 |
| Not really my ideal house, but it's close enough. Picture from Pixabay |
Yes, yes, I know. It's Christmas and buying a house is probably the last thing our minds right now. But I'm actually thinking in advance for next year or the next. I am middle-aged woman of 39 and yet I still don’t have a home on my own. I’m actually still living with my relatives and that’s quite normal in my country. But still, having a husband and kids of my own, I still yearn for a home that I can call our own home. It’s still different when you’re free to do what you want and there’s no eyes looking at you.
Sometimes I would look at houses in our area and I get inspired to get homes like theirs because theirs are so beautiful and they look cozy. But having the salary that I currently have right now which is way below minimum compared to US rates, I don’t think I can own a home any time soon. So I thought of having a job offering a higher salary. There was a time in life and probably even now, I still wonder what kind of job does it take for me to afford something like a house or a car. I initially thought maybe only high income jobs like doctors or only laywers can afford good houses.
So I looked in the internet on the keywords, “can I afford to buy a house.” I wound up at Investopia’s article about being ready to buy ahouse. There were two questions raised there; one is am I ready to buy a house and second is how much can I afford. The second question is the tricky and hard one. My answer to the first question is yes, but the second one is something I have to solve first.
So I searched again on tools on how to buy a house in my current salary. I came across an online mortgage calculator and I was fascinated by its simple features. There I placed the price of the dream house I wanted which is priced at $127,000. I pressed “calculate” and then voila! To be able to buy my dream house, I need to have a job that gives me an annual salary of $29,638, which is, sad to say, an executive position already in our country.
After giving it much thought, it’s either I educate myself again and get certified to get a high-paying job or stay in my current job and get a side job like blogging, writing, or sell some goods (e.g. buy and sell). According to an article from Bloomberg, we really need to set a strategy when buying a home. Aside from the selling price of the house, expect additional costs to be paid and location is also important because it will really affect our daily lifestyle including our daily costs, more specifically transportation costs. That’s something I’d have to discuss with my husband and probably he’d give me some insights to help me decide on what direction I should go to. Maybe if we combine our salaries, that could work also.
So are we ready? Yes. How much are we willing to pay for it? Definitely less than my ideal home, but it's still under discussion. The pandemic has really hit us hard financially and I know it's not the right time to find a home, or is it? Hopefully, I could post a future article that discusses on the step by step process we would undertake on buying a house so I can share with our experience.
Comments or suggestions? Let me know in the comments below.
