Wait. Let me back up.

With the last ‘Schuberts go house hunting‘ installment, I talked about how with the current house market, we had decided NOT to buy a house this spring, but instead move into a larger apartment for at least a year. Continue to save money, but have a bit more space.

The same day (or maybe the day after) I posted that, we went and looked about about 6 different apartment units (in 4 different buildings).

And it turns out we have to buy a fridge.

That never even *occurred* to me.

The many times we looked at apartments in AZ (3x between the 2 of us) all the units we looked at had fridges. Even the couple places we looked at here in CA last year had fridges.

But this time around Not.A.Single.Unit had a fridge.

hmm…

Just interesting.

I wonder if it’s a regional thing, or?

Also new in apartment hunting? One bedroom apartments as large as about 850 square feet. UnHEARD of when we looked in AZ. In fact, I think the 2bedrooms that I/we lived in were only slightly larger than that.

That was a pleasant surprise, I must say.

So, at the end of that first morning, we had found a unit that we REALLY liked. But wanted to look at some others, just to be sure.

The 2nd morning, our appointment stood us up. Wait. Let me rephrase that. Our appointment at this super trashy apartment complex stood us up.

We took that as a sign.

Around the same time, the manager of the unit we liked called and said she had other people interested in the unit and wanted to give us a chance.

So we went for it.

Moved in (mostly) March 21.

And all week we have been just MARVELING at all the space we have.

It feels quite miraculous!

Andrew keeps saying he feels like we’re on vacation.

So, we know we’ll be here for at least a year (lease) and after that, we’ll see.

We’ve been married 4.5 years, and about 2 of those years we lived in 1 room (first at Andrew’s parents’ house and then at the studio/garage). It feels so luxurious to have more than one room!

Done. Tired of it.

Here’s the latest update in our house-hunting adventure.

As of June 14 when we moved into our current place we had about enough for a decent downpayment (about 10%) in savings for the house.

My grand plan was to spend the next 6-9months furiously saving $$ so we had another several thousand.

Using the base as a down payment and also having enough saved for closing costs and some furniture purchases for the new house (we NEEDed a bed).

But, alas.

Within a month of moving we put $1100 into my car and another $1100 into Andrew’s teeth (we did get reimbursed from my work for some but not all of the dental work). Plus Italy. Plus investing in my business. Plus my employer did not give the mid-year or year-end bonus like they usually do.

So much for my grand plan.

BUT – then in October Andrew got a substantial raise. Finally able to buy a bed like grown-ups.

And we were able to save more money.

Part of my grand plan to buy a house in the spring of 2010 was falling into place …. but only part of it.

The other part was the housing market itself.

If you are so inclined, take a look at these articles and websites about the current housing market. All VERY interesting.

• Reuters : Mortgage modification fail
• Shadow Stats (about the shadow housing market)
• Zero Hedge : The Next Leg of the Housing Crisis
• Gary Fong : the U.S. Economy
• Dr. Housing Bubble : Purchase v Rent comparison

So, basically. People have stopped paying their mortgages, but banks aren’t foreclosing because they don’t want to lose the value on their books.

Which keeps prices artificially high.

Which means we could buy a house but as soon as all these should-be-foreclosed houses go on the market house prices will drop again.

Just for an idea of the house prices we’re talking about …. look at prices for bank-owned homes in Woodland Hills (Woodland Hills is a nice area, but a little far distance-wise from the heart of the city). Bank-owned. These are supposed to be the deals.

Sigh.

So – the new plan.

Our next step in house-hunting is to keep saving money and start testing the waters again next winter/spring.

In the 9 months since we last looked, rent prices have dropped dramatically. We can now afford a 1 bedroom for what we’re paying for this garage.

Yea, I know. Ridiculous.

So, we’ve started looking and have a target move date. We’ll keep you updated as things progress.

To sum up: Still saving money as much as we can and able to upgrade to a 1 bedroom apartment.

Wish us luck!

from our bedroom in the parents’ house to a tiny studio guest house at someone else’s house.

Michelle decided for a few different reasons that ultimately she did not want to move to California …. so we started looking for a 1bdrom apartment just for us.

Some of you may be wondering why we’re not buying a house – especially because that is pretty much all I ever talk/think about – and trust me, we’ve thought about it.

But – really – in California, the budget is a wreck, cuts are being made, unemployment is soaring (11+%). All these things add up to house prices definitely not stabilizing and probably still dropping in the coming year+.

With all these factors, it doesn’t really make sense to buy a house just yet.

So the plan is to live in this new place for about a year, and start house-shopping next spring.

Any thoughts?

There will be a more in-depth post when we actually move, so you can see where we will living, don’t worry.

To get an idea of the neighborhood – here is the house. Our guest house/room is the front left part of the building. You can kind of get an idea from this aerial view.

But I’ll tell you this: it is small. Small. Small. But the pros outweigh the cons. Big time.

The biggest pros are closer to work (by about half), cheap cheap cheap (<$1000 including ALL utilities - even internet and cable), and (#1 for me) .... living in this tiny place will make moving into a house that much more special.

I can’t wait.

Planning on getting into an apt sometime in May/April depending on Michelle. More on that later.

But for now …

I’d like to take this opportunity for a public thank you to Fernando and Jessica. Because they bought a house, and are inviting Andrew over to hang out (and help renovate), Andrew has FINALLY expressed an interest in buying a house. It’s taken … what? 5 or so years of me totally obsessing over wanting to buy a house for him to recognize the value and be part of the process too. It is SO nice for me that buying a house is now one of Andrew’s goals and not just mine.

But, based on the current economic situation, both nationally and specifically in Southern California, I am willing to wait another year+ as prices continue to go down (and hopefully our income+savings will go up). And the more I learn about the current economy, the more and more it makes sense.

Ex: With the CA budget in total deficit leading to more unemployment + all the mortgage/building related jobs being eliminated (more unemployment), it is likely house prices will not be going up soon.

Combine that with the fact that EVEN with prices lowering, and EVEN with the fact that my job is totally stable (so much so that I recently got a raise), Andrew and I still can’t afford more than a 2 bd condo or teeny tiny totally trashed single family home.

So, at this point, pretty much I’m just gearing up my research. I used to just go on realtor.com once a week or so to get a feel for home prices, but I didn’t feel like that was totally thorough. Recently, though, I learned about several other websites for real estate research. If you haven’t ever bought a house, or haven’t in several years – it is AMAZING how much information is online.

I’ve been spending my time on zillow.com and trulia.com

Basically using the tools on those sites to take a look at home prices, and narrow down the area we want to look. We know the general region we’re open to (Tarzan/Reseda/Encino/Sherman Oaks/Studio City/Woodland Hills/Canoga Park), but there are a million different neighborhoods there.

So, my plan has been to narrow down by where we can afford, and then of those neighborhoods look at the other factors (crime, schools, etc).

• I HATE shopping when I can’t buy something, plus our budget severely limits us in SoCal – that’s why the cost is the #1 factor for neighborhoods.

So I’ve been looking at homes up to $300,000 – assuming some of the ones in the search are overpriced and will/should drop again before we go to buy. Using info on the site to maybe think about further price drops.

(It’s kind of sad for these people to see the house-flips in the last few years. When there are sale prices only 16 months apart in some cases … sad. I could never have the stomach to do that)

(Also sad, trulia lists the recently sold homes … and you KNOW some of those people overpaid. And they are probably the same kind of people who will panic when their home value drops again. Sad for them).

Any house-hunting advice/tips are welcome.

sidenote: I miss having our own home … I overheard a couple co-workers discussing kitchen appliances.

Oh, the mundane.

But, really – talking about making waffles and about George Foreman grills and all made me wish I had my own kitchen. Our own home that Andrew and I are in charge of.

We’re so grateful to Andrew’s parents for letting us live with them these past many months, and it has been soo helpful in letting us save money as we transition to a much high cost of living in SoCal. …

… but it does lack the autonomy of our own apt.

P.S. I know we cannot base any decisions solely on what we see online. However. This is a GREAT starting off point.

To see previous installments of The Schuberts go House Hunting, please click here.

A few weeks ago, we got an email from Michelle, detailing her dilemma. The pros and cons of moving to CA, why she was still undecided, when she needed to decide, etc.

Luckily for her (ha!), I love giving advice. I happen to think I’m smart at some things and if you ask me for advice, I’m going to give it to you.

So I told Michelle basically the same thing I told Lisa:

Don’t worry about what other people think. Do what is best for YOU.

Which is true. Turns out what is best for Michelle is NOT moving to California in November. What is best for Michelle is staying in Tucson for another few months and taking advantage of a new position (for her) at work that she is really excited about.

And we’re excited for her. Sure, that means that we are living with Andrew’s family longer. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing (for us, you’ll have to ask Julie), and Michelle really should take this chance.

So as it stands now:

• Michelle signed a 6 month lease at her apt. That puts her through the training period (her new position) as well as all the overtime in April to save more $ for moving.
• Michelle will see what’s up at the end of that 6 months to decide if she would move to CA then. Although she’s going to be a great trainer, so they probably will want to keep her.
• Jay (and another real estate agent) advised us to wait until after Jan 2009 to think about buying a home. Hopefully I’ll see him in Dec at Christmas and we can talk about it more then.
• Andrew and I are going to live with his parents and continue saving $$ against the hopeful chance that we will be in a good place to buy a condo/townhome/house in the spring.
• FYI- at the risk of being judged – as of this posting we have almost $15,000 in savings (about $10,000 of which is specifically designated for the house/closing costs). Still not nearly enough, though
• Totals do not include retirement accts
• Would have been more if we hadn’t had to buy a car in the last year.
• IF we buy, we’ll definitely make sure there is a room to rent to Michelle if she moves out here.
• We may push the ‘buy’ date back, again, depending on how the market develops. Being open to renting for a year.

So, that’s that. Stay tuned.

Since we currently live in a bedroom at my in-laws, Andrew and I are constantly in a state of house hunting. Mostly mental up to this point, but options are changing and I intend to inundate you all with the developments.

A lot of people wonder what exactly we’re doing, living where, moving when, etc. If we have any plans at all or intend to mooch off of Andrew’s parents forever.

As of right now, we are waiting to find out if Michelle will be moving out here to CA. Depends on her job situation … which has several different options. Can’t really help her make any decision … especially with the economy the way it is.

If Michelle does decide to move to California, we will likely be finding a 2 bedroom apartment in the next month or so. In/around the area where Andrew works, we can find a 2 bed/2bath for probably around $1500 or so …

Spending that little on rent/etc will allow us to save (hopefully) a lot of $$ in the coming months so we can buy a place soon.

If Michelle decides NOT to move to California, we will likely be living here (SCV) for a few months more.

I have heard from a couple sources that the best option would be to wait until after the January 2009 before buying anything.

So, maybe we’ll be buying a place next spring. Maybe with more time (until then) we’ll be able to save more $ for down payment, or prices will go down even more, so we can afford a house, rather than a condo.

We’ll see.

Andrew and I don’t really make a lot of $$ for SoCal. In spite of my Master’s degree.

So any cash gifts to Andrew and I will go straight to our down payment savings account.

hint hint.

I will keep you all abreast of any developments on the housing front.

But for now, we’re waiting.