formby

for a while now ive been holding off on buying a new house because of 4 things.

1. bad credit
2. not enough pay
3. needing a car [altima is dying]
4. i dont have money saved

now for the "what's changed"

1. ive paid all my dept [medical] and my score went from 550+/- to 639 [equifax]
2. i got a raise that puts me @31200 [and if i make cold calls i can make commisions] and almost 2x my pay
3.i still need a car
4. my wife had a steady job for years and is a hard worker. however we went on vacation and her boss fired her. and now only makes 16k at her new job. on a good note she might get hired as a teller at a local bank soon. [so i dont have money saved but she could help out]

i rent a hot house and i want to buy it but its in the 450k range. so its out of my budget...
i could get a home loan with no DP, for a cheaper house [i rather not]
but the altima is definately gone and it would cost almost 2k to get perfect.


i'm looking for a car in the 2001-2004 range/15.5k range... kinda like this
Used Car-Inventory Coggin Honda of Orlando Orlando FL
and later i would put a tsx long block in it or a types

so what do i do

buy a house?
buy a car?
fix the altima? [might have to get a credit card for this]


lets keep this in subject and the useless comments out of the thread please...


discuss

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AHHVTEC

well no matter what happens your gona need a car right i mean im sure your not gona walk all the time so your gona wont to get the car

E_SolSi

you have a place to live
you need transportation

car wins
fix or buy is up to you

formby

is that civic a good buy? i could trade in the altima. i want a K so bad

Celerity

You can make so much more out of that stupid area.

Fun to visit, I can't imagine living there.

I would say "Fix the Altima" but there ain't no fixin a Nissan. It's the Ford of Japan.

This is a tough one. Were you me, I would move out of that area. $30k is not tough to find elsewhere. And doing what you do down there, up here, you would be making $45 clear. And the housing is the same / cheaper. As far as $16k, literally (Not being snotty) this is what your common McDonalds worker makes in the NE.

__________________
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AHHVTEC

its to high

d17type-R

here's a thought.... buy a beater pickup; my logic behind this is that if you need to haul parts for your "projects" you're covered, if you need an extra vehicle, you're covered, if you buy a decent pickup outright, it counts as collateral when APPLYING for credit. That's my $0.02...

reckedracing

get yourself a nice 96-00 coupe and save yourself from the hefty monthly bill of a 15K SI

keep your eye on getting a house, the car is just transportation

pissedoffsol

how bad is the altima?

formby

16k is what she gets paid for to watch 10 kids at any point in time while their parents take a timeshare tour. so its just for now.

no body will pay me 30+k to sit in front of a computer and do whatever i want... as long as i answer the phone and take 17 calls a day. and maybe train a class or two once a qtr
[ i wont leave my job for a LONG time]

i like the area... i can go to miami any time, tampa, the keys. a nice trip to IOA is always nice. and i live in the middle of it all...

i dont like snow for more than 2 weeks out of the year. thats why i vacation were it snoes

as far as fixing the altima i wont... i need something nicer...

what car then?

i have a 99ek with a b series sitting ready for it... that my wife drives
i drive the montero to work cuz the altima wont make the 60mile a day trip.but the gas bill is getting to me
so my mom is stuck driving the altima to work because its close and thats all she uses it for..
and i want a honda. that comes with a K

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formby

it needs a
clutch
timing chain
complete gasket set
front fender/bumper
shocks

and i cant do the work. and its a 96

is it worth keeping it?

reckedracing

just pick up a k swapped civic
it'll be cheaper than doing it yourself

AHHVTEC

well the si will be the cheapest then. sence you got to have a k

pissedoffsol

remember when i was on 3rd shift???

thats pretty much what i did. 5-10 calls a night, tops, fuck around on the internet, sleep, nap, watch movies....
45k yr.

:P


need, or want?

you need to weigh out whats really important to you.

in the end, you could buy a $500 beater every year for the rest of your life, and still make out.
avg 'decent' car payment is over 350 bucks now adays, and closer to 500 for something 'nice', and near 1000 for something 'really nice'.

you could buy 6 beaters a year for 5 years for the price of a new accord on a 5 yr payment loan

again, want or need?


you're thinking like me :P stop that. lol

klyph

Are you asking for permission from HondaSwap to buy a honda?

In that case

klyph says you are allowed to buy a K-series Honda.

formby

nice.... but i think the cost of living is less here. Y N ?


its a want, but i want to drive around something "new" ive had too many beaters bro.
i see your point but its not like i want an M

man you know how long ive wanted a k and swapping and going through the hole swap thing it would cost more..

what if i get a fit?
you are successful, so i think the way you think is good...

formby

thats a good point... but i already have the 99hb....hmmm

formby

then we get into the whole buying other peoples builds
that who knows what they did

AHHVTEC

hit autotrader up and look for a si or a rsx

klyph

It boils down to what's more important to you: financial responsibility, or having a nice car.
If you want to own a home, and you make 30K, give up the idea of buying a new/nice car.
But if you gotta have the car, buy it, keep renting, and look for a better paying job. Just my $.02

formby

i guess i'm looking for a better car and the better credit i'll have after i pay for most of it.. for a nicer house
this is what i'm looking for
4cyl
easy to work on
2000-2004
1.8+
DOHC
10-15k
2dr if NA
must be FI if 4dr [unless its a tsx]

what to do?

MoSeS

i know they are kinda ugly but what about an 01 civic si. comes with a k and it should be a little cheaper than buying a brand new si

ignore me i just looked at the link, i guess my vote goes to getting the car then the house.

Celerity

Lower your standards.

All kidding aside, the SMARTEST car one can possibly buy in the US is a 3rd or 4th gen Civic hatchback.

My WRX Experience: That car sucks the life out of you.

phyregod

Rent on a 450k house has got to be killing you. If you want to break free of this crap you need to rent a super cheap place. Dont move into the ghetto, but get out of that 450k house. Get the altima as presentable as you can and sell it. Tell your mom to buy her own car. Sell the montero. Keep the 99 honda and leave it alone, it'll last forever.

Buy another decent honda. If you need a small SUV, get a CRV or something. Quit treating the K series as a "NEED" you dont need it. you WANT it. this need thing is going to cost you thousands of dollars. DO NOT go buy a new car, or a $15k car for that matter. Scrape together whatever cash you can. Look at that amount and find a car that you can pay cash for. no payments. take liability on it. You've just saved yourself a car payment and hefty insurance premiums. Now start paying off whatever debt you have left, if any. such as credit cards blah blah.. get that off of you.

Now look at your situation:
2 cars. not 3. less insurance and upkeep.
I dont know your situation on the 99, but the "new" car is paid for, in cash.
Living cheaper than before.
Now you have the uncanny ability to start cramming cash into a savings account. Cram cram cram.. work extra hours, get so much comission your bosses get nervous when handing you your paycheck.

Then, when you have a hefty ass down payment, go get you a house. But ONLY pay cash for cars from here on out. If you cant pay cash for it, you dont deserve it.

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Celerity

I've highlighted everything in there that everyone needs to burn on the inside of their eyelids. This is great advice.

This fits in better with 99% of us than any other advice given on this forum. Pay attention to a few things:

The high ticket items are nice to have. But when you have them, you will have less cold cash that you need to move forward in life. Get a Chevette if you can. Status is what kills us all.