Indianapolis, IN

Wed 27 June 2007

So, I’m thinking about the housing market in Indianapolis. We have been renting for three years now, living two years on the east side and now one year on the north side. We have a child now, and we would really want to have a place of our own, where she can run in the backyard, a place where we can grill out, a place where we don’t have to climb stairs to get to the front door. And it doesn’t make any sense that our rent goes up every year when the place doesn’t change (and usually the maintenance crew is slacking). We’d rather pay a mortgage and know that it’s ours and know that it won’t go up. So, we started looking for homes that we would like to live in. I just can’t believe how many of these new housing communities are popping up. And we HATE them. They all look alike (aka cookie cutter houses), there is usually no backyard, and the houses are really close together. I’m also not cool with having retention ponds nearby, especially with having a toddler. We have been looking at existing homes: brick, ranch style, 3 BR, must have a garage, some kind of yard, trees nearby. We found a house like that for $65,000. They wouldn’t even work with us, because my husband has a bankruptcy that has only been discharged for a year. A few years ago, he was involved in a car accident that was caused by a Fed-Ex truck that turned left in front of him and his friend (who had the right-of-way). His friend ended up suing them and won, even though she will live with pain the rest of her life. My husband will live with the pain of having a bankruptcy for many years to come. I can see that they would deny us if his bankruptcy was caused by credit cards or something like that. But caused by something that you didn’t have control over, like a car accident or by medical bills? I don’t think that’s fair. It must be true what they say: No credit is worse than bad credit. They won’t even look to see how much money we make in a month? (And we’re on Social Security. That should push us in automatically, but it doesn’t.) I can also understand that they’d deny us if we were trying to get a $175,000 house, but we’re looking at homes under $100,000. Come on, now. And there are tons of houses up for sale all around the city. Why can’t we get into one? There’s a listing of foreclosed homes that might be good to try for, but they charge you for the list. (I’m cheap—I should have to pay for the list of properties they don’t even want on their books.) I don’t think the waiting period needs to be two years. And I think the resources needed to get into a house need to be more accessible. We make too much money to qualify for home assistance (probably, I don’t know for sure), but we don’t make enough to put a whole bunch down on it. According to the Indiana Housing and Community Development and Authority, there are first-time homeowner deals, but we probably don’t qualify because of the bankruptcy thing. (I know, I know, I shouldn’t say that if I haven’t tried with them yet. But I have requested a brochure.) We always seem to fall right in the cracks. Well, I guess I just better get used to living in my cramped space with no yard. At least for one more year.

: housing market, foreclosed homes, bankruptcy, home loan financing, Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority