home buyers

Frugal Living, Saving Money & Life Hacks

How Our New Mortgage Will Affect Our Budget

So now that I’ve talked about the cost of buying a home in Southern California, it’s time we talk about the real important stuff, like how this new jumbo mortgage payment is going to affect our budget. Before I give you some financials, I want to present to you some numbers about salaries in Orange County, CA and the cost of housing–because let’s face it. You can’t compare the cost of living in southern California to the cost of living in the mid-west. And before I start getting all those comments about how we should just move to Kansas–it’s not happening. People choose to live where they live for a variety of reasons. For some, cost may be the

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Frugal Living, Saving Money & Life Hacks

How Much It Cost to Buy Our First Home in Southern California

I know whenever I read about other bloggers buying homes, I want to know the financials. It helps me better understand and see how much different the home buying landscape is in other states. I will say that our area–Southern California– is still a very strong sellers’ market. I wish that Eric and I had been able to buy back in 2010 when the prices dipped for the first time in like 20 years, but alas, we had just gotten married and were $45K in debt. Even now, it is completely crazy to me that Eric and I decided to buy a home. It was not our plan at all to buy right now, but when do things ever go according to plan? Originally, we thought we

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