URBANA — Whitney and Aadeel Akhtar said they didn't worry much about the possibility of declining home values when they bought a home in Urbana's Savannah Green subdivision last month.

They figure they'll be in Champaign-Urbana for seven more years since Aadeel is pursuing both a medical degree and a doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois.

"If we had to sell the next two or three years, it might worry us a lot more," said Whitney Akhtar, a social worker with Harbor Light Hospice. "But since we're holding onto it the next seven years, we're going to be in a good situation comparatively."

Besides, Aadeel said, the longer they waited to buy a home, the less time they'd be in it and the less equity they'd have.

The Akhtars bought a two-story home at 1406 Montgomery St. for $136,000 in late May. Before that, they lived in the Ginger Creek apartments in west Champaign.

The Akhtars said they did their homework, attending a home buyers seminar last November, meeting with a banker and later finding a real estate agent.

Initially, they thought they might consider older homes, but as they searched for homes in their price range — $110,000 to $140,000 — they realized older homes might need repairs.

Starting in March, the Akhtars began touring homes, walking through about 10 of them. They considered buying a short-sale home, also in the Savannah Green area, but the process proved too time-consuming.

Eventually, they heard the house on Montgomery was going on sale and "jumped on that before it was listed," Whitney said.

The house, which is about 7 years old, had once been purchased for $153,000, and the sellers were asking $136,000 — a price the Akhtars eventually offered.

"All parties ended up satisfied," Aadeel said. "We realized how much the home was actually worth."

The house has three bedrooms and 2- 1/2 bedrooms on the main two levels. There's also a bedroom in the basement.

Plus, there's room for the Akhtars to make improvements since the yard has no fence and the basement is only half-finished.

"When it's time to sell maybe seven years from now, we'll be in a pretty OK spot," Aadeel said.

The Akhtars explored financing options and decided their best bet was a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) fixed-rate loan, with down payment assistance from an Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) grant.

FHA financing has become increasingly popular, according to Max Mitchell, president of the Champaign County Association of Realtors.

"Probably about 75 percent of the transactions I've handled that closed in May and June have been FHA-financed," he said.

The Akhtars said they were pleased with their home's price tag.

"The prices of homes in Champaign-Urbana, compared to the Chicago area, are startlingly different," Whitney Akhtar said. "We'd never have been able to afford this kind of house there. The homes here cost maybe half what they cost there."

As for the house itself, Whitney said she likes the cathedral ceiling in the master bedroom and the front porch that looks onto a park.

Aadeel likes having a front and back yard, in addition to being near the park. Plus, he's glad to have more room than he had in the apartment.

"There's a lot of space to do the work I like doing — computers and music creation and maybe an electronics workshop in the garage," he said.

In the meantime, Aadeel plans to keep plenty busy pursuing a career in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Part of the work toward his degrees includes working on bionic arms for amputees.