Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

What should I do with my housing condition? [Counsel Panel]

Started on 11/4/2015

So I asked friends and family and talked to myself for some advice for my future and here is a good listing of opinions that I got.  I’m so confused!  It’s like I’m hearing different voices.  Each of these “advice” seem to be sound. 

Should I buy a house here in El Paso? / What should I do with my housing condition?

Advisor 1: It doesn’t really matter what you do, either way is fine.  God will take care of you.  What matters is that you worship God.

Advisor 2: You should move back Los Angeles and stay with your dad.  I know you care about privacy but your dad is getting old.  The rent is free.  He welcomes you.  I know you might be afraid of him but I think you are better prepared now.  Plus, you can also find a job there as well.  As for the church, remember that home church that you been to once?  They were very nice.  I’m sure you can rejoin them.  Failing that, you can just find a church to your liking.  I’m sure there are supernatural churches in LA.

Advisor 3: You should just stay in El Paso.  You know the area, you know Fort Bliss.  You can be more independent.  You can talk to yourself and to God more and more openly.  Plus, you have your supernatural church here. 

Advisor 4: You should focus on three things only: God, money, and a soulmate.  Those are the three things that make you happy.  El Paso has God, a little money, and probably a soulmate.  Los Angeles can have God, more money, but it might be harder to find a soulmate if you live with your parents. 

Advisor 5: Just continue to stay where you are.  Rent for now.  You are still uncertain about your future, whether you want to continue school, go into trucking, go into the postal service, or stay at your call center job.  And, your Ignite church will be moving, location unknown.  Wouldn’t it be nice to move right next to your church?  And, since you want to stay where you are, which is right next to UTEP, perhaps you should go to school full-time.

Advisor 6: Same as above but go to school part-time and work part-time.  It’s important that you at least have some income.  It’s not good to depend too much on your family and loans that you have to pay back.

Advisor 7: Buy the house.  You can rent out the house to other people and have an income there.  You can have more diversified income.  Plus, you have family support.

Advisor 8: You are already 28 years old.  You’re running out of time to prepare yourself.  Just get established.  Stay at your call center job, buy a house here in El Paso, work full-time or part-time and be with God, and go to your supernatural church.  God will take care of the rest.

Advisor 9: You know what?  Life is just too difficult.  There are too many stress, difficulties, regrets, and unknowns.  I think you should just die and be with God.  The living will envy the dead.

Advisor 10: Quit your call center job.  You should be working at a happy job, not a gloomy job where you deal with negative people.  Find a happy job, anywhere, and stay there.  Do a job that you like, for example trucking.  You say you can talk to God and listen to your Christian music while you drive.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  And the paycheck isn’t too bad either.

Advisor 11: Stay in El Paso.  Your spiritual mentor already told you that you are living in the end times.  You need to be attending a supernatural church.  Just stay in El Paso, do what you need to survive here, and worship God.

Advisor 12: Buy a house, don’t rent.  Renting gives your money to the landlord.  Buying invests the money in yourself.  Plus, you can rent it out to other people for extra money.  Buy as soon as possible.  If you calculated the total amount that you spent in rent, you would have been able to do a nice down payment on a house already.

Advisor 13: Move to a cheaper place.  If you buy, you have to pay the property tax, which, as you calculated, is about $100-$150 a month.  With that cost, it is better to just find a cheaper place to rent for, say $200-300 a month with all utilities included.  You are paying about $400 a month currently.  Just bring it down to $300 and you save $1,200 a year.  

Advisor 14: If you buy the house, you can not only rent but can help other people.  If someone is in need, they can stay for free and you can help them.  Additionally, you can have a room *just* for God, like a temple in the old times.  Not having a room distracts my relationship with God to a degree.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a room, where it is completely dark, with maybe a candle, a cross, and spiritual decorations around to set the atmosphere where you can spend an eternally there?  That room can be your altar.  I know your pastor said that is the old times but it is still possible and I will still make sacrifices to God (personal sacrifices). 

Advisor 15: You don’t need a degree to do social work.  You made a mistake.  You should focus on helping yourself instead of trying to save the world.  Get a second degree in a technology field and then apply for jobs in the Silicon Valley area.  Last I heard, there is a huge demand for jobs.  And you can be happy; you will have a happy job. 



There is a saying I made myself that goes “If I don’t know what to do, I will worship You.”

Sunday, October 4, 2015

To Rent or Buy: A Comprehensive Report and Analysis

2015.9.26: To Rent or Buy: A Comprehensive Report and Analysis

S: 12:30pm – 1:44pm +30 minutes for map

Location:




Location, location, location.  If I choose the wrong location, then all the other factors are mostly meaningless.  I want a location that is convenient for three of my major activities: worshipping, working, and shopping.  Since I have a bias on God, I placed more value on the location of my church, followed by my workplace, and finally, where I shop.  The squares are the ideal zones I am considering.  

To Buy:

+ Supernatural Church
            The church I go to is a very special church; It is an end-time, supernatural church.  I thought about moving out of El Paso but my mentor told me that since we are living in the end-times, we need to attend a supernatural church, which I agree.

+ Can form a HOP
            In addition to my church, by buying, I may even be able to form my own House of Peace or HOP. 

+ Can earn additional income by renting to others / help others by giving them shelter
            Please also read “Paying interest if I buy” note.  If I do this right, I can have renters in my house which can help me pay for my mortgage.  Additionally, I might be able to invite them to my church.  Also, and I had this idea since high school, one way I was thinking about helping the homeless is not just by giving them money or giving them a fish, but by housing them, taking care of them, and developing them so they can become self-sufficient.  The idealist side of me.  It’s far-fetched, but still possible.

+ Home ownership
            Owning a home makes me feel good.  I can have more freedom to do what I want with it, I do have big plans for my future house.  For one, I can plant fruit trees, just like what my dad did at his house in Los Angeles.  Also, I realize that any money I put in, whether though mortgage or improvements, goes to my house.  Of course, mortgage is more important and I will focus on that first.  I am also even thinking about dedicating a room just for God, like a temple in the old times.

+ VA Home loan advantage
            Can buy at zero-down, preferred rates

To Rent:

+ Desert land

+ Neutral outlook on job employment and salary
            Just found a job at Xerox, so far, it’s OK, enjoy helping people, but not fairly certain whether I will stay at this job.

+ Paying interest if I buy: current market rates for a 30-year loan fixed is about 4.25% (mostly lower but I want to give myself some slack for worse-case scenarios).  This means if I buy a $125,000 house, I pay a total of $221,373.  Finding the difference gives me $96,373 or $267.70 per month of total interest.  However, I do want to note that the average annual U.S. inflation is around 3% a year, so if I pay the $615 monthly payment that is required, I only pay around 1.25% in real interest (or $70 a month).  Obviously, I will get the 30-year fixed.  To note on the $70 a month in real interest, if I just rent out to one person, I am making up more than the difference.

+ Start-up fees.  This includes the commission costs, closing costs, and beginning innovation and maintenance costs.  It’s not as bad because the VA home loan forbids many of the costs but it’s still worth mentioning here.  This, however, happens to every homebuyer.  As for home maintenance, I see myself as a jack-of-all trades guy and if I can find how to do it on google, I most likely should be able to do it.

+ Low cash reserves: I do have some cash reserves, classified, but I feel with my current cash on hand, the safety cushion is a bit low.  It’s like driving behind a car but tailgating with only a 1 or 1.5 second gap.  Increase that to 2 or more seconds and I will feel better (increase current cash reserves by 25%). 

+ My home church may move: The pastors are talking about this a lot and I’m excited!  However, in terms of settling down for a permanent residence, this is not good news as it adds unpredictability. 

+ Student loans and obligations: Have to mention this but it’s not so bad because for student loans, I qualify for income-based repayment which, based from their calculations, I will pay a low amount.  The only other obligation is my universal life insurance indexed.  This is not so bad as the money I put in it will grow, I just need to give it time.  In 10 years, for example, from the average 7.2% return rate, I will break nearly even with my total payments and I can take interest-free loans (although I dare not).  The more time on this one, it may actually be an advantage to buy.

+ Property Tax: If I buy, I almost forgot to include, but I will also need to pay a property tax.  El Paso County in Texas currently has a property tax rate of 2.09%.  This means a $125,000 house will cost $2,612 annually or about $217 per month.  The annual fee reduces the influence of inflation.  This cost is prohibitive if I choose to live alone.  


Overall Prognosis: Rent (80% rent, 20% buy)

 The fact that I feel my cash reserves is low and my home church may change locations is the leading factor for this one.  The fact that I just landed a job with no tenure is also another factor.  Additionally, the property tax in Texas also discourages me from buying until I have enough cash reserves.  Once my church moves, once I increase my cash reserves, and once I feel more comfortable at my workplace, I will be ready to start buying.  By then, it should be 75% buy and 25% rent, with the 25% rent consisting of opportunities of better jobs (but I’m planning to move up), and the fact that El Paso is on unsustainable land.  But God can make springs from desert.


This report, of course, is the product of my analysis and reasoning and is thus, incomplete.  I did receive limited input from my friends and family and the report is influenced by a limited extent.

PS: This report is also incomplete.  It was an outline and I filled must of the body but I don't have time to completely finish it.  Also, much have happened since this report but I still trust in God.