Ok would it be stupid for me to buy a small house if im in debt about 15k?

depends what your debt to income ratio is... can you even get a loan???

This needs to ultimately be a question you answer for yourself. It is important you take in the follow points when deciding:

- How much do you pay off of the load each month/ when do you expect to be financially clear of debt?

- What priced housing market are you wanting to go in to? Even if say £70,000 - Do you even have enough for a deposit? Probably not if you are in debt. Bare minimum you should deposit £15,000 for a building costing this much - Which means your repayments is still going to run in to mid to high £hundreds depending of course how long you are borrowing for.

I have no idea if you are in the UK or not, but if you DID actually have capital to deposit, I would say there are many bargains to pick up due to the amount of people going bankcrupt and houses sadly being reclaimed and sold on cheap.

However, as a country, the UK is only just hitting the up ramp struggle.

If I was in your current position, I would not even consider buying a house - not until I had at least £15k spare.

Save up, get in to the black and see what state the country is in then. Now is really not a good time to borrow even more.

Best of luck and don't rush in to anything, because it isn't as quick to get out of when all signed, sealed and delivered!

Cheers

John

Edit: There are some beyond belief answers here! Mortage/Loan companies give away money way too easily - it doesn't matter how reputable they are!!!!!!! - that is WHY LIverpool for example is one of the worst places in the UK currently for houses being lost due to not being able to keep up repayments. 08 onwards is going to get tougher, pleaseeee remember this.

CONGRATULATIONS! You are normal!

Having debt is totally normal and expected.

This should not be a huge problem to get around if you are interested in purchasing a home.

There is alot of real estate information to cover but I assume you are looking for a quick answer.

Your mortgage payment should be very close to your rent payments by no more than $200.00.

So, if your rent is $500.00 then it would be safe to get a mortgage that has payment of $700.00 or less.

Just make sure that taxes and insurance are included in the mortgage and make sure its a STANDARD 30 year fixed mortgage.

This is NOT a good way to evaluate property but I know how it feels when you simply want to own your first home without having to overthink the real estate market. This doesnt mean you will get a good deal either... just means you can afford it.

If you want investment properties then I strongly recommend that you plug into a local support group that specializes in real estate investing. That's how i got my start.

Good L.U.C.K.! (Learning Under Correct Knowledge)

Booney is way off. If that 15K is mostly debt for a car, you're probably fine.

As someone else pointed out, it's all about the ratio of income to debt.

A home can actually be a fantastic investment, especially if you are able to make improvements and resell it later.

Either way, I assume you're paying rent now, so buying a house is not much different if you can come up with any decent kind of down payment.

If a mortgage company approves you for a loan, go for it. You'll write off the taxes and interest annually, which means you're practically living for free, because the first 5-7 years are primarily interest.

Many people own homes and have a $15,000 car payment. Sadly your debt is in credit cards, however, just trying paying a little more off each month to get that balance down.

If you can get a loan, it's almost never stupid to buy a home. Yes, our market is going through a correction, but if you look at history, home values have always gone up, and will always continue to go up.

Look at it this way. You will have to pay to live somewhere, whether it's a mortgage or rent. If it's rent, that's money out the window. If it's a mortgage, you can write off the interest expense each year, and this saves you taxes on your income. If you apply this additional amount to pay off your credit cards, it definitely has you coming out ahead. You may even be able to pay off your credit cards in 2 years or less.

Best of luck to you!

Sit down with a reputable mortgage broker and find out your income to debt ratio - if you qualify - AND you feel you can afford the payment - then yeah go for it - you will be making an investment not increasing your debt - in the big scheme of things...

No one can answer this question until we know your income (gross before taxes) and what the 15k debt is (credit card, car, student loan, etc).

How much cash do you have to buy the house?

in my opinion i would say if you have money to buy a house small as it may be then you should pay off your debts theres no point in digging yourself a deeper hole clear your feet and then start from the bottom and work your way back up theres no point in trying to build your property portfolio with a bad credit rating xxxxx

According to government standards, people should have their car paid off, no school loans, 1 kid, and 10k in savings at the age of 30.

By the age of 40, people are suppose to have 3 kids, their house loan paid off, 30k in savings, their car paid off and school loans paid off.

I think that's a good standard to have.

Anyone wanting to buy something when they already have debt is out of their minds!