There's a cute little house for sale across the street from a friend of mine.  It's sooooo tempting to try and figure out how I can get it.

It's a 'bargain' because of the housing slump, but the problem with a slump is it's hard to qualify.

Besides - So. Cal. 'bargain' for a house ($415,000) is not affordable, but it's less than the median home price.

Sigh.  I'm so tired of not being able to afford what my parents could buy 30 years ago.

At this rate, I'd have to get a full-time 2nd job and a 40 year loan (50 years would be better but I have not seen one for that long yet).

I don't think we've seen the end of the slump yet, so I would sit tight and wait and see what happens to prices in the area.  Things are still dropping around here, and houses are sitting on the market for a longer period of time compared to a year ago.

Out of curiosity, what are housing sales looking like around the country?  I read an article today that said sales in my county are down about 1/3 compared to this time a year ago.

Update - the 50 yr fixed rate mortgage co that I contaced wants 5% down.  LOL - if I could afford to put 5% down I would not need a 50 year term.

The other co. that I'm talking with needs a .50 ratio of monthly payments to gross income.  LOL again - like that's going to happen in So. Cal. - but I'm trying to figure out how to get closer to that point.

What I really need is a mortgage co. that offers a 50 year fixed rate loan with zero down and the closing costs rolled into the loan.  If you find one let me know - thanks!

I've started a 2nd job, so we're closer to qualifiying as far as gross income, but due to significant unreimbursed medical expenses this year my credit is dropping as I'm a little behind on some payments.

It will take a few months to get in just the right position to be able to buy.

I've done the math - right now I'm working 55 hours a week, and to buy a $375k house I would still need to work another 40 hours a week.  It's so frustrating.