Moved to Huntington, WV for a better paying job about 3 weeks ago. My wife is pregnant and will be a stay-at-home mom this year, so finding stable housing became a priority fast.
Initially we looked at apartments, but honestly the options were rough. Very few decent places, and the better apartments all had waitlists pushing availability into June/July/August. Didn’t feel great about scrambling with a baby coming.
By day 3 here, I contacted a realtor and started touring houses. Saw a bunch that had potential but were in pretty rough shape and mostly very old homes. Then at the end of one long tour day we found one we really liked. More modern build, no major cosmetic issues, and overall just felt “right.”
Asked the realtor to submit an offer that same day. After some back-and-forth negotiations we reached an agreement the next day.
Immediately ordered inspection. Inspection found some bigger concerns — mainly roof and HVAC are near end of life. Not broken today, but realistically will need replacement sooner rather than later. Used that to negotiate price down further and got seller to cover most closing costs.
Now appraisal is done, underwriting is almost complete, and the whole thing might close less than a month after moving here.
Here’s the part messing with my head:
I NEVER imagined buying a house this soon. I thought I was still 4-5 years away from homeownership. I don’t have huge savings, and after down payment/closing I’ll have a pretty thin cushion for a while.
That said, the new salary is significantly better and with disciplined budgeting we should stabilize quickly. Total monthly housing cost (principal, interest, PMI, taxes, and insurance) will be about 22% of my take-home pay.
Am I making a smart move adapting quickly to reality, or am I moving way too fast and walking into stress I’m underestimating?
Would especially appreciate thoughts from people who bought sooner than expected or relocated for work/family.
Edit: Monthly housing payment (principal, interest, PMI, taxes, and insurance) will be about $1480 of my take-home pay of $6600. After all monthly expenses, I should still be able to save around $2,200–2,300 per month. I also have about $6k in credit card debt and around $6k left on my motorcycle loan.
Relocated for work and unexpectedly ended up buying a house within weeks
byu/iron_messiah inpersonalfinance
Posted by iron_messiah
9 Comments
You’ve made the move quickly but by the numbers it’s well within what you can do. Rebuild that emergency fund and save for new hvac and roof.
22% is a good ratio but no one can really tell you how you are doing without a full budget.
If your housing expense ratio is this low, I’m confused why you will have such a thin cushion. Keep your other expenses low and build it back up.
22% seems really doable, especially with wife staying home. You won’t have childcare costs, she can cook meals and you can rebuild that fund over the next year or two and save for roof/hvac as well. Congrats on new home and soon to be new baby.
If you have a yard at your new place, start a vegetable garden – you will save TONS of money and eat healthier.
You will need a fat emergency fund to cover unexpected repairs. The only part of your scenario that really makes me nervous is the roof. It’s not unheard of for a house to be difficult or impossible to insure after purchase (even if it was insured before the sale) based on the age of the roof.
As long as you keep enough on hand to replace it, I think you’ll be fine. With any luck, that won’t be for some time still.
Sounds like you made a sound choice given your circumstance, I remember buying my first house and I had many sleepless nights but once you do it’s a great feeling and if you can get over the initial shock you will be fine.
Not having spent much time in that city it’s impossible for you to grasp so quickly how you feel about this neighborhood in relation to others. That’s the biggest risk I would worry about.
Once you build up an emergency fund of about 10K, aggressively pay off your credit card debt, then the motorcycle loan. Cut back on everything non essential and don’t take any more loans for the next year – no new cars or anything. No offense, but just because you have a baby coming and you moved into a house, doesn’t mean you get a nice car next. You’re on thin ice financially and one bad decision can sink you
That should be doable, just need to build up your savings especially for HVAC repairs or the roof. That can get expensive fast especially since the HVAC is no longer under warranty. Pay off debts and save, best of luck!