Our rent keeps going up, the place is small and neighbors really suck when you’re sharing a wall. I think it’s time that we start looking at owning a home. Only thing is we don’t have a clue where to even start.
Any tips, suggestions, personal experiences, etc?
Make sure it’s got a roof on it, dude.
All kinds of bad things can happen to your stuff otherwise.
There’s a wealth of information available online, of course. I’m sure there a thousand experts on the SDMB who answer specific questions. I work in Title and Escrow, and would be happy to give help in that area.
In general, however, I have only a single piece of advice: Trust your gut. If a homeseller skeeves you out, run away. If something sounds too good to be true, it is. If you feel like you can’t trust your realtor, get another one. And if you fall in love with a house, jump on it.
You might look into taking a home-buying class. Many adult-ed places have them.
Find a real-estate attorney ahead of time and use him. This is particularly important if you are buying a condo or a home with an HOA, because those master deeds and trust documents can come back to haunt you. Don’t trust anything the seller says or the seller’s agent says - their interests cannot also be your interests, since they are making money off you. An attorney is well worth the cost - he’s the only one in the whole process who is completely on your side. I think a lot of people use buyer’s agents these days but if his fee is based on the purchase price, or he splits commission with the seller, then he cannot be unbiased.
Don’t take the advice of the seller’s agent as to where to get a loan or which lawyer to use or which home inspector to hire. Find them on your own.
There was a good thread on this topic some months back - not sure the title but maybe you can find it. I know I posted in it, if that helps in your search. Perhaps 6-8 months ago.
If you find a house you adore or moderately like, you must get a home inspection before you agree to make an offer. That way you have a peace of mind about the structure, basement, electrical, windows, plumbing & stuff. Y’know, shit you know jack about.
No one sells a house because it is perfect.
Also, this is just me, but if you like the house, go and meet the neighbors before you make an offer. Go knock on the door & introduce yourself. Ask them about pizzaria’s with delivery & schools and whatnot. Even if you are familiar with the area, ask general topical questions.
Look at the neighbors houses and note the condition of their places and if there are loads of poo or kids toys in the back yard. Can you live with a neighbor that has 5 beagles (ahhh-ooooooo…aaaaa-oooooooooo!) or a couple of schnauzers(yap yap yap yap yap!) or a pack of marauding children?
Neighbors make or break the area.
I am very fortunate that I have really good neighbors. (It hasn’t always been that way.)
Do your homework before you actually start looking. Start going to open houses and looking at online house listings this weekend (www.mls.com is a good start). That way, once you’re ready to start looking seriously, you’ll have an idea what’s available in your area and what the price ranges are. Oh, and get yourselves pre-approved for a mortgage before you start to look. Nobody wants to fall in love with the perfect house and then find out that you can’t afford it.
Don’t use the full amount of what you’re pre-approved for, either. That’s how you get house-poor - a phenomenon where people buy as much house as they possibly can, and live on ramen noodles for the next five years because every cent they earn goes to pay for the house.
When you go to open houses and the realtors there pester you, just tell them that you’re very early in your search, and you’re trying to get a feel for what’s available. Which is entirely true.
All offers to purchase should be conditional on a home inspection. The house doesn’t pass or the repairs are over a certain percentage of the price, the deal is off. Your agent should go over that with you in more detail.
I would totally start a business as a real estate consultant if there was any way to make money at that.
I’m in the midst of buying right now.
Definitely rustle up pre-approval for your loan. When you get to the point of writing an offer, your offer will look all the better when you include a letter from the mortgage broker saying that you’re approved for the loan as it takes a lot of uncertainty out of the whole proposition.
This area’s a little odd when it comes to real estate. To have a ghost of a chance of having our offer considered, we had to remove all contingencies. Our offer was naked - no finance contingency (we’re pre-approved, anyway) no inspection contingency - we take the house as it stands, potential termites and all.
Be prepared to initial and sign more documents than you’ve ever seen in your entire life.
Be prepared to zip over to your Realtor’s office on a moment’s notice once you’ve made an offer in case you have to respond to counter-offers. When they say “time is of the essence” they mean it. We were given less than 12 hours to respond to the seller’s counter-offer, so we wound up going to his office at 10:30 PM to have the response in their hands by 9:00 AM.
The use of real estate attorneys seems to vary by state. I’m in California, and with less than three weeks before we close, nobody’s mentioned attorneys.
I recommend you start with a reputable mortgage lender. Just as with anything else, know what you can afford before you go shopping. Pay as much down as you can. Of all the interest rate tricks and gimmicks, nothing works like cash down. Get a “buying realtor” as opposed to a selling realtor. And don’t rush. Take your time. And always, before making any offer, get an inspection. When you get the counter-offer, if it is reasonable, accept it on the contingency of a warranty against undiscovered prior damage for one year.
Any one have any experiences with being in the military and buying a house? I know that we can get a VA loan and probably should go with one.
Pull your credit report now. If anything bad is on it, spend the next 6-12 months cleaning it up (paying bills on time, etc). Once that’s done, get pre-approved (not pre-qualifed) from your lender of choice. Pre-qualified just means the lender has decided you’re not a credit risk. Pre-approved means the check is ready to be cut, that all the hoops have been jumped through.
Remember, if you BOTH don’t love it, move on. Get a home inspection. Do not talk to the seller’s realtor…everything must be done through your realtor.
To add to that, pull all three from the three credit bureaus.
Find the maximum amount of a VA loan, and how much you qualify for. our mortgage broker should be able to do this.
If you are working with an agent, make sure they are a REALTOR. The National Board of REALTORS polices real estate agents. Check on-line for your local Board of REALTORS, or go to www.realtor.com
Go a good home inspection and find a good real estate attorney.
I was not in the military, but I know that you can get a VA loan with no down payment. That’s all I know about that.
Don’t feel bad about making a realtor® take you to a lot of homes before you find what you want. Take a clipboard, and take notes; they’ll all blur together after a while. We looked at 25 or 30 houses before we bought this one. The realtor is going to make a wad on the deal, and you might as well make her earn it.
Rates are still quite low, but they add more “points” if your down payment is less than 20% of the price. A point is a tenth of a % of interest.
Getting a home inspection is almost mandatory, but you should check a lot of stuff yourself before making an offer. Flush the toilets, turn on all the faucets, try the garbage disposal, try the garage door opener.
If you really like a house, arrange to come back on a rainy day. Do the gutters work? Are there ponds in the yard? Do the toilets still flush? Is the basement dry? When there’s a big storm, and the power goes out, the sump pump will not work. :eek: If the basement is occasionally knee-deep in water, it’s not very useful. If all the wall plugs in the basement are chest-high, it’s not a good sign.
In a spate of storms this year, an Indy neighborhood called Frog Hollow was shown on the news a lot, with folks rowing boats down the street. Excuse me, folks, doesn’t “Frog Hollow” sound a little low and a little wet? :smack:
Whenever people mention they’re thinking of buying a house, my dad always makes this pronouncement: always be prepared to walk away. You luv luv luv the house but the inspector says “bad idea”? Walk away. You do not love it that much. There will always be other houses.
Don’t get emotionally tied to a house until after all the paperwork is signed. If something happens and the deal falls through, it wasn’t your house. Your house is out there waiting for you to find it. Until you do, all the other houses are just stops along the way.
Have you considered building?
I bought the condo I’d been renting a year ago this week. Here’s the best advice I can give you. Be wary of arrangements where the Realtor has a joint contract with you and the seller and if things don’t seem right, dump her. I worry too much about money for this to have been a comfortable experience under any circumstances, but my Realtor made things a lot worse than they should have been and, I found out 2/3 of the way through the process, she’s got a bad reputation. She was also the owner/landlord’s cousin and he was a very nice guy and a good landlord. I love the place; I love the sunrise I’ll be watching soon; the only thing I’d do differently is arrange for independent representation after the first meeting when she tried to pressure me into signing some papers when I told her over the phone before we met that I wouldn’t be doing any such thing.
CJ
We bought a house last year with a VA loan. I thought the home-buying experience was going to be one of the most stressful things I’d ever do, but going through the VA made it incredibly easy. Literally, the hardest part (aside from the actual move) was signing the neverending stream of paperwork. Anyone who is eligible and wants to buy a home would be a fool not to use a VA loan.
This is how it went:
There was also some money changing hands, but I think we only ended up spending maybe 12-hundred dollars before our first mortgage payment. The loan required no down-payment.
I honestly think the only way it could have been easier is if someone had just given us a house.
If you are offered a house to buy on contract, instead of with a mortgage, don’t do it. If you miss a payment, you will lose everything. You accumulate no equity until you make the final payment.
If you are offered an interest-only loan, run away. It has no benefits for you, and lots for the lender.
Interest-only loans have no benefits? Hmmm… Tell that to the nearly 70% of Bay Area homebuyers who picked interest-only instead of traditional mortgages this year.
Most of us would still be renting if we had to come up with $100,000 - 200,000 for a down payment.
I’d say an interest-only loan can have significant benefits and significant income tax effects - that $3,000 a month is all interest, making for interesting (heh!) deductions.
Of course, I’m not a Realtor, mortgage broker or CPA. Don’t take my word on it - ask the professionals.
My only advice is don’t fall in love with a house. It’s only a house. There’ll be other houses that come along, and she’ll only break your heart when it turns out that there are roots growing in the sewer systerm or something like that, so do not under any circumstances fall in love with a damn house.