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Here are the numbers, assuming a $180,000 house, 6.875% interest, and a 30-year loan. Property taxes excluded from calculations. BTW, every "mortgage calculator" for Mac OS X absolutely sucks. I did this with some online tools at bankrate.com.
$180,000, 6.875%, 30 years
Monthly [...]

So, someone made an offer on that house we were considering. I really like the house and want to put in an offer as well. Carey's still very much on the fence about it. Thing of it is: we have an hour to decide.
If you look at it one way, we have nothing to lose. [...]

In no particular order:

Rent history has little or no bearing on a mortgage. You could pay $1500/month in rent and apply for a mortgage that costs $1000/month and it won't matter one bit.
Paying rent does not positively affect your credit rating. Making $1500/month payments for five years won't matter. But if you slip up and [...]

Carey and I toured a house we found online earlier today. Yesterday, just kind of goofing around, we found the house online and called the agent right away - the house looked great online. Today, the real estate agent was 10 minutes late and couldn't bother to call - real nice first step.
The house - [...]