Any help or tips about buying a condo/house?

[devlina2u]

I intend to buy a condo mostly or a small house by the end of this year. I don't know much about this and neither do I understand the terms like mortgage or second mortgage (I know...dumb me!). Could someone please explain in simple words? Does having a bad credit history affect in any way? Any idea how much is the range of the minimum down payment that we can give? I am looking for a 2 bed room or a three bed room condo in south florida, if that helps. Any tips....or any things that you learnt while buying your own house? Any experiences?

[Sandal16]

Devlina, there is an excellent web site (Realtor.com)that can answer most of your questions and you can search for a condo at the same time. Put in the area you're looking in, your price range, number of bedrooms, etc. I found our townhouse using this site a little over a year ago!

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Having a bad credit history CAN affect your getting a mortgage, you might have to clean up a few things on your credit report or borrow at a higher interest rate. A good lender can help you with that.

Good luck!

[KathrynJB]

We made an offer on a house last night (keep your fingers crossed for us!), and I have one really big piece of advice: Get a Buyer's Broker!!! We have had SUCH a good experience! A buyer's broker can help answer questions, help you find financing, find you a great house....and it doesn't cost any more than using a traditional broker. I'd HIGHLY recommend it.

Kathryn

[MSVL]

Devlina, some things that I have learned:

Get 2 or three credit cards, buy things and pay them off- not right away but over a few months( supposedly this establishes that your able to keep to a schedule and betters your credit history)

Get a copy of your credit report and get rid of all the old credit cards that you have on the history, but never used. ( I had 6 that I had signed up for to get a free tshirt or mug that I forgot about.) If you make a late payment call the credit card company they sometimes will forgive you and make it so it doesn't go on the credit report.

Look at a lot of houses or condo's- even if your not really interested it gives you an idea of what you want.

Don't fall for "we have someone else interested or someone else is putting in an offer"- ploys to get you to put in an offer.

Picture yourself living in the place- if you can't it's not for you.

If it needs repairs and you can't do them or afford them forget it.

Open all closets, doors, drawers, turn on all lights, walk on all steps- check out the neighborhood with the police- eyeball the neighbors( a wave is a good neighbor a shot gun is not LOL)Talk to neighbors if your really interested- they can tell you about the house or condo and the neighborhood.

Don't stick with one broker- get your own newspaper and go to the open houses your interested in and call on the property's you want to look at.

The broker who is selling the house does not really care about you. They say they do, but just want to sell the property.

When you make an offer start the lowest you can with out being insulting, be reasonable.- you can always go up, but never down.

When making a contract, make sure all appliances, curtains, swingsets, rugs, light fixtures are all listed as staying if thats agreed on- not listing on the contract, can mean the seller can take it.

If you want a garden- have the soil tested for lead- put this in the contract as a stipulation for buying(may not be an issue where you live, but my brother found out he has a high lead content in his soil and had to destroy his vegetable garden.)

The down payment depends on the cost of the property- if you can go for a VA loan I don't believe there is a down payment.

There will be closing costs(points, paper fees, insurance) added into the money needed to buy the property- usually not added into the loan I don't think (never did understand points)
check out this site for a full dictionary of terms
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Don't know if this will help-Good Luck

[devlina2u]

MSVL.....Thank you so much! These tips will sure prove useful to me when I am buying a condo. Thank you so much....but I did not understand what is a VA Loan? Coudl you tell me that please?

Kathryn - Thank you for your input too....but again a doubt - what is a buyers broker? I never heard of that earlier.

Sandal - Thank you too. I will check out that web site for more info.

[Ms_Holodeck]

Hey Devlina, I'm in the same "house" boat as you. It's very daunting! You might want to read up on the basics at your local library. I check Amazon for the top rated books on Home Buying and ordered the following from Amazon & Half.com. Here are my biased opinions:

1. 106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make (& How to Avoid Them) by Gary W. Eldred, Ph.D.
***** THIS BOOK IS DEFINITELY WORTH BUYING. THERE ARE EVEN CHAPTERS ON HOW TO NEGOTIATE THE DEAL.

2. The Unofficial Guide to Buying A Home by Alan Perlis with Beth Bradley
***** I HAVEN'T READ THIS ONE YET.

3. Home Buying for Dummies by Eric Tyson & Ray Brown
***** THIS BOOK HAS GOOD ADVICE, BUT IS GEARED TOWARDS THE EXPENSIVE, HIGH DEMAND, LOW SUPPLY CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE MARKET, SO READ IT LATER NOT FIRST -- IT FREAKED MY HUSBAND OUT.

4. The Homebuyer's Kit by Edith Lank
**** IT'S AN OKAY BOOK, BUT IF YOU HAVE 1 OF THE OTHER 3, IT'S UNNECCESSARY.

Good luck! We plan to be out of here by October.

[The Bunny]

You might want to talk to some lenders before going house hunting. They can tell you what kind of loan you'd qualify for, how much down payment is needed, what you can afford. I also really recommend getting a MECHANICAL inspection of the appliances, electrical system, water heater, furnace, a/c, etc. A home that comes with a home warranty is a huge plus, too. Good luck!

[stking]

You really have to know ALL the items that go into the mortgage. We were unpleasantly suprised when we thought having an FHA loan, you only needed 3% plus a little more cash at the time of the purchase. We never realized all the other fees involved that really add up such as the "Transfer Title Fee", inspections, etc. If you are a first-time buyer, FHA is the way to go because you don't need as much down, but if you have enough for a bigger down, get a "Conventional" loan. The reason I say that is because with most FHA loans you need to have mortgage insurance paid thru escrow every month which runs us about $25 a month. When they tell you what your Principal + Interest is, that is not your total payment. If you have mandatory mortgage insurance or other Escrow Items such as mandatory flood insurance you monthly payment will be higher. Flood insurance is another item we didn't know about until near the end! Also, don't forget to find out about Property taxes. They are probably pretty high in Florida just like they are here in Calif.

I know this was kinda jumbled, but I hope it helped a little!

[KathrynJB]

Hey, our offer was accepted on our house this afternoon! We still have to go through inspection, etc., but...YAY!

As I mentioned, the best thing we did was to hire a buyer's broker. A lot of people don't know that when you work with brokers in general, they are working for the Seller, not you. If you find a property that is lited with another broker, this isn't too much of a problem. If you do, it could be a big one.

A Buyer's Broker doesn't take listings of her own. Therefore, she focuses on helping YOU through the process of finding and buying your home. She gets paid commission from the listing broker. You usually have to pay a non-refundable retainer, but the service you get is great. Not only has our BB helped us find our house, but she will help us negotiate terms with the Seller, helps us find good financing, etc.

I think especially if you haven't done this before, having someone on your side who works for YOU can be invaluable.

Kathryn

[MSVL]

Congrats. KathrynJB- glad you got it- very stressful time.
Devlina a VA loan is for Veterans of armed services. My husband was in the Marines so we qualified, but FHA is comparible. Stking, I was shocked when the closing costs had "document transport" in my closing for fed exing papers to the bank. They'll get you anyway they can.

[Ms_Holodeck]

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Hey Devlin, might as well sign up for these free guides from Fannie Mae. Housing information fair sites too.

[devlina2u]

Thank you al so much for your help! I will go looking at condos so that I can get an idea first.....and THANK YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN!!!!!