To Buy or Not to Buy

Well since we're expecting another baby, we've started thinking about buying a house. This is supposed to be a great time to buy, right? We've spent some Saturdays touring homes, speaking with our realtor (who's also our landlord) about the local market, and looking at our finances/seeing what we qualify for.

Our credit is really strong, we don't have another house to sell (thank God), we have a fair bit of savings considering we paid cash for our vehicle a few months ago. Still we just don't feel like we're ready to buy, despite what a lot of people keep telling us.

I think Dave's getting into my head. He suggests that you don't buy a house until you have your debt paid off, and have three to six months of savings. We've always been a fan of Dave, but I'm starting to realize how wise his advice really is.

Now we're not following the order of his baby steps, but certainly understand his reasoning for it. We have some of my student loans to pay for, but instead have focused all of our "extra" money on building a down payment. This was wise, in my opinion, since both cars broke at the same time, and drained some of our savings when we decided to buy a more reliable vehicle. I'm glad we had that money - otherwise we would have had to taken a loan.

We've decided to save x amount for a down payment, and will have that once we get L's bonus (praise God for this). We will then focus on saving three to six months worth of expenses, especially in this volatile economy. Once that is done, we will then discuss whether we want to buy a house or focus on paying off the rest of my student loans.

Dave has often referred to renting as "patience money", and that's exactly what it is. It's not an ideal situation, and it's not supposed to be for forever. Still, if a couple of years of living in an less than ideal place results in a better place financially, and a house that we really enjoy, then it's worth it in our opinion.

For those dealing with "house fever", read this blog from Simple Mom. It calms me pretty quickly. :)