Dream house vs. really tight budget- WWYD? - Page 2

[boysrus]

Also, it doesnt seem that lewis county ousing values are rising so quickly, meaing you wont be priced out of the market as quickly as say Thurston or King Counties.
Are you 1000% sure that Lewis County is where you want to live? NOt being rude(really I am not), but as a crunchy mom, we looked at lewis and also mason counties, and we ran screaming from them. We decided that we moved here bc we wanted to be sorrounded by opportunity and crunchy people, and w decided that to do that, we needed to stay in Thruston County. My DH actually said "We didnt move across the country t move to Centralia. We could have gotten something like Centralia anywhere in the US. We moved her for Olympia." and the Lord provided mightily
If you feel that way about it, then dont do it. With your budget tight, you might end up being stuck there, cant travel to "cooler" places, etc. If you are fine with the area, then go for it, and save up the 200 a month for several months and buy a cheap car with cash. We bought a 1988 Toyota Van with very little wrong with it last year for $500.

[lmonter]

I've got family and friends that live over there! Winlock, Centralia and Napavine. I loved visiting them over there - in the wooded boonies.


I just have two things to add:

Is the house susceptible to flooding? I know that's a problem over there, and my grandma would go on an on about the folks who'd (stupidly) build on floodplains and then bitch and moan when they'd get flooded out every 10-20 years or so. Sometimes more often on the lower elevations where there used to be strawberry fields, etc.

Second, there used to be a ton of more natural type farms out there. Grandma lived between Winlock and Napavine. Had a garden that was about 1/2 acre, bought (whole) milk from a local dairy before it closed, bought fresh eggs from a chicken farm before they closed (both were in Evaline), etc. She and Grandpa would grow and freeze/can sooo much that they'd have to give away at least 1/3 of their food stash every year because they wouldn't eat it or they would run out of space in their (10x10foot) fruit room or 3 freezers and 2 fridges. Before they had an empty nest they also had a chicken coop, cattle herd, saw mill and some other stuff (but that was before my time). So there's plenty of stuff you can do over there.

Lanna

[Boobs]

I, personally, would not do it. $200 isn't enough of a cushion every month. What happens if you have a car repair or house repair or anything like that come up? If you need new tires on your car or dh gets hurt or sick and has to take a week or two off work or even worse lost his job.....etc, etc, etc. Things happen. I wouldn't be comfortable living in my dream house if it meant being that financially insecure. There will always be another dream house. And the housing market is so finicky. You never know what might come up.


My dream house is sitting less than a block from me and the man living in it has one foot in the grave. I work for him and dream about living in the house all the time. The fact of the matter is though, if we bought that house, we'd be broke. No vacations ever (not that we have ever gotten to take one), no new car ever, no extras anywhere. That's no way to live. I'd rather wait and buy a house that costs a little less and make it our dream house over time.

No matter what you do, I wish you all the best! What's meant to be will be.