I don't think I've updated lately with what's been going on with the cabin.. Basically we were suppose to start 'renting to own' but it was going to be on a land contract. Well Tony, the landlord, went to his lawyer to have papers drawn up, ended up forking over almost $1500 just for the lawyer to tell him that since he has declared bankruptsy he cannot rent to own the cabin to us. He has to sell it outright. I cried the day Shane came home & told me that, I didn't think there was any way we'd be able to get a mortgage. Then the more we thought about it, we're starting to wonder if it's all worth it. Well then my cousin, Tabby, gave us a number a week or so ago to call about getting help with getting a house. It's who they went thru & their house is GORGEOUS! It's called USDA or something, basically the government cosigns so we can get a house with no down payment. Tabby, her bf & their 3 kids got a beautiful house by going through this program. It's a split level, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, finished basement with a bar & hot tub, a huge deck out back & almost 2 acres of land. They only pay $375/month plus insurance. Well for the past week I've been talking Shane into calling & at least getting information sent to us about it so we can think about it all. He didn't want too, he was stuck on trying to get a loan for this cabin. I love this cabin, I love where it's at, I love our neighbors, Everything. It means more to both of us because of all the work we put into it over the summer. But when I sit down & think about it, there is SO much we have to do to this place still. The floors are uneven, it needs new windows/doors. The steps going upstairs are starting to fall off the wall, there's no railing. In order to put Kaylee in a toddler bed which I want to do soon, we would need to build walls & a door in her room. The way her room is designed, it's a "loft style" bedroom, so it's all open upstairs, I can't think of any other way to explain it. There's just so much work this place still needs & I'm not sure it's worth it anymore. So yesterday we went to town to get a few groceries & we got to talking about calling the number to get info & Shane finally starting thinking about it & said "If we got approved for $125,000 like Tabby & Louie did, can you imagine the HOUSE we could get!?" HELLO! That's what I've been trying to tell you for the last week! Then we started talking about what we would want in a house if we do get to start looking for some.
A yard is a must.
Has to be at least 3 bedrooms because we will have another baby someday.
A basement would be nice.
All he wants is a garage where he can do his tinkering & all that.
We got home & he called the number. The lady he talked to asked him which area we were looking into getting a house & he said he'd like to be between 2 counties, the one we're in now & the next one up from us. She asked how many people are in our household.. 3. Asked what he makes an hour & what bills we have.. Car payment & regular utility bills. She told him she can't tell us 100% because her computer was down, but looking at what he makes & what we pay right now per month, it looks like we will be qualified for all of this. She said she is going to enter all our info into the computer tomorrow & then send emails out to banks & the bank (I think) will get back to us & let us know what we qualify for. Then we basically go house hunting, find a house within our money range they give us, they inspect it & if it's good to go, it's ours! I think it's some kind of HUD program but I'm not really sure, I'll know more when we get the info in the mail. So keep your fingers crossed for us, maybe we'll be able to get into a nice house that doesn't need $50,000 of work done to it!

I posted this in my myspace blog & some people responded back saying things about low income housing & how treehab or something would pay half the mortgage.. That's not what this is though. The way a friend of mine explained it to me it's basically the same thing as an FHA loan (first time home buyers), only we don't have to have a down payment & they only extend the loan out for 30 years, nothing more & nothing less. The lady Shane talked to is suppose to call today so hopefully I will know a little bit more later on! What do you guys think about all of this?