A few weeks ago, Summer Firm provided us with a "financial planning" seminar. Since most of us are going to be starting out making more money than we've seen during our lives, they thought it would be helpful.

Their advice boiled down to two things: Pay off school loans ASAP; buy real estate ASAP.

First of all, their estimate of school loans was woefully low. I think mine are even larger than others' because Ih ave gotten "budget increases" to allow for extra loans, due to child care expenses.

Second of all, their estimates for real estate prices were for 1 bedroom condos in the city. Which has crappy schools. So, they were estimating $400K for a 1 bedroom condo.

I need at least 3 bedrooms, if the place has an office/den; and 4 bedrooms if not.

Third of all, he spoke not at all about saving for kids' college in exactly 8 years (holy shit! Thing one will be starting college in exactly 8 years - unless we can convince her to defer for the sake of backpacking across Europe and having an extra year of maturity before being forced to decide what to do with her life).

I really think that the quick pay-off of loans is still applicable to me. I would like to do that. Right now, other than the school loans, I have no debt. I paid it all off before coming to school - I had a considerable amount, due to my divorce. Unfortunately, the high debt and other circumstances of the divorce (i.e., lost credit card bills that schlurg and I thought the other was paying) really did a number on my credit score.

So I want to pay off the loans, and at the same time, work to repair my credit.

But buying a house? That really doesn't seem too possible. Like, ever!!

Starting back in March, I decided to look at home prices in the area we have settled. The houses that were the size I would want (at least 4 bedrooms) were running at $1.3 million. What's worse, b/c this area is highly desirable, there were very few. Maybe 3. (Is that worse? Does it matter if there's 25, if they're $1.3 million and I live off of loans?). Condos of similar size were approx $950,000.

Today, there was a 4 bedroom condo listed at $700,000. It was also beautiful, with large windows, a beautiful view, and nicely sized rooms. There were other, smaller, 3 bedroom condos for $500,000. Those would have been $700,000 or $750,000 earlier in the year.

Hopefully, in the next couple of years, things will either hold steady, or better yet, go down.

If they do go down, I may actually be able to buy a house. Something I did not think I could do a mere 4 months ago.

Although, this week we had a "how to buy a home" seminar at work, and the Realtor informed us that June, July and August are the slowest months, and prices tend to go down just b/c buyers are on vacation, and it's too late for people to get settled in time for kids to start school in the fall, so summer prices aren't a fair indicator.

So perhaps it's all artificial, and when I do my monthly check of hte local market in September, I will once again see myself as the Permanent Renter.

posted by Zuska @ 1:20 PM

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