Comments on: Home Budget: The Pastor’s House

By: Viet

Viet — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 18:43:31 +0000

Kathy: Great point! Buying your first house while you’re young (or in any age) can certainly be exciting, and it is indeed that very feeling that many of us fail to take proper care or thought into our purchase process. We’ll have an article covering more on first time home buying in the weeks to come.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:55:07 +0000

When you’re a young person, and all excited about getting a new house, it pays to have a parent or wise older adult to reel you in and force you to do a reality check.
It’s a wonder I didn’t run into more trouble when I bought my house, I was just so thrilled to find a house I could afford that I didn’t see a lot of problems. If I had to buy the same house today, I wouldn’t.
But, my mom and dad DID talk some sense to me, and I credit my savings and loan company with doing a good job with many of the details that I was too young to know about (like an inspection).
Lessons learned? Always look a gift horse in the mouth. Even if it’s the preacher. Especially if it’s the preacher, because so often they are horrible with financial stuff. I’ve seen it more than once.

By: Maya

Maya — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:29:17 +0000

Great, thanks.

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:47:34 +0000

Maya,

This is a horrible financial train wreck. Once there are updates from the home buyer we will post them.

By: Maya

Maya — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:57:23 +0000

i think it’s pretty crummy to post this and then not tell us what’s going on with it!

1 like

By: AllFinancialMatters » Blog Archive » The 96th Carnival of Personal Finance

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:38:32 +0000

[...] 2. Financial Train Wreck – The Pastor’s House [...]

By: J

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:53:23 +0000

You should tell him that God’s mad at him and see what he says. Go talk to his superior at the church – that may light a fire under him. You aren’t altogether blameless here but YOU TRUSTED YOUR PASTOR, after all!! That’s SUPPOSED to be ok!

By: Viet

Viet — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 06:46:32 +0000

as everyone mentioned, that is definitely a tough situation. I’m assuming that the poster knew some of the necessary precaution to buying a home, but unfortunately a good friend turns out to be not such a good friend.

since details of the land lease aren’t mentioned, it’s tough to say what the possible legal recourse could be.

Orrin: it’s true that getting professional help before buying a home can be a good idea, but there are definitely ways a buyer can be taken advantage of buy a realtor (e.g., push for homes you can’t afford so they can ensure of a sale), and to be sure, it’s not always the seller thats paying the commission or closing expenses.

couple random points to take away:

1. never sign a contract without carefully reading it. if you can’t understand the terms, consult a professional.
2. always have an independent physical property inspection (and be there while the third party do it too) don’t always rely on an appraiser from sellers source or mortgage company, etc.

By: Orrin

Orrin — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 01:24:26 +0000

I used to work at a real estate company and heard horror stories like this. In most cases you’d have to be crazy not to get a Realtor to help you with the purchase, after all you’ve got nothing to loose since the Realtor usually makes commission off of the sale of the house and buyer pays nothing (that is how it was in our market).

Before I buy a house I am always going to at least talk to a Realtor.

By: Maya

Maya — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 01:15:28 +0000

Dang. I mean double dang!

Does the pastor still hold the mortgage? If you’ve been paying it all this time, then couldn’t he just sell it to you for what’s left on the mortgage? Is he still your pastor????