Sell the X. Get something older and much cheaper. Get the house built. See where you are after all those new expenses clear and settle in. Don't forget when you build a house there are many more hidden expenses. Cost overruns if you like nicer lights, fixtures etc., compared to builder grade stuff. Also, you need to put in a lawn, landscape, curtains/drapes etc. So building new, you will always get less than buying used, even if you own the land, especially when many houses have depreciated by over 25%. You should be able to steal a foreclosed house easily.

After thinking about it, I would either sell the land, it is probably cheap on taxes, so keep that for now. Get a nice older home on the cheap. Save up a few more years, rent the used house and then build the new house and you can keep the X now. You will also get a better feel for what you like in a house as husband/wife before you build and make mistakes.

 

On a side note, building a house can be hell on a marriage. So is having kids. The never ending decision-making process on carpet color, paint color, cabinet selection, fixture selection. . . and be a real test.

As to the land, parents/relatives think they are doing a young couple a favor with a generous gift such as land, but that kind of stuff can backfire as you succumb to their expectations. Its rare for a gift giver to simply provide a gift and then not care about what you do with it. . . expectations and strings tend to get attached.

Dynamics in the marriage can get equally complicated when the gift isn't from both sets of parents, but from one set. Ive seen a lot of drama unfold between my sister in law and her husband, based on a gift of land from the husband's parents.

FWIW.

 

congrats on getting married, and building a new home. sad day for your evo though lol.

 

how about we make a trade lol? u take my fully loaded tarmac black gts and ill take good care of ur evo lol.

 

Sell the lot and buy a house... 8500 dollars u get in tax first time homeowner credit.. But u have to pAy back after two years @ 500 dollars a year... That being said, gl to you..

 

actually, you're wrong.

1. it is 8000, not 8500 (it used to be 7500)
2. you no longer have to pay it back (if you qualified for the 7500 and got that, you do have to pay it back)

I'm not a tax guy... just someone who bought a house and got $8k for free (actually, I only got the $7500 at first, but have to file an amended return to change to the $8k program which I qualify for and supersedes the $7500 program)

 

Its cool if u only got 8k ... I got 8500 just this last year... If the rules changed and we dont have to pay it back then cool... But as far i knew they hadn't... So dont tell me im wrong u just got screwed ... Iirc 7500 is for the dc first time owner... Regardless i got 8500 just letting u know... U may wanna find out where u extra money went... Good luck to u and the op!

 

repair costs would go down if you bought a damaged or cheaper car? did your evo x come with warranty?

 

lol yeah, but you know how Mitsu can be

 

The problem is, I don't want to really have to sell the car... the only thing I can think of is that my mother is a member of a credit union and I could pay a few more payments at 516.00 and refinance at say 6-7% for like 84 months which if I could that at when I owed 24,000 it would drop the payment all the way down to 362.11 a month which would be much better. Once we get settled in and start getting more money, then I could even double up on the payments and cut that interest down. Obviously that isn't the smartest thing to do since I would pay a lot of interest... BUT I could keep the car.

 

Dude, don't do 84 months!
Look at truth in lending, you'll get wasted on interest over the term, to the tune of like $6000 on 24k. Screw that!

You are paying only $154 more now, and you've already paid what, 6-8 months? So you have 4 years and something left vs having 7 full years!

While I would love a $155 payment reduction too, its only $38 a week. Hunker down, hang on a couple months, or get out entirely.

Another option is to buy a house with some equity that you could payoff a loan under, but I wouldn't use that 0% one.

 

I've been laid off for over 6 months, my place of work just officially decided to shut the doors in December. I'm now making less than half of my wage on unemployment, I could no longer make the payments on my EVO, I called the bank and they refinanced my loan term for 84 months, I have a 10 year, 100,000 mile warranty (full wrap) from the point of purchase (April 2007). It was my only option, either let the bank take it back and sink my financial battle ship or have them extend my loan term to the point of where I could manage my car payment and other bills.

P.S. I wouldn't recommend extending your loan term but sometime you have to in order to keep things a float, good luck and hopefully you find a way to keep your X. After owning my car for 1 1/2 and extending my loan term it cut my payment by $180.00 dollars

 

Only saving 120$ a month is not worth it try 2 keep it & manage house cut back on there things

 

I sold a `95 Saturn six months after I bought it. It was one of the dumber moves that I have made. I ended up getting a raise six months later, sold the beater truck that I had bought and got a `96 Impreza. I paid the dealer mark-up on three vehicles instead of one. I'm not sure that the long loan term is such a terrible idea...pay the interest to the bank or lose money on your auto transactions -- what's the diff?

 

KBB says the trade in on the car is 27,250... we all know that a dealership isn't going to give me that though.