Can I afford? Here is my plan

[maat55]

Too much house with other debt is a recipe for stress. The price to live in CA is extremely high. It's a shame that you have to give up so many things to live in a decent house there.

Your best plan is to live in less house. I have to assume that there are quality people living in neighborhoods where there are smaller homes. I don't know what makes housing so high there, but most people are decent and hard working and have to live in houses smaller than they could live in in most anywhere else in the country.

[rooskers]

Just a side note about using credit cards with low intro rates or very low "permanent rates". You can't trust the credit card companies or the low rates and what I mean by this is say you put the $30,000+ for your down payment and you think it is free money because it has such a low interest rate (maybe even 0%). You buy the house and everything is fine for a couple months and then all of a sudden your interest rate is 30%. You call the company thinking it must be a mistake and they politely inform you of their Universal Default Clause. Under the universal default clause, your interest rates can be increased for several reasons, including late payment, exceeding your credit limit, bouncing a check, having too much debt, having too much credit, getting a new credit card, applying for a car loan, and applying for a mortgage loan. So much for that lifetime of free money.

Personally I love these offers and cards and use them all the time to purchase large things such as washers, dryers, TV's, vacations and such things. The thing is though I have the money in my high yield savings account to pay for it but as long as the money in the savings is earning more in interest than I am paying on the credit card I keep it on the credit card. If I was ever hit with the Universal Default Clause or any other such problems I would have the ability to immediately pay off the card and close the account. I do not see this as a possibility for you so I would highly recommend you do not consider this as an option.

Good Luck