Financial Friday

One of two very exiting financial things will be happening for Jay & I within the next week. Either we'll begin the process of owning our first home - or we'll make our final land payment!!

We've saved up enough money to pay off the land - and trust me when we finally do it, I'll blog with pictures of the land. Jay wanted to hold off though, until this weekend.

Since we live in a tourist area, the cabin market is pretty heavy around here. Its actually the kind of real estate that Jay specializes in. Too many people bought rental cabins with not enough down, expecting the rental income to carry their payments.

Given the "current economic climate" (said in my best news anchor doom and gloom voice) people just aren't able to make their payments. There is a surplus in foreclosure cabins and I'm very proud of Jay, helping people buy 2nd homes or rental properties for half of what the cabins sold for 2-3 years ago.

What does that have to do with this weekend? An entire cabin development is being sold at an absolute auction this weekend. 50+ cabins are being sold, and Jay thinks there is a chance we could get a pretty good deal.

We've crunched the numbers to figure out how much we can afford to spend. Those numbers include taxes, insurance, HOA fees, AND how much it would cost to store our current furniture. The plan is to live in one of the cabins for a couple years while saving up for our dream home, then use it as a rental property. So we'd still need the cabin furniture for when we rent it out.

All of that to say, that if we're able to get a cabin this weekend we'll have to use the money saved as a downpayment on the house. Even if that happens, we'll be able to use the savings (difference between our current rent payment and what would be our smaller mortgage payment) to pay down the land quicker.

Pros of buying a cabin:
Owning instead of renting
Monthly savings on the lower payment
taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers
Jay has agreed to get rid of Ole Gray - the couch that's older than him and passed down from his father. Its the biggest, ugliest thing you've ever seen. Fortunately, it would cost too much money to store it :D
a hot tub on our back deck (comes with the furnishings)
community pool
trash pickup

Pros of paying off the land
$250 a month extra, to save toward the dream home
owning 5.5 acres of land outright
not having to move from a gorgeous home I have taken great pride in decorating

Sounds like I'm a winner either way.

Well except for the Saturday wasted at a boring auction.

So what do you have planned for the weekend?