Ha, ha - look at the Google ads generated by this thread:

"Buy Home - Get Best Mortgage"

Sometimes that car payment could make the difference in qualifying for a loan to get you into a house you really want. There are a lot of factors and while credit history is a big part of it, the lender always looks to see what outstanding debt you have. Obviously, if someone has maxed out two or three Visa cards, has a car loan, and pays alimony and child support, these are going to seriously affect the ability for the borrower to make mortgage payments. The lender will only approve what they calculate you can handle based on current income and current debt (monthly payments).

Like somebody has suggested, get pre-qualified and the lender can figure out if the existing car payment would make a difference or not.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

good luck mang - i bought a house before the WRX it was a long long wait but was well worth it

 

SELL THE CAR, SAVE FOR A HOUSE!!! cars depreciate...in a few years, it'll be worth a little more than 10k. houses appreciate, as edgar stated above.

edgar, where did your bro buy his house? i graduated from TDHS, class of 95 and i came back to modesto to buy a house...nothing serious, just something i can put my $ into for now. i don't think they're $120k or even $240k anymore. i bought mine for $450k and it has appreciated $50k in the last 2 months alone. get in the market now before everything is $500k.

db

 

I would definately buy the house yourself first, then get married.

Everyone thinks that their judgement is so good and all, but the cold reality is that the house is community property, and must be sold in case of a divorce.

I made a similar mistake, having bought a house with a girlfriend, and now I don't live there anymore, so I'll have to deal with that mess.

Who cares what she thinks, and force yourself not to need her money for the down payment, and you will be taking care of yourself.

David

 

Not a bad idea. Sound wave, not that I'm saying you two are gonna get divorced since you guys have been together for sooo long but if you buy the house before you get married it is your's and since you bought by yourself before marriage it is not considered community property. Or find a house in a college town, always ppl there looking to rent, Davis vaccancy rate is super low and all leases are 1 year.

Oh and The San Diego housing market blew up. My coworker bought his 3 bedroom house in a nice part of SD for $392K and three years later it is worth $750K! Not bad if you ask me, I only wish my suby would appreciate like that.

JAson

 

damn, why was i not in SD 3 years ago?!?!?

a divorce, if ruled in her favor for any reason, would entitle her to half your holdings anyway, correct? i'm not certain about marriage laws, so i'm just asking.

db

 

his house is in the silverodo estates off silvan.. right across from the new park out there next to the school...

it wouldnt suprise me that his house is worth more today i know that the 2 story homes around him are in the 450-500k and up.. its insane!

im just glad im blessed with home funds to play with when i get serious...

edgar,

 

well I'm not 100% sure but my brother who works for the santa clara courts and is one day thinking of becoming a lawyer told me that I should buy my house by myself before marriage becasue then it is my property and the wife cannot take it away in a divorce since I had it before we were married. He tells me the only stuff that gets split in a divorce is community property. He could be wrong, but all legal advice I have recieved from him so far has been true so perhaps some lawyers or those with real exp. can chime in here and let us know what the real deal is.

Back to the actual subject GET THE HOUSE Preston, then through an I-club house warming party and then get a car. A house is worth more than a car any day unless you are talking about the GT!!

Jason

 

my contention with the "private entity" idea you spoke of is that once you're wedded, properties from both parties "merge" to come under the ownership of a single entity...meaning ownership b/t the couple. that is unless you have an agreement to keep your individual holdings (RE, stocks, savings) as separate from the marriage. hence the need for marriage contracts/prenuptials.

again, this is with my limited knowledge of the law.

db

 

Appreciation means jack when you're still living in that house!
My house went up about 100k from a year ago too, that doesn't help any of my payments...

 

I wouldn't recommend "marring" your girlfriend. She may not take kindly to it.

 

*sorry for the hijack, soundwave!*

how long have you owned the place? if it's been two years and you've lived there since, you can sell the house and get a new place, thus leveraging that appreciation in your favor by realizing/capturing the market value of the house. the drawback is that your estate taxes will also reflect the market value of your new residence.

it's worth it if you can COMFORTABLY take on the increased costs.

db

 

Soundwave, you won't need to look at the google ad's when you have me