Buying a house....need opinions

[plaedes]

Well, after 7 years of living in the same house we are finally going to look to buy our first house. I am freaking out a little bit. I have not been able to find work in my field in the 7 years in this area. My husband may be getting laid off, we don't know for sure and we don't know when either. However, the City wants to buy the house we are in to build the new jail. So we are looking at an emminent domain type of thing. We also have 3 cats, 3 small lizards, and 5 aquariums....hard to find a place to rent with all that baggage! I know that we need to get pre-qualified first so we know what price range to look for. It just doesn't make sense to look at houses that are out of your price range. Then you just get your hopes up and can't afford it. Anyway, I guess I was just wondering if anyone had any good advice on buying your first home? I've been through enough of the process with my parents before to know how a lot of it goes, but it all suddenly becomes a lot different when it is your money and credit on the line than helping someone else find a house. Any good dos and don'ts would be appreciated. I just hope that all this stress doesn't send me into a flare. I don't know what I would do if I had to deal with a flare on top of everything else.

[GriffsMommy]

Kelley,
My hubby and I bought our first house together about 3 1/2 years ago so I'd be happy to give you an suggestions that I can still remember. I would say that finding out how much you qualify for is def the first step. Also find out how much that would work out to be w/ monthly payments and stuff. We could have gone much higher than we did but we knew we wanted our mortgate payment to be low (around $500 a month and we got it). We live in Lancaster PA though so the cost of living is high. I would also say scrap together whatever you can to put down on a downpayment. Whatever you can put down will mean less in your monthly payment.
I would also suggest that you ask around for a good real estate agent. I was lucky, I called a place and they just set me up with someone who worked out really well, they will become your best friend. Once you know what you can afford then think about where in your area you are going to want to look and then start looking at all the real estate websites non-stop and have your agent look too.
Also I would say you will know your house when you see it, I knew my house, and don't listen to anybody else, of there is something in a house that you don't like, even if someone thinks it is silly, it's not silly to you, go w/ your gut. I knew we weren't going to have a lot of money to redo parts of the house and when I saw the kitchen w/ bright 70's orange counters I said NO WAY, lol.
Good luck!

[leelee88]

I think Christine gave some great tips.. And she is right about if there is one little thing that really annoys you about the house.. I promise you it will become a bigger issue later..So go with your gut feeling..Using a real estate person is great, but you can also save lots of money if you can find a home that is being sold by owner, and you can usually get it thousand of dollars cheaper..Because you want have the go between real estate person who gets a cut of the pie..

If I was you I would write down the things that are important to you in a home.. Like if a big bedroom is more important than a big kitchen.. This will help you make a decision faster on a home because then you will know exactly what you are looking for..Also check and make sure if the home has ever been flooded or treated for termites or had any other kind of damage to it.. Just like if you were buying are car you would want to know if it had ever been wrecked..Well I hope this helps.. Good luck with you house buying this will be a very exciting and stressful time so remember breath deep and dont let it get the best of you

Ronda

[littlemyrn]

I bought my first house as a single woman last August. Was in the middle of a divorce and new with the sale of our home, splitting the equity, I knew how much I would have as a down payment. Well, it worked that I had to close on my new house one week before my old house closed. I panicked, where was the down payment going to come from. I called my mortgage broker and he said don't worry. With a copy of the contract for the old house, he got me a home equity loan on my new house, no cost to me, so I would have down payment. When our old house sold, I payed off the other loan and now only have my one loan on house. Please do not get an adjustable rate mortgage. There has been a lot on tv and paper, people are getting screwed with these, although they look attractive at first, they can rise alot and your payment can double.

It was so scary buying a house by myself, but I did it, moved by myself, other than hired movers and survived, not without alot of pain meds and water. Good Luck. it is exciting knowing it is yours.

[leelee88]

Oh yes she made an excellent point.. ONLY GET A FIXED INTEREST RATE...Please do not let them talk you into a ballon note or a floating interest rate.. Some companies will make it look all good to you but in the end you end up paying twice as much as you planned...

[Trishann]

Only one big advice I want to share with you. Make sure you get the money for the old house first. A contractor was set up to buy some houses for to build on and the people started to move out knowing the money would be there. So the people started to move out and buy a new home and now they might lose it. The contractor did back out of it. How can they do this I don't know, but there were alot of angry people. This happen to the city next to us. I don't know if the people is going to try and fight it, but they are hurting.

Sending hugs, Trishann

[Berkshire Road]

Usually any realtor fees are paid by the seller only. As the buyer, you don't have to worry about that. If you're selling a house at the same time, you'd have to pay realtor's commission on the house you sell, but not the one you buy. But I thought you were saying that this is the first house you will own, so this realtor fee is not a thing you will have to be concerned with, this time.

As an investment, it is usually better to buy one of the less nice homes in a good location, than to buy the best home in a bad location. But Christine's right, you have to buy the house that looks like home to you. (OMG, Christine, I can just see those orange counters now!! I wouldn't have taken the place either!)

It is best to get qualified first, but remember, your qualification number is the highest amount a bank would be willing to loan you. It does not mean you can actually afford that amout. You need to figure out for yourselves how much that is. We nearly strangled when we saw how much loan we 'qualified' for -- almost a million dollars, I think it was, eight years ago. We gave our realtor a much lower limit, and we found our house right about at our limit. Good luck! Buying a house is an adventure, LOL.

[sandramac]

Most of all get a home inspection always .It will save you thousands in the long run & will adjust the asking price if anything does show up. Always stay with in your budget ,
Good luck.
Hugs Sandra

[littlemyrn]

Home Inspection, Great Advice, here in TN that is about standard. The Sellers on my house gave me up to 700.00 of repaires anything over that we renegoiated. And on selling our home we gave up to 500.00, the inspector found somethings that would have cost us more to have fixed, but we got lucky and the buyer was a home improvement guy and they were willing for us to write them a check at closing for the 500 and they would be responsible, whooo, it was such a relief, as I really didn't feel like trying to find someone to fix everything, plumber, carpenter, etc.

[Moonheart]

Email me at [email protected] and I'll make sure you get set up with a highly qualified home inspector in your area. Depending on the home, sometimes you can negotiate 10-30,000 dollars in the price of your home, especially with things like knob and tube electrical, old and faulty roofing systems, pipes, foundational issues, etc... Most things are not visible to the untrained eye and also it's hard to remember to take off your rose-colored glasses when you are enamoured with a home you really want to buy.
I'll get ya hooked up k?