped lots. Dh lived with his parents and I lived in studentville type accommodation to save up long term.

For us it was worth it, but may not be for everyone. We still obviously have a big mortgage.

ElTam

Tue, May 20 2014, 8:25 pm

We lived very, very frugally. We pinched every penny until it screamed. In the end, we also borrowed against my 401(k) to have a big enough down payment. We payed the money back on a set schedule, but the interest went back to us, rather than the bank, so it was worth it.

We did not have outside help.

Deep

Tue, May 20 2014, 8:32 pm

We knew we would never save enough for a down payment because
a. We're not disciplined enough and
b. home prices in our locale are on the rise.
We took out an interest free loan. It's five years later now and we've paid it all back.

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, May 20 2014, 8:45 pm

We are looking into home ownership, and we can do it with no assistance, by my definition. However, some amothers on here define "assistance" to include any savings that may have come from gifts and were wisely invested and not through the fruits of one's own labor (though perhaps that would mean my boss is assisting me? Wink

)
B"H we have enough to put down....but for houses that are much, much cheaper than what one would expect in more major metropolitan areas. (Our problem is more the balancing monthly mortgage and tuition at the moment, but with Hashem's help, one day we will have it worked out.)

amother

Tue, May 20 2014, 9:07 pm

groisamomma wrote:

Where do all the "interest-free loans" come from??

We got 15k from the local Hebrew Free Loan Society and 35k from a family member. Both were 5 year loans.We were choked financially but it was our top priority. We sometimes had pasta dinners for weeks, but we never missed a payment b"h.

amother

Tue, May 20 2014, 9:33 pm

Hi,

We got $2000 from a "rich" aunt and $3000 from a parent. We also got a first time homebuyers grant which gave us $20,000 towards our home. The mortgage company made us put down a percentage of the mortgage- what I did was take out $8,000 from my Citibank credit cards- they consider it a balance transfer instead of a cash advance- so the fee was minimal and in the end we bought a house with barely any help from family.

piece

Tue, May 20 2014, 10:14 pm

we did it basically on our own. we bought after approx. being married 8 years.
we lived very frugal & with Hashem's help we found a house that was an amazing price!!!
my husband did find a family member that we borrowed from to help make the down payment higher - & that was a priority to pay this fam member back. B"H we did it & are very proud of ourselves!!!
someone above advised looking for OOT homes which is a great idea if you are up to that. we did pioneer where we bought. you do what you gotta do to make it work. it is feasible.
I have heard of people buying a house (obviously had enough for down payment) & living in the basement & renting the upstairs so that the rental can help towards mortgage. you might have to be creative if you are doing this on your own.
lots of hatzlocha.

amother

Tue, May 20 2014, 10:24 pm

Im sure there are people who do it on their own like those who chimed in on this thread but the vast majority dont. its simply not possible. There are way too many people in my community where the husband sat in kollel for 5 years and just became a rebbi, the wife is a teacher, they have 3 kids in school, and they buy a home for 350-400K. The numbers dont add up. of course they are getting help.

If you realize this then you wont feel so bad that you cant do it so fast.

amother

Tue, May 20 2014, 10:43 pm

We did it with saving, scrimping, a loan from hebrew free loan and a loan from a family member. We were not given any money as gifts. We also spent first 5 years paying back loans.
We also put down less than 20% so we had to have PMI insurance.
We also bought a two family to have a rental.

My parents can't give anything and my inlaws were willing to give if we kept a room that was theirs to use when they wanted... we politely declined...

It was very tough, but worth it. We didn't do any renovations or even painting as we couldn't afford it. The house definitely needed allot of work.
Even with all the struggle to buy I feel we are way ahead as house prices keep rising.

amother

Tue, May 20 2014, 11:21 pm

I work in a very busy mortgage office. We do loans for many kollel families. Most get help either from parents towards a down payment or find a family member to be a cosigner.

I myself bought a home when I was married two years. We had someone cosign for us and borrowed some down payment money. We bh were able to pay it back right away. We took our downstairs and rented it out for 1000 a month.
Now I am married almost five years and bh on to my second house. This time I am not getting any assistance at all.

amother

Wed, May 21 2014, 4:57 am

We got married in our 30s and both had savings. We both worked hard and lived frugally. We had major, major siyata dishmaya and stumbled upon a house that cost about half what it is actually worth. And that's how we did it.

amother

Wed, May 21 2014, 5:28 am

we live in an expensive area. Also dhs job comes with tied housing. We saved up for around 6/7 years when our kids were small and expenses were smaller. We bought a house in a cheaper place which we rent out.

mandksima

Wed, May 21 2014, 8:40 am

Our first house was a two family and we rented out one floor that paid half the mortgage. We only put down 10-20%, I forget which but it was the lowest we could at the time. Real estate went up a few years later and we bought a bigger one family house. Then real estate prices went down but we were making aliyah so we lost a whole lot and came with little. We rented for 2 years then bought a very cheap small house with very little down at the time and we have been here the past 8 years. Will probably stay a long while because any bigger house would double or triple the mortgage and prices went up too much around us. I'd rather own a small house than have a huge mortgage or rent forever so I'm happy. I think too many people think their first house has to be the house of their dreams but that is not the reality for most. Most people sacrifice location or size for ownership.