Buying a house- Any advice or tips you can share?

[JenniferC]

We are first time buyers (pretty obvious huh?) And we are going in this with no idea what we are doing. Can anyone give us tips or advice. We are in the process of getting preapproved. We've called to mortgage companies but the first hasn't gotten back to us, the second told us our price range was no problem but instead of faxing me a preapproval sheet wanted to jump right into a mortgage (I thought you couldn't fill out the mortgage application until you have a house?) How much money should we set aside for closing costs, lawyers fees, etc. Are closing costs included in your mortgage?? I feel so stupid I am in NJ if that makes a difference. Thank you to all that are willing to help me.

[PHReD]

Don't feel stupid!
I'm right there with you... we'll be buying one before May (our lease is up then) and I don't have the first clue what to do!

[tlspiegel -Closed]

I bought my first home when I was 55. I didn't have a clue and was moving from Pgh., PA to Phoenix, AZ. I had a friend recommend a wonderful woman realtor. I wouldn't have done so well without her. She became my best friend. Highly recommend a realtor who you trust.

Congratulations on your first house!

Get a mortgage broker. That's the best advice we ever got! The broker looks out for your interests only, not the seller's. They will walk you through all the paperwork, escrows ( if you need one), tell you how much to set aside for closing and insurance and will even estimate your property taxes for you before you close to make sure you can afford it.

The best advice that I can give is if you have 20 percent or more to put down on your house, do it! That way you don't have to have an escrow account and can get your own homeowners insurance and pay your own taxes. That way you aren't paying interest on those things.

[cata5]

After you do all of that and actually go to make an offer on a house, the best advice I can give is hire someone to do a home inspection, especially if the house is old. Your offer can be contingent on the inspection. If there are some major problems with the house, you can either back out of the deal or negotiate with the seller for a better price or repairs etc. Around here an inspection costs $300-$500...and well worth the money...

We recently SOLD a house that was old and had some issues due to the age of the plumbing, wiring , etc. We offered a home warranty which is like an insurance policy that would cover the new owners in the event that something would break down in the first year. This seems to be a popular thing to do to give peace of mind to the buyer. (and to avoid buyers hunting you down.LOL) The buyers also had an inspection done which turned up all kinds of things that we didn't even know about!

When you get into a house you tend to be distracted by the size, the decor, etc. Make sure the structure of the house is good. You can always paint or change carpeting, but replacing a furnace or updating plumbing or wiring can be very costly. Turn on some faucets, flush the toilets, open windows(in case they are painted shut!),....get the idea? (New houses aren't necessarily problem free either.)

Good luck!

[ShainaT]

Are you buying a new house or a used house?

We bought a new house in '99. Closing costs are NOT included. They are always more than estimated also for some reason. Wifey is right when she says put as much down as possible. If you put down LESS than 20% you have to pay private mortgage insurance. It is hard to get out of PMI later even after you make improvements to the house.

Our inspector found two pages of things we hadn't noticed. Get everything fixed before you sign on the dotted line. Anything said verbally isn't worth the paper it's written on they say!

Good luck.

[hrdlife1]

get a mortgage broker, a GOOD realtor, a home inspection done, homeowner's insurance, and put 20% or more down

also make sure it is as close to your dream home as possible, also make sure you look at the lawn and area ground, that could become more important than you think


sigh.....now if WE could just get a house...sigh...i'm so jealous of you lol GOOD LUCK AND CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

[buckeyemomma]

The only other thing I might suggest is to make sure a title search is done to make sure no other money is owed.

[mama2calli]

Also check out the neighborhood a bit and local school systems (I think you can get some school info from realtor.com, although it is good to ask around about classroom sizes), if you have or plan on having kids!

This is why we're moving from our town...either stay here and stick the kids in private school, or move to a smaller town, buy a different house & put the kids in public school...I'd think that's the better option!

Kath

[stking]

All the advice here so far has been great! Another idea is check in the city you want to move to, if they have any deals for first time homeowners. The city we live in now has a great deal they DID NOT have 6 years ago when we bought our place: They will loan you up to (I think) 10% of the price of the house (to help with down payment) that you do not have to pay back until 10 years or when you sell, whichever comes first!! That would have been great for us because we did an FHA loan and only had 3% to put down. Cities do this do encourage home-buyers to buy in their city. That's here in Calif. Can't say if they have it where you live!

[devlina2u]

Congratulations!!

I don;t know anything about this but I wanted to Congratulate you.

[Jaxxie]

When you go into a "used" home to purchase, the house is as you see it. So all lighting fixtures, all shower heads etc, are to be the ones when you move in. UNLESS it is stipulated in the sellers agreements. We bought a home that had beautful ceiling fans, but the day of settlement...umm no fans. Made for a huge pain in the butt.

Also whether used or new make sure you stipulate you want it cleaned!! Not swept, but cleaned.

Read everything!! A realtor by law cannot lie or mislead you in any state as far as i know. But she does NOT have to disclose anything if you don't ask! So ask if the basement is dry, ask why the owners are moving, ask who was the builder, etc...
It doesn't hurt to knock on the neighbor doors and ask questions. Tell them we are considering buying a home in this neighborhood, can you tell me the pro's and con's of this place. This way you can get a feel as to whether or not you will like the neighbors, if they have loud kids or noisey pets. LOL


GOOD LUCK

oh and buy tylenol...lots of it
Good LUCK!!!!!

[LISA1013]

all the things stated so far are great

My sis is a Loan Officer ~ so she takes care of our "house" sort of speak .... she just put through to refinance us again, and i didnt even have a clue that she was doing that...interest rates are low now, so she locked us at 6.75

One thing i would recommend is ~ check out ALL your options before doing anything, meaning you could qualify for a certain type of loan that maybe you werent familiar with ~ as always a fluxuating (sp?) loan is always better than a fixed interest loan for first time home buyers because you can actually get a higher loan amount and lower interest rate than a fixed .. then you can go and refinance a year later to get a fixed interest rate (if the fluxuating loan should go up one point) ~

I will tell ya one thing, all these companies out there will get you in the door by giving you a LOW interest rate .. but then you pay for it in closing cost and/or pmi ~ make sure you dont get takin in by a great low rate .. could cost you more in the long run .. and you wont know it till later

also, if you put more money down .. then chances are you wont pay any pmi as you would almost have equity built in ~ and you could at that point have the option of having your taxes included in your payment or not ~ if you put little down ~ you will not have that option


the most important thing .. find at least one person ~ whether a mortgage broker, real estate person or loan officer that you trust !!!!!!!! otherwise you wont know what you are getting yourself into ~

if you want to chat about this more, or i havent explained anything clearly .. email me and i will be more than happy to go into more detail

good luck & have fun !!! this should be a wonderful time for you .... and remember dont buy unless it is what you and your family want !!!!!!

and the best advice ~ PAY OUT OF POCKET FOR AN INSPECTION !!! there are companies out there that do a full inspection... that is ok..but i would also recommend that you go to inspectors that specialize in particular things...like a licensed plumber, roofer, etc...
believe me .. the money you spend on it ... is very well worth it

[jsalba]

My one recommendation is this..

while the realtor will most likely be very nice and helpful.. always remember that they aren't working on your behalf but on the part of the property owner.

Make sure the deed is researched, the property has a true and correct appraisal etc

[cata5]

Some laws are different, but it used to be that the agent could not come out and tell you if there was a sex offender living next door...unless you asked about it...(ask...)

Your agent IS getting paid by the seller, but the seller has their own listing agent...Not sure what you meant, Jsalba...Your agent should indeed be working on your behalf not the seller.

Unless you mean that your agent has listed the house he is showing you??