our last house fell through :/

Hi, Buy a home now a day is highly competitive. As of now in India, investment on land and building yields you more profit in very short time say even 1 years you get a profit of 30-40%. People always choose this type of investment here. Considering your situation. I'm not sure whether you need 3 bedroom house for you two and the children. Here, same count goes for only 1 bedroom house if they are a middle class family. Also, considering $525 is less amount in US. But the same is very high in India. Because, $525 will be around 28000 INR today. I that case alone I don't prefer $525 house at India! Finally renting a home from a relation will not last for a long time because you turn to be a human who is under you relation when you rent the home. You are put up in a place where you need to acct as the house owner demands. Relationship continuous with sour taste and when you cross your temper you start fighting with each other and finally you move out of the home as well as from the life of your relation. It totally disappears the bond between the relations mostly. So keep moving to a new rented home immediately and have you sister near you with a healthy relationship.

I wouldn't get hung up on the monthly payment, that's a trick that car dealers use to get you to buy more car than you intend. I would want to know what the asking price is (your bank or mortgage broker will want to know that too), and I would compare that to similar homes to see if it truly is a bargain. The interior remodeling may be a task that you all are up to doing, but there may be other things that might surprise you, so a home inspection by a qualified home inspector is warranted. There may be issues with the electricity, plumbing, windows or roof that you (and the current owners) are unaware of, and that could spell problems for you. Also depending on the age of the house, there may be things that were built to "code" at the time the house was constructed, but they do not meet current codes. Some such issues are "grandfathered" so that new owners don't have to upgrade them, but many are not and those would need immediate attention. Also you can run into insurance problems with certain equipment. There is a recall on a specific model of circuit breaker used in home construction due to fires. Some insurance companies are denying coverage on homes equipped with those breakers.

Well i think renting again isnt the best idea for you. Your thinking tht 525 is a good idea because its not alot of money a month, but remember that you need to get a house in your name and build your credit up and get things moving on your own and not help from your family members. The idea of converting the house is great but you have to remember your can chane chings ina hosue without the owners consent because its not in your name, unless stated in the contract. Now i did see that you were talking about code, Codes change every year and i know because im in the construction industry. Im sure that in NY something has changed in the last 9 years and even thought i may not live in NY im sure something changed and needs to be changed in that house. Well then again you can do what you want, but my opinion is dont do it and get your feet standing good again and wait if you have to, but dont rent and buy a house if you can.

Before deciding to buy a house that had been occupied by a family you should go see the condition of the house directly. You have to make sure yourself whether the price was in line with the spending that you still have to do to renovate some parts of the house. There are several real estate agent website where you can see a fair price for a house, you can find the site on the internet. Since your sister's girlfriend house is in NY it will be easy to find it in the list of real estate agents. Goddluck.