Cindy and i found 4.6 acres about 1/2 a mile from her folks price is $21,900 owner financing for $215.00 a month with $250.00 down.Its a corner lot been cleared and has a gravel driveway,its flat with oak trees paved road one oneside dirt on the other.

In two weeks my truck is paid off and another bill two weeks after that on i could make the payments BUT we was going to use that money to start paying off  debt we are about $25,000 in debt not counting cindy's car it will be paid off in june, and i will cut the car insurance down for full coverage so that will be more money.

I been thanking about a part time job to help pay off our debt but that is not going to be easy to get right now.

So what would do? take on more debt or pay off and hope to find land later?

Robert

Need a little more info, clarification...

Where do you live now? 
Is that what the $25K debt is on?
Or is the $25 so-called consumer debt?

Don

QuoteNeed a little more info, clarification...

,
we live about 8 miles from the land now, one reason we want to move is the place has build up around us. can't sale this place my sister has a house on the land too and she has no way to buy me out.
The debt break down is
credit cards $13,000
medcial $12,000 cindy had colon cancer last year and i had back surgery in november.

robert

Possibly you could rent the house you're in now for more income than what the new land costs, but you still need a place to live while building or enough income to git er done. Building materials of course would have to be covered too.  Just thoughts.

Most conventional wisdom says pay down the credit card debt before you do anything else.

Quote from: Mike 870 on March 18, 2008, 12:21:48 PM
Most conventional wisdom says pay down the credit card debt before you do anything else.

I agree with Mike, pay your debt off. this will open up many more doors in the future.

Mark

If I understand this correctly, you have a place you cannot sell and want to move to another.  You also have a 12k debt for medical and 13k personal debt.  Aside from this you have some other medium term debts about to end which leaves you with some anticipated cash in coming months. 

I would try to call the medical services and see if they would reduce the amount, it's not uncommon for them to take 50% if your willing to pay it.  The same goes for credit card debt, if you work an agreement with them.  Would be worth a try for both.  Be polite and honest and explain that you are trying to move to get out of a bad situation in housing and want to take care of your debts - I belive they are hearing that story alot lately and it might get you some leeway.   

However, as you already have a place to live the best thing to do would be to get financially solvent and then make a move after the situation changes.  You may find that after 12 months of working the plan the situation may be much more agreeable.  In the meantime, go hit some auctions and habitat for humanity sales and get some cheap doors, windows, sinks and such.  Refinish them as needed and just tuck them away in a shed until your in a better position.  A little bargain shopping over a longer period of time will go a long way when you go to build later. 

Quote from: muldoon on March 18, 2008, 01:52:03 PM
If I understand this correctly, you have a place you cannot sell and want to move to another.  You also have a 12k debt for medical and 13k personal debt.  Aside from this you have some other medium term debts about to end which leaves you with some anticipated cash in coming months. 

I would try to call the medical services and see if they would reduce the amount, it's not uncommon for them to take 50% if your willing to pay it.  The same goes for credit card debt, if you work an agreement with them.  Would be worth a try for both.  Be polite and honest and explain that you are trying to move to get out of a bad situation in housing and want to take care of your debts - I belive they are hearing that story alot lately and it might get you some leeway.   

However, as you already have a place to live the best thing to do would be to get financially solvent and then make a move after the situation changes.  You may find that after 12 months of working the plan the situation may be much more agreeable.  In the meantime, go hit some auctions and habitat for humanity sales and get some cheap doors, windows, sinks and such.  Refinish them as needed and just tuck them away in a shed until your in a better position.  A little bargain shopping over a longer period of time will go a long way when you go to build later. 

Be carefull about asking the credit card people to lower what you owe them for a pay off, this also goes for the medical bill. You may set yourself up for a poor/lower credit rating that will take years to bring up. Your not that far in debt that you could not pay it off. Take on a second job for a while and just use that paycheck to pays the bills off. Double payments on the credit cards will make them go away fast. Your credit is important on getting a lower instrust loan on your new home ect. Even if you only made $250.00 a week extra that is over $1000.00 a month and would pay off your debt in 12 months if you used no other money to add to it. Mark

OK I read your original complete post and I would take the money from the truck and other bill soon to be paid off and put it all down on the credit card. Split it if you have to pay instrust on the medical bill also. Hold off on the bare land deal to you get your head above water first cause you are adding more stuff that is not liveable in to a higher debt that will keep you from building later on it longer. Try to pay cash for the land when you buy it to keep others noses out of what you want to do on it. If you have to borrow to build a home later this will help big time in how you do it. Now if it was me I would not build my home 1/2 mile from the relitives for sure. Mine are 300+ miles away and that is about right with the mountain range in the middle and snow on the passes and place to stop winter visits. I see them around 3 times a year which is perfect. My closest neibor is 1/2 mile away and that is to close and they don't visit me. I just would feel weird having them next door all the time cause I like my free time to much and drop ins would ruin it. Mark

I'm going to ditto along with the majority.

Paying down that much debt would be first on my list. Start with the highest interest rate, then the next in line. Don't add any debt to that CC account id they're still allowing you to use it.



I was quite happy that the relatives here (now deceased) were a 45 minute distance away. Close enough to visit on family occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc, but not close enough for dropping in out of the blue every time some thought entered someone's mind. That would have strained things

I agree with everything that has been said about debt reduction. The one thing you don't want to do is overload yourself financially. However, those are some pretty sweet terms for the purchase of that property and as you indicated it has a location that suits your desires. I assume this would be an installment land contract where title wouldn't transfer until after the final payment is made, you wouldn't receive Title Insurance or a Deed of Trust? The down payment is too low to provide for a normal closing. Insure that you are covered legally in that type of an arrangement. If there is any doubt walk away. When I make a purchase with seller financing I prefer to make payments to a neutral third party (most title companies offer account servicing for $5-$10 a month if there are no impound accounts for taxes and insurance) and they hold the documents for the final transfer when the account is closed out. I usually pay my own tax and insurance bills outside of that arrangement and just provide proof that they are paid.
Having met the requirements I mentioned above I guess the next determining factor for me would be rather that type of purchase would be available in the future if you don't do something to secure the property now. I can appreciate your indecision. The ideal solution may be in the middle of the road somewhere. Would the seller be open to accepting a non-refundable cash deposit of say $1000 now with monthly payments to commence at a later date? If you don't follow through the seller keeps the deposit. Or perhaps quarterly or annual payments as opposed to monthly payments? That would give you some breathing room to find that second job or another source of income. Since the seller is offering the terms that you described it would appear they don't really need the money all that badly. I am speculating. One of the things we do as real estate investors is to try to determine the needs of the other party so it can turn into a win-win situation for everyone involved. You have specific needs and the seller will also. A successful negotiation will require determining those needs and meeting them.
Mark Twain once said "If something seems to good to be true it usually is."

 I know in my head i need to pay off debt but in my heart i want the land.
When it comes to money my head allways wins 

I applyed for two part time jobs yesterday and if my back can take it we would have more money coming in to pay off the debt quicker if someone buy the land thats ok i will live theres a lot of dirt out there for sale we just need to get out of debt.

Thanks for all the help,i knew the answer but just needed a few slaps on the head to get me thanking stright.

Robert

Quote from: Robert_Flowers on March 19, 2008, 02:24:46 PM
I know in my head i need to pay off debt but in my heart i want the land.
When it comes to money my head allways wins 

I applyed for two part time jobs yesterday and if my back can take it we would have more money coming in to pay off the debt quicker if someone buy the land thats ok i will live theres a lot of dirt out there for sale we just need to get out of debt.

Thanks for all the help,i knew the answer but just needed a few slaps on the head to get me thanking stright.

Robert

It is easy to tell you how to do things compaired to doing them! Now me I did not do things right several times and had to suffer/pay for my decisions I made wrong. That being said things worked out but I wasted money on instrust also and did with out. Now I am way better off than the past but I am also 56 years old. We got to do what we got to do to get ahead. Sometimes it means taking a risk and not waiting. Mark