homebuying question. (long, sorry)

[mbhf]

my husband is in the military, so we move around a lot. we have been in five cities in five years, and we're getting ready to move again in may.

we are from virginia, and we like to go home as much as we can, usually about once a month for a long weekend, plus 2 weeks at christmas and a week or so during the summer. sometimes the kids and i stay for a week or two without my husband. when we go home, we stay with my MIL and FIL. we think it's really important for our kids to see their grandparents and have a good relationship with them.

for the past few years, we have been talking about buying a house back home when he gets commissioned. nothing fancy, just a little house to go home to. well, that's coming up this may, so the time is here. we've been looking around a little, but now i'm starting to get nervous. i feel like we've really thought this out and that it's a good decision, but i worry that maybe i'm missing something.

our finances are in good shape. we have about $600 a month left over after all is said and done, including fun money and 12% towards retirement. his pay raise will be just over $1100 a month come may. we're also getting ready to pay off our car, which is another $600 a month. this winter he will get another payraise of about $300. we live comfortably now, and we don't want to upgrade our lifestyle at all. i would like to keep our housepayment around $1000 a month, and that is very doable for what we want in our area.

i guess my question is, am i missing something? is there a downside i'm not seeing? we are the type to spend money if we have it just sitting around, but we never overspend and the only debt we have is our car payment. so i would like to have somewhere for this extra money to go, besides something we don't need or really want.

[PajamaMama]

My father is retired from the Navy and he and my mother did just what you are talking about now...they bought a house in their 'hometown' about 12 years before he actually retired, and we always went there whenever he had leave and sometimes when he had a very long deployment...I went to high school for a year in that town. By the time he retired their mortgage was paid off and they had a home to go to, and though they both found satisfying work within a year of his retirement they could have spent much much longer than a year living on just his pension while they figured things out.

I think it sounds like a great idea. I bet there is someone your dh can talk to about the legal things like homestead exemptions for military, etc and if you're sure you want to retire to this place then you will have something waiting for you when you're ready. Make sure you figure out who is going to do the 'caretaking' of your home in the time until you retire there...since you have family in the area maybe they'd be willing to do it or at least be able to recommend someone to you. Good luck!

[apple_dumpling]

Dh is military too, and I think if you can swing it, then I'd go ahead.

We really like where we are stationed at right now and we are considering buying before his tour here is up (still have another 2 years so we have some time to think)

Were you thinking if renting out the house while you guys weren't there? We have friends who have done the same thing, and they ended up renting out the house after a while because they found it tiresome to pay a mortgage for a house that they never lived in. Not to mention that they had two houses and only one BAH Depending on what area you get stationed in, you may need more or less money than what you will get for BAH.

My husband is an officer I understand your happiness about the payraise! I would just think it out before you jump into anything... a lot of it will probably depend on what his designator is (as in where you are most likely to get stationed based on what he does) and what the cost of living is in those areas. The area we are in right now isn't so bad... but the last two duty stations we have lived in, if we hadn't been able to live on base we would have lost quite a bit of money because the BAH didn't cover the cost of living out in town. Some bases are hard to get housing on, some bases have sub-par housing...we've lucked out so far.

Just wanted to throw this out there too.... my husband is in the Navy, and remember that even though you get an increase in pay, you lose a couple of things too. Officers don't get a uniform allowance (and those things aren't cheap!) so that might factor into your budget once in a while. There are also lots of "dues".. such as the O club, organizations, etc. that crop up. So you may have a couple of extra things that you didn't intially budget for

[mightymoo]

I think it sounds like a reasonable plan. I assume you don't have to pay for housing where you are saying near your husband, so this wouldn't be an extra housing payment or anything.

If your goal was just to have a house when you retire, then I would say consider just saving and investing the extra every month and buy one outright at that point, but if you are going to be using it frequently, you'll get a lot of enjoyment from it and I think that's something you need to decide for yourself - is the cost worth the joy it brings you?

Do you have a downpayment saved? That's the only thing I can think of that would delay your plan. I know military families have access to loans that can allow them to do 0% down options, etc but you may get a much better interest rate with a good sized downpayment (and avoid PMI or higher interest second mortgages & HELOCs), so look into that.

I know that if I was in your situation I would be craving a little spot to come 'home' to as well!

[NCHIN]

Neither Dh nor I are in the military so I cannot comment from that angle. I was born and raised in California. I met Dh and he is from Canada. We got together and we purchased a house in Canada, we live the majority of the time there. I felt the same way as you to keep a home in California so that when we came to visit we would have a place to stay. I also kept a car there too. I recently sold one of the homes I own but I did keep one. I am on the verge of selling that one too. I will explain. Since you obviously want to live in it, you will not be able to rent it out. For the amount of time you will stay in the home, you are better of at friend's and family or renting a hotel.

The house I am speaking of is paid off so no mortgage, it is just upkeep that I pay every month. I still pay for all utilities, trash, a gardener, property taxes, homeowners insurance, termite contract and the unexpected things like a new water heater, a new roof, the neighbors wanted a new block wall to a tune of $4000.00, I can go on and on. Even though my family is in California, no one wants to drive 50 miles to check up on it to make sure the house is okay, so I pay a lady to bring in the mail, make sure the gardeners are doing their job- they have a tendency not to show up since they know I do not live there, pay for tree trimming and just to make sure the house is okay. All said and done, I pay over $1000.00 a month to upkeep the house in California. I think I could stay in a pretty nice hotel w/ maid service for that when I do visit.

If you are set on buying a place, I would honestly look into a duplex or a house w/ income so that you could live in one whenever you visit and the other could help w/ the bills and mortgage.

Good Luck!

Nancy

[Marvelleaux]

Hey--just tossing this out there:

Depending on what branch of the military your husband is in you guys might be able to get a Navy Federal Home Loan. They are SUPER fast to work with and the interest rates are usually much lower than conventional methods. When shopping for a mortgage you should check them out.

My father was a marine (in the 50's!) and this qualified my husband and I for an account and we've bought two houses using them as our mortgage broker. They've been fabulous.

Good luck making a decision!

[mbhf]

Originally Posted by Marvelleaux

Hey--just tossing this out there:

Depending on what branch of the military your husband is in you guys might be able to get a Navy Federal Home Loan. They are SUPER fast to work with and the interest rates are usually much lower than conventional methods. When shopping for a mortgage you should check them out.

My father was a marine (in the 50's!) and this qualified my husband and I for an account and we've bought two houses using them as our mortgage broker. They've been fabulous.

Good luck making a decision!

my husband is actually navy, and NFCU is our primary bank. i'll definately look into them. thanks!!