#rural housing mortgage

[kentuckybats]

2024 Kentucky USDA Loan Income Limits for Kentucky Counties  Kentucky USDA loan income limits vary by location and household size 

How to Qualify for a USDA Home Loan in Kentucky

[leviathan-supersystem]

BEIJING — China’s struggling real estate developers won’t be getting a major bailout, Chinese authorities have indicated, warning that those who “harm the interests of the masses” will be punished.

“For real estate companies that are seriously insolvent and have lost the ability to operate, those that must go bankrupt should go bankrupt, or be restructured, in accordance with the law and market principles,” Ni Hong, Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said at a press conference Saturday.

“Those who commit acts that harm the interests of the masses will be resolutely investigated and punished in accordance with the law,” he said. “They will be made to pay the due price.”

That’s according to a CNBC translation of his Mandarin-language remarks published in an official transcript of the press conference, held alongside China’s annual parliamentary meetings.

Ni’s comments come as major real estate developers from Evergrande to Country Garden have defaulted on their debt, while plunging new home sales have put future business into question.

In 2020, Beijing cracked down on developers’ high reliance on debt for growth in an attempt to clamp down on property market speculation. But many developers soon ran out of money to finish building apartments, which are typically sold to homebuyers in China ahead of completion. Some buyers stopped paying their mortgages in a boycott.

Authorities have since announced measures to provide some developers with financing. But the national stance on reducing the role of real estate in the economy hasn’t changed.

This year’s annual government gathering has emphasized the country’s focus on investing in and building up high-end manufacturing capabilities. In contrast, the leadership has not mentioned the massive real estate sector as much.

Real estate barely came up during a press conference focused on the economy last week, while Ni was speaking during a meeting that focused on “people’s livelihoods.”

Ni said authorities would promote housing sales and the development of affordable housing, while emphasizing the need to consider the longer term.

Near-term changes in the property sector have a significant impact on China’s overall economy.

Real estate was once about 25% of China’s GDP, when including related sectors such as construction. UBS analysts estimated late last year that property now accounts for about 22% of the economy.

Last week, Premier Li Qiang said in his government work report that in the year ahead, China would “move faster to foster a new development model for real estate.”

“We will scale up the building and supply of government-subsidized housing and improve the basic systems for commodity housing to meet people’s essential need for a home to live in and their different demands for better housing,” an English-language version of the report said.

next time you complain about how things are in America, consider that if you lived in some kind of scary communist country like China, you wouldn't even get to fund a bailout for the real estate company owners who ruined the economy like you can (whether you like it or not) in the good old US of A! 🇺🇲

[bluesturngold]

findhelp.org is the biggest aggregator of resources in the US, and if you're in a bad way (or if something is on the horizon that would put you in a bad way) it's worth looking through

if you reach out to the american red cross or united way for something they can't handle in-house, there's a good chance the caseworker is using findhelp to locate potential avenues of assistance

input your ZIP code to filter out programs that don't service your location, then you can filter by several categories based on what you're looking for help with. not all of them will be relevant to your situation, but i live in a pretty rural area and it's got just under 1,900 program results between the 10 categories.

if you check a subcategory and don't see what you're looking for there, try other similar subcategories just to make sure you aren't missing out on something.

just based on the work i've done helping people the past few months, here are some things i've noticed:

if you have money to pay some bills but not all of them, turn off auto pay for everything, then you'll generally want to prioritize rent/mortgage and your cell phone bill if you can.

do everything you can to not lose your cell phone number, even if that means transferring it to a really cheap prepaid service. if you can't help but lose the number, please reach out to someone beforehand and let them know where you are and where they might be able to get ahold of you (i.e. by calling a local library you intend to frequent, contacting your email, etc.). i frequently speak with friends and family members trying to help someone they lost contact with and i cannot stress enough how few options there are for locating and reconnecting people. if you're using a free calling/texting app on your phone, please make note of the phone number someone can call you back at. (also, they tend to rely on strength of wi-fi signal for clear service, there's a possibility a slow public wi-fi connection could make the call choppy.)

seek help early. some programs have caps on how much money you can request (this can make getting enough money to catch up on multiple missed payments difficult), or will only help after you meet a certain need threshold (this sucks, the US is deeply broken), but it's better to know the criteria ahead of time so you can reach out to them again later. and if that's not a requirement for the resource you reach out to, even better.

a lot of programs are likely to have turnaround times longer than you would like, and very few places have different tiers of urgency. if you expect to get an eviction notice or a utility shutoff notice, start looking for assistance ASAP, because if your landlord gives you a week to pay or get out, sometimes processing your application with a resource can take that whole week.

on that note, here's a resource for getting the gist of your state/territory's eviction laws: https://www.lsc.gov/initiatives/effect-state-local-laws-evictions/lsc-eviction-laws-database just in case you're being evicted unfairly, and here's guidance on how to deal with eviction: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/housing/housing-insecurity/help-for-renters/what-to-do-if-youre-facing-eviction/

have exact dates and numbers, always keep record of the bills that are unpaid, whether it's emails, screenshots of online payment portals saved to your phone, or paper bills

it's demoralizing if you reach out to a bunch of places and they can't help. however, you should keep reaching out while you're still in a position where you can. the more people you talk to, the more likely you are to find someone especially knowledgeable who can point you in the right direction, because the people you reach out to will vary so widely in terms of expertise and ability to assist: you may reach people who are paid employees with very specific training and little else to offer beyond that, you may meet brand new volunteers who are eager to help but need time to ask others for advice, or you might talk to career employees/seasoned volunteers who can get you set on the right path even if their organization can't help personally

you should apply for state and federal resources also. some places will only help if you're turned down by the government, or government aid is insufficient, so that's always a good avenue to try first.

[snifflesthemouse]

Nonsense, A few things on My Mind, Etc.

Hello lovely readers! This author wishes you the very best, and this rodent has finally had a moment to catch a break. I wanted to talk about a few things I've noticed lately...

I know a lot of people don't believe Maz and Heg live at the house. I want to remind everyone that City National Bank technically owns the home, as they hold the mortgage. I would also like to remind people that the interest rate they agreed upon back in 2020 during the Pandemic was 2.48% for the first ten years, then the fixed interest rate would become variable depending upon the market for the remaining twenty years.

So, that would mean that they have an interest rate of 2.48% right now and until 2030. In 2030, the rate will go to whatever the market is. If they were smart, they'd be paying down the principal while the interest is 2.48%. After 2030, the rate can get as high as 7.48%.

City National holds the mortgage, and Alma D. Buenos was the lady who signed all paperwork.

AS THIS AUTHOR TOLD YOU ALL, back when this author shared the mortgage docs which are still on here... the Bank reserves the right to rent out the property or do whatever else they deem necessary to recoup and/or meet some or all of the debts owed. This means City National can come on Maz and Heg's property at any time and see any changes and make any changes. If they see stuff is damaged, they can bill the purchasers and demand reimbursments. Heg actually may be able to get out of financial liability due to his immigration status, but that would also mean Maz may be able to own the property.

BETCHA the property goes into Frim Fram LLC.

I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't staying there always. The bank may be renting out their home so much to make up on alleged missed payments, they have no choice.

If anyone knows if the kids are real, it would be the bank people. This author saw an article speaking about Maz having a full hysterectomy at 28. If she did, so what? People don't give a hoot if those children are surrogate children. They care they were lied to, so the rules could be bent for the King's second son is all.

If Maz came out and said she had used surrogates, even if the kids lost their spots in the LOS, she would become a Saint de Surrogacy.

And another thing... we keep getting these half-cocked business ventures done where paperwork is missing, checks are missing, signatures missing. That IS Maz's MO though. Remember how many times her registrations for the US Trade and Patent Office were rejected due to missing signatures or payments? Other times, applications entirely expiring or going dead on the search because of being abandoned.

These remind me of stories being told to daddy for money. Heg telling old Pops they'll shut up for three months if they just inject capital into this latest venture. Yet there are so many allegations of fraud surrounding Archewell.

Now if she named her secondborn after the Queen's beloved pet nickname, why Archie Harrison? Well this author has discussed this all before. Whether it was George's security code name, an anagram of the name Rachel, from her favorite comic, or whatever, does it matter? He is Prince Archie until someone can prove something.

Oh, and let this author remind everyone here reading this that if the children were made using BOTH mom and dad's zygotes, it would genetically test as MOM and DAD'S bio child. Only if there is another mother or father is there any proof of potential foul play; even then, it would only surmise infidelities. I personally feel it's odd the two haven't tried to cash in on them much more than usual.

They need a ton of cash to sustain just the mortgage, like an annual income of the mean resident of a rural state cash.

American Riviera Orchard is a ripoff of so many other companies. It's like these are all fronts and half-arsed efforts to make it look like they are using ALL of someone's money instead of just very little of it on a business.

OF COURSE ALL OF MY WRITINGS, FROM THIS POST TO EVERY SINGLE POST, ARE FOR PURE ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES. I write to entertain you all, my posts aren't even worth sharing or discussing... But I've heard they are entertaining.

Oh, and it isn't looking good politically for them come November. One already said he would do something. We will see.

It is late, and novels do not write themselves. I write without an agent or editor, but one day I pray to get signed.

I am working on several stories. Talk soon, loves!

[unavernales]

please consider donating to maui economic opportunity or hawaiʻi community foundation.

meo helps directly with rent/mortgage assistance and transportation. i personally vouch for their impact in the maui community. i see their buses on my street (rural, and where no other public transportation is available) and have been assisted by their programs. hcf is also partly funding my own education. they provide many opportunities for hawaiian individuals and families.

healing maui will be a long, arduous process. think about families that must be housed, children that must be enrolled in schools, and the enormous mental health toll on people who witnessed the horrific tragedy.

also consider giving to maui behavioral health. emotional scars are just as worthy of healing.

[eaglesnick]

“To put political power in the hands of men embittered and degraded by poverty is to tie firebrands to foxes and turn them loose amid the standing corn; it is to put out the eyes of a Samson and to twine his arms around the pillars of national life.” – Henry George

The underlying cause of the current civil unrest on British streets can be summed up in one word – POVERTY.

Poverty and inequality in Britain has been rising since Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979. In an article in The English Historical Review titled, ‘Poverty, Inequality Statistics and Knowledge Politics Under Thatcher', 08/04/22, the author argues:

“Under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, economic inequality and poverty in the United Kingdom rose dramatically to high levels that have remained one of the lasting legacies of Thatcherism, with far-reaching implications for social cohesion and political culture in Britain.”

Tony Blair, a man who embraced Thatcher’s neo-liberal free-market philosophy claimed that while he was prime minister New Labour

 “...made the UK more equal, more fair and more socially mobile”  (Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, 14/07/2019)

This is not true for the population as a whole. It is true that more was spent on public services, and on pensioners and those poorer working age adults with dependent children, both groups seeing their economic position improve. However:

“By contrast, the incomes of poorer working-age adults without dependent children - the major demographic group not emphasised by Labour as a priority - changed very little over the period. As a result they fell behind the rest of the population and relative poverty levels rose.( Institute For Fiscal Studies: Labours Record on poverty and inequality’, 06/06/2013)

Not only that, but income inequality also continued to rise under Blair as the already wealthy saw ’their incomes increase very substantially.’ (ibid)

We all know that the last 14 years of Tory government have only made matters worse: homelessness up; NHS waiting lists up; income inequality up; public services starved of cash; benefits cut; rents up, mortgages up. I could go on

Ordinary working people are suffering a cost of living crisis. The already poor have been pushed over the brink, especially in the North where the promised “levelling up” was just an empty election slogan to get Boris Johnson elected to power. Describing the neglected North one commentator said:

“Other countries have poor bits. Britain has a poor half”. (The Economist, ‘Why Britain is more geographically unequal than any  other rich country’ , 30/06/20

Poverty led to the UK Food Riots of 1766. Poverty led to the French revolution in 1789. The Swing Riots, caused by rural poverty swept southern England in 1830. Poverty led to the Russian Revolution in 1917.  Poll Tax riots hit the streets of Britain in 1990 and a report on the London riots of 2011 blamed “deprivation".

The point is, poverty causes feelings of hopelessness, abandonment, anger and resentment.  Sometimes the victims of poverty correctly identify the people or class responsible for their plight, sometimes they don’t. The poverty and inequality experienced in  Britain today is not directly the fault of immigrants. It is the result of deliberate policies by previous Conservative and Labour governments, but mass immigration does exacerbate already existing conditions of inequality and poverty.

There are not enough houses, the health system cannot cope with demand, there are not enough teachers or schools, and unemployment is rising, as is the day-to-day cost of living, while the already wealthy become richer still.

The far-right channel the anger that ordinary working people justifiably feel about this situation towards an easily identifiable target – immigrants and the children of immigrants, especially non-whites.

The most obvious example of this cynical political strategy in recent history is Hitler’s rise to power in Germany during the economic crisis of the early 1930’s, which saw runaway inflation, and a cost-of-living crisis. Hitler used the Jews as scapegoats, playing on existing prejudices and turning them into hatred, not only of Jews but of homosexuals, gypsies, black people, those with disabilities, Poles and even some Christian groups.

Our fathers and grandfathers fought against such racial tyranny and we should do the same but we will not be successful in that fight until our governments subscribe to the goal of a fairer and more equal society, a society where poverty is falling rather than rising.

There is a conversation to be had about acceptable immigration levels in relation to the economy and social cohesion, but that cannot be conducted in isolation to the need to raise the general standard of living for ALL our citizens and not just the few at the top. Martin Lewis warned politicians of this in 2022.

“We need to keep people fed. We need to keep them warm. If we get this wrong right now, then we get to the point where we start to risk civil unrest. When breadwinners cannot provide, anger brews and civil unrest brews – and I do not think we are very far off,”  (independent: 10/04/22)

No one listened and now that day has arrived.

[3terna15unshin3]

Yes to blurbs!

Maybe when they decided to move in together? Or taking a vacation together? Or one of them winning an award for their writing?

great suggestions bestie and sorry i didn’t get to this when i initially asked for requests!!!! i have written blurbs similar to those last two ideas here and here but i haven’t done the first one yet. i hope this is okay :))

—

They move pretty fast after getting back together. Especially because so much of their relationship at the beginning was long distance, the minute they’re finally living in the same city it’s hard to separate them. Este starts spending two or three days at a time over at his house since it’s just as easy to just take the tube to work from there as it is from her granddad’s house.

When she leaves to spend a few days with José and grab some fresh clothes, Matty pouts and grabs her by her belt loops to lure her into kissing him and tries to hide her things so she can’t leave.

“Why go back to that tiny house in icky Islington when you can stay here with me,” He whines.

“I’m telling Lolo you said that.” She retaliates, and Matty scrambles and takes back what he said. He’s still desperate to always make a good impression, even though José loves him.

She comes back the next time and sees a toothbrush, still in its package, sitting on the edge of the sink. “I do own a toothbrush, you know.” Este tells him sarcastically.

Matty explains that it’s stupid for her to take hers back and forth so he got her one to keep at his place. She secretly loves the fact that he thought of doing it for her. He likes seeing the ceramic cup next to his faucet now have two toothbrushes instead of just his.

Covid hits so he isn’t on tour anymore and Este begins working remotely from the Islington house, since whenever she tries to write at Matty’s, he blares his favourite records in the next room to distract her. Or burns his toast in the kitchen and needs her help to get the smell to go away. Or slyly sits next to her, peeling off each article of her clothing until they end up tangled in his sheets again.

But when Matty’s not at the studio and she’s not on the clock, they’re attached at the hip. Este starts liking his body wash better than the one she had at home. Then she no longer has to ask him which kitchen drawer a certain utensil should go, and just knows the answer herself.

They live like this for a couple months—but the thing that changes things is when José decides to move in with Este’s parents. London is a big city and now that he’s long retired and Florencia’s gone, he likes the idea of living somewhere more rural. Since they’ve owned the house for so many years, there isn’t much of a mortgage left to pay, and he offers Este to add her name and take ownership of the property.

When she brings the idea up to Matty, he asks, “You really love that house, huh?”

The more she thinks about it, the more she realises how old and small it really is; and how it inhabited some of the lowest moments of her life. If José’s ready to move on from it then she should be too.

“I actually kind of hate it.” She decides, sitting on top of his counter while he stirs a pot of cooking pasta. Matty takes a noodle out with his wooden spoon and lightly blows on it to cool it down before asking her to try it and tell him if it’s ready or not.

“Then just live here.” He finally suggests.

Este’s not sure why she’s so shocked and flattered by his idea, as if they weren’t already practically living together. She’s rendered speechless and slowly chews the still undercooked pasta.

“...Really?” She suddenly becomes shy.

“If begging you to stay like a toddler every time you have to leave doesn’t show you that I want you to live here, then I’m not sure what to tell you, darling.” He points out with a laugh.

So Este’s stuff gets packed into boxes and her granddad sells the house. They rent a moving van and lug everything 40 minutes west, over to Matty’s. Este snaps a funny photo of him in the back laying across all the boxes and then posts it to her Instagram story without much explanation, making fans freak out and get scared that Matty’s giving up his concrete bunker even though he isn’t.

He even calls the guys for help, despite her protests. “It’s only some boxes, love. We’ll be fine,” Este tries to reassure him, but he asks them anyway.

Matty doesn’t want to make her carry anything so she directs them as they unload the van.

“The last, like, 8 boxes I’ve seen have all been labelled ‘books’… You are a crazy woman.” Ross declares.

“Books are my job, mate!” She argues.

There’s one box that has ‘important’ scrawled across the front that she forces Matty to carry up the stairs and to his—their—room. It’s incredibly heavy and she hears his laboured breathing as she trails behind him on the steps. She stops him when he’s about to set it down, telling him that she wants it some place else. A metre to the side, maybe. He huffs and shifts it like Este asks, but then she stops him again.

Matty’s fingertips grow white from gripping it so tight and he bites his lip to accompany the immense effort it was taking to humour her.

“Love, you’re killing me here,” he complains, voice breathy and strained.

“Just let me think,” Este stalls some more, tapping her finger to her chin and looking around the room as he continues to struggle. “Maybe it can actually go down in the lounge.”

He looks at her, dumbfounded. “Are you fucking with me?!”

She pretends to act innocent and then eventually gives in, giggling and telling him to just put the box down anywhere. He shakes his head and laughs, sitting on the bed in defeat and wrapping his tired arms around her waist to drag her onto his lap.

“That was cruel.” Matty says into the crook of her neck, kissing it shortly.

“You’re just extra fit when you’re all sweaty and breathless and grunting, okay? I had to wind you up a bit,” defends Este. His hands on her skin (and their lips against each others’) get a bit carried away and they have to stop themselves when they remember that Adam, George, and Ross are just down the stairs.

When Notes comes out, Matty has to do a bunch of Zoom press, and it’s a struggle to find a presentable background that doesn’t show any of her cluttered belongings. She ends up unpacking her stuff rather slowly so the mess stays longer than anticipated. Este really does have a lot of stuff, her maximalism shining through with the sheer volume of things she moved with her from Islington.

It works unexpectedly well with Matty’s existing decor. The house grows brighter with the art Este adds to the walls and more charming with her flourishing shelves of books. She mixes her vinyl in with his and takes care of the plants that now scatter their home. Trinkets start to line most flat surfaces. His mug cupboard grows fuller.

The two of them are just too busy basking in the glory of one another’s constant company. It’s a delight to wake up in Matty’s arms and hear his croaky sleepy voice every morning. When she thinks she needs privacy, Este puts her headphones on and glues her eyes to her laptop screen in the guest room. But then she can’t hear his shuffling footsteps anymore, and misses the way he hums made-up songs when he’s concentrated. So she moves down to the dining room table and sighs in comfort when Matty kisses the top of her head every time he walks past.

He likes having to sort through the mail to make a pile of her letters before opening his own; and doesn’t mind buying twice as much tea to accommodate both of their habits. Coming home from the studio feels so much better knowing that Este’s there to greet him and then kiss him goodnight. The bed sheets now smell of mint, just like her.

And when she’s fully moved-in, and the house is now theirs, Matty smiles every time he notices how lonesome it was before becoming littered with Este-ness.

“Sure you’re not sick of me yet?” He asks.

Este grins. “Positive.”

[windwardrose]

I kind of wanted to post this to facebook but unfortunately I anticipate there would be just too much drama to have a useful discussion (my timeline is split almost evenly between queer twenty-thirty-somethings, basic to slightly conservative twenty-thirty-somethings, and conservative moms)

To be honest I'm not sure what to say, bc the cohort and the church kids I grew up with ARE having children. Usually even several children. but most of them live in more rural or suburban areas in the south and have solidly-employed partners, and family nearby. and then there are the people like the rest of us, the strays and exiles, unpacking the weird moldy boxes of existential trauma, usually single, usually renting, usually neurodivergent and/or mentally ill, usually queer of some sort, and the idea of having kids of our own is as strange as sprouting wings and flying. such a weird, overstimulating luxury. get back to us when interest rates go down.

(I'm not single or renting but we check the rest of the boxes pretty well around here. and our mortgage is about what we'd pay for rent for an apartment in the area.)

and people like my mom are like "so live in a trailer park if you have to, and raise your children while your partner works, and pray for your daily needs!" but I'm not sure how possible that even IS, and how many gigantic assumptions it makes. We see what goes wrong every day, and the families too big to raise their high-needs children properly and too overextended to figure out solutions, and the old houses on weedy lots torn down to build mansions, and the rates for daycare and the waitlists for mental health care expanding every day.

but - button it all down, be normal, pretend to be normal, tell all the worries and the insecurities to be gone, get heterosexually married and have heterosexual sex, have babies, thrift your clothes, drive an old car, eat rice and beans, pray away the depression and anxiety, be normal and stop obsessing and it will all work out - won't it?

I don't know. I'm just raising my dogs here and keeping the house running and looking after my work kids and waiting and praying for rain. maybe this will turn into a yelling match just as sure as on facebook but I really hope it won't, because I think we are all searching for similar things at the end of the day, whatever they look like for us. love and belonging and hope and security, and to be cared for and to care.

[luthwhore]

i am buying a house, and (maybe) you can too!

so... you want to buy a house, but you don't make a lot of money and you have no way to save up the recommended 10% recommended downpayment on a mortgage, which means you're basically going to be stuck renting forever, right?

well... actually, maybe not!

this post is going to be very US-centric, so i cannot speak to the homebuying experience in other countries, but if you live in the united states... you might be able to buy a house for much less up front than you might think!

this is gonna get long, but the main things you'll need are:

a credit score in the low- to mid-600s. this can vary by program, but most down payment assistance programs require somewhere between a 620 and 660. (i might make a second post at some point about credit scores bc fixing my credit score was a long and arduous process.)

enough in savings to cover a few up-front expenses. there are a couple of things that the down payment assistance programs won't cover. for me, we ended up having to pay ~$1500 up front total, which - to put it in perspective - is less than the deposit and move-in fees were going to be at most apartments in our area.

that's basically it! if you can do those two things, you might be able to buy a house!

let's talk about the details.

programs vary by state, but most states have down payment assistance programs of one kind or another. there's also a federal USDA loan program which is $0 down as well, but is only available in rural areas.

these programs WILL usually require you to have a certain credit score, usually somewhere in the 600s. (the particular program my housemates and i are using requires a minimum 640, but some require a higher or lower credit score than that.)

usually your first step is speak to a mortgage lender. the mortgage lender i'm working with is only available in the state of tennessee and not all mortgage companies accept all down payment assistance options, so i would research options in your state and then check to see if the programs have a list of preferred lenders and/or loan officers.

this sounds scary, but my loan officer has been a life-saver during this process. generally your loan officer wants to help you succeed, particularly when they know you're a first time home owner. tell your loan officer that you're going to be a first time home owner and you're interested in a $0 down payment program. they can run the numbers and see if you qualify, and if so, how much you can qualify for.

you can have multiple people on the mortgage with you, but everyone on the mortgage has to meet the credit score requirement.

if you do qualify, also talk to your loan officer about how much you can pay per month for a mortgage, too, since this might also impact what price range you're shopping in.

you'll also want a real estate agent. (trust me on this. you want a real estate agent.) my loan officer recommended a real estate agent to me and we quite literally could not have done this without him. your real estate agent does a lot more than just help you find houses to look at. they will also point out things that you might not know to look for and will also help negotiate with the seller for you.

when you talk to your real estate agent, tell them you are using a down payment assistance program and that you will need the seller to cover your closing costs. closing costs, for reference, are a bunch of small expenses that are paid when you officially sign the mortgage. typically both the buyer and the seller have separate closing costs, but it's fairly normal for buyers to ask the seller to pay for their closing costs for them in the current market. your real estate agent can then negotiate for this for you.

if the seller covers your closing costs and you can get approved for down payment assistance, there are only three things you will probably have to pay for out of pocket:

"earnest money." this is a small sum of money you pay to hold the house after the seller accepts your bid. (in our case, we paid $500 for our earnest money.)

the home inspection. our home inspection was also about $500, though the price of this could vary based on where you live.

the home appraisal. for us this was also about $500, though again, this could vary based on where you live.

and that's basically it! obviously talk with your loan officer and real estate agent about the cost of these things bc they might not be the same cost for you as they were for me, but for us, this ended up actually being cheaper than moving into a new apartment!

[kentuckybats]

2024 Kentucky USDA Loan Income Limits for Kentucky Counties  Kentucky USDA loan income limits vary by location and household size 

Kentucky USDA Rural Housing County Income Limits for 2024

[kazooie]

There are so many reasons being disabled sucks, and one of the biggest reasons is that me and my mum could now almost afford a mortgage with her inheritance, but only if we move out of the suburbs, semi rural, except we can't do that because there are no hospitals in rural areas, and the ones that are there are rarely equipped with everything a hospital needs, like specialists(endocrinologists, rheumatologists, neurologists, cardiologists, etc.), and MRI machines.

It also means if we need an ambulance it very likely would not get to us in time if we lived far from a hospital, and considering my mum is at risk of falling over and injuring herself, and the fact that we have a family history of heart disease, if I were to have a heart attack, or mum fell and injured herself severely, we probably wouldn't get help in time.

So it's either live in poverty, in a unit that's far too small for us and on a busy roundabout(which makes the air quality terrible), or move to a bigger house but risk our lives even more.

I just want a bedroom that isn't so small that closing my door makes it hard to breathe over time(can't open the window often cuz of the pollution), and a backyard. I don't want an apartment or unit or whatever I want a house, I lived in houses till I was 17 and life has been shit ever since. Atleast at our old place we were in a granny flat at my grandparents house so we could store things in their house, we have No room here.

I'm so claustrophobic all because the disability support pension doesn't give us enough money to really live happily.

[softwaring]

maybe this is too much of a personal question, but how does one go from being poor to having a good life living in a beautiful place in the pacific northwest? i recently got to go to seattle for an internship, but i got to thinking it would seem impossible for me to build a life there with what i have. i go to school for free, so i don’t have debt weighing me down, but it seemed like a far away dream for me to be able to build a life there. i loved my time there and hope to live there someday.

I have/had never had any debt and i think thats a major contributing factor honestly. I dropped out of school so I never had any schooling fees etc past high school. i worked fulltime then also basically worked another fulltime job building up my art following, doing commissions etc.

I was also provided an opportunity to buy the house i'm living in now for basically the rest of the mortgage on the place. i live no where near seattle (i have relatives in western WA and visit often tho) so that also helps ALOT with the cost of living/the mortgages being more affordable. Living rurally helps a lot but its also a mixed bag - theres hardly any work if you have to work in person and dont have a remote job.

I'm also very frugal besides what travelling to hike/backpack and the gear associated with it. I rarely eat out, cook most meals at home, grow what i can or trade with neighbors for what they grow. i think theres a lot of paths to getting here, and mine is a very unlikely one that i lucked upon!

there's always other ways of moving up here, if you'd like to work on a farm and trade labor for housing there's a LOT of places like that in the PNW! u can search online but this is a good resource for finding farms: https://wwoof.net/

[slickshoesareyoucrazy]

Middle Age Date Night

Yeah, J and I are still up. Because we took a nap from 8-10pm, waiting up for our son to arrive home from high school homecoming. We went out to dinner alone and had some sexy time together in an empty house, like we always have. But the nap is new. The Boy is too mature to be staying over with his grandparents now, and he didn't have plans to stay with a friend so we woke back up to see him home, and as is contracted if you're a middle aged couple on a Saturday night, we streamed a true crime show.

Interviewee on Show: You really had to know that area to dump a body there. I mean... it's in the middle of nowhere.

Me: Yeah, rural Indiana can be like that (that's where J's from). I definitely thought I was driving to my death the first time I went to your place when we were dating. 😉🤣🤣🤣 I remember thinking, "Welp, I told E where I was going this weekend, and they'll miss me at work Monday, so someone will find me."

J: That WAS my original plan. 😉😏

Me: You just decided on the Ultra Long Game now that you're in 20+ years deep? Wedding? Paid off mortgage together? Kid in high school? On the second family dog? Tolerating ALL the in-law drama? The whole nine yards just to avoid suspicion? Still waiting for the right time to get rid of me? 🤣

J: Nah. I was never gonna get rid of you. I was gonna tie you up and keep you forever, but then I found out you were like...into it. So I figured I hit the jackpot. No need to commit crimes. 😉😉

Me: ❤️❤️❤️❤️😍😍😍

[libraford]

Hi, I've been following your housing issues and I just wondered if you'd looked into a USDA Rural Development loan? These mortgages are specifically designed for lower income people. All you have to do is fill out the application and they'll let you know if you are accepted and if so, what your budget will be when looking for a house. I couldn't find on your blog if you'd looked into yet. It might be a no go, but it's worth checking out!

I've had the USDA loan suggested to me many times but theres a couple reasons why I haven't done it yet.

The first is that it would require me to move out of the city, away from conveniences that would make it difficult for us as I am the only one with a working car. And country homes are harder to find right now because a lot of them were snatched up during covid. (I was told to look at houses in etna. Literally there are zero houses for sale in etna. It's that bad.)

The second is that most of these programs help with the down payment. I dont need the down payment. Down payment is covered. What I need is for my income to be enough.

It's more important for us to get out of the rental situation we're in now than it is to find a house.

[longlistshort]

For Hew Locke’s exhibition, Listening to the Land, at P.P.O.W. he has created intricate sculptures and paintings that are fascinating in person.

From the press release-

Locke is known for exploring the languages of colonial and post-colonial power, and the symbols through which different cultures assume and assert identity. Furthering the themes explored in his celebrated commission The Procession at Tate Britain, and his concurrent installation Gilt on the façade of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this exhibit engages with contemporary and historical inequities while reflecting on the landscape and history of the Caribbean. The exhibition draws its title from a poem by Guyanese political activist and poet Martin Carter which situates itself between two opposing forces of the landscape – sea and forest. Locke’s show features new sculptures and wall works with recurring motifs of stilt-houses, boats, memento mori, and share certificates referencing tensions between the land, the sea, and economic power. Reflecting on these links, Locke notes, “The land was created to generate money for colonial power, now the sea wants it back.”

Translating to ‘land of many waters,’ Guyana and its physical, economic, and political landscape serve as one of the primary sources for Locke’s work. Having spent his childhood in this newly independent nation, the artist witnessed first-hand an era of radical transformation. Now, the country teeters on the precipice of an oil boom and is one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Juxtaposing personal meditations on the climate crisis with political commentary on the history of a globalized world, Locke contemplates the ways in which colonies were exploited to accumulate capital, and observes how Guyana’s economic future lies in the exploitation of its waters. Locke’s new boat sculptures The Relic and The Survivor embody this broad worldview as the two battered wrecks drift through time and history. Evoking the fragmented and diverse legacies of the global diaspora, the boats’ patchwork sails are interspersed with photo transfers of 19th Century cane cutters and banana boat loaders, while their decks are loaded with cargo that could allude to colonial plunder, trade goods or personal belongings.

Based on an abandoned plantation house, Locke’s newest sculpture Jumbie House 2 features layered images that unveil the spirits that haunt this colonial vestige. Presented alongside are a series of painted photographs of dilapidated vernacular architecture across Georgetown and rural Guyana. Constantly under threat of being washed away by storms or rising sea levels, these crumbling structures echo anxieties surrounding climate change and historical erasure. A new series of mixed media wall works, Raw Materials, is derived from antique share certificates and bonds. Locke richly decorates the appliques with acrylic, beads, and patchwork to draw attention to the complex ways in which the past shapes the present. The image of an 1898 Chinese Imperial Gold Loan behind painted Congolese figures connects the global economy at the height of Empire to current Sino-African trade networks. In another work, a painted representation of a Nigerian Ife mask, alongside an image of David Livingstone, is layered on a French-African Mortgage Bond from 1923, connecting exploration and exploitation of African land, to current conversations surrounding the repatriation of artifacts. Taken together, the works in Locke’s Listening to the Land echo William Faulkner’s adage “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

This exhibition closes 4/1/23.

The Procession, mentioned above, can now be seen at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, in Gateshead, England until June 11th, 2023.

Gilt, also mentioned above, is on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art until May 30th, 2023.

[beardedmrbean]

Canada has long been a draw for people from India's Punjab province seeking new opportunities elsewhere. But has the Canadian dream soured?

It's hard to miss the ardour of Punjab's migrant ambitions when driving through its fertile rural plains.

Billboards promising easy immigration to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK jut out through ample mustard fields.

Off the highways, consultancies offer English language coaching to eager youth.

Single-storey brick homes double up as canvasses for hand-painted mural advertisements promising quick visas. And in the town of Bathinda, hundreds of agents jostle for space on a single narrow street, pledging to speed up the youth's runaway dreams.

For over a century, this province in India's northwest has seen waves of overseas migration; from the Sikh soldiers inducted into the British Indian Army travelling to Canada, through to rural Punjabis settling in England post-independence.

But some, especially from Canada, are now choosing to come back home.

One of those is 28-year-old Balkar, who returned in early 2023 after just one year in Toronto. Citizenship was his ultimate goal when he left his little hamlet of Pitho in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. His family mortgaged their land to fund his education.

But his Canadian dream quickly lost its allure a few months into his life there.

"Everything was so expensive. I had to work 50 hours every week after college, just to survive," he told the BBC. "High inflation is making many students leave their studies."

Balkar now runs an embroidery business from a small room on one side of the expansive central courtyard in his typical Punjabi home. He also helps on his family's farm to supplement his income.

Opportunities for employment are few and far between in these rural areas, but technology has allowed entrepreneurs like him to conquer the tyranny of distance. Balkar gets the bulk of his business through Instagram.

"I have a good life here. Why should I face hardships there when I can live at home and make good money?" he asks.

The BBC spoke to at least half a dozen reverse migrants in Punjab who shared similar sentiments.

It was also a common refrain in the scores of videos on YouTube shared by Indians who had chosen to abandon their life in Canada and return home. There was a stark difference one young returnee told the BBC between the "rosy picture" immigration agents painted and the rough reality of immigrant life in Toronto and Vancouver.

The "Canada craze" has let up a bit - and especially so among well-off migrants who have a fallback option at home, says Raj Karan Brar, an immigration agent in Bathinda who helps hundreds of Punjabis get permanent residencies and student visas every year.

The desire for a Canadian citizenship remains as strong as ever though among middle- and lower middle-class clients in rural communities.

But viral YouTube videos of students talking about the difficulty in finding jobs and protests over a lack of housing and work opportunities has created an air of nervousness among these students, say immigration agents.

There was a 40% decline in applications from India for Canadian study permits in the second half of 2023, according to one estimate. This was, in part, also due to the ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada over allegations Indian agents were involved in the murder of Canadian Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

There are also hints of deeper cultural factors at play, for a waning Canadian dream among an older generation of Indian migrants.

Karan Aulakh, who spent nearly 15 years in Edmonton and achieved career and financial success, left his managerial job for a comfortable rural life in Khane ki Daab, the village where he was born in 1985. He told the BBC he was upset by LGBT-inclusive education policies in Canada and its 2018 decision to legalise recreational cannabis. Incompatibility with the Western way of life, a struggling healthcare system, and better economic prospects in India were, he said, key reasons why many older Canadian Indians are preparing to leave the country.

"I started an online consultancy - Back to the Motherland - a month and a half ago, to help those who want to reverse migrate. I get at least two to three calls every day, mostly from people in Canada who want to know what job opportunities there are in Punjab and how they can come back," said Mr Aulakh.

For a country that places such a high value on immigration, these trends are "concerning" and are "being received with a bit of a sting politically", says Daniel Bernhard of the Institute of Canadian Citizenship, an immigration advocacy group.

A liberalised immigration regime has been Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's signature policy to counter slowing economic growth and a rapidly aging population.

According to Canada's statistics agency, immigration accounted for 90% of Canada's labour force growth and 75% of population growth in 2021.

International students contribute to over C$20bn ($14.7bn; £11.7bn) to Canada's economy each year, a bulk of them Indians who now make up one in five recent immigrants to the country.

India was also Canada's leading source for immigration in 2022.

The numbers of those leaving are still small in absolute terms with immigration levels at all-time highs in Canada - the country welcomed nearly half a million new migrants each year over the past few years.

But the rate of reverse migration hit a two decade high in 2019, signalling that migrants were "losing confidence" in the country said Mr Bernhard.

Country specific statistics for such emigrants, or reverse migrants, are not available.

But official data obtained by Reuters shows between 80,000 and 90,000 immigrants left Canada in 2021 and 2022 and either went back to their countries, or onward elsewhere.

Some 42,000 people departed in the first half of 2023.

Fewer permanent residents are also going on to become Canadian citizens, according to census data cited by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. In 2001, 75% of those eligible became citizens. Two decades later, it was 45%.

Canada needs to "restore the value of its citizenship," said Mr Bernhard.

It comes as Canada debates its aggressive immigration targets given country's struggle to absorb more people.

A recent report from National Bank of Canada economists cautioned that the population growth was putting pressure on its already tight housing supply and strained healthcare system.

Canada has seen a population surge - an increase of 1.2 million people in 2023 - driven mostly by newcomers.

The report argued that growth needed to be slowed to an annual increase of up to 500,000 people in order to preserve or increase the standard of living.

There appears to have been a tacit acceptance of this evaluation by policymakers.

Mr Trudeau's Liberal government recently introduced a cap on international student permits that would result in a temporary decrease of 35% in approved study visas.

It's a significant policy shift that some believe may end up further reducing Canada's appeal amid a wave of reverse migrations.