who wants to own a house?

[the_orf]

Buy mine! No, really. If you think you would like to one day own a place but think you could never afford to buy a house, take a read here anyway.

We're about to put our south Austin 78704 duplex on the market. I decided to give the improv community the early scoop.

Here's the deal: It's a 3 bedroom/1 bath (each side) duplex on Southridge Drive. We're listing it for $264K. If you are a first-time homeowner, you can qualify for an FHA loan, which means you only need to put down 3%. That works out to just under $8000.

After you buy it, you can live in one half of the duplex and rent out the other half. At current rental rates, we get around $1000/mo to rent out a side. At current mortgage interest rates, the total monthly note with taxes and insurance should be around $1800. That means the tenant is paying more than half of your monthly mortgage bill, and you get to live in a 3 bedroom pad in south Austin for $800/month.

This happens to be exactly the way we bought the house--3% down, rent out one side, let the tenant pay more than half the mortgage. We built up the equity over a few years, then used that equity to buy the sweet house we're in now. It's a nice way to break into the homeowner crowd for those who aren't exactly flush with tons of cash for a 20% downpayment.

As for why we're selling it, we decided that we want to pay off some student loans that are a psychic drain on us. We don't really want to sell the place, but we don't want the loan debt even more. So we're selling.

If you're intrigued, drop me a line.
Orf

p.s. Orf Brewing comes to the Draught House Pub (Medical Pkwy & 41st) in just a few weeks! Other posts on this forum will have more info. Get yer beer drinkin' shoes on!

[Nancy]

...and depending on your income level (not as low as you may think), the city and the state offer down payment assistance....~10K.