The idea of owning your own home, having a place to call yours, maybe building

some equity, it's a powerful dream for many people, but the financial weight of a

mortgage, the down payments and all those closing costs can feel truly overwhelming.

Let's answer this question today.

Is home ownership automatically the right move?

And how do you know if you can truly afford it without getting

yourself into massive stress?

So stick with me today.

I'm gonna break this down on today's show.

Hey there.

Welcome back to your Daily, financially Confident Christian.

I'm Ralph and it's always great to be with you again.

This is the show that helps you answer that question, how can I become a

financially confident Christian?

And we're continuing our series today dealing with those

stresses of money worries.

And for a lot of people, the idea of owning a home is a lot of stress.

Now, yesterday we talked about the issue of lifestyle creep and

how to keep that increased income from silently slipping away.

Well, today we're gonna be talking about one of the most significant financial

decisions that a lot of people make.

That's deciding whether or not to buy a home.

Now, for a lot of people, it's a milestone.

It's a a way to, to say that, Hey, we've made it.

But you have to also understand the financial commitment behind

this, and that can be a huge source of stress for a lot of people.

So we gotta be, honestly asking ourself today is buying a home, always

the right financial move for me.

Once we decide on that, we gotta ask ourselves, how do I approach this

decision with wisdom and with peace?

And let's dispel facts from fictions today.

Maybe the desire to own a home is strong for you.

You have this vision in your own mind of having your own space and

putting down your own roots and not paying rent anymore, but actually

building equity for yourself.

and all those things sound great,

It's what you've always been told.

That's the American dream.

Own your home.

But then you start thinking about the actual steps to get there.

You start thinking through that huge down payment, maybe 10

or 20% of the purchase price.

And then you're thinking, well, I gotta get an application.

And Ralph, everyone tells me the mortgage application process is insanity.

Then once you get through that, then you heard all these stories

about closing costs, and then you're thinking about, everybody says that

houses are just a money pit and you're worried about the ongoing expenses of

maintenance, and then there's property taxes, and all of this leads to you

to a place of feeling overwhelmed and feeling completely stressed.

Maybe you're one of those people who feels this pressure from society.

Well, you gotta own a home.

You gotta do the American dream.

You gotta have a house.

Or maybe your family's putting pressure on you.

Hey, when are you two gonna ever buy a home?

Or, Hey, you ever gonna own a home of your own?

And you're asking yourself, am I even ready financially to do this?

You've got fear.

You've got fear of taking on such a massive debt.

Listen, for most people, a mortgage is the biggest debt that they will ever

have, and larger than that, there's this uncertainty in your mind about

whether you can comfortably afford this.

And I use the word comfortably because I think it's so important

that I stress that today.

You gotta look at, are you going to be comfortable with this?

You gotta look at the total cost of home ownership.

It's easy to get focused on that mortgage payment.

Well, my mortgage payment's gonna be this much, but think about the

other things that go along with that.

And all of those things, they might just get all together and they cause

you this huge source of stress.

And then you're back to wondering again.

You're not sure if it's truly the right financial step for you

or even if you can afford it.

And that just leads to difficulty.

But here's the thing, you gotta understand.

I truly believe that home ownership can be a good financial goal.

It's a great form of stability, but here's something I'm gonna tell you, and a lot

of people won't agree with me on this.

It's not automatically the right move for everyone at every time.

It's just not.

It's not the automatic, well, everybody should own a home and

this is the right time to do it.

Owning a home is a significant stewardship decision.

With any difficult stewardship decision, we have to put in careful planning and

we gotta put in prayerful discernment, not just follow societal expectations.

and see, to be honest with you, this is one of the biggest problems that I see.

Everybody just assumes, well, you gotta own a home.

Don't plan it.

It'll just work it out.

Gotta work it out.

Well, let's take a look at the Bible and, and let's see what it says about

wise planning and seeking counsel.

Because you got to make decisions that align with your resources

and with God's guidance.

So let's look at Luke chapter 14, and this is from verses 28 and 30.

It talks about counting the cost before building a tower.

And this is perfect for our discussion today.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower, won't you first sit down and

estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it for?

If you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone

who sees it will ridicule you.

What a beautiful verse that really addresses exactly

what we're talking about.

If you lay the foundation and you're not able to finish it,

everyone's gonna ridicule you.

But what does it start with?

It starts with you.

Sit down and estimate the cost and then see if you have

enough money to complete it.

See, building a home is a lot like building that tower.

It requires that careful estimation of the full cost.

Bigger than that, you've gotta have an honest assessment of whether

you have the resources and the stability to not only complete that

purchase, but then maintain it.

So let's look back at the Bible again.

Look at it.

Chapter 24, verse 27 of Proverbs.

finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready.

After that, build your house.

Let's think about that again.

Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready.

After that, build your house.

See, this implies having your financial fields ready.

And you might be saying, Rob, what in the world are you talking about?

What does that look like?

Well, I'm thinking That's savings.

Do you have savings?

Are you prepared for this?

Are your debts under control?

Because you gotta be ready before taking on some large expense of

building or or buying a home.

And like I said a few minutes ago, approaching home ownership

as a major stewardship decision, seeking God's wisdom.

That, and honestly counting the cost, making sure that it's a

step towards stability and peace and not some overwhelming burden.

So now you're probably asking Ralph, what can we do?

How do we navigate this complex decision of buying a home with wisdom?

And without getting into that point of stress, and I've got a

solution today, I think you need to prayerfully and realistically

assess your financial readiness.

Then determine if you're truly comfortable and you can afford it based on your

budget, based on your savings goals.

Before you even think about looking for a home, talking to a lender or any of

that, that means doing your homework first to determine what you can truly afford.

And I'm gonna add this word to the end of that, what you

can truly afford comfortably.

Okay.

Well, here's your one vital action step for today.

Specifically laser focused on realistically assessing

your home buying readiness.

I want you to start with your budget.

Look at your budget.

And then I want you to honestly assess how much you realistically have saved.

Because if you're gonna have to buy a house, you're gonna need

money, most likely for a down payment and for closing costs.

So start there.

Do you have a budget that will support this and have you saved enough to handle

the down payment and closing costs?

But then I want you to go a step further.

Ask yourself, do you have a solid emergency fund in place separate

from what you've saved for the down payment and closing costs?

Do you have an emergency fund in place?

Because guess what?

As a homeowner, it's gonna be even more important.

Once you do that and you're like, okay, good.

Yes, I've got the money saved up.

There's room in my budget.

I've got that emergency fund.

The next thing you do is start to estimate what your comfortable

monthly payment could be.

Think about your budget.

What is realistic?

What is comfortable, what you can afford in a total monthly housing payment?

Now this is gonna include your mortgage.

It's gonna include both the principal and the interest, your property

taxes, your homeowner's insurance.

Maybe if you're not putting more than 20% down, you're gonna have to do something

called private mortgage insurance.

I don't have time to cover that today and maybe fees.

Now listen, a common guideline is to keep between 25 and 30% of your monthly take

home to not be any more than your payment.

So, in other words, if you make a thousand dollars a month, which,

which a lot of people are not making a thousand dollars, gonna buy a house.

But let's just say you made a thousand dollars a month, you wouldn't wanna

have a mortgage payment more than $250 a month and see, that might not be what

your actual budget says, but this is what you truly feel comfortable with

without sacrificing your other financial goals, like saving and, debt payoff.

You can find this by going right online.

There's a ton of online mortgage affordability calculators.

You could play with the numbers and put in, you know, this is how much the house

is going to be, this is the interest rate.

This is the term, and determine what you feel comfortable with.

And once you do that, then you can determine what is a realistic

price range for yourself.

And you're gonna have to look at how much do you have to put down, and

then estimate how much of a monthly payment that you can realistically

afford and comfortably afford.

And here's the thing I'm gonna say right now.

This is not gonna be popular.

Not the maximum amount.

A lender says that you qualify for because this is critical a lender

might say, oh, your income is great.

You can qualify for a mortgage up to $3,000 a month.

But then ask yourself, are you gonna be comfortable with

a $3,000 a month mortgage?

This is just so critical.

And listen, don't forget to pray for guidance.

A lot of people miss this part.

I'm gonna encourage you to pray specifically and intently for wisdom

and clear guidance from God on whether this is the right decision

for you and whether this is the right decision for you to make right now.

Is this the right financial step to align his plan for your

life and why you're praying?

Ask for peace in it, whatever that might look like for you.

Because all the things I've talked about today are going to help directly

fight that struggle of uncertainty and that stress of overextending yourself

and it replaces that guesswork and all those pressures that you feel from

society with some concrete, realistic numbers based on your actual situation.

it ensures that when you're ready to buy, it's a prayerful informed

decision that fits comfortably.

I'm using that word again.

Into your overall financial picture leading to peace and

strategist, overwhelming stress.

And I see that with so many people that buy a home.

They just get into overwhelming stress.

Well, let's pray together now.

Father God, we just thank you for the desire for stability and a home.

We confess that the decision to buy a home is complex and it can bring significant

financial stress into our lives.

So Lord, we just ask that you would grain us wisdom and grant us clarity, as we

realistically assess our readiness and realistically assess our affordability.

And just show us the full cost of this Lord, and and help us make a

decision that aligns with your will and with our true financial health.

And Lord, just guide us in saving diligently for this

goal if it is your plan.

And may our home decisions be rooted in peace and wise stewardship,

not pressure or anxiety.

And we ask this in confidence in Jesus' name.

Amen.

deciding whether and when to buy a home, it's a major decision.

You got to do your homework.

You've got to count the full cost and do it realistically and seek God's guidance

so you can make an informed decision.

That's the key, because you want to have peace, not more stress.

And if you're considering buying a home, Other people might

be considering it as well.

So share this episode with them.

Say, Hey, I listened to this guy Ralph, and he really, he really put

it together for us about how we should go about thinking about buying a home.

You can find resources and connect with our show at our website that's at

financially confident christian.com.

And listen, I've got a special gift for you on the journey.

There's only a few of these left.

I would encourage you to go to financially confident christian.com/master

and get a free copy of my book.

It's called Mastering Your Finances.

It's a quick, powerful, redesigned as a starting point to help you

break that cycle of financial shame and step into confidence.

Again, go to financially confident christian.com/master

to get your free copy today.

Now, tomorrow we're gonna follow up our mortgage and home buying thing.

We're gonna be talking about the practical financial steps

to prepare for buying a home.

That way you know what you can afford we're gonna talk about how

to save for the down payment and how to navigate those closing costs.

So that's one you don't wanna miss.

So make sure you join me now.

Let's all go out there and be financially confident.

Christians, you can do this.

I have confidence in you.

Have confidence in yourself.

Stay financially savvy.

God bless you, and you have a great day today.