Suze Orman and other things

Over the weekend, I caught part of the Suze Orman Show, where she was taking calls about 1st time homeownership. Actually, I think it was a show of "calls you never heard." I didn't learn much new, but it was still kinda interesting. One caller, a college student, was receiving strong encouragement from her father to buy a home ASAP. The father, age 50, had just bought his first home just a year and a half ago, and wished he done it sooner. Suze asked the daughter what SHE wanted to do, and she basically said she didn't know what she wanted to do yet. The gist of the advice was that the college senior still has plenty of time, especially if she's not sure where she will live and work after graduation. It's a huge financial investment, and she'll have plenty on her plate with setting up her first apartment.

I've decided to try to write an essay about what I want to be a homeonwer, and enter it in a contest called The Great American Homeowner Challenge, sponsored by Wells Fargo and finishrich.com. The 350-word essay is due by Dec. 31, and I need to write about what I want to be a homeowner. I can list good reasons for buying my first home, but want to come up with a creative essay. I don't want to get my hopes up about winning (i.e. the lottery), but I think that working on this essat will help me work through my "deep-down" reasons for wanting to own a home, and that will help me with the sacrifices that I'll need to make to get there.

Last week I set up auomatic transfers for my downpayment account and my emergency fund. Felt good getting that crossed off my list.

Downpayment thoughts

Reading more info has me thinking about more ways to save for a downpayment. Things I'm contemplating include:

1) Setting up an automatic savings plan--wantto do this with ING
2) Getting a part-time job and earmarking earnings for downpayment--hesitant to take on another job right now, but would love to work on Mary Kay business, since it's more flexible
3) Sell some things--I do have some books I've read and don't plan to reread, could take them to the used book store. Won't make much, but every bit helps, and that would help get rid of some clutter. Perhaps I should look more carefully at the rest of my clutter.
4) Eat out less--I should work on bringing my lunch to work more often for starters.

How much should I save up for? %20 would be great, but seems like it would take me ages on my salary!

More aware

As I'm driving around Durham and surrounding cities, I find I'm more aware of For Sale signs. I have a feeling it won't be long before I'm turning down those streets and checking out houses and their "curb appeal." Now, this will be an interesting way to learn my way around town!

Saving for a downpayment

One of the recommendations I've read lately is to make saving for a downpayment automatic. In his The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner, David Bach says that having regular amounts taken out of your paycheck or checking accounts and put into an interest-bearing account makes it easier to save, in terms of both time and money. Makes sense, sounds elementary, really. I already have a home account started with ING Direct, one of the places he recommends, but haven't put much in yet, and haven't made it an automatic deduction from my checking account either. I think that will be one of my next steps.

Junior League Meeting

Last week I had a Junior League council meeting at a house in the Hope Valley neighborhood that was on the market. The realtor was stationed in the kitchen with info, wine and cheese, and while we waited for our particular committee meetings, we could walk around the house. It was a little unusual to have a Junior League meeting like this, but it was fun to see the house and neighborhood, considering that I'm in this mode of heading toward a home of my own. Hope Valley is a nice neighborhood, and this house has had a lot of work done, according to the realtor.

Interesting thing was that I had to get directions to the house, but didn't follow them well going home and got lost. As much as I want to learn my way around Durham, it's a little frustrating to do it by getting lost in the dark of night! Eventually, I found a street I knew, and got home.