Big news: we’re buying a house.
If you’re wondering why the blog has been so empty recently, it’s because we’re in the final stages of purchasing our first house. And it takes a lot of patience, paperwork and … perspiration.
In the past few weeks, I’ve been dealing with:
- realtors
- lenders
- lawyers
- sellers
- inspectors
- banks
- local governments
But, everything has seemed to fall into place, and we’ll be closing tomorrow!
As a new homeowner, it made me worried when I saw the results of a new study from Wells Fargo (WFC) that says nearly one-quarter of homeowners nationwide have no savings to fall back on (via Louis).
At the same time, anxiety over job stability increased significantly (from 21 percent to 29 percent indicating jobs as their top concern) since fourth quarter 2008, the last time the survey was done. Respondents also have a significantly higher desire to increase savings while reducing debt (60 percent versus 53 percent) and pay down debt faster (53 percent versus 46 percent) compared to the last survey. Less than a quarter of respondents (23 percent) have increased their savings, but 37 percent say they have paid down debt and 12 percent paid off debt completely in the past year.
With the real estate market as bad (or good, depending on your situation) as it is, it’s scary to think of living in a home without any significant cash savings. Thankfully, we have ours. But with this new home to upkeep, we realize that it’s going to cost money (plus those dreaded property taxes).
