My Rant Against the First-Time Home-Buyer Moron Credit

This rant is coming from someone who took the first-time home-buyer credit for purchases in 2008, which for those unaware is $7500 that has to be paid back over 15 years (approx $500/year) with no interest. And I took it to pay off interest accruing debt now, so I could work on the non-interest accruing debt over time.

The difference is I didn’t -buy- a house to get the credit. I decided to buy a house before I even knew about the credit, and because my father and I were homeless.

Now I know a couple people that are considering buying a house now because they heard that the Senate was proposing that first-time home-buyers of 2009 would get a $15,000 tax credit that they wouldn’t have to pay back. And the reason they want this credit is to either 1. pay their debt or 2. because it’s free money, and we know people like to jump on free money, whether they need a house or not.

To the #2 people, are you freaking kidding me? You’d go over $100k in debt just to get a quick $15,000? It’s like a $15,000 discount on your purchase price.

To the #1 people, this is not the way to go about paying off your debts. You’re creating $100,000-$200,000 worth of debt for a quick-fix on your current debts. On top of that, you’re going to need at least $5,000 cash up front for the down payment, and another $10,000 in closing costs. You MAY be able to get the seller to cover the closing costs like I did, but you also -may not-. So where are you going to come up with $5,000 to put down on your house? Where would you get $15,000 to put down on your house in order to get this $15,000 tax credit?

And lets say you can come up with the $5,000 to put down on the house, instead of using it to pay off your debts that you’re wanting the $15,000 for anyway. You don’t get that money until January of 2010 anyway, and you only have until August to buy the house. So how are you going to afford all of your debts -and- a mortgage for almost half a year before you get this $15,000 relief for your debts?

Can you afford 6 months worth of mortgage on top of all your current expenses and debts?

The bottom line is, if you weren’t good with money -before- you got the credit, you’re not going to be good with money -after- the credit. It doesn’t matter if you’ve paid off all your debts or not, now you have a 30 years worth of debt in the form of a home mortgage. And people who can’t handle money should not jump into a home mortgage without making lifestyle changes first.

Incidentally the Senate and the House have currently agreed to change it to $8k, and unlike my 2008 credit, the 2009 credit doesn’t have to be paid back.

Personally I’m against the credit in general because I think the government is just fucking everything up anyway by borrowing money from our grandchildren to try and get us to spend more money, and save companies that had no business being companies anyway if they can’t handle their own finances.

The $20 Christmas Tree and a Compliment

Dad and I went out to get our Christmas Tree this weekend, expecting to spend around $30-$50. The place we were recommended to try did not open until 10am, and we were out at 8:30am. We decided not to wait for that place and drove down the road to another place we had passed that looked somewhat run-down but had a cute little log cabin on it.

When we got there, the old man that came out said we could take any tree and it’s only $20. So we saved around $30, and supported a nice old man, while still finding an awesome tree early in the morning.

I also got an email from my bank lender at Chase because they still haven’t registered my home owners insurance with my loan. I had asked him to look into the matter and he personally wrote-up a letter to send to the Insurance Processing Center for Chase which read:

“..Please understand that this is an inconvenience to our good standing customers and can be a stressful situation. Ms. XXXXXX is extremely thorough and has sent this information once before via the website but unfortunately received a second letter.”

Always nice to hear.

Title Search and Water Test Complete-ish

The water test came back with a minor amount of bacteria. They said verbally that they would be treating the water and then retesting.

The lawyer called me yesterday to let me know the title search was complete, or rather they were finishing it up. There are no liens or anything on the property (they search back 60 years), but there are two right-a-ways. One of which I knew about, the driveway to the left of the property. Apparently a right-a-way for that driveway was created initially as a 20 foot right-a-way in April 1986, and then another 30 feet were added in July 1986. So in total, there’s a 50 foot right-a-way, most likely starting in the center of the driveway with 25 feet on either side.

That’s a pretty big right-a-way, and was probably initially done for a development. However this was in 1986, and dad thinks that they probably couldn’t develop the woods behind us because of the two rivers there making it wetlands.

Still, it’s a shared right-a-way, so it shouldn’t interfere with our garden. However I am still going to research what our rights would be with the right-a-way, and if there’s any way we can get the amount reduced. I mean it -is- our property so I imagine we have to have -some- rights.

The other right-a-way is for the electrical company Med-Ed, which I assume just means there is some sort of electrical line on the property somewhere. The lawyer said those are usually only 10 feet or so, but that I can call that number where you have people come out and mark utility lines on the property for you and that should give me an idea of where it is.

Edit: Found this How to Amend Existing Property Easements. Should be fun *sarcasm*. I also emailed the lawyer to find out what my rights are with the land, or rather what -they- could do with the land potentially.

6.0% good. 5.5% great!

“Hi Crystal, Just wanted you to know that I was able to improve your rate today, a full half point to 5.50% based on the same costs. See the attached, I can do this on occasion for clients when the market warrants. It was a rare day yesterday, seeing the market improve in such a manner. I hope it helps! Have a great day, Joe”

FHA Inspection Complete

” Hi Crystal, Your appraisal came in fine at $165,000 and there are no repairs or additional inspection requests. Thanks! Joe”

That was the last big hurdle I was worrying about before settlement. As far as I know all that is left is the results from the water test and the actual settlement date. I’m slightly paranoid about the settlement meeting on the 30th, like someone is going to pull some mysterious fee out of a hat or something.

I’m going to put my foot down if that happens though. I’m fully prepared to walk away from this house and walk out on the settlement meeting if someone does something I don’t like.