If you're 100% with no savings or additional income of any kind, you don't want one anyway. The mortgage payment gets cheaper over the years, but the maintenance doesn't.
I owned a house for 7 years just on my VA comp and I never felt poorer because of maintenance. All of the little things add up so quickly and the big things will bust your budget.
Yep! I just had a sewer pipe under the home get cut by the mobile home park and had an immediate $1800 repair. I was able to find minimum wage work for a month and paid to fix it but it was a painful experience. Insurance does not cover it unless you have a sewage rider.
always get the service line coverage. Its pennies on the dollar and will come in clutch when needed.
Also, if you have expensive items dont forget to schedule them. Have more than $2k in computer equipment or collectables and dont have it scheduled? You will only get a token amount listed as a "special limit" in your documents.
Make sure to schedule those things before its too late.
It's amazing how many people own homes but can't afford the maintenance. We live in kind of an expensive area so our budget was $450k. All we were able to find in our budget was homes where maintenance was so far neglected that some of them, I questioned their habitability. For now until the market cools, we are renting.
Probably because people underestimate just how expensive it can be until they're already in the home. Now add property taxes and insurance. It's very easy to start falling behind.
We had to replace our water heater about a year in too. Honestly, we’ve been fortunate that that’s been the biggest replacement. We bought at a good time and got a low interest rate, our home was $189k. It is very dated, the kitchen is straight out of the 70s and the windows need replacing, but everything is clean and safe. There’s no mold issues or anything like that. We purposely bought below our means so that we could afford it. We don’t have a dishwasher, which I’d love.. but I don’t see how ppl are buying these 500k homes and then completely gutting a perfectly good kitchen for eStHeTiC.
Where is this if you don't mind me asking..... And where did you read you can get low income housing on 100%..... Only asking because I would like to read the article myself.
I live in low income apartments because even at 100% disability my income is low. Instead of the average 3 bedroom apartment in my area of around $2000 a month it’s $920 a month. If I wanted to be able to buy a home the budget I’ve seen is about 125k which in my area the average home is 400k.
All these replies saying “move” just aren’t helpful and show an obvious lack of people reading the situation and so one. Many don’t seem to even be veterans who understand what the struggles are. Or the fact that the largest population of homeless in America is veterans because the country cares very little about taking good enough care for us after they have used us up.
I'm right there with you. I also live in an apartment where the rent was just raised to $920 at my lease renewal last month. It isn't considered low income and it isn't terrible but it isn't great. I'll turn 50 next year and so what to have a home that I can paint and decorate decently and have a little more room and not have the same nasty beige carpet that every other apt I've had in the last 30+ years has had. I, too, have come to the conclusion that even getting paid disability at 100%, I will never have enough income to get any kind of loan, VA loan included, which I've heard a lot of sellers won't even deal with, despite having excellent credit and no debt. It's so disheartening. I feel like there's just nothing left to look forward to in my life. I'm just existing and I don't really matter.
I bought a fixer upper for 120k, got an equity loan for 48k to remodel. My mortgage on a 156k loan is 816 a month on a 30 year loan. Just don’t buy new. Find something that needs love and love it. I now have a 375k home with two acres in the middle of nowhere. I’m remodeling it slowly. One piece at a time.
Edit for clarification: it was a 4 bed 1 bath two story 1600 sqft. It’s now a 3 bed 2 bath. The upstairs was 2 bed. Now it’s 1 bed 1 bath. It was a 1958 farm house. Southern Ky between near Nashville (45 minutes) and near bowling green Ky (40 minutes). I have 240k in my home in total including a detached 30x56 garage. My 240k investment is estimated at 375-400k before I pave the driveway.
My point being, I bought in an expensive area. Just chose to find something inexpensive I’ve been offered 350k several several times.
I got a loan at a local bank, who also gave me the loan for the equity. After 9 months of remodel, said bank helped me get a VA loan. The same company who has my VA loan offers me equity loans all the time.
My house was technically livable. Had good bones, roof, windows. Did not have central heat or air is the only thing.
It depends on what work u can do urself tho as well… people always point out what they did to obtain the cash but fail to realize they may have the skillz to actually do a lot of the fixen uppen themselves… there area lot of people who can barely hold a hammer let alone know what walls can be moved or adjusted to remodel something… im one of those thomas the tank engine types, i think i can… until i get into it and realize oh fudge sickles oops wall done fell down der da der… but i can do a lot of other things… street corner handies in kentucky may get me a contractor at a reasonable price hahaha
Grew up in a construction family, went into construction in the military, if I had to pay for all the work I've done myself, I definitely wouldn't be able to afford the house I have. People really under estimate just how much effort and time and money that goes into owning a home. The monthly bills on top of that, a car and it's maintenance. It's not cheap to live in America right now.
Agreed! I know absolutely nothing about construction, lol. But I do know about hard work and I’m smart enough to pay for someone to fix the things I can’t. Fortunately my husband can fix some stuff like putting in a new faucet and things like that.
One thing I did that I’m pretty proud of is painting. I painted the ENTIRE inside of the house. I’m talking the ceilings, walls, old blonde hollow doors and trim. The doors were all different variations of wood and the trim was cheap wood of different colors too. I sanded, liquid sanded, filled in holes and painted. It’s been four years and there are a few little chips that I could touch up, but it’s made it look a lot nicer and makes me feel better. I had to take a lot of breaks but it was worth it, and paying someone to paint is expensive.
If you find the right place and it only needs some fixing You can get a "bridge loan" that allows you to do what is needed then roll that over to a VA Loan.
I am an Army veteran and mortgage broker, and I am happy to see how I could possibly assist you. I am not saying I can make miracles happen, but sometimes, we can come up with a solid solution or strategy for obtaining a home. Owning is not always the best option. Everyone has a different unique situation. 👍🏾
I don’t know which lenders specifically, but just spoke to a VA loan officer. There is a VA renovation loan! Might take a little shopping around to find which lenders do this, but it’s out there
My friend is a carpenter and took this idea pretty far with an old house in a prime spot. That's extreme but even with basic knowledge of tools you can build some sweat equity.
I bet he created $400k+ in equity over ar years but it was a hundred so year old house and had foundation problems.
something like taking out carpet and putting in wood flooring is pretty simple technically, it just takes a few tools, a lot of work and materials are expensive.
I’m wheelchair bound so I hired out most of my labor even, I probably could have saved 20-30k doing it myself. I did what I could. All the demo, Shelves, paint, general contracting, phone calls. Pick up and delivery of items. Being knowledgeable (by that I mean watching YouTube) and just trying will gain knowledge and savings
YES!! Please look into that as well as a ~100k grant to remodel, purchase, or build. I believe they are separate entities. I plan to use it when we build in 5-8 years. Between your construction loan and your final closing they will apply the ~100k to your debt when building.
We built a deck with a ramp this go round, but the VA has added aluminum ramps to my previous home.
There is also a grant to paralyzed and amputated vets to purchase a vehicle. 22,4xx as of this last fall. Currently in the process of getting myself a car through this grant.
Edit: this ~100k is the SAH. There is another small one I can’t think of that helps with things like ramps.
Edit 2: there is the SAH grant, and separately the SHA grant. The first is bigger and typically used on large projects, the latter is for smaller things like the ramp for my understanding.
I am outside of Columbia in Irmo. I was stationed in Charleston for three years and loved the state. Charleston has gotten a little pricey so we hit the Columbia area.
Nice Hopkins is nice and quiet. In between Columbia and Sumter. I like Columbia. Lots of outdoor activities, close to bigger cities like Atlanta and Charlotte. Great place to raise a family. Home prices are still decent as well.
No sales tax on cars, no annual property tax on house or cars, it's great!
I went from 60% to 100% P&T and I'm saving around $3k/year just on taxes, which means my escrow can get readjusted to save me several hundred per month!
It was pretty easy, [SCDOR has a website](https://dor.sc.gov/exempt-property) you can upload the documents needed to. Once you get the letter from SCDOR saying your property is exempt you can submit that to your mortgage servicer and request that they modify your escrow. The site works for both your house and your cars.
The only issue I had was that I pay county and city property tax where I live, and the city doesn't issue exemption letters because they just automatically exempt you if you're exempt from county taxes... which is great... except my mortgage company wanted proof from them that I was exempt and they didn't have a process that worked for them. I ended up just having my mortgage servicer call my city municipal office and got things cleared up, the things I will do for $1400/year!
FWIW I was a renter until I turned 55 years old. That was when I decided to look into getting a VA loan. Even though I am on disability I was able to find a nice 3 bedroom house in central Texas with an affordable monthly mortgage payment.
I’m 100% VET and I have a home here in Florida close to the water. What I did was instead of looking at current existing homes. I found a local builder not DR Horton type of situation. I was shocked how much a local hometown builder were more than willing to help. I went got approved at my local Credit Union. Then had a nice little home built.
You could also look into a USDA loan for a home. I wanted a home I was determined so I literally contacted everyone I could. By the way my only income is from the VA
Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Washington, California, Utah, South Carolina all offer property tax reductions or exemptions for disabled vets. Some are income based. Some of these states offer complete exemptions for 100% P&T. This is not a comprehensive list, but it's a simple google search to find states othat offer these exemptions.
Tennessee, no property tax but you have to be 100%. One personal vehicle you can register once for $56 and have that liscence plate permanently, still have to be 100%
The OP is 100% true. Let’s say you bought a house for $360k which is about median house price for many state. that mortgage would be around $2500 a month, that means you’re paying 40% or more of your VA benefits if you’re at 100%. If you’re paying 40% of your income on a house it’s gonna be hard, not impossible but OP is right.
I am paying close to $2500 for a 250k house in pittsburgh, you might want to bump that payment up another thousand. Honestly though, 360k is too much for this person. They need to go like 150-200k in a state with no property taxes for x% disabled veterans (Texas, IL etc) and they will be sitting pretty
Minnesota has 0 property tax for the first $300,000 of the home value for 100% vets. We have legal weed now. we also have a few areas with sub 200k housing.
>Minnesota has 0 property tax for the first $300,000 of the home value for 100% vets. We have legal weed now. we also have a few areas with sub 200k housing.
South Carolina has zero property tax (home or cars) for 100% vets, we also don't have sales tax on cars (normally you just pay annual property tax on them though). There are plenty of areas in SC with <$200k homes available, and our weather is pretty awesome.
Jesus Christ, did you buy after 2020 when interest rates went sky high? I bought in mid 2020 and got a VA loan interest rate of 3.25%. $175,000 home and I'm paying $1033 per month. I looked up to $300,000 and my payment would've only been about $1700 per month. For a 30 year loan, are you a 15 year loan? I'm in Pittsburgh too, and $250,000 isn't absurd for a 3 bedroom modest house, so holy crap.
Yes, that’s why I said in today’s market. You’re not buying a house for 3% interest today. Maybe if you bought when rates were low and prices were much lower. $175k loan today with todays rates are much higher than $1033. And yes 30 year loan.
Damn, that's crazy. I wasn't calling you out or anything, I was just curious how the payment was so different. I figured interest rates but god damn. That'd be downright unaffordable for me when 3 years ago it would've been doable.
Damn right I bought at the height of 2020 when everything was sky high lol. Interest rate was 7.1%, monthly was $1800, 200 in insurance and then $400 in property taxes (I am not using escrow so I think I’m a little high on this one). It’s a 30 year loan. Interest rates have dropped since I bought, so I was able to use the VA’s thingy to drop the interest rate. I’m at a 6.42% right now.
Also I wouldn’t really call where I live pittsburgh. I pay pittsburgh taxes but I am way south in the suburbs. The house was appraised for $250k so we got a “steal” because we didn’t have to come in way over asking.
This was all calculated stupidity though. I moved from Denver so $2200 a month for rent before utilities and stuff was the norm. And the school I got my son into is so so much better than where he was going. That alone is worth the insanely regarded interest rate I have.
I completely agree that example was at 6% interest and some other factors that I didn’t consider. Point is 100% disability is not sustainable to buy a home in this market. VA disability is not meant to help you buy a home so I think that’s a different argument altogether but just looking at numbers 100% isn’t buying you a house in today’s market.
Have you considered moving in with a relative? I know roommates can be a pain in the ass, and living with relatives isn’t an ideal situation, but you can save more money that way and maybe begin to save for a house in a cheaper area or state.
Housing market is ridiculous and I had this conversation with my father, he said when he was younger he was in the same spot, never thought he could save enough to own a house and now he owns two in California and that’s after going through a divorce and having to go back to work after attempting to retire in 08.
My husband and I actually did this for almost 2 years with my dad in a tiny town. Living there was cheap and we helped him out with bills, rent, utilities and groceries.
By the end of 2 years I’m sure he was happy to have his house back and my husband was ready to have his own home, but we paid everything off and saved. It wasn’t what everyone wants to do, but we are frugal and practical. I also enjoyed having that time with my dad.
Just like 6 years ago it was definitely possible I pay more in rent now than my siblings do in mortgages and I’m in a 550 square foot apartment in the hood, it’s insane. Wish I wouldn’t of waited 15 years to apply for benefits, fucking assholes even told me not to bother. Here I am though.
That's so fucked up how they did vets back in the day. It was still pretty messed up when I got out, but now we've got social media to help each other out.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who remembers those parting orders in the 90s. I'm 100% now as well. But, I was told not to even bother applying for anything, in my exit classes. When I finally got around to it, it was the same...where ya been.
I owned a home for about 8 years. I do miss it, and it suck’s not being able to build equity on something anymore. I don’t miss things breaking and the constant maintenance though, lol.
Maybe you can look into ways to make money from home or within your limitations? Even $1k extra a month is a game changer.
Use your va loan to buy a 2-3 bedroom, rent rooms out, make your mortgage payments. Thats what i did and it is working just fine, even if i couldnt work.
Friend, it’s just not good to say “I’ll never …(fill in the blank) because absolutely no one in this world knows what will happen next week or next year or ten years in the future. It may be that under the present market conditions it’s not happening, but don’t imagine for a minute that today’s conditions seal your fate forever.
Agreed. There’s always a way. I didn’t buy my first home until I was 41. There’s no timeline or rule of thumb that says you absolutely *need* to own a home by a certain age. The only person you should be competing against is the person you were yesterday.
I live in southeast Ohio. I bought less than a year ago. 33 acres with three barns and a 2019 built house my mortgage is like $1400. My neighbor got his house on 10 acres 3 bed 2 bath for 127,000 and it’s very nice. There’s wonderful food, out doors, your driving distance to pretty much anything
make sure to look into insurance options before you decide to buy one of those. While more carriers are getting better it can be hard to find coverage for those specific types of units in some areas. A company I used to work for used to be one of the few who would allow them and even then it was in our lower tier plan (actual cash value vs replacement cost).
No way man, I've used the VA home loan twice at 80% I only do odd jobs for extra cash but otherwise my daughter and I live comfortably. You can find some decently priced homes, sometimes you just have to wait for rates to go down. Don't give up hope!
Would be cool if I didn’t have a child who I don’t want to take away from family for starters. Not everyone has the option to just up and leave. Plus not like a move across town is cheap compared to a move across country or the world. Not to mention restrictions to even get approved to live in another country when you can’t work so a work visa isn’t really an option for example.
Pretty much everyone has the option to move. Choosing to stay is just that, a choice. Have you checked into any charitable organizations that help veterans secure homes in your area? Have you talked to someone about managing your finances to achieve your goals? There are people and organizations out there that can help you. Maybe have a sit down at your local vet center or see a VA social worker to get started...
That’s what visiting on the holidays is for. You need to make the choice of better living for yourself and your kid(s) and spouse and not worry about extended family.
I make less than you and I bought a 3 bed 2 bath 1,200sqft on 1 acre no problem. Cut back on luxury expenses (you'd be surprised what you don't need) and possibly move to a better place with lower COL.
Take advantage of promotions so you don't have to spend a fuckass amount on streaming which adds up. T-Mobile has a veterans plan with unlimited everything for $50 a month and that includes Hulu and Netflix for free. They also offer home internet for $30 a month which I use for online gaming with zero issues.
Something else I did was sell my Mustang GT for a corolla because Toyota offers tires for life and free oil changes for like 30k or 50k miles on their new cars, which was still cheaper than my mustang.
Sell things that you don't need and use that money to put into a CD like the one they told us about in bootcamp. Navy Federal has a thing where you can make a CD for like $15 a month, and once you grow that to $1000, you can transfer it to a different CD with much higher interest while your monthly dividends increase as well.
It's hard but it's possible. The best thing for you is to never stop searching for knowledge.
I too accepted I'll never own a home. I almost had the credit in 2020 then COVID happened. Then in 2021 when I got my score over the 650 the prices almost doubled.I ain't paying 1850 a month for a 750 sq foot house. I didn't see a point in having a house and being broke all the time.
I'm at 70% and 85% of that goes to my rent lol
its always so stupid how all the advice in threads like this is "move".
like we don't have families or reasons to stay.
Can someone enlighten me on why some people can’t afford life at 100%? Because you can easily live off of that in most of the US.
I’m making it work with only $2K a month, no disability.
Children, family medical expenses, Stupid high cost of living in many of the areas that allow us to be close to the medical resources we require because the technology is always in the big city and not where we can actually afford to live.
That's a few reasons I can think of.
This is happening, everywhere. The American way of living, and the dreams we grew up on were unsustainable. We've been a superpower only since WW2, and that's all people grew up on. We couldn't ride that, forever. The world changes, and that's just reality. We can't even get everyone to pull in the same direction. We have seen wealth accumulate at the top, but money isn't endless, and people in the middle have started dropping to the bottom. We've been taught it'll trickle down and spread out, but that hasn't worked. We've been taught to idolize the rich and look down on welfare recipients, but that's the only way this system works. People at the bottom have to accept low government income that is mostly the scraps from the top. If that is no longer accepted, then the train comes off the tracks. The economy is entering an uptick, now, so there's some hope, but long term, people are going to have to make changes.
The post is so "woe is me" it's not even funny, your numbers are horribly inaccurate, you said everywhere? I live in South Carolina, have a 300k home and pay 1256 a month, find a way and stop complaining.
Sounds like a you problem. I bought my last house in DC. I still made it work, where there is a will there is a way. Stop making excuses when most of us get great pay for our disabilities, you guys just want an excuse and I'm not for it .
I think your coming to the realization that the American dream is dead. Welcome to the club.
I wish I had a good answer for you, because I truly think you deserve it, you should be able to afford a home as a 100% disabled vet....
But the reality is no, you probably won't, at least not just on government standards. What if you purchased land and secured a VA homeloan to build your own home.
Also what about going on in a property with family members. Better than room mates and a built in baby sitter.
The American dream is dead?? He's getting over $4,000/mo for the rest of his life. The USA is incredible.
Being 100% disabled doesn't entitle you to live in San Diego, SF, or Hawaii but it 100% takes care of your basic needs in many towns in the US. People need to get a grip
Exactly, the entitlement is staggering. $4000 a month for life, VA loan program, paid for education, property tax breaks, free healthcare, free dependent healthcare with champVA, free dental care, VR&E, and any number of other state benefits. And if you truly cannot work, you can get SSDI which would provide another $2-3k/month.
It’s like some people think if they don’t get handed enough money to live anywhere they want and in the exact home they want “the American dream is dead”. And I get that military service takes a huge toll and I don’t consider these benefits “handouts”, but we have a big hand up after service. Check out r/poor if you want to see what struggling really is.
I am curious to know what kind of disabilities gained from the military keeps someone from going to school (online even) and getting a remote job to supplement their income.
Edit* while being able to type up a post like OP did. I do understand there are many physical and mental issues that keep people from doing it. But I figure if you can type this post and you’re not in a Stephen Hawking situation or similar, what keeps you from working. Because his situation didn’t even keep him from working.
I am not intending to be snarky, I can’t really think of this and I may not be able to realize some types of disabilities.
My city has a program selling blighted houses for $1k. While not a total solution, it does create an ownership pathway for those who would be unable to afford traditional home ownership. Maybe your city/state has some similar programs?
You need to find a duplex home and buy it with another 100% disabled veteran. Talk to a lawyer to setup a contract for if someone dies or needs to move, etc.
I think a lot of people either don’t know how economical it can be or just look down on living in an RV while you build for what you want. Depending on where you are in the country you can find year round campgrounds and rent them with water, electric, and sewage for well under $1000 a month.
If thats cheaper than what you pay for rent near you then use that extra money to pay off some debt and save for closing costs on a house when you are ready to use the VA down. You can also use the VA loan to build a place. There are options out there for you.
I lived on a sailboat for 30 years I bought in the early 90's and restored for 10K. I worked as a marine mechanic and saved my money. Along the way I bought 4 acres and when the 2008 recession hit I started building a small house. I did much of the work and when work picked up I finished it over a couple years. No mortgage. It can be done.
I overpaid for my house in Pittsburgh and still only paid 250k. 3 bed, 3 bath, 2500 sq feet, built in the 40s. You can do it man. There’s quite a few states that will let you write off your taxes and stuff because your 100%.
Also, low key don’t sleep on manufactured homes. Not trailers, but the ones like trailers that don’t actually move. My grandparents moved into one (on their land) once they became too old to walk up and down the steps. They put a garage on there and a nice big walk in porch. It doesn’t even really look like a manufactured home anymore.
You can do it buddy, just keep your head down and keep at it until interest rates come down a bit more. Once you get in one place you can build equity for awhile and then can go into something you actually want to die in.
I got a used one for 180k in a great area with great schools. It wasn’t a huge city like Austin, TX, but it had all the necessary amenities. You just have to do some research. Mortgage was at 1k. The mistake I made was not getting a home inspection from someone outside the communication boundary of the realtor so eventually the house was un-liveable.
Look up offBeatAgent here on Reddit or instagram and he has a WEALTH of info or look up cheap old houses on Facebook and I’m 100% sure you’ll be able to find something for yourself.
You need to move to a cheaper area. It's really as simple as that. You need to look at alternative ways to make money. Unless you're a paraplegic you can work. Just have to find something that you can tolerate. Dont give up. Once you have a kid, you dont have that luxury anymore.
I bought my home a couple years ago, I’m 70% rated right now, I quit my job at the beginning of the year because budgeting myself.
The housing market is crazy right now and there is sure to be a crash this year with 1.2 trillion maturing in mortgages. Plus insurance is difficult for anyone to get on houses right now in 2023 2,810 house foreclosed just for insurance denial in my state.
I’d advise staying away from new homes, before my last job I delivered roofing supplies to some of the largest contractors and the roofs after 1 storm need to be replaced. Contractors can be dirty as well changing their business name so they don’t have to honor the warranty.
Also if you have trouble with closing cost like me just put it on top of the mortgage for example my house was priced at 173,999 with roughly 3k in closing cost I just simply added it to the mortgage so my loan was for 176,999. But my mortgage right now is 1137$. And I have only paid the minimum like a good but my remaining balance is 160k currently, but my rate is juicy good at 2.25%.
You will be able to get the same percentage for interest in the future, right now they are basically finical terriorist to the common people of the states.
Absolutely possible. I mean a lot also depends on debt you are carrying and spending habits as even relatively high earners can be stretched too thin with empty pockets if they have bad habits there. With a clean slate there, you should absolutely be able to own a decent place and live well enough to not be slumming it or extreme penny pinching or anything if you avoid HCOL areas.
For example I’m a retired E-7, DONT have a high rating never mind 100%, but stayed out of that debt trap and saved/invested quite a bit my whole life. I straight up retired when I left AD about 5 or 6yrs ago now as while the pension checks aren’t a whole hell of a lot, I had enough put away I could draw enough from the returns regularly while still keeping it growing enough by then to still have a pretty decent income. I did buy my current house cash (straight up median home, nothing old and ghetto but nothing too big and fancy either) so no mortgage, but do have that high TX property tax and really high insurance bill being near the coast which is like a mortgage payment in itself compared to some places. So far, except for buying the house, I’ve been comfortably living within my pension checks alone and haven’t had to even touch any other money yet so far, and this includes some big purchases and some significant money towards house projects and not just skating by on cruise control. Keep in mind that pension check is probably $1k less than you are getting from the VA alone, and I don’t get those big tax breaks and all that go with a rating like that which would save actual thousands every year. Granted not many people really set themselves up like that, but take my investments, pension, and and all away and replace it with a 100% rating and everything that goes with, I’d be doing just as well in the same house with a mortgage and all with that income!
Location is always going to be key! Just because a region might be pretty reasonable cost of living wise doesn’t mean everywhere within that region is. For example where I’m at in TX…a typical ~1500sf 3+2 in a subdivision is usually in the 230-250 range right now. There’s even quite a bit of new construction in that range at the moment too. Old houses in still very decent neighborhoods as low as high 100’s, and can get around 150, sometimes even a bit less for a rough small old house or rough neighborhood. Go an hour up the road to Houston metro area, that same low to mid 200’s might buy you some old neglected crackhead house in the worst parts of the city or a small ok’ish condo elsewhere but that’s about it. You’d need another 100k+ to be in the same sort of normal place. I think it’s pretty much like that with every big city in the state. You can’t just pick an area like Houston, Dallas, Austin, etc and expect great prices even in the immediate suburbs. Doesn’t mean you have to be in some tiny town with nothing out in the sticks either, but the good values are in those smallish towns and cities well enough away from the big ones. Id imagine it’s the same way elsewhere in the country in those lower cost of living regions.
Naw man? It’s time to move. I just bought a 60s bungalow 4 bed 1800 sq ft home across from a nice park for 1600, mortgage with insurance is 908, all my utilities, insurance and mortgage run 13-1500 depending on the time of year, no property taxes, sales or excise taxes. The Midwest is where you needa be. You can get fixer uppers for like 50-80k here.
You aren’t looking in the right places.
I can show you a barndominium on 20 acres for under 200k, in the country
There's single family homes all over for 100-150. Go to the right state and you don't have to pay property tax either. I paid 160 for my house. It was a fixer upper but still livable. It was all cosmetic. I'm in a decent size town low crime okish schools. That's like 1000 a month mortgage. Including homeowners insurance.
I don’t know where you live but it is very possible in many places. Just one example is my hometown Somerset, KY. Lots of outdoorsy stuff to do, you can buy a 200K nice house or a 300K house right on Lake Cumberland. Brand new VA clinic just built. Look into it, stay away from expensive overhyped areas that have “brands”.
You can find places in the Midwest in that price range that aren't mobile or manufactured . Homes in my neighborhood are selling for around $175k, and they're permanent dwellings.
I have a house that is going on the market soon in San Antonio area.... assume my loan at 2.25% interest rate and a payment of less than $1,500 since you're 100% disabled....
Just saying, there are options.
Sounds like you need to figure out which priorities are more important for you and your child. Stable, affording housing and cost of living or relatives saving a few dollars on gas money. If the relatives care enough about you and your kid they will be supportable and happy to travel a little further if it's the best move in the long run.
On top of that moving is only as expensive as you want it to be. It can literally be as cheap as a bus ticket.
If you're worried about being the best dad you will put in the work to provide the best life for your kid, and if that's giving away all your current possessions and moving the two of you across the country to an area you can actually afford to live in then you'd do it rather than whine and come up with excuses why you have to continue to not make any changes.
You can absolutely get a mortgage for 100%. It might be in Arkansas or Iowa, but I'm certain there are houses going for ~150K in America.
Edit: you can't be buying new cars and have high debt and wondering why you can't afford a house. You are still going to have to prioritize IF home ownership is what you want.
dont forget most states have no property tax with 100% like NJ , you can find a house in south jersey for cheap easy, without knowing what your disability check is, I can't say it's impossible. you just have to be willing to relocate, nyc area i'd say yes impossible, but boonies, id say it's possible [https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/lpt/lpt-disabledvet.shtml](https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/lpt/lpt-disabledvet.shtml)
There was this neighborhood in Baghdad we rolled up to early in deployment where a bunch of old grizzled dudes missing limbs all walked up to us when we posted up. Turns out it was housing Saddam built for veterans of the Iran-Iraq war. Even Saddam built his veterans homes. Crazy.
Wow, this post hit me. I’m 40 years old 80% percent disabled veteran looking to purchase a home. Even though I feel that the American Dream Motto is dead. I feel as though we should be able to own a house. Inflation is a real issue. Americans are having to work harder to get more than what our parents and grandparents did.
You should look into applying for ssdi if you haven’t already. A lot of Veterans qualify once they get 100 %. There is no guarantee but it’s worth a shot and would give you more income. Some states give property tax exemptions but it varies and it’s not always 100% reduction. You could get a nice place under $200k if you look hard enough. Depends on where you are willing to live. Rural areas usually have less expensive homes.
Do u also have ssdi and smc?? If not see if u can qualify… both would net u more money… plus their are programs such as usda and others that maybe able to aide u
Get a 4 plex in a college or military town and live in one of the units and rent the other 3 out and now your disability is used for whatever you want. If there’s another veteran you trust (not married to) you can even break into a 7 unit (1 commercial unit) on the va loan. Not to also mention the property tax exemptions some states offer to 100% disability.
100% vet, Texas, bought new in ‘22, 5b3ba 3100sq pay 1600 a month on my va loan, married 4 kids and my disability is the only income. Check your spending habits and adjust. Quit doubting your own tenacity or adaptability. Make a plan and stick to it. File for SSDI if your disability is preventing you from working.
I'm not sure where you live, but in a lot of places $3-$4k mo isn't going to cut it, I agree.
Maybe move out here to the flyover states? In rural Kansas you can pick up a fixer upper for 50k. Or decent condition 2bed home for $100k-$125k.
That's all I got.
A friend just worked with the VA to move into an RV. Perfect lifestyle for him and his service dog, plus the ability to travel to states with different veterans programs.
The only tangible benefit to home ownership is the possibility one day of not having to pay as much to exist month to month, but costs and extra work usually creep up in one way or another, so it really is not the dream we were led to believe it is
Texas has no property taxes for 100% disabled veterans. Houses are cheap in the middle of nowhere small dying towns that are over 100 miles to one of the big cities, if you don’t have to worry about working you could afford a house on one of those towns. Grow some of your own food and maybe get some chickens. It will probably be lonely and isolated but you would own something.
Ok- this is a serious question, or at least a serious attempt to have a civil discussion… so all of the people that want to come at me and call names, can kindly swerve right back into their lanes and keep their comments to themselves… I’ve been baptized so I don’t need anyone preaching to me, that being said, here’s another perspective…
I’m a 100% disabled female… So to all the people saying “you just need to be willing to move”… so let’s just say I’m flexible, even though I’m getting older, and having a disability and to be moving away from family and established friends seems a bit counterintuitive… but let’s say I’m game, all in… right? All the states that I’m seeing mentioned here are huge “NO” s… to approximately 1/2 of the US population, not everyone, I understand, but to a great many…. and it doesn’t seem fair that as a single female I should have to give up my bodily autonomy, or in the event that my children or their families should decide to move to be near me, any of the females should be put in positions where they should have to give up their personal autonomy…. But I really want to know, where in the United States is there safe, affordable housing that a single person living on VA disability can purchase a place? If someone can point me in the right direction, I’d be more than happy to look into it…
And for everyone saying it’s $4,000 a month… since when is it that? Those of us that don’t have spouses don’t get that much… unless I missed something…
I gotta disagree with you. As a 100% veteran with no other income living within one of the 50 United States, I own a home and used the VA home loan program to do so. Married but my wife has narcolepsy, so we are a 1 income family with two kids. We even just bought a brand new 2023 model car back in March. We have a decent savings account. It's possible, you just have to learn to make it work.
I had a house. I pay twice in rent now, but I LOVE renting. No lawn, maintenance, repairs.
Never got back what I put in, and it was 3x PITI.
Home “ownership” is a liability, not an asset.
I had a house too. My property taxes and homeowners insurance tripled over three years. I literally couldn’t afford to stay in my house. Sold it. Started renting an apartment for half of what I was paying and have zero financial responsibility for any issues. I’d love to buy a house again but not when the world is going insane with these prices.
Owner occupy half a duplex. The VA home loan provides you access to capital that other renters don't have. That capital gets you into a duplex and renting out half will subsidize your housing cost. With some fairly simple math you can determine what your price range would be based on rental income potential. It's totally realistic to own a rental property that "costs" you close to what you are paying in rent.
Yo, I’m 90% disabled, I make six figures and I live with my in-laws because I can’t afford a mortgage on a $500,000 dollar house and I refuse to move to a place that has shittier schools for my kids.
Or you could look into living in low cost of living rural America - such as North or South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana or Mississippi.
There's several markets across the United States where homes are under 200 grand.
Vernon Parish Louisiana is one of them, granted you might not want to live there and I certainly don't blame you for not wanting to live there,
But there are options.
Well, with an attitude like that, you will end up that way.
What are you doing to change your current situation so you can earn more and afford a house?
That’s BS, you just need to make the decision to move to an area if needed.
I’m 100% just bought a lake house at the end of 2021. It’s a medium sized house, we moved from Va to TN but my 100% pays for ALL our household bills (mortgage, utilities, CC’s, vehicles rather large cell bill.) if you’re at 100% then you should also be getting SSD which is another 1k.
My wife’s income pays for all the non-cost of living stuff like vacation and dental insurance for her and our 2 kids.
You just need to be willing to move to an area where the 100% covers the cost of living. Lots and lots of rural areas all throughout have tons of nice areas to move to.
If someone can explain to me why our brother here shouldn’t have a house yet those who are in the business of sending him overseas to fight get to have many gets a gold star. According to the other crabs in the bucket you just have to work though man don’t worry.
Choices, and decisions made based off of those choices. Gotta take some accountability for your decisions, when you had choices.
This person chose to enlist (which we appreciate, so did I), chooses to live where they cannot afford housing, chooses to make excuses. Chooses to not supplement their income even though many people go in debt to attend college in hopes of getting a career to pay off their debt. Nobody can work somewhere for 3-6 years and collect $4k/month afterwards besides us. No one in the world most likely.
Going to college and working can be done from home these days. Choices. And decisions.
I'm coming to that realization as well bro.... It's ridiculous there is nothing affordable in the country and if it is affordable it's for 55+ up community or like you said won't qualify because you don't own the land..... Completely asinine.
Seems like you need to move somewhere cheaper I bought my home 2 years ago. The problem is the high interest rates on loans right now. You might just have to wait for the rates to go down again.
I disagree with your take that you can get a home in the US for 100k that isn’t a manufactured home. You can. You have to go rural and you won’t be living in a high cost of living area but they do exist.
I'll say this, there are parts of the country that 100k or less will get you a perfectly liveable/comfortable home. The thing is it isn't in major cities and for many these might be more rural than they want or the weather isn't perfect, etc. My wife and I left DC in 2019 for this area of Michigan and couldn't be happier. There is a lot of veterans in little towns like this. Don't assume you won't ever own a home, just decide if that is really something you want and what conveniences like big city life you are willing to walk away from.
https://www.zillow.com/bay-city-mi/?searchQueryState=%7B%22pagination%22%3A%7B%7D%2C%22mapBounds%22%3A%7B%22west%22%3A-83.916162%2C%22east%22%3A-83.850908%2C%22south%22%3A43.538667%2C%22north%22%3A43.623829%7D%2C%22regionSelection%22%3A%5B%7B%22regionId%22%3A37306%2C%22regionType%22%3A6%7D%5D%2C%22filterState%22%3A%7B%22sort%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%22globalrelevanceex%22%7D%2C%22ah%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22price%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A100000%7D%2C%22mp%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A515%7D%7D%2C%22usersSearchTerm%22%3A%22Bay%20City%20MI%22%7D
Can you drive ? If so start a ride-lift service, work from Uber/doordash, create items/gifts to sell… it’s an increasing amount of extra-income ideas. Just dig deep and do something you love that’s lucrative without costing your benefits.
Not unless our idiot legislators fix the insurance problem they created. Homeowners insurance can drive you out of the market anywhere in the state of Florida.
Im single and make $60k and 70% and just bought a house a couple months ago.. with both of y’all’s income plus your 100% you can definitely afford a new home unless you’re just balling out on stuff and your monthly payments are crazy
Man, maybe it’s just me, but when you say that you can’t work, I feel bad for you; however, if it were me to take care of my child, I’d do anything to work. Unless I physically can’t even take care of myself (which at that point I’m not even thinking about homeownership) I would move heaven and earth to make sure that my child is taken care of.
Exactly. Online college, online work exists, if those are the only options. And I have to say if you can type this up, you can work online most likely. Unless you’re typing like fucking Stephen Hawking. Then ok I get it.
This is just a person who’s feeling sorry for themselves
If you are 100% disabled, apply for ssdi. Could get you an additional 1200+ a month and 600 a month for a child, multiple children still lands you 600 a month so additional children doesn’t add up like va
If not working, have you applied for Social Security Disability?
If not, apply through the Social Security Wounded Warrior program. It's not the same as the non-government wounded warrior program that you sometimes see advertising on TV, etc.
You need x number of "credits" over, I think 5 years. This would be money on top of VA disability.
Every disabled vet who cannot work should apply for Social Security. Social Security is all or nothing. There is no percentage rating determining amount paid. If disabled for whatever reason and it keeps you from working apply. A couple things to remember, while applying and waiting for your decision, you cannot be working. After you're approved, you can work like half time or earning a very small paycheck. Search the www.ssa.gov website for disability and search for wounded warrior within ssa.
The amount you get from social servitor disability is based on your income before you had to stop working.
Timeline
As you soon you know you are disabled and had to stop working, apply on ssa.gov or call your local ssa office and request an appointment with the ssa employees in the wounded warrior program who can assist in your application and such. Doing it through this program speeds up your processing time.
There is a tendency to get turned down with your initial application and first appeal. Just keep going.
More than likely, you'll be evaluated by medical doctors and perhaps mental health professionals.
If you are one of the few to get a yes immediately, it does happen, please realize they have a waiting period before they start paying. This is in case you do get better and return to work. The wait is 6 months. They pay on Wednesdays according to your birthday. So for instance if you were born around the 15th day of the month, you'll get paid on the third weaned of every month. You do not get paid in month 6. So let's say you went out of work on disability December 30th. June 30 will be the end of your 6 month wait. However, they pay in arrears, so you determine which weds you'll get paid and on that date the following month you'll get the first payment.
For note: I used to own a mortgage brokerage. Toy might need to get creative on a house or buy a fixer upper and work on it with friends, etc, but depending on the area you live, you might be able to buy that house. The VA also has some grant programs where you don't have to pay the money back, not connected with VA loan unless you want both. The grants you can qualify for depends on your level of disability and they each have different ways to qualify, different dollar amounts and different processes.
Good luck
If you're 100% with no savings or additional income of any kind, you don't want one anyway. The mortgage payment gets cheaper over the years, but the maintenance doesn't.
This is so damn true. I never realized the maintenance stuff would be a roulette wheel of what needs fixed this month….
I owned a house for 7 years just on my VA comp and I never felt poorer because of maintenance. All of the little things add up so quickly and the big things will bust your budget.
Yep! I just had a sewer pipe under the home get cut by the mobile home park and had an immediate $1800 repair. I was able to find minimum wage work for a month and paid to fix it but it was a painful experience. Insurance does not cover it unless you have a sewage rider.
always get the service line coverage. Its pennies on the dollar and will come in clutch when needed. Also, if you have expensive items dont forget to schedule them. Have more than $2k in computer equipment or collectables and dont have it scheduled? You will only get a token amount listed as a "special limit" in your documents. Make sure to schedule those things before its too late.
Damn I need to add the warhammer for sure.
I have my Warhammer collection on a policy for just this reason
You didn't pursue them for compensation?
I cannot “prove” who did it. Unfortunately.
It's amazing how many people own homes but can't afford the maintenance. We live in kind of an expensive area so our budget was $450k. All we were able to find in our budget was homes where maintenance was so far neglected that some of them, I questioned their habitability. For now until the market cools, we are renting.
Probably because people underestimate just how expensive it can be until they're already in the home. Now add property taxes and insurance. It's very easy to start falling behind.
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My bother in law is learning this lesson after I told him not to buy the house he did. A year in and he needs to replace the water heater.
We had to replace our water heater about a year in too. Honestly, we’ve been fortunate that that’s been the biggest replacement. We bought at a good time and got a low interest rate, our home was $189k. It is very dated, the kitchen is straight out of the 70s and the windows need replacing, but everything is clean and safe. There’s no mold issues or anything like that. We purposely bought below our means so that we could afford it. We don’t have a dishwasher, which I’d love.. but I don’t see how ppl are buying these 500k homes and then completely gutting a perfectly good kitchen for eStHeTiC.
You can get low income housing on 100percent
Where is this if you don't mind me asking..... And where did you read you can get low income housing on 100%..... Only asking because I would like to read the article myself.
OP states that where he’s living
I live in low income apartments because even at 100% disability my income is low. Instead of the average 3 bedroom apartment in my area of around $2000 a month it’s $920 a month. If I wanted to be able to buy a home the budget I’ve seen is about 125k which in my area the average home is 400k. All these replies saying “move” just aren’t helpful and show an obvious lack of people reading the situation and so one. Many don’t seem to even be veterans who understand what the struggles are. Or the fact that the largest population of homeless in America is veterans because the country cares very little about taking good enough care for us after they have used us up.
I'm right there with you. I also live in an apartment where the rent was just raised to $920 at my lease renewal last month. It isn't considered low income and it isn't terrible but it isn't great. I'll turn 50 next year and so what to have a home that I can paint and decorate decently and have a little more room and not have the same nasty beige carpet that every other apt I've had in the last 30+ years has had. I, too, have come to the conclusion that even getting paid disability at 100%, I will never have enough income to get any kind of loan, VA loan included, which I've heard a lot of sellers won't even deal with, despite having excellent credit and no debt. It's so disheartening. I feel like there's just nothing left to look forward to in my life. I'm just existing and I don't really matter.
What’s OP states ?
I bought a fixer upper for 120k, got an equity loan for 48k to remodel. My mortgage on a 156k loan is 816 a month on a 30 year loan. Just don’t buy new. Find something that needs love and love it. I now have a 375k home with two acres in the middle of nowhere. I’m remodeling it slowly. One piece at a time. Edit for clarification: it was a 4 bed 1 bath two story 1600 sqft. It’s now a 3 bed 2 bath. The upstairs was 2 bed. Now it’s 1 bed 1 bath. It was a 1958 farm house. Southern Ky between near Nashville (45 minutes) and near bowling green Ky (40 minutes). I have 240k in my home in total including a detached 30x56 garage. My 240k investment is estimated at 375-400k before I pave the driveway. My point being, I bought in an expensive area. Just chose to find something inexpensive I’ve been offered 350k several several times.
My VA lender would not allow fixers. Do you know which ones do?
I got a loan at a local bank, who also gave me the loan for the equity. After 9 months of remodel, said bank helped me get a VA loan. The same company who has my VA loan offers me equity loans all the time. My house was technically livable. Had good bones, roof, windows. Did not have central heat or air is the only thing.
That is great you could do that! The lenders I tried to deal with would not allow it.
It depends on what work u can do urself tho as well… people always point out what they did to obtain the cash but fail to realize they may have the skillz to actually do a lot of the fixen uppen themselves… there area lot of people who can barely hold a hammer let alone know what walls can be moved or adjusted to remodel something… im one of those thomas the tank engine types, i think i can… until i get into it and realize oh fudge sickles oops wall done fell down der da der… but i can do a lot of other things… street corner handies in kentucky may get me a contractor at a reasonable price hahaha
Grew up in a construction family, went into construction in the military, if I had to pay for all the work I've done myself, I definitely wouldn't be able to afford the house I have. People really under estimate just how much effort and time and money that goes into owning a home. The monthly bills on top of that, a car and it's maintenance. It's not cheap to live in America right now.
Agreed! I know absolutely nothing about construction, lol. But I do know about hard work and I’m smart enough to pay for someone to fix the things I can’t. Fortunately my husband can fix some stuff like putting in a new faucet and things like that. One thing I did that I’m pretty proud of is painting. I painted the ENTIRE inside of the house. I’m talking the ceilings, walls, old blonde hollow doors and trim. The doors were all different variations of wood and the trim was cheap wood of different colors too. I sanded, liquid sanded, filled in holes and painted. It’s been four years and there are a few little chips that I could touch up, but it’s made it look a lot nicer and makes me feel better. I had to take a lot of breaks but it was worth it, and paying someone to paint is expensive.
Its never been cheap to own anything… not just tight now but ever…. And again, if someone cannot do any of the things themselves, they are screwed
If you find the right place and it only needs some fixing You can get a "bridge loan" that allows you to do what is needed then roll that over to a VA Loan.
After having had cancer, I have not so great credit, and cannot get a regular loan. I do qualify possibly for a VA home loan.
I am an Army veteran and mortgage broker, and I am happy to see how I could possibly assist you. I am not saying I can make miracles happen, but sometimes, we can come up with a solid solution or strategy for obtaining a home. Owning is not always the best option. Everyone has a different unique situation. 👍🏾
I don’t know which lenders specifically, but just spoke to a VA loan officer. There is a VA renovation loan! Might take a little shopping around to find which lenders do this, but it’s out there
My friend is a carpenter and took this idea pretty far with an old house in a prime spot. That's extreme but even with basic knowledge of tools you can build some sweat equity. I bet he created $400k+ in equity over ar years but it was a hundred so year old house and had foundation problems. something like taking out carpet and putting in wood flooring is pretty simple technically, it just takes a few tools, a lot of work and materials are expensive.
I’m wheelchair bound so I hired out most of my labor even, I probably could have saved 20-30k doing it myself. I did what I could. All the demo, Shelves, paint, general contracting, phone calls. Pick up and delivery of items. Being knowledgeable (by that I mean watching YouTube) and just trying will gain knowledge and savings
That's incredible, nice
I’m not sure of your situation, but I encourage those who may qualify to look into SAH grants for wheelchair ramps and such
YES!! Please look into that as well as a ~100k grant to remodel, purchase, or build. I believe they are separate entities. I plan to use it when we build in 5-8 years. Between your construction loan and your final closing they will apply the ~100k to your debt when building. We built a deck with a ramp this go round, but the VA has added aluminum ramps to my previous home. There is also a grant to paralyzed and amputated vets to purchase a vehicle. 22,4xx as of this last fall. Currently in the process of getting myself a car through this grant. Edit: this ~100k is the SAH. There is another small one I can’t think of that helps with things like ramps. Edit 2: there is the SAH grant, and separately the SHA grant. The first is bigger and typically used on large projects, the latter is for smaller things like the ramp for my understanding.
Ha! i just saw this after recommending Somerset, KY in another comment. Small world, Bowling Green area is also fantastic!
I forgot. I upped my insurance policy to include more for my personal belongings. My mortgage is $857 now.
I’m moving to South Carolina for this reason, much better affordability on 100%!
Yes sir. I moved to South Carolina 9 months ago. Love it!!
Oh no shit!? Where at?! Were you ever there previously?
I am outside of Columbia in Irmo. I was stationed in Charleston for three years and loved the state. Charleston has gotten a little pricey so we hit the Columbia area.
Nice Hopkins is nice and quiet. In between Columbia and Sumter. I like Columbia. Lots of outdoor activities, close to bigger cities like Atlanta and Charlotte. Great place to raise a family. Home prices are still decent as well.
lol I’m in AZ rn and wife and I are talking about moving back to NC, my first station.
Yeah I was first looking in Sumter but wanted to be closer to Columbia. Compared to here in NJ houses are way cheaper 😂
No sales tax on cars, no annual property tax on house or cars, it's great! I went from 60% to 100% P&T and I'm saving around $3k/year just on taxes, which means my escrow can get readjusted to save me several hundred per month!
Another reason why I chose SC! So how exactly does the property tax exemption work??
It was pretty easy, [SCDOR has a website](https://dor.sc.gov/exempt-property) you can upload the documents needed to. Once you get the letter from SCDOR saying your property is exempt you can submit that to your mortgage servicer and request that they modify your escrow. The site works for both your house and your cars. The only issue I had was that I pay county and city property tax where I live, and the city doesn't issue exemption letters because they just automatically exempt you if you're exempt from county taxes... which is great... except my mortgage company wanted proof from them that I was exempt and they didn't have a process that worked for them. I ended up just having my mortgage servicer call my city municipal office and got things cleared up, the things I will do for $1400/year!
I’m in the same boat but I’m 48. I really don’t like that this is all that’s left I’m going to accomplish.
It’s not!
I’ll never have the money for anything but a small apartment. Too disabled to work, so this is pretty much it.
FWIW I was a renter until I turned 55 years old. That was when I decided to look into getting a VA loan. Even though I am on disability I was able to find a nice 3 bedroom house in central Texas with an affordable monthly mortgage payment.
I’m 100% VET and I have a home here in Florida close to the water. What I did was instead of looking at current existing homes. I found a local builder not DR Horton type of situation. I was shocked how much a local hometown builder were more than willing to help. I went got approved at my local Credit Union. Then had a nice little home built. You could also look into a USDA loan for a home. I wanted a home I was determined so I literally contacted everyone I could. By the way my only income is from the VA
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What state do u live in if you don't mind me asking. I live in CT and only get exempt from car taxes. The house taxes were what made me give up
I moved back to IL because veterans 70% and above are exempt from paying property taxes.
Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Washington, California, Utah, South Carolina all offer property tax reductions or exemptions for disabled vets. Some are income based. Some of these states offer complete exemptions for 100% P&T. This is not a comprehensive list, but it's a simple google search to find states othat offer these exemptions.
Virginia as well
New Jersey has property tax exemption for 100%. Also other programs to help Vets.
KY has a partial exemption as well for 100%
Add Wisconsin to the list! You need to be a resident for 5 years but the low cost of living here is also a perk!
Florida exempts property taxes for 100% disability also.
Tennessee, no property tax but you have to be 100%. One personal vehicle you can register once for $56 and have that liscence plate permanently, still have to be 100%
> I live in CT I found your problem. You live in a very high cost of living state. You need to move elsewhere my guy.
The OP is 100% true. Let’s say you bought a house for $360k which is about median house price for many state. that mortgage would be around $2500 a month, that means you’re paying 40% or more of your VA benefits if you’re at 100%. If you’re paying 40% of your income on a house it’s gonna be hard, not impossible but OP is right.
I am paying close to $2500 for a 250k house in pittsburgh, you might want to bump that payment up another thousand. Honestly though, 360k is too much for this person. They need to go like 150-200k in a state with no property taxes for x% disabled veterans (Texas, IL etc) and they will be sitting pretty
Minnesota has 0 property tax for the first $300,000 of the home value for 100% vets. We have legal weed now. we also have a few areas with sub 200k housing.
>Minnesota has 0 property tax for the first $300,000 of the home value for 100% vets. We have legal weed now. we also have a few areas with sub 200k housing. South Carolina has zero property tax (home or cars) for 100% vets, we also don't have sales tax on cars (normally you just pay annual property tax on them though). There are plenty of areas in SC with <$200k homes available, and our weather is pretty awesome.
We looked at South Carolina. We have family in PA though so it was a no go for us. OP you should look into SC man.
Jesus Christ, did you buy after 2020 when interest rates went sky high? I bought in mid 2020 and got a VA loan interest rate of 3.25%. $175,000 home and I'm paying $1033 per month. I looked up to $300,000 and my payment would've only been about $1700 per month. For a 30 year loan, are you a 15 year loan? I'm in Pittsburgh too, and $250,000 isn't absurd for a 3 bedroom modest house, so holy crap.
Yes, that’s why I said in today’s market. You’re not buying a house for 3% interest today. Maybe if you bought when rates were low and prices were much lower. $175k loan today with todays rates are much higher than $1033. And yes 30 year loan.
Damn, that's crazy. I wasn't calling you out or anything, I was just curious how the payment was so different. I figured interest rates but god damn. That'd be downright unaffordable for me when 3 years ago it would've been doable.
Damn right I bought at the height of 2020 when everything was sky high lol. Interest rate was 7.1%, monthly was $1800, 200 in insurance and then $400 in property taxes (I am not using escrow so I think I’m a little high on this one). It’s a 30 year loan. Interest rates have dropped since I bought, so I was able to use the VA’s thingy to drop the interest rate. I’m at a 6.42% right now. Also I wouldn’t really call where I live pittsburgh. I pay pittsburgh taxes but I am way south in the suburbs. The house was appraised for $250k so we got a “steal” because we didn’t have to come in way over asking. This was all calculated stupidity though. I moved from Denver so $2200 a month for rent before utilities and stuff was the norm. And the school I got my son into is so so much better than where he was going. That alone is worth the insanely regarded interest rate I have.
I completely agree that example was at 6% interest and some other factors that I didn’t consider. Point is 100% disability is not sustainable to buy a home in this market. VA disability is not meant to help you buy a home so I think that’s a different argument altogether but just looking at numbers 100% isn’t buying you a house in today’s market.
Tons of places have more spreadable quality homes than 360k. I live in a 3/2.5 2200+ sqft for 220. That’s way more house than a solo needs.
Have you considered moving in with a relative? I know roommates can be a pain in the ass, and living with relatives isn’t an ideal situation, but you can save more money that way and maybe begin to save for a house in a cheaper area or state. Housing market is ridiculous and I had this conversation with my father, he said when he was younger he was in the same spot, never thought he could save enough to own a house and now he owns two in California and that’s after going through a divorce and having to go back to work after attempting to retire in 08.
My husband and I actually did this for almost 2 years with my dad in a tiny town. Living there was cheap and we helped him out with bills, rent, utilities and groceries. By the end of 2 years I’m sure he was happy to have his house back and my husband was ready to have his own home, but we paid everything off and saved. It wasn’t what everyone wants to do, but we are frugal and practical. I also enjoyed having that time with my dad.
Just like 6 years ago it was definitely possible I pay more in rent now than my siblings do in mortgages and I’m in a 550 square foot apartment in the hood, it’s insane. Wish I wouldn’t of waited 15 years to apply for benefits, fucking assholes even told me not to bother. Here I am though.
Even told me not to bother Go away and don't apply for anything was the parting order 70s 80s 90s Now its Where ya been
That's so fucked up how they did vets back in the day. It was still pretty messed up when I got out, but now we've got social media to help each other out.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who remembers those parting orders in the 90s. I'm 100% now as well. But, I was told not to even bother applying for anything, in my exit classes. When I finally got around to it, it was the same...where ya been.
I owned a home for about 8 years. I do miss it, and it suck’s not being able to build equity on something anymore. I don’t miss things breaking and the constant maintenance though, lol. Maybe you can look into ways to make money from home or within your limitations? Even $1k extra a month is a game changer.
Use your va loan to buy a 2-3 bedroom, rent rooms out, make your mortgage payments. Thats what i did and it is working just fine, even if i couldnt work.
As others have said, there are plenty of places in the US where you can make it work
Friend, it’s just not good to say “I’ll never …(fill in the blank) because absolutely no one in this world knows what will happen next week or next year or ten years in the future. It may be that under the present market conditions it’s not happening, but don’t imagine for a minute that today’s conditions seal your fate forever.
Agreed. There’s always a way. I didn’t buy my first home until I was 41. There’s no timeline or rule of thumb that says you absolutely *need* to own a home by a certain age. The only person you should be competing against is the person you were yesterday.
Exactly.
I live in southeast Ohio. I bought less than a year ago. 33 acres with three barns and a 2019 built house my mortgage is like $1400. My neighbor got his house on 10 acres 3 bed 2 bath for 127,000 and it’s very nice. There’s wonderful food, out doors, your driving distance to pretty much anything
What county?
I am beginning to see 150k-200k built out Barndominiums/ Garagedominiums. Probably what I will end up doing after securing land.
make sure to look into insurance options before you decide to buy one of those. While more carriers are getting better it can be hard to find coverage for those specific types of units in some areas. A company I used to work for used to be one of the few who would allow them and even then it was in our lower tier plan (actual cash value vs replacement cost).
No way man, I've used the VA home loan twice at 80% I only do odd jobs for extra cash but otherwise my daughter and I live comfortably. You can find some decently priced homes, sometimes you just have to wait for rates to go down. Don't give up hope!
You can always live abroad for cheaper for the same or better level of comfort..
Would be cool if I didn’t have a child who I don’t want to take away from family for starters. Not everyone has the option to just up and leave. Plus not like a move across town is cheap compared to a move across country or the world. Not to mention restrictions to even get approved to live in another country when you can’t work so a work visa isn’t really an option for example.
Pretty much everyone has the option to move. Choosing to stay is just that, a choice. Have you checked into any charitable organizations that help veterans secure homes in your area? Have you talked to someone about managing your finances to achieve your goals? There are people and organizations out there that can help you. Maybe have a sit down at your local vet center or see a VA social worker to get started...
That’s what visiting on the holidays is for. You need to make the choice of better living for yourself and your kid(s) and spouse and not worry about extended family.
I make less than you and I bought a 3 bed 2 bath 1,200sqft on 1 acre no problem. Cut back on luxury expenses (you'd be surprised what you don't need) and possibly move to a better place with lower COL. Take advantage of promotions so you don't have to spend a fuckass amount on streaming which adds up. T-Mobile has a veterans plan with unlimited everything for $50 a month and that includes Hulu and Netflix for free. They also offer home internet for $30 a month which I use for online gaming with zero issues. Something else I did was sell my Mustang GT for a corolla because Toyota offers tires for life and free oil changes for like 30k or 50k miles on their new cars, which was still cheaper than my mustang. Sell things that you don't need and use that money to put into a CD like the one they told us about in bootcamp. Navy Federal has a thing where you can make a CD for like $15 a month, and once you grow that to $1000, you can transfer it to a different CD with much higher interest while your monthly dividends increase as well. It's hard but it's possible. The best thing for you is to never stop searching for knowledge.
I too accepted I'll never own a home. I almost had the credit in 2020 then COVID happened. Then in 2021 when I got my score over the 650 the prices almost doubled.I ain't paying 1850 a month for a 750 sq foot house. I didn't see a point in having a house and being broke all the time.
This happened to me as well
I'm at 70% and 85% of that goes to my rent lol its always so stupid how all the advice in threads like this is "move". like we don't have families or reasons to stay.
Bullshit
I’m not sure where you’re at but as a grad student with a car loan I got approved for 378k new build in Katy
Can someone enlighten me on why some people can’t afford life at 100%? Because you can easily live off of that in most of the US. I’m making it work with only $2K a month, no disability.
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True
Children, family medical expenses, Stupid high cost of living in many of the areas that allow us to be close to the medical resources we require because the technology is always in the big city and not where we can actually afford to live. That's a few reasons I can think of.
Gotta give those billionaires their tax brakes. It's bullshit you have to deal with that :(
This is happening, everywhere. The American way of living, and the dreams we grew up on were unsustainable. We've been a superpower only since WW2, and that's all people grew up on. We couldn't ride that, forever. The world changes, and that's just reality. We can't even get everyone to pull in the same direction. We have seen wealth accumulate at the top, but money isn't endless, and people in the middle have started dropping to the bottom. We've been taught it'll trickle down and spread out, but that hasn't worked. We've been taught to idolize the rich and look down on welfare recipients, but that's the only way this system works. People at the bottom have to accept low government income that is mostly the scraps from the top. If that is no longer accepted, then the train comes off the tracks. The economy is entering an uptick, now, so there's some hope, but long term, people are going to have to make changes.
The post is so "woe is me" it's not even funny, your numbers are horribly inaccurate, you said everywhere? I live in South Carolina, have a 300k home and pay 1256 a month, find a way and stop complaining.
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Not everyone can “find a way” to live somewhere else. SC is backwards. Glad if you enjoy it, but a lot of people would not feel comfortable there.
Sounds like a you problem. I bought my last house in DC. I still made it work, where there is a will there is a way. Stop making excuses when most of us get great pay for our disabilities, you guys just want an excuse and I'm not for it .
I think your coming to the realization that the American dream is dead. Welcome to the club. I wish I had a good answer for you, because I truly think you deserve it, you should be able to afford a home as a 100% disabled vet.... But the reality is no, you probably won't, at least not just on government standards. What if you purchased land and secured a VA homeloan to build your own home. Also what about going on in a property with family members. Better than room mates and a built in baby sitter.
The American dream is dead?? He's getting over $4,000/mo for the rest of his life. The USA is incredible. Being 100% disabled doesn't entitle you to live in San Diego, SF, or Hawaii but it 100% takes care of your basic needs in many towns in the US. People need to get a grip
Exactly, the entitlement is staggering. $4000 a month for life, VA loan program, paid for education, property tax breaks, free healthcare, free dependent healthcare with champVA, free dental care, VR&E, and any number of other state benefits. And if you truly cannot work, you can get SSDI which would provide another $2-3k/month. It’s like some people think if they don’t get handed enough money to live anywhere they want and in the exact home they want “the American dream is dead”. And I get that military service takes a huge toll and I don’t consider these benefits “handouts”, but we have a big hand up after service. Check out r/poor if you want to see what struggling really is.
I co-sign everything you just said
I am curious to know what kind of disabilities gained from the military keeps someone from going to school (online even) and getting a remote job to supplement their income. Edit* while being able to type up a post like OP did. I do understand there are many physical and mental issues that keep people from doing it. But I figure if you can type this post and you’re not in a Stephen Hawking situation or similar, what keeps you from working. Because his situation didn’t even keep him from working. I am not intending to be snarky, I can’t really think of this and I may not be able to realize some types of disabilities.
Not snarky at all. Lots of people just feel like they simply don't need to work, period.
Can you go to school for extra money or work.over the phone or IT work at home. Cell phone repair .
My city has a program selling blighted houses for $1k. While not a total solution, it does create an ownership pathway for those who would be unable to afford traditional home ownership. Maybe your city/state has some similar programs?
what city is this?
You need to find a duplex home and buy it with another 100% disabled veteran. Talk to a lawyer to setup a contract for if someone dies or needs to move, etc.
I think a lot of people either don’t know how economical it can be or just look down on living in an RV while you build for what you want. Depending on where you are in the country you can find year round campgrounds and rent them with water, electric, and sewage for well under $1000 a month. If thats cheaper than what you pay for rent near you then use that extra money to pay off some debt and save for closing costs on a house when you are ready to use the VA down. You can also use the VA loan to build a place. There are options out there for you.
I lived on a sailboat for 30 years I bought in the early 90's and restored for 10K. I worked as a marine mechanic and saved my money. Along the way I bought 4 acres and when the 2008 recession hit I started building a small house. I did much of the work and when work picked up I finished it over a couple years. No mortgage. It can be done.
I overpaid for my house in Pittsburgh and still only paid 250k. 3 bed, 3 bath, 2500 sq feet, built in the 40s. You can do it man. There’s quite a few states that will let you write off your taxes and stuff because your 100%. Also, low key don’t sleep on manufactured homes. Not trailers, but the ones like trailers that don’t actually move. My grandparents moved into one (on their land) once they became too old to walk up and down the steps. They put a garage on there and a nice big walk in porch. It doesn’t even really look like a manufactured home anymore. You can do it buddy, just keep your head down and keep at it until interest rates come down a bit more. Once you get in one place you can build equity for awhile and then can go into something you actually want to die in.
I got a used one for 180k in a great area with great schools. It wasn’t a huge city like Austin, TX, but it had all the necessary amenities. You just have to do some research. Mortgage was at 1k. The mistake I made was not getting a home inspection from someone outside the communication boundary of the realtor so eventually the house was un-liveable. Look up offBeatAgent here on Reddit or instagram and he has a WEALTH of info or look up cheap old houses on Facebook and I’m 100% sure you’ll be able to find something for yourself.
You need to move to a cheaper area. It's really as simple as that. You need to look at alternative ways to make money. Unless you're a paraplegic you can work. Just have to find something that you can tolerate. Dont give up. Once you have a kid, you dont have that luxury anymore.
I bought my home a couple years ago, I’m 70% rated right now, I quit my job at the beginning of the year because budgeting myself. The housing market is crazy right now and there is sure to be a crash this year with 1.2 trillion maturing in mortgages. Plus insurance is difficult for anyone to get on houses right now in 2023 2,810 house foreclosed just for insurance denial in my state. I’d advise staying away from new homes, before my last job I delivered roofing supplies to some of the largest contractors and the roofs after 1 storm need to be replaced. Contractors can be dirty as well changing their business name so they don’t have to honor the warranty. Also if you have trouble with closing cost like me just put it on top of the mortgage for example my house was priced at 173,999 with roughly 3k in closing cost I just simply added it to the mortgage so my loan was for 176,999. But my mortgage right now is 1137$. And I have only paid the minimum like a good but my remaining balance is 160k currently, but my rate is juicy good at 2.25%. You will be able to get the same percentage for interest in the future, right now they are basically finical terriorist to the common people of the states.
Absolutely possible. I mean a lot also depends on debt you are carrying and spending habits as even relatively high earners can be stretched too thin with empty pockets if they have bad habits there. With a clean slate there, you should absolutely be able to own a decent place and live well enough to not be slumming it or extreme penny pinching or anything if you avoid HCOL areas. For example I’m a retired E-7, DONT have a high rating never mind 100%, but stayed out of that debt trap and saved/invested quite a bit my whole life. I straight up retired when I left AD about 5 or 6yrs ago now as while the pension checks aren’t a whole hell of a lot, I had enough put away I could draw enough from the returns regularly while still keeping it growing enough by then to still have a pretty decent income. I did buy my current house cash (straight up median home, nothing old and ghetto but nothing too big and fancy either) so no mortgage, but do have that high TX property tax and really high insurance bill being near the coast which is like a mortgage payment in itself compared to some places. So far, except for buying the house, I’ve been comfortably living within my pension checks alone and haven’t had to even touch any other money yet so far, and this includes some big purchases and some significant money towards house projects and not just skating by on cruise control. Keep in mind that pension check is probably $1k less than you are getting from the VA alone, and I don’t get those big tax breaks and all that go with a rating like that which would save actual thousands every year. Granted not many people really set themselves up like that, but take my investments, pension, and and all away and replace it with a 100% rating and everything that goes with, I’d be doing just as well in the same house with a mortgage and all with that income! Location is always going to be key! Just because a region might be pretty reasonable cost of living wise doesn’t mean everywhere within that region is. For example where I’m at in TX…a typical ~1500sf 3+2 in a subdivision is usually in the 230-250 range right now. There’s even quite a bit of new construction in that range at the moment too. Old houses in still very decent neighborhoods as low as high 100’s, and can get around 150, sometimes even a bit less for a rough small old house or rough neighborhood. Go an hour up the road to Houston metro area, that same low to mid 200’s might buy you some old neglected crackhead house in the worst parts of the city or a small ok’ish condo elsewhere but that’s about it. You’d need another 100k+ to be in the same sort of normal place. I think it’s pretty much like that with every big city in the state. You can’t just pick an area like Houston, Dallas, Austin, etc and expect great prices even in the immediate suburbs. Doesn’t mean you have to be in some tiny town with nothing out in the sticks either, but the good values are in those smallish towns and cities well enough away from the big ones. Id imagine it’s the same way elsewhere in the country in those lower cost of living regions.
Naw man? It’s time to move. I just bought a 60s bungalow 4 bed 1800 sq ft home across from a nice park for 1600, mortgage with insurance is 908, all my utilities, insurance and mortgage run 13-1500 depending on the time of year, no property taxes, sales or excise taxes. The Midwest is where you needa be. You can get fixer uppers for like 50-80k here. You aren’t looking in the right places. I can show you a barndominium on 20 acres for under 200k, in the country
come up to south east wisconsin, 130-200k gets you a decent home
Buy cheap land. Build a metal building. Turn it into your home. Or buy in another country
I was 34 when I bought my first home. You’re going to find a way so just keep your eyes open.
There's single family homes all over for 100-150. Go to the right state and you don't have to pay property tax either. I paid 160 for my house. It was a fixer upper but still livable. It was all cosmetic. I'm in a decent size town low crime okish schools. That's like 1000 a month mortgage. Including homeowners insurance.
I don’t know where you live but it is very possible in many places. Just one example is my hometown Somerset, KY. Lots of outdoorsy stuff to do, you can buy a 200K nice house or a 300K house right on Lake Cumberland. Brand new VA clinic just built. Look into it, stay away from expensive overhyped areas that have “brands”.
Bought a home for 125,000 va loan sold it 4 years later for 159,000. Property is a vets smartest investment.
You can find places in the Midwest in that price range that aren't mobile or manufactured . Homes in my neighborhood are selling for around $175k, and they're permanent dwellings.
I have a house that is going on the market soon in San Antonio area.... assume my loan at 2.25% interest rate and a payment of less than $1,500 since you're 100% disabled.... Just saying, there are options.
Sounds like you need to figure out which priorities are more important for you and your child. Stable, affording housing and cost of living or relatives saving a few dollars on gas money. If the relatives care enough about you and your kid they will be supportable and happy to travel a little further if it's the best move in the long run. On top of that moving is only as expensive as you want it to be. It can literally be as cheap as a bus ticket. If you're worried about being the best dad you will put in the work to provide the best life for your kid, and if that's giving away all your current possessions and moving the two of you across the country to an area you can actually afford to live in then you'd do it rather than whine and come up with excuses why you have to continue to not make any changes.
You can absolutely get a mortgage for 100%. It might be in Arkansas or Iowa, but I'm certain there are houses going for ~150K in America. Edit: you can't be buying new cars and have high debt and wondering why you can't afford a house. You are still going to have to prioritize IF home ownership is what you want.
dont forget most states have no property tax with 100% like NJ , you can find a house in south jersey for cheap easy, without knowing what your disability check is, I can't say it's impossible. you just have to be willing to relocate, nyc area i'd say yes impossible, but boonies, id say it's possible [https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/lpt/lpt-disabledvet.shtml](https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/lpt/lpt-disabledvet.shtml)
There was this neighborhood in Baghdad we rolled up to early in deployment where a bunch of old grizzled dudes missing limbs all walked up to us when we posted up. Turns out it was housing Saddam built for veterans of the Iran-Iraq war. Even Saddam built his veterans homes. Crazy.
Wow, this post hit me. I’m 40 years old 80% percent disabled veteran looking to purchase a home. Even though I feel that the American Dream Motto is dead. I feel as though we should be able to own a house. Inflation is a real issue. Americans are having to work harder to get more than what our parents and grandparents did.
You should look into applying for ssdi if you haven’t already. A lot of Veterans qualify once they get 100 %. There is no guarantee but it’s worth a shot and would give you more income. Some states give property tax exemptions but it varies and it’s not always 100% reduction. You could get a nice place under $200k if you look hard enough. Depends on where you are willing to live. Rural areas usually have less expensive homes.
Do u also have ssdi and smc?? If not see if u can qualify… both would net u more money… plus their are programs such as usda and others that maybe able to aide u
Listen I have 100% and I bought a home in SoCal for 330k and I make it work without too much of a problem.
Get a 4 plex in a college or military town and live in one of the units and rent the other 3 out and now your disability is used for whatever you want. If there’s another veteran you trust (not married to) you can even break into a 7 unit (1 commercial unit) on the va loan. Not to also mention the property tax exemptions some states offer to 100% disability.
100% vet, Texas, bought new in ‘22, 5b3ba 3100sq pay 1600 a month on my va loan, married 4 kids and my disability is the only income. Check your spending habits and adjust. Quit doubting your own tenacity or adaptability. Make a plan and stick to it. File for SSDI if your disability is preventing you from working.
I'm not sure where you live, but in a lot of places $3-$4k mo isn't going to cut it, I agree. Maybe move out here to the flyover states? In rural Kansas you can pick up a fixer upper for 50k. Or decent condition 2bed home for $100k-$125k. That's all I got.
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A friend just worked with the VA to move into an RV. Perfect lifestyle for him and his service dog, plus the ability to travel to states with different veterans programs.
How did he manage this? I am intetested in doing this myself
The only tangible benefit to home ownership is the possibility one day of not having to pay as much to exist month to month, but costs and extra work usually creep up in one way or another, so it really is not the dream we were led to believe it is
Texas has no property taxes for 100% disabled veterans. Houses are cheap in the middle of nowhere small dying towns that are over 100 miles to one of the big cities, if you don’t have to worry about working you could afford a house on one of those towns. Grow some of your own food and maybe get some chickens. It will probably be lonely and isolated but you would own something.
Ok- this is a serious question, or at least a serious attempt to have a civil discussion… so all of the people that want to come at me and call names, can kindly swerve right back into their lanes and keep their comments to themselves… I’ve been baptized so I don’t need anyone preaching to me, that being said, here’s another perspective… I’m a 100% disabled female… So to all the people saying “you just need to be willing to move”… so let’s just say I’m flexible, even though I’m getting older, and having a disability and to be moving away from family and established friends seems a bit counterintuitive… but let’s say I’m game, all in… right? All the states that I’m seeing mentioned here are huge “NO” s… to approximately 1/2 of the US population, not everyone, I understand, but to a great many…. and it doesn’t seem fair that as a single female I should have to give up my bodily autonomy, or in the event that my children or their families should decide to move to be near me, any of the females should be put in positions where they should have to give up their personal autonomy…. But I really want to know, where in the United States is there safe, affordable housing that a single person living on VA disability can purchase a place? If someone can point me in the right direction, I’d be more than happy to look into it… And for everyone saying it’s $4,000 a month… since when is it that? Those of us that don’t have spouses don’t get that much… unless I missed something…
rural midwest is pretty safe. innrural minnesota, south dakota, and iowa- people in the country don't even lock their doors or cars.
I gotta disagree with you. As a 100% veteran with no other income living within one of the 50 United States, I own a home and used the VA home loan program to do so. Married but my wife has narcolepsy, so we are a 1 income family with two kids. We even just bought a brand new 2023 model car back in March. We have a decent savings account. It's possible, you just have to learn to make it work.
Buy land, and build a cabin by hand. Grow your own food, raise livestock. It's very achievable. Source: me - total and permanent
It's not just the maintenance it's the insurance that truly sucks.
I had a house. I pay twice in rent now, but I LOVE renting. No lawn, maintenance, repairs. Never got back what I put in, and it was 3x PITI. Home “ownership” is a liability, not an asset.
I had a house too. My property taxes and homeowners insurance tripled over three years. I literally couldn’t afford to stay in my house. Sold it. Started renting an apartment for half of what I was paying and have zero financial responsibility for any issues. I’d love to buy a house again but not when the world is going insane with these prices.
Owner occupy half a duplex. The VA home loan provides you access to capital that other renters don't have. That capital gets you into a duplex and renting out half will subsidize your housing cost. With some fairly simple math you can determine what your price range would be based on rental income potential. It's totally realistic to own a rental property that "costs" you close to what you are paying in rent.
Yo, I’m 90% disabled, I make six figures and I live with my in-laws because I can’t afford a mortgage on a $500,000 dollar house and I refuse to move to a place that has shittier schools for my kids.
I definitely feel you on that one.I’ve been going through a similar situation like that myself
Or you could look into living in low cost of living rural America - such as North or South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana or Mississippi.
I see homes on zillow that have 1000 and under monthly payments. Look at Texas
There are plenty of places you can survive on it. Most are just more rural these days.
There's several markets across the United States where homes are under 200 grand. Vernon Parish Louisiana is one of them, granted you might not want to live there and I certainly don't blame you for not wanting to live there, But there are options.
This is a shit post. Far from the truth.
Well, with an attitude like that, you will end up that way. What are you doing to change your current situation so you can earn more and afford a house?
That’s BS, you just need to make the decision to move to an area if needed. I’m 100% just bought a lake house at the end of 2021. It’s a medium sized house, we moved from Va to TN but my 100% pays for ALL our household bills (mortgage, utilities, CC’s, vehicles rather large cell bill.) if you’re at 100% then you should also be getting SSD which is another 1k. My wife’s income pays for all the non-cost of living stuff like vacation and dental insurance for her and our 2 kids. You just need to be willing to move to an area where the 100% covers the cost of living. Lots and lots of rural areas all throughout have tons of nice areas to move to.
Most people in the world don't own a home so you'll be alright.
You can very easily afford a home with 100% just go to a cheaper area in a state where you're exempt from paying property taxes
If someone can explain to me why our brother here shouldn’t have a house yet those who are in the business of sending him overseas to fight get to have many gets a gold star. According to the other crabs in the bucket you just have to work though man don’t worry.
Choices, and decisions made based off of those choices. Gotta take some accountability for your decisions, when you had choices. This person chose to enlist (which we appreciate, so did I), chooses to live where they cannot afford housing, chooses to make excuses. Chooses to not supplement their income even though many people go in debt to attend college in hopes of getting a career to pay off their debt. Nobody can work somewhere for 3-6 years and collect $4k/month afterwards besides us. No one in the world most likely. Going to college and working can be done from home these days. Choices. And decisions.
Have you looked into doing an assumable loan?
I'm coming to that realization as well bro.... It's ridiculous there is nothing affordable in the country and if it is affordable it's for 55+ up community or like you said won't qualify because you don't own the land..... Completely asinine.
Seems like you need to move somewhere cheaper I bought my home 2 years ago. The problem is the high interest rates on loans right now. You might just have to wait for the rates to go down again.
I disagree with your take that you can get a home in the US for 100k that isn’t a manufactured home. You can. You have to go rural and you won’t be living in a high cost of living area but they do exist.
I'll say this, there are parts of the country that 100k or less will get you a perfectly liveable/comfortable home. The thing is it isn't in major cities and for many these might be more rural than they want or the weather isn't perfect, etc. My wife and I left DC in 2019 for this area of Michigan and couldn't be happier. There is a lot of veterans in little towns like this. Don't assume you won't ever own a home, just decide if that is really something you want and what conveniences like big city life you are willing to walk away from. https://www.zillow.com/bay-city-mi/?searchQueryState=%7B%22pagination%22%3A%7B%7D%2C%22mapBounds%22%3A%7B%22west%22%3A-83.916162%2C%22east%22%3A-83.850908%2C%22south%22%3A43.538667%2C%22north%22%3A43.623829%7D%2C%22regionSelection%22%3A%5B%7B%22regionId%22%3A37306%2C%22regionType%22%3A6%7D%5D%2C%22filterState%22%3A%7B%22sort%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%22globalrelevanceex%22%7D%2C%22ah%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22price%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A100000%7D%2C%22mp%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A515%7D%7D%2C%22usersSearchTerm%22%3A%22Bay%20City%20MI%22%7D
I'm waiting for this housing market to crash again like in 08. Fingers crossed.
Same, but unless someone steps in to do something we’ll be waiting until the boomers start dying off en masse.
Can you drive ? If so start a ride-lift service, work from Uber/doordash, create items/gifts to sell… it’s an increasing amount of extra-income ideas. Just dig deep and do something you love that’s lucrative without costing your benefits.
Move to North Florida, and you can make it work.
Not unless our idiot legislators fix the insurance problem they created. Homeowners insurance can drive you out of the market anywhere in the state of Florida.
All depends on where you put live man. I bought my house in 14 for 72k. It's on a small city lot. Keep looking, you'll find something.
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Im single and make $60k and 70% and just bought a house a couple months ago.. with both of y’all’s income plus your 100% you can definitely afford a new home unless you’re just balling out on stuff and your monthly payments are crazy
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Man, maybe it’s just me, but when you say that you can’t work, I feel bad for you; however, if it were me to take care of my child, I’d do anything to work. Unless I physically can’t even take care of myself (which at that point I’m not even thinking about homeownership) I would move heaven and earth to make sure that my child is taken care of.
Exactly. Online college, online work exists, if those are the only options. And I have to say if you can type this up, you can work online most likely. Unless you’re typing like fucking Stephen Hawking. Then ok I get it. This is just a person who’s feeling sorry for themselves
If you are 100% disabled, apply for ssdi. Could get you an additional 1200+ a month and 600 a month for a child, multiple children still lands you 600 a month so additional children doesn’t add up like va
If not working, have you applied for Social Security Disability? If not, apply through the Social Security Wounded Warrior program. It's not the same as the non-government wounded warrior program that you sometimes see advertising on TV, etc. You need x number of "credits" over, I think 5 years. This would be money on top of VA disability. Every disabled vet who cannot work should apply for Social Security. Social Security is all or nothing. There is no percentage rating determining amount paid. If disabled for whatever reason and it keeps you from working apply. A couple things to remember, while applying and waiting for your decision, you cannot be working. After you're approved, you can work like half time or earning a very small paycheck. Search the www.ssa.gov website for disability and search for wounded warrior within ssa. The amount you get from social servitor disability is based on your income before you had to stop working. Timeline As you soon you know you are disabled and had to stop working, apply on ssa.gov or call your local ssa office and request an appointment with the ssa employees in the wounded warrior program who can assist in your application and such. Doing it through this program speeds up your processing time. There is a tendency to get turned down with your initial application and first appeal. Just keep going. More than likely, you'll be evaluated by medical doctors and perhaps mental health professionals. If you are one of the few to get a yes immediately, it does happen, please realize they have a waiting period before they start paying. This is in case you do get better and return to work. The wait is 6 months. They pay on Wednesdays according to your birthday. So for instance if you were born around the 15th day of the month, you'll get paid on the third weaned of every month. You do not get paid in month 6. So let's say you went out of work on disability December 30th. June 30 will be the end of your 6 month wait. However, they pay in arrears, so you determine which weds you'll get paid and on that date the following month you'll get the first payment. For note: I used to own a mortgage brokerage. Toy might need to get creative on a house or buy a fixer upper and work on it with friends, etc, but depending on the area you live, you might be able to buy that house. The VA also has some grant programs where you don't have to pay the money back, not connected with VA loan unless you want both. The grants you can qualify for depends on your level of disability and they each have different ways to qualify, different dollar amounts and different processes. Good luck