Exactly! I agree with everything you say. I don't want a bigger house than what we are paying now and that would include taxes and insurance. A huge down payment will get me the monthly payment (including the ins/tax) but maybe a 'bigger' house. Yes I want to have a home for my children. I have owned a home before and I think we were smart in our purchase then but we sold with the divorce. So I feel like I am literally starting over now. And that's ok.. It's never too late (well until I'm ready to retire). 10% sounds better. 5% could go in to savings for a down payment. It would take longer but would be worth it in the end. I think I got jumbled in my thoughts thinking if I'm constantly putting 15% I won't have room to put money into savings. I'll just keep putting all of my extra money into retirement BUT I was not calculating correctly, I can still 'save' for a house and be putting 10%. Now let me ask you this just to be clear: with the calculations that you have come up with, is that 10% of my income or 10% of our combined income? We should each be putting 10% of our pay into retirement correct? As far as purchasing items for the house, I am hearing you on that. We would end up putting ourselves back into debt to furnish a new house. That is absolutely not what I want to do and I've made my goals clear to my husband as far as not ever financing another piece of furniture or accessory again. My husband always used credit and would pay off at the end of the month because he was taught that having credit was important. That's all good until you are in an accident or become Ill, get laid off, have a baby or whatever may happen, and then you can only pay the minimum payment 'maybe'. I would hope that we would set aside 'spending' money for purchases like that -- I know there will be things we do have to purchase when we do buy a house like a fridge, lawn mower and other accessories, lol a water hose... You opened my eyes there, thanks again Bill.

Neat trick. I'm a private lender and I've seen this before. The "owner" doesn't pay mortgage, taxes or insurance but continues to take rent from a "tenant". Here, in Ontario, Canada, the "tenant" still has rights and can only be evicted with an order from the Landlord and Tenant Board and an order of possession from the Court. If the tenant is in possession under a long term lease, the tenant has the right to stay until the end of their lease. And the mortgagee usually has the right to have those rents paid to it.

rivkadr, I honestly don't think it looks that bad. It's got lots of nice neutrals, and some of the best houses I've been in have plain finishes but elegant decor. I understand that the adhesive drips on the floor are driving you nuts, but have you tried attacking them with a razor blade? Here's a totally different approach: envision this bathroom down the road when you've got the time/money to do your ideal remodel. Imagine what your accessories look like: towel colors, art, window treatments, candles, soap dispensers, etc. Now, take the budget you have for a stopgap remodel, and go out and get those things. Especially a really stunning piece of art or wall accent to hang to the left of the window. Now your eye will have beautiful things to fall on, instead of adhesive drips and bland finishes. Your time and money will not have been spent on something you are going to tear out and redo in two years. Your husband will be sooo grateful. I did this in a bathroom where we rented, and people could not believe the before and after photos. To be honest, I also painted (bm adobe dust). But I'm not sure you even need to go the step of painting to make this bathroom work on a temporary basis. before: after: (If I could go back, I'd remove the picture by the tp roll. That was there for my two year old. I'm a real believer at hanging pictures at kids eye level too, but for the sake of this example, it doesn't really look so hot there.)

I just couldn't deal with the mental stress of not having our previous home sold before beginning construction on our new home. Luckily we accepted an offer on our home 2 weeks after listing. We quickly found a rental home nearby and were there for the next 15 months while we finalized plans with our architect and our home was built. Most of our belonging stayed boxed up in the bonus room of the rental, and while it was a pain to have to move twice it was far less stressful than the possibility of having two mortgages at once. Good luck with your decision!