hey man, I'd recommend getting a fixed rate on your mortgage...that's the GOOD thing about low interest rates now...get it fixed so that it doesn't vary if the rates go up in the future.
With your current figures ($30,000 total price, 10 year mortgage, monthly loan of $308, and assuming nothing down), I found your interest rate to be around 4.3%. Not bad, but it's probably a variable rate. There are two ways to look at it (which are rather unique to this situation, as it would have a more drastic effect on a larger, more typical mortgage:
1) A fixed interest rate would "lock in" the current rate (probably a couple full percentage points higher than your variable), which would keep your payments the same no matter what the market does. A rate of 6.5% (depends on your credit and other variables, you may be able to get closer to 6.0, or it may be over 7%). However, with a 6.5% interest rate, your payments would only go up to $340/month or so, but your rate would be fixed and not change, which is usually preferred.
2) A variable interest rate will give you an initial lower payment, which will help you out now. If you make more money in the future, you could better stand a little higher interest rate (thus higher payment), hopefully. Rates are likely to move around a bit in the next 10 years. Even if it went as high as 10%, though, your payments would still be about $396 w/ the other fixed assumptions (loan amount=$30,000, length of loan=10 years).
If you're still awake, I'd like to say that many counties around here STILL do not have established building codes. The county I live in does probably mostly because we have a decent sized city located in this county, but many of the outlying counties still don't have building codes, so anyone can throw together a house and sell it. It's crazy and very stupid.
Good luck w/ everything.
by the looks of the outside it has a chimney stack but dont know if its still funtional, will find out more this afternoon. since im cutting wood that would be a great idea to save on the bills especially gas.
. guess from seeing a guy get zapped by 440 is what made me weary lol.
go figure lol. supposed to go check out the inside tomorrow morning so guess i'll see what happens from there.
. they put that wood paneling up over the plaster in the hall and the 3 beds upstairs, but the ceilings are still plaster, no cracks or anything so its pretty feasable. the heater downstairs is one of those big "box" type heaters. all the rooms upstairs have a small vent in the corner on the floor where it heats them up. no central ac so have to use window units for now which isnt a problem. the only problem i seen was when they redone the kitchen floor it sits about 4 inches off the ground underneath so the floor is cold. its about 2-3" lower than the dining room so it needs to be raised up. only got a couple pics snapped cuz my daughter kept buggin me lol. oh well i can get some more later on.
man that would be hell to jack that house up with little space.
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