Where can i get info or someone that can help advise us on saving for a wedding & down pymt to buy a home?

Question

My boyfriend & i plan to get engaged next year & married at the age 23, January 2010. We want by then to have a home to move into right after the honeymoon. we both currently live with our parents so we want to start saving now, & looking for houses now ( though we won't purchase for another year). Is there someone that could help us plan accordingly? I was thinking to maybe see a mortgage broker, loan officer or real estate agent but i don't know if it is too early to contact them since we dont' plan to purchase till late 2009 early 2010. Cause as of right now we have a year and a half to save and we haven't even started yet. We just want to make sure we plan on the right track. we think he has bad credit & i dont think i have credit. I was thinking of getting a credit card before the end of the summer so i can start building some.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

1.  You should both be checking your credit reports every year.  www.annualcreditreport.com

2.  Read "Personal Finance For Dummies" and "Investing For Dummies."  Great books on getting your financial life started.

3.  It's too early to start looking at houses or talking to realtors or lenders.  You'll need good credit, stable and verifiable incomes and cash before you can buy a house.

Answer 2

WOW I thought i was the only person going through this same situation.. Here's some thing that i have learned so far........My boyfriend and I decided to get an apartment to see if we could actually live together and manage being on our own.

1) we keep track of were all our money is going, food, gas, entertainment,cars, ect.  we did that for about 2 months and looked at what we were buying that wasn't a NEED. You'd be surprized how much junk you buy.

2) We TRY to cut out fast food, maybe 2 time a week. (which stills add up). So we are in the kitchen a lot more. We do alot of FREE couple stuff instead of going out every weekend.

3)As for the wedding I have been looking at different websites and signing up for FREE services. Even though it will be 2010 before we get married, i'm receving coupons and wedding magazines already. We are trying to get all our ideas together and getting a budget that we feel comfortable with, we don't have parents that can help so we have to nip ever corner.

4)LOOK for discounts on all wedding item, get your colors or theme together and just browse the clearance section. Cut cost by printing your own invatations and thank you cards, they have invatation kits that are very resonalble and come in alot of different colors and designs, and you can personalized them any way you see fit.

For the honeymoon we are looking a differnt websites for deals on cruises and getaway trips,also if you sign up on those wedding websites you can be entered in contests to win free trips.

*we also have a "RULE" that nothing for the wedding will be put on a credit card*

5)For the house, i'm still trying to find info myself, but i work at bank so i have some info that i have learned from work, you WILL need some type of credit, credit cards are good ways to get credit but, banks want to see bigger items that you can use for collateral, such as a car, it would be great for both of you to have some established credit.

6)If neither of you have any credit it may take a year or two to get it established, and for banks to notice it. Your first credit card would probally have a 250-600 limit depending on what type of card you get and where you get it from. Your limit will start to increase once you have had the card a while and payments are steady.

Bewear of department store credit cards, intrest is extremly HIGH.(found out the hard way) as well as an annual fee just to have the card, those can sneak up on you if you have paid the card off and dont use it anymore, it can definatley hurt your credit and you wont even know it.

READ that fine print, it is there for a reason.

Try to pay more than the requried payment if not pay off the balance,that way intrest is not pilling up and you dont have to worry about another payment untill you use the card again.

Hope this was helpful.

Good luck & Congrats

Answer 3

Start making wise use of credit.  Get a credit card use it for regular expenses.  Keep the monthly balance below 33% of you limit and pay it off every month. Set a percentage of your income that you can save every month and stick with it...try 15%.

Beyond that:  Consider NOT buying a house.  I know everyone thinks it is a good investment to get into a house right away (a kind of forced savings account) but consider this.  The two of youwill be experiencing a lot of change *moving out of parents house * starting a marriage *starting careers??

My advice would be to spend some time locating a great rental, then settle into married life, careers & being on your own.  There is a phenominal amount of experience/maturity that happens between 23 and 27 years old it would be great if you could wait and tap into that experience when you go to buy a house.

Buying a home is a intermediate to long term lifestyle decision.  By that I mean it is not an investment decision and it if you purchase, you should be planning to stay at lease 5 years.

Best of luck!!!

Answer 4

Start with the basics....tracking your expenses so that you can curb them and create an emergency fund. Getting a credit card to establish credit is a good idea, don't max it out and pay it in full every month. How are you doing for transportation? Do you own cars, looking to purchase one or public transportation in your area is pretty reliable? Another question that comes to mind is your lack of savings...is it for lack of enough disposable income or spending habits? Create a budget to see how much you will need to bring in once you move out on your own.

Know your credit....why is his bad? You both haven't lived on your own so a rental would be a good starting point. Looking at houses is also a good idea because you will get a feel for what is out there. Take homebuyers ed classes and do a lot of reading on buying a house. Them mortgage people and real estate agent have agendas, they are looking to make a sale so you need to educate yourselves first to avoid ending up in the predicament most homeowners have found themselves in.