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September 22, 2009
Save For Unexpected Expenses In Addition To Your Down Payment

Hi Everyone! It's been a few months since I've updated Save For House. The last few months have been really great but also a bit stressful. The greatness has been directly proportional to getting married in July and the beautiful home my wife and I recently purchased after saving our down payment for many years. The stress has been directly proportional to a few unexpected expenses that have popped up because of our new home. Today, I decided to write an article all about the unexpected expenses of homeownership. If you've been reading Save For House for a while, you definitely know that I'm a huge proponent of having a large down payment. Today, I'm excited to highlight another critical point: Make sure to save extra money for the unexpected expenses of homeownership while saving up your down payment. This extra money will make your life much easier once you own your own home.

May 16, 2009
Save Your Down Payment With A Second Job

One of the most popular articles on this entire site is my discussion of best weekend jobs. This actually doesn't surprise me at all. Whether your are saving for your down payment or are just trying to save money in general, there is no better way to save than to earn extra income and sock it all away! Just think about it. Every dollar your earn from your primary job gets divided into so many different living expenses. Theoretically, if you're living frugally and earning a nice income, you are able to save 10-20% of your income. Now, let's look at the idea of the second job. All this incremental income has no expenses associated with it (other than taxes). If your second job earns just 5% or 10% of your ordinary job, you suddenly increased your savings by 25-50% using this simple example. If you're like most people and not able to save much from your primary job at all (I'm in this boat these days), the second job could mean the difference between a growing down payment fund and no savings at all!

For all of these reasons, a second weekend job is very enticing. It's so enticing in fact that you need to be very careful to choose the right weekend job carefully. I would like to really underscore this fact because I recently made the mistake of taking on the wrong second job. I'm very hungry right now for more security and money in the bank. Consequently, I jumped at a second job opportunity that is not inline with my core values. I quickly quit the job before even starting, but it was definitely not a good experience from the standpoint of confusing the heck out of the friend that offered me the job. Core to this site, I want you to learn from my mistakes to avoid them yourself. I'm the largest proponent of having a second job out there. It's one of the best ways to save money. You just need to find a second job that aligns perfectly with your core values and allows you to continue to perform well at your first job, your most important focus. Read all about my recent experience taking on a second job.

May 3, 2009
I Am Finally A Homeowner!

It has been a few months since I last updated Save For House. Life has been very hectic, but also rewarding. As mentioned in my last post, I recently got laid off but also was lucky enough to get a new job quickly. (As a side note, I'm starting to see signs of the economy turning. If you're facing economic troubles, hold in there and I wish you the best of luck.) My new job is good, but very strenuous and time consuming. I'm probably working twice as hard for the same pay, but I'm very grateful to be employed during this difficult time when I have a home mortgage to pay. Also, I'm getting married in July so we have been spending a lot of time planning for the wedding, again tons of fun, but a much larger process than I had ever imagined! Over the past few months, I truly hope you have had success in your quest to save up your down payment. While I'm not saving for my down payment anymore because I'm now a homeowner, I have been doing everything possible to save money because now my focus is building up a large reserve fund or "cushion" incase I lose my job again.

If you're still saving your down payment, or perhaps you have it saved up and you're trying to buy a house, today's article is there to provide you a little motivation. Despite a very stressful experience trying to buy our first home, everything ended up perfectly! We bought the condo of our dreams and have been thoroughly enjoying it the last six months. Today, I will wrap up my recent series of articles all about our home buying process with the story of how I am now a homeowner.

January 25, 2009
Don't Buy Your First House From A Difficult Seller - Especially In This Buyer's Market

Happy new year everyone! It has been over a month since I have updated Save For House and really hope the new year is treating you well in your quest to save up your mortgage down payment and purchase your first house. The last few articles have been all about my personal home buying experience. I'm now living in my new house and everything worked out perfectly. However, must admit it was a crazy experience. Today's update: My experience trying to buy a condo from a very difficult seller. The moral of the story: This is a buyer's market. If you have saved up a large down payment (the overall advice of this site), you have the option to be choosy in this market (and should be). You should get your way.

A interesting, exciting, and scary update in my personal life: I recently got laid off. What a bad thing in this market and economy, especially right after buying my first home and having to pay our monthly mortgage! I have now landed a new job and am much happier with my life. I believe the reason I got lucky and picked up a new job so quickly is I recently purchased a gold coin for luck with some of the extra money I had saved. I truly believe in the power of gold attracting luck and wealth and highly recommend picking up a coin for yourself. This bad economy is horrible and I really hope it passes soon. In the meantime, it's still very possible to buy your first house and make your mortgage payments, and I strongly urge you to follow the tips in the next paragraph.

First and foremost, save up a large down payment (even larger than you need to put down) as a way to give you a buffer should something happen. Second, I suggest working extra hours (even if you don't get immediately paid) as a way to secure your job and prove your worth to the company. Third, think of ways to secure alternate revenue streams, such as starting your own website (like this one). Fourth, continue to educate yourself via books, classes, and challenging yourself. The sharper your skill, the more effective you will be at your job. Best of luck to you and think good thoughts. It is possible to buy a home in this environment and keep it. Even if you get laid off, keep the faith and leverage your network. How did I get a job so quickly (in addition to the luck from my coin)? I have an extensive LinkedIn network and was able to leverage my connections to quickly inquire about new jobs. Crazy times, but we can get through it! I wish you the best of luck and stay determined!

Save For House Sister Websites I've done my best at Save For House to stay very focused on the topic of saving money towards your home down payment. I decided to stray from my money saving tips a bit by talking about my personal home buying experience as well because there's no better time to research the complicated home buying process than during your down payment savings journey. By staying focused, I hope to really answer as many questions as possible around these topics and also share my own successes and mistakes. However, I'm a true personal finance guy at heart and just can't get enough on the topic. Moreover, I have found that some adjacent personal finance topics beyond the scope of this site are totally related to saving for your house. As such, below are two really neat sister sites that go beyond down payments and homeownership into other topics, all loosely related under the umbrella of personal finance. I hope you find these sites useful as well in your quest of financial independence and homeownership. How Much Answers is a broad personal finance website covering the topics of credit, debt, insurance, investing, loans, and financial news. Some of the most popular and highest value articles on that site are around lower auto insurance costs (something that can really help you save for your down payment) and 401k investing (a critical component of everyone's financial future). Gold Why is all about gold, silver, and copper bullion. As you know from my article about gold coins and luck, I'm a huge proponent of gold, both during your down payment savings journey and after. Gold, in my opinion, is the best anchor of all financial portfolios. One of the top articles on the site and best places to start is the top 10 reasons to buy gold coins. You'll also want to check out the tutorial on how to buy gold on eBay.