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ButWhatIf posted:After attending a cool and really helpful first-time homebuyers' seminar, I was informed that probably one of the biggest challenges my husband and I would face is trying not to get emotionally attached to any of the houses we're going to view. Since I already have a particular favorite house on my List of Houses to See, I think that's probably exactly accurate, and I'm curious if anyone has any insight on how to avoid allowing that to happen. Seriously, though, it is possible that the first house you look at is the right one. Just be objective and be willing to walk away. If everyone looks at 50 houses, 2% of objective homebuyers will on average buy the first house they looked at.
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May 18, 2012 22:36
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I just posted this in GiP but realized it may belong here: Has anyone used a VA Loan to purchase a single family residence or condo? How was the rate compared to a regular FHA rate? What about the experience overall? I'm hearing a lot of negativity towards VA Loans and I'm debating if I should even go through the trouble of trying to use it, or just go conventional. Being able to delay the down payment with VA would help me a lot, but it won't help me if I can't get the property I want because the seller doesn't want VA Loans...
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May 19, 2012 07:37
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FooGoo posted:I just posted this in GiP but realized it may belong here: You'll have to be more specific about your circumstances here. Rates can vary depending on a variety of personal situations but I know that, typically, VA loans offer more flexibility and beneficial options for the buyer. How much cash do you have on hand? What's your general debt situation? What's your monthly take-home income? Basically, what is your current financial situation that has you wanting to get into a house? In any case, I'd highly recommend reading the OP thoroughly. When you're done, read it another two times.
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May 19, 2012 08:06
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FooGoo posted:I just posted this in GiP but realized it may belong here: I used my VA loan for a condo in Dec and got a 250k loan with no money down at 3.75% 30 yr fixed. That was pretty much the best rate then.
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May 19, 2012 19:22
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Rates were ridiculous yesterday. We locked in our 30 year fixed at 3.875% (with no points). Pretty stoked on that.
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May 19, 2012 20:02
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FooGoo posted:I just posted this in GiP but realized it may belong here: Isn't a big part of the VA loan that the property you are looking to buy has to pass a fairly stringent inspection? Little things that would wouldn't be an issue in a regular inspection would stop the process with a VA loan. When searching for homes I saw several that said "VA approved!" as a selling point and all were fairly new or heavily remodeled.
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May 19, 2012 23:06
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The VA process can be a little more involved than the FHA or conventional. The key perk to a VA loan is that you are not going to pay mortgage insurance on the loan. However, you are going to be paying a pretty hefty funding fee (unless you are getting disability or eligible to). If you are allowed to get around the funding fee, you should be looking at VA options first.
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May 20, 2012 01:48
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Bucket Joneses posted:Rates were ridiculous yesterday. We locked in our 30 year fixed at 3.875% (with no points). Pretty stoked on that. 3.875% fixed over 30 years?  Wow, I thought a 10 year fixed at that rate was great. Also this thread makes me so depressed as a Canadian house hunting on and off over the last couple years.
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May 20, 2012 12:49
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I got 3.75 fixed on my 30-year refi last November. Rates bounced up a little since then but then went back down I guess. Canadian loans are totally weird and different. You guys can't really get 30-year "fixed" loans at all, they're all ARMs. I don't really know why.
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May 21, 2012 06:30
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3.30% on 253000 over 25 years but it's not fixed.In Norway + member of a union with a deal with a bank also I put 40% down. I believe the only way to get cheaper in Norway is to be a government employee. We took over our apartment last Tuesday. Luckily we don't have to move in any time soon since we're renting from family. Lots to do. On the not falling in love thing, this is the third place we bid on. We kind of fell in love with the first place we bid on (about the 10nth place we visited). Getting beaten on that dented our enthusiasm a bit but now I'm glad we lost it. If you have the luxury of time then just setting down a list of things the place must have and must not have and being picky as hell will serve you well. Our basic requirements were 2 bedrooms, almost but not quite central to the area with the best bars in Oslo, balcony that gets the sun for a decent portion of the day, no open plan kitchen/living room bullshit, minimum 65m2 and that if it was a fixer upper that the bathroom was in good condition. We got all that, our only quibble is that the bathroom needs a to have the sink swapped out to fit a washer/drier and the kitchen which we thought was rough but usable, is kind of nasty.
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May 21, 2012 08:04
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Laser Cow posted:On the not falling in love thing, this is the third place we bid on. We kind of fell in love with the first place we bid on (about the 10nth place we visited). Getting beaten on that dented our enthusiasm a bit but now I'm glad we lost it. We spent over a month in the process of buying a place we really wanted but ultimately we had to walk away when the seller wouldn't make any price concessions post-inspection. But, just as in your case, it was all for the best and I'm so much happier with the place we're getting now instead.
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May 21, 2012 14:29
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I just got 30yr fixed at 3.75% with 3.5% down and could have gotten 3.5% with 5% down. The only reason for not doing the latter is the extra money will let me pay off my car loan and keep my emergency fund a little higher.
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May 21, 2012 14:45
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Bucket Joneses posted:We spent over a month in the process of buying a place we really wanted but ultimately we had to walk away when the seller wouldn't make any price concessions post-inspection. But, just as in your case, it was all for the best and I'm so much happier with the place we're getting now instead. I get the feeling that the Norwegian system is quite different from the US. We got to view the place twice on open viewing days. Then the day after the last viewing put in an offer and start bidding. Right now the Oslo market is pretty crazy so most things sell straight away and places very rarely go for less than asking. It is a disturbingly fast way to spend millions of crowns.
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May 21, 2012 15:13
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In the process of refinancing my deeply underwater rental property that was at 6.125% (with lender-paid PMI) for 4.5%, no increase in balance, $240 in closing costs, and NO PMI at all. Apparently with the HARP 2.0 and lender-paid PMI it just transfers over with no additional costs. I don't quite understand it, but I'm not complaining that after 7 years of it they just set I'm all set... The .5-.625% premium is due to investment property and not to insane selling of points. I'm going to be saving about $260 a month on the property which more than doubles my positive cash flow on the rental. (not counting for things such as vacancy, maintenance, etc) I had been dragging my feet on refi due to my plan to sell it to the current tenant in July 2013, but by selling a point I have a 1 month payback period on the deal. Love this country, thanks Obama.
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May 21, 2012 19:50
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Aredna posted:I just got 30yr fixed at 3.75% with 3.5% down and could have gotten 3.5% with 5% down. The only reason for not doing the latter is the extra money will let me pay off my car loan and keep my emergency fund a little higher. How much and through whom?
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May 22, 2012 04:35
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Took the plunge last week and bought a condo. It was a surreal experience, I woke up Tuesday with no thoughts of buying a place and by midnight had an accepted offer. By Friday all the conditions were met and waived. We had done about 6 months of research and literally had come to a final conclusion the previous weekend to target a specific building and were going to wait up to a year before rethinking the plan. Two days later a condo meeting our exact criteria appeared and we jumped on it before it was even openly listed. We put 10% down and got a 5 yr, 3.36%, 25 year amortization mortgage. Not much time to shop around for rates as the financing condition was 3 days. Canada, by the way. Now it's time to sort out what work we want to have done. We will have both the condo and our current apartment for the month of July so we have flexibility. The place is move-in ready so we're really just looking at cosmetics/upgrades like crown molding, replacing interior doors, window treatments, etc. Maybe wainscoting in the living/dining room if it's possible with the cement walls.
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May 22, 2012 17:21
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necrobobsledder posted:I'm the usual HOA bitcher in these threads and didn't get much from my own "let's bitch about our HOAs" thread, so I'm going to rant about HOAs here hopefully not into the cold darkness of the forums. Why not a house? I am lazy, my brother is even lazier. I don't want to deal with maintenance of the house, and I know if something happens where I would have to take off a weekend to do poo poo I would be doing it all by myself because he would be at Disneyland or BBQing with his friends rather than helping out. This has happened already so I know it will get worse.
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May 23, 2012 01:15
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Had my inspection tonight. Apparently the seller's husband didn't see the divorce coming, because he put tens of thousands of dollars of work into overhauling the foundation, electrical, heating, and plumbing. But i will need to reattach the hand rail on the stairs to pass FHA guidelines.
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May 23, 2012 01:25
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Qaz Kwaz posted:How much and through whom? You should be able to get a 3.75 for 30 years at about that much of your mortgage through most lenders in the country. The 3.5 might be a little bit tough, but pricing is staying low enough right now that you should be able to get 3.5 if you are willing to invest in the mortgage. I know we are actually offering 3.375 on a 30 year fixed right now, but it is not quite practical for most.
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May 23, 2012 04:57
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Well there must be pigs flying somewhere since I bought an immaculate house with no competing offers yesterday evening. In the process of getting locked in for 10-year fixed at 3.89% in Canada. If I can get that up to 30 years somehow I'm all ears! e: 10 year term of 25 year mortgage, not sure if that's confusing given the apparent differences in the way Americans do their mortgages Pweller fucked around with this message at 20:39 on May 23, 2012 |
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May 23, 2012 20:24
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Given that I should be able to pay up to 15% of my mortgage annually without penalty, can someone confirm that there isn't really any incentive for me to choose an amortization period shorter than 25 years? If I wanted to pay the same monthly payments as under a 20 year mortgage for example, I wouldn't see any reduction in interest paid over the life of the mortgage compared to formally changing it to 20 year amortization right?
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May 23, 2012 20:30
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Pweller posted:Given that I should be able to pay up to 15% of my mortgage annually without penalty, can someone confirm that there isn't really any incentive for me to choose an amortization period shorter than 25 years? As long as the APR is the same for both, then it shouldn't matter. I'm not familiar at all with Canadian mortgages though.
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May 23, 2012 22:28
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Inept posted:As long as the APR is the same for both, then it shouldn't matter. I'm not familiar at all with Canadian mortgages though. This is not necessarily the case. If you pull up a comparable amortization schedule for a loan at 20 years and for a loan at 25 at the same interest rate, the loan will not pay out the same amount of interest if you made the exact same payments every month.
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May 24, 2012 02:16
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Pweller posted:Given that I should be able to pay up to 15% of my mortgage annually without penalty, can someone confirm that there isn't really any incentive for me to choose an amortization period shorter than 25 years? That is only true if you get the exact same interest rate on the 20 year as you get on the 30 year. If you get a lower rate, you are paying more into principal and less into interest with each payment. For example, let's use this calculator and go with a 100k 30 year loan at 6% (I know, but its the default and I'm lazy). That gives you a monthly payment of $599.55 and total interest paid of $115,838.19. So, over the life of the loan, you have paid $215,838.19. Now, let's do a 20 year loan at the same 6% rate. You have a monthly payment of $716.43, and at the end of the loan, you have paid $71,943.45 in interest, so you paid $171,943.45 over the life of the loan. This is a payment difference of $116.88. Now, let's go back to the first scenario (30 years, 6%) and add $116.88 a month to get us on the 20 year schedule. That pays you off in 20 years, with total interest charges of $71,943.57, which is a rounding error away from the 20 year loan. Now, what if you get an interest rate of 5.5% at 20 years, though? Then, your monthly payment is $687.89 and at the end of the loan you have paid $65,092.95 in interest. So the total loan has cost you 165,092.95. You have saved $12,000 with a lower monthly payment. If you bring your monthly payment back up to $716.43 in this scenario ($28.54 monthly), you pay off the loan a year earlier and pay $59,952.37 in interest, or another $5k. The interest rate is what makes the difference on shorter term loans, not the payment period.
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May 24, 2012 13:20
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I don't think Canadians actually have access to true fixed-term loans like we do in the States though. What they call a "fixed loan" is just an ARM, with weird government rules about the timing and amount the rate can rise (or fall?) after the fixed period. Unless the Canadian I chatted with about real estate a while back was wrong, which is entirely possible.
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May 24, 2012 16:37
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Even if that's the case, won't a lower amortization period have lower rates throughout the life? So while the numbers may change, the principle would still apply.
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May 24, 2012 19:21
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I can only speak to my own situation, and I'm a first time homebuyer so I'm learning a lot about it all as I go, but my perspective on canadian mortgages is that I have the following options available to me, -25 year amortization is the traditional mortgage, 30 year amortization will incur extra mortgage insurance fees. The amortization has no impact on the rate I can lock into. -lock into rates over (usually) 5 year terms throughout the amortization period, either fixed rate for the entire length of the term, or variable rate, which is somehow tied to the Bank of Canada's interest rates, and I believe can change on you every 3 or 6 months? (I'm not sure on the frequency, but I think you lock into x number of points above or below the prime rate, which I think can change each quarter). (I went in for a fixed rate term to start, so I'm not all that interested in the rate adjustment frequency for now) - I couldn't find a credit union that would offer a fixed rate for a term longer than 5 years - most banks cap out at 5 year terms, some will do 7 years, some will do 10 years So as to my previous question, my interest rate is the same regardless of the amortization, which I'm pretty sure doesn't affect anything other than the amount of extra interest that will accrue over the life of the mortgage (if 25 years or shorter). I wasn't sure if there was some other mystery factor I wasn't considering, but I've had a few people confirm that there isn't over the past couple days.
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May 24, 2012 19:44
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Pweller posted:Given that I should be able to pay up to 15% of my mortgage annually without penalty, can someone confirm that there isn't really any incentive for me to choose an amortization period shorter than 25 years? That's right. You can also make some additional changes to your payment schedule without penalty (i.e., you can up-to-double your monthly payment without penalty). This is great to take advantage of if you come into a large amount of money or something mid-mortgage.
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May 24, 2012 21:35
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Wow, so there is zero incentive whatsoever to do anything between a full cash payment and a 25 year amortization with the largest down payment you can make? That seems odd, but maybe there are some benefits to it that I am not familiar with. Well, then my numbers were useless to you, but maybe they'll help someone in the US that was thinking they could just pay a 30 year like a 15 and everything would be the same. e: never mind, I'm an idiot. There is a partial benefit in that you pay less interest over a shorter amortization period, but you don't get the full benefit of a lower rate too. And that may be the tradeoff for the forced ARM and lower earlier payments without the ARM disaster that hit a bunch of US mortgages. let it mellow fucked around with this message at 22:06 on May 24, 2012 |
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May 24, 2012 22:00
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blah_blah posted:That's right. You can also make some additional changes to your payment schedule without penalty (i.e., you can up-to-double your monthly payment without penalty). This is great to take advantage of if you come into a large amount of money or something mid-mortgage. I'm not sure this is standard at all though. The mortgage I'm jockeying with at the moment lets me overpay by certain amounts without penalty, but I'm pretty sure those terms can differ from contract to contract. You amortization could definitely have a big effect on overall interest paid out if you aren't allowed to overpay on your regular payments.
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May 24, 2012 22:47
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Pweller posted:I'm not sure this is standard at all though. The mortgage I'm jockeying with at the moment lets me overpay by certain amounts without penalty, but I'm pretty sure those terms can differ from contract to contract. I'm sure it varies between Canadian banks but a quick glance shows that TD, RBC, and CIBC all allow you to double your mortgage payment and allow yearly prepayments of between 10 and 20 percent of the original mortgage amount. BMO doesn't appear to allow this but BMO is a terrible bank so I guess that's not surprising.
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May 25, 2012 02:20
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blah_blah posted:I'm sure it varies between Canadian banks but a quick glance shows that TD, RBC, and CIBC all allow you to double your mortgage payment and allow yearly prepayments of between 10 and 20 percent of the original mortgage amount. BMO doesn't appear to allow this but BMO is a terrible bank so I guess that's not surprising. BMO allows me to do it, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't allow others. I know the only problem with double payments is you have to sign up for it for a year. Which can kill any chance of saving.
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May 25, 2012 14:54
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On an unrelated point, if you have an FHA mortgage that was insured before June 1st of 2009, you should be getting ready to refinance. If you have a FHA jumbo loan, you should try to refinance as soon as possible, before they raise the monthly mip again. *you may need to call 1-800-call-fha to find out when your home was insured, but typically it is at least a month after your mortgage closed.
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May 27, 2012 16:17
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gtkor posted:On an unrelated point, if you have an FHA mortgage that was insured before June 1st of 2009, you should be getting ready to refinance. If you have a FHA jumbo loan, you should try to refinance as soon as possible, before they raise the monthly mip again. This only applies to new loans issues, it is not retroactive... http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2012/HUDNo.12-037
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May 27, 2012 16:19
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Dead Pressed posted:This only applies to new loans issues, it is not retroactive... Of course, the key thing is that if you have a jumbo loan, you very well may be able to get a case number in under the current MIP which would be a pretty big win. Especially if you are sitting around 4.5, as you could probably sneak down to 3.75 under the current MIP.
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May 27, 2012 17:45
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Does anyone have experience with buying a new build in the US? I looked through the first page but didn't see any megapost about it (although I may be blind).
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May 28, 2012 06:13
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JPrime posted:Does anyone have experience with buying a new build in the US? I looked through the first page but didn't see any megapost about it (although I may be blind). Be careful you're not buying some exurban sprawl that will be worthless in a few years.
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May 28, 2012 06:17
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For anyone following earlier, our soul-less suburban HOA-free house is almost done! Cabinetry, carpeting and landscaping are all that's left. 32 days to closing now. Surprisingly few problems along the way so far, a socket on the wrong wall and a miscommunication about towel bars. 
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May 28, 2012 06:29
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FISHMANPET posted:Be careful you're not buying some exurban sprawl that will be worthless in a few years. The place I looked at today and (stupidly) fell in love with is near a freeway here in the Phoenix area, as well as the new football stadium...presumably that should be good for a while, yea?
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May 28, 2012 06:34
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JPrime posted:The place I looked at today and (stupidly) fell in love with is near a freeway here in the Phoenix area, as well as the new football stadium...presumably that should be good for a while, yea? Well in my view Phoenix as a whole isn't going to be worth much in a while, but I'm sure most people will think me a kook. Though isn't housing in Phoenix still in the shitter? Wouldn't list price on new construction be replacement cost and not market value, making existing stock a way better deal?
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May 28, 2012 06:38
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