Contact your local GovernmentS- City and County. Talk to them about their 1st time homebuyer programs. Do not buy anything until you have talked to them.
These programs can save you 10’s of thousands of $$. They also will give you scads of great advice.
You Income tax will* likely* go down, saving you a lot- well, unless this will put you into AMT territory. :eek: Contact your Tax-man before buying too. I had a couple of freinds who has a “friend in the RE business” :dubious: . Said “freind” calculated how much they’d save on Income taxes with the Mortgage, and convinced them the “savings” would allow them to make the payments. She (the RE “friend”) either didn’t know or “forgot” to calculate in AMT. They lost the house.
House or Condo? Condo?- Re-read LucyInDisguise + FairyChatMom’s advice about HOA’s.
New or older? If new, you can likely get the home a lot cheaper. Look for auctions. If older, re-read everything here about Inspections.
You didn’t say where you live. Things vary between states. In NJ you always close with a lawyer, in CA you do it with the mortgage broker and the agent.
But to back up to first principles:
Assuming you’re not living in a box, you can always walk away. In CA you get the closing papers, with costs, before closing. If anyone tries to pull a switcheroo on you, walk. If you’re negotiating, and the price isn’t what you want, walk.
When you find a house that looks good, come back to see it without a realtor. (You don’t want to go in, but you do want to check out the neighborhood.) Do trains go by at midnight? Does the odor from the cowfarm waft in at 9? When we bought our house in NJ, we were living not far away, and we asked to see the basement after a big rain. The owner’s electrical equipment was sitting on the floor, so we were assured the basement was dry. It was. Realtors can be good at putting a good face on things, try to see it without them. If you don’t like it, walk. It’s good to see if the neighbors are in a band that practices at 1 am also.
Ditto what Duck Duck Goose said. Decide what you want ahead of time, and what you don’t. Revisit the list after you see a few. In today’s market, don’t be rushed. You’re buying at a good time.
Think about schools. Definitely if you have kids, or are thinking about having kids, but even if you’re not. In some places house prices depend on the quality of the local school. Find out which school your house is associated with, and look up the test scores. They don’t matter that much for education, but lots of other people look at them, and they affect house values. Also ask about redistricting.
When you tour, don’t be afraid to run the water or flush the toilet or check out the fit and finish of the doors. When we looked we saw some houses that had holes in the walls, rooms filled with crud - and these were $350K prices. Reject those, but look for more subtle problems. It doesn’t mean don’t buy, but you might be able to negotiate better.
I don’t know if this is permitted, but we looked before digital and cellphone cameras. If you can, take pictures, because you’ll find that after five houses you forget which was which. Don’t be afraid of taking notes.
I agree with what others have said, but you don’t want to find stuff during the inspection.
We got an excellent mortgage rate from one of those state programs, saved lots of $.
We did the inspection WITH the inspector, learned tons.
We used a big bank for our mortgage - mistake! Smaller can be better.
We used the seller’s realtor - mistake! Although not a huge error for us since she didn’t look out for their interests well, either.
We had a lawyer go over the purchase agreement, it helped.
We looked at neighborhoods as well as houses (you can find sexual predators mapped online), so we love our area.
We borrowed much less than we were approved for.
We did a LOT of searching online, saved time and aggravation.
We thought the “Home Warranty” the sellers had purchased covered the well and septic - nope! Repairs cost us $2k. The $100 deductible (per incident) plus the hassle of dealing with the warranty company (who never did what they said they were going to do) made the thing worthless.
BUT, the most important thing, we bought a house that we LOVE. It’s got the 3 things we most wanted (big yard, good size, quiet location). Loving your house is essential, IMHO. Whatever your true desire is, be sure you honor it.
If you use a buyer’s agent, remember that you are the customer. If they don’t listen you what you say (how much you want to spend, where you want to live, the kind of houses you like) ditch them. A good agent can help you find the house you really want. A bad agent will sell you the house they want sold.
When you find a house, visit it several times, on your own. Drive up at night, and open the car windows. Is the nearby freeway very loud? Are there streetlights shining in all the windows? Especially stop by Friday and Saturday evenings. Is the house on the local loop, where all the teenagers drive by on Friday night? Can you hear the neighbor’s music from the street?
When you are figuring out how much you want to spend, also remember that you probably will have to buy new tools with the new house. Will you need a lawnmower, a snowblower, rakes, shovels, ladders? I swear we spent more at Home Depot, with our first house, then we did on the mortgage.
Don’t fall in love with a house before you buy it. You don’t HAVE to have that one. If it doesn’t work out, go find the next house that you love.
