Since I just Did This ...

I want to share: Should newlyweds buy a house?

Manage your moves
If one of you is moving to a new job or changing careers, sit tight on the house purchase for three to six months. A stable employment history is important to mortgage lenders.

If you move to a new city after you get married, consider renting for a year before you buy a house, Patrick says.

"It can take a while of actually living in a new place before you know which neighborhoods are the ideal ones for you," he says.

Heh. I switched jobs in the middle of my application process! Which, no one was happy about, but what are you gonna do? We were approved anyway, maybe because I was the co-applicant. I don't know.

Save, save, save
Even if you need to put contributions to your retirement plan on hold, this is the time to sock away cash. Patrick likes couples to have at least three months of expenses stashed in an emergency fund -- in savings or a money-market account -- in case one partner loses a job, gets ill, becomes pregnant, etc. You don't want to lose your house when an unexpected financial crisis hits.

It's also smart to save up a hefty down payment. The more you pay upfront on your house, the smaller your fixed monthly payments will be. You also may be able to eliminate the cost of private mortgage insurance by putting down at least 20% of the house's cost.

I wish. Would have been nice. But how many young couples do you know that have enough liquid funds to put a downpayment and keep a healthy nest egg?

Get preapproved before house-love hits
Bernard won't show clients any houses until they've had a serious sit-down with a mortgage lender, even if it's not the bank or broker they eventually use.
"It's just awful to see a newly married couple get their heart set on a particular house, only to find out afterward they can't afford it or they're not creditworthy enough for a decent mortgage," she says.

"I insist that they take care of the boring financial details first," Bernard says. "Once they know they're qualified for a home loan and know how much they can afford to spend, they're free to focus on the more emotional side of the transaction -- finding the house they love."

Absolutely agree with this. How can you shop for something if you don't know how much you have to spend?

The rest of the article is blah. But I find it interesting that the article mentions that mortgage companies try to stear young couples toward interest only loans. Ours mentioned them to us too. Yucky.

Texas documented the third most foreclosure filings of any state during the quarter, 39,869, up 6 percent from the previous quarter but down by less than 1 percent from the first quarter of 2006. The state's foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 202 households ranked ninth highest in the nation and was 1.3 times the national average.

It does make you think. And the article makes an interesting point about how with all the record breaking sales in the years before, are we really all that surprised by the record breaking foreclosures?

Like my Momma said ... don't be house poor.

PS -- I'm officially a homeowner. :)