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Tap posted:That reminds me, what is the most ideal (or common) place to put money you expect to use for a down payment? Savings account, money market or bonds.
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May 28, 2009 19:09
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Tap posted:That reminds me, what is the most ideal (or common) place to put money you expect to use for a down payment?
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May 28, 2009 20:19
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My husband and I have been pre approved for a loan (YAY) and we want to start to look at houses. How do you go about finding a good realtor? Everyone I've asked either didn't like theirs very much or the realtor they used is in a different county.
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May 28, 2009 20:35
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Gravitee posted:My husband and I have been pre approved for a loan (YAY) and we want to start to look at houses. How do you go about finding a good realtor? Everyone I've asked either didn't like theirs very much or the realtor they used is in a different county. I used this: http://homebuying.about.com/od/realestateagents/tp/Agentinterview.htm To get me started on questions to ask. Word of mouth is probably easier, but that doesn't always work out either. Just make sure they know where you stand. If you really aren't getting along, I doubt any realtor is going to force you to use them if you're constantly clashing. Don't be surprised if some Realtors are surprised at the questions you're asking. I had one Realtor who thought I was implying she was a sleazy car salesman by asking all these questions.
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May 28, 2009 23:45
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Gravitee posted:My husband and I have been pre approved for a loan (YAY) and we want to start to look at houses. How do you go about finding a good realtor? Everyone I've asked either didn't like theirs very much or the realtor they used is in a different county.
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May 29, 2009 01:23
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moana posted:You don't want an agent to be both the buying and selling agent though; they won't really be working for you in that case. They may not be working for you in any case. The higher the selling price, the higher their commission. This does not necessarily mean that they will try to get you to pay more for a house, but it is something to watch for.
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May 29, 2009 04:33
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Gravitee posted:My husband and I have been pre approved for a loan (YAY) and we want to start to look at houses. How do you go about finding a good realtor? Everyone I've asked either didn't like theirs very much or the realtor they used is in a different county. If you do just pick someone at random, be careful about a few things. Your state may be one where exclusivity contracts are optional when working with agents. I'd recommend not signing one. If you sign one of those contracts and things go sour, you may not be able to work with another Realtor for months. In some cases, even if you find another property with another Realtor, the original one gets a cut of the commission. It's a headache. In any event, I'd be clear with an agent up front with what you expect. You want frequent communication, regular showing appointments that accommodate your schedule, due diligence in the inspection of the home and a clean transaction. Any challenges/bumps/unexpected events should be explained ASAP with an idea of what to expect. I'd also set expectations about staying within your defined criteria. Do realize that the best Realtors are also the busiest, so it may be tougher to schedule appointments with them. If you're interested primarily in a ready-to-go recently remodeled home, you may not need the best Realtor in town. You may just need one that's free to accommodate your schedule and who's hungry to work hard for you. If you're interested in fixer-upper or foreclosure/short sale options, I'd hold out for the most seasoned agent you can get.
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May 29, 2009 05:25
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Helado posted:Don't be surprised if some Realtors are surprised at the questions you're asking. I had one Realtor who thought I was implying she was a sleazy car salesman by asking all these questions.
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May 29, 2009 12:20
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Inept posted:They may not be working for you in any case. The higher the selling price, the higher their commission. This does not necessarily mean that they will try to get you to pay more for a house, but it is something to watch for.
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May 29, 2009 18:18
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swenblack posted:This is one of the warning flags of a bad agent. A real estate agent should know more than anyone the importance of having full confidence in someone facilitating a financial transaction worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yes, I probably should have clarified. I didn't mean 'this is normal', just that some more than others may take the wrong impression, but that's something one can consider. edit: As to the forcing you into a house that is more than you want to buy, I guess I would consider the dollar amounts at work. At 3.5% and if they work for a realty company, they probably get half that. So on a sale, $10,000 more is getting them $175. They're probably more concerned about finding a home that you will like than trying to maximize a commission. That's my opinion anyway. Helado fucked around with this message at 23:27 on May 29, 2009 |
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May 29, 2009 23:21
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Different agents have different philosophies. The long-term career agents for the most part run on reputation and whether their past customers are actually happy with their home purchases. You can't deny they'll try to maximize commissions, but at the same time bad word of mouth is extremely detrimental to them and will cut into their future earnings for sure. So, I'd prefer to go with someone that's starting out and is tripping over themselves trying to find you anything in your budget range or someone that's so experienced and busy (even in this horribly low volume market) it's in their interest to get you a house that fits your needs.
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May 30, 2009 18:35
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Gravitee posted:My husband and I have been pre approved for a loan (YAY) and we want to start to look at houses. How do you go about finding a good realtor? Everyone I've asked either didn't like theirs very much or the realtor they used is in a different county.
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May 31, 2009 17:16
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moana posted:I broke mine up into a money market account with Vanguard and an ING CD back when the rates were still pretty good for CDs. Not sure what they're at now. You just want to stay away from anything risky. One of the pages linked in the first post suggests just going to your local bank to get preapproval... is that a good idea, or should I shop around on the internet? smackfu fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Jun 1, 2009 |
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Jun 1, 2009 22:59
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smackfu posted:The problem with CDs is getting your money out quickly. I suppose you can break the CD if you're desperate though. We ran into a problem with internet preapproval - basically, the people at Ditech told us we had been preapproved, sent us a letter with "preapproval" on top, etc, without running our credit. So even though we specifically asked, we were actually just prequalified instead of preapproved, which doesn't count for poo poo. When we bitched to them after we found out, their response was "oh well, that was initial approval, what most people call preapproval we call 'final approval'". gently caress you Ditech. It really doesn't matter, but we went to WaMu to get our actual preapproval run and then to BofA to double check, and the BofA lady said that the banks all use the same process so it's good enough to get preapproval from one of them. We ended up using a different bank anyway for our actual mortgage, so I don't think it really matters where you go.
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Jun 2, 2009 05:24
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moana posted:the BofA lady said that the banks all use the same process so it's good enough to get preapproval from one of them. Pretty much this.. Once you get approved by one bank, its a pretty good sign you can get a loan from any bank, so generally, just go to any local bank to get the approval. As stated, make sure its an actual approval and not a qualification. Then, after you are pre-approved and find a house you like, you can either stick with them or go mortgage shopping with the confidence that at the very least you have one lender that already agreed.
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Jun 2, 2009 12:43
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Hey guys. I'm wasn't looking to buy a house, my wife and I are trying to pay off her student loans first, but I found one yesterday that looks like a great home for us. Income: $4200/mo net Debt: $32k in student loan debt, however "minimum" payments on these loans are roughly $250/mo. We've just been paying like crazy on them ($17668 since October 11). Home price (asking): $149k Property taxes: $2100 Estimated down payment: $7-10k, depending on how much we'd be expected for closing costs. Estimated mortgage w/ taxes and PMI for a 30 fixed at 5.5% (guess): $1100 We were hoping to pay off the student loans first, then save a sizeable down payment (though this would probably be less-likely because we'd be going crazy looking for a place) and then have a 15year fixed mortgage. In this situation, I'd be more comfortable going with a 30 year just so we could continue paying as much as we can on our student loans. I'm guessing it would probably add another year or two to our payoff plan (which would have been 1.5 years from now, approximately). How much do closing costs usually run? I'm not as worried about $2-3k, but if it's like $5k or something that's a bit more worrying. I told me wife if we saw this place, assuming we could get preapproved (should be zero issue, my credit score is 790) and like the place and make and offer, I would sell my motorcycle (worth roughly $4-5k) to aid with the money required. I called today to get an appointment to go see it (stopped last night to look at it - it's vacant) but they haven't called me back yet - I may tell my wife to call when she gets back to work, haha. I know I should be pre-approved before looking at houses ideally, but like i said we weren't seriously looking. The cons about this place: It would have been the first house we've looked at, take longer to pay off our student loans, more general financial 'risk' and me being a worry-wart it would probably take me a while to un-freak myself out. The pros: Aside from "yayyyy we own a house" this place is pretty drat close to exactly what we're looking for, for what we think is a good price. It's a smallish ranch, built in 1975. Has over an acre, a two car attached garage and a massive shed out back (like a two car sized enclosed shed - very big). It's a private lot (partially wooded), it's in a small group of 6 or so houses on a "back" road. Has amazing views out the back (butts up to a corn field with rolling hills), a big deck out back (16'x35'), central air, and has a finished basement with wetbar. New roof last year and new well pump, new furnace in 2006. It's not perfect, it definitely needs updating but who cares? That's half the fun. Obviously you can tell I'm going gaga for the house already, but honestly the area, setting, privacy, and house are all about 95% of what I'd consider an ideal place for us. Having been casually looking since we got married, this is the closest thing I've seen that would be perfect for us that's reasonably priced. Anyway, so given the "numbers", give me your thoughts.
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Jun 3, 2009 15:05
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Just out of curiosity, what % is the student loan at? You'll probably come out ahead saving for a more substantial down payment in lieu of trying to pay the student loan off as fast as possible.
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Jun 3, 2009 15:10
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Dik Hz posted:Just out of curiosity, what % is the student loan at? You'll probably come out ahead saving for a more substantial down payment in lieu of trying to pay the student loan off as fast as possible. Well that's what we'd do, but since the house is vacant I would assume the closing would be sooner rather than later, so we'd only be able to save up another $1000 or $2000 max by that point, which may only be partial closing costs or something. But to answer your specific question, I think the one loan is 5.35% fixed ($18k+), and the other is somewhere around 4.5 variable ($13k - this is the one we've been paying aggressive on). Yes, I know we should be paying off the higher interest loan first, but the variable interest rate loan is co-signed by her father, and that's why we're doing that.
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Jun 3, 2009 15:39
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dreesemonkey posted:Estimated mortgage w/ taxes and PMI for a 30 fixed at 5.5% (guess): $1100 Your estimate on $1100/m is pretty drat close. Don't forget to factor in the extra costs so you don't get blinded by the "$1100/m is better then my rent!" stereotype. higher utilities (or additional utilities if your apartment covered things like water before) repairs homeowners insurance escrow deposits it can all add up to scary monthly payments if not careful. Sounds like a pretty good deal if its what you are looking for. dreesemonkey posted:Estimated down payment: $7-10k, depending on how much we'd be expected for closing costs. If you are going to do a down payment that requires PMI, keep in mind that it goes in brackets, so doing 5% down and 7% down, hell even 9.999% down is all going to be the same bracket.. When you cross the 10% threshold, then it reduces, is if the decision is 7%-10%, make it 5% or 10%, but not inbetween. dreesemonkey posted:Yes, I know we should be paying off the higher interest loan first, but the variable interest rate loan is co-signed by her father, and that's why we're doing that. Once this house thing is decided and/or over, consider consolidating that 4.5 variable.. That should remove the cosigner requirement (if you expect to get a mortgage, then there's no reason you can't drop the cosigner) as well as let you lock in a lower fixed rate.. Especially if that is a federal direct loan (those are due to drop yet again this July 1) FidgetyRat fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Jun 3, 2009 |
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Jun 3, 2009 15:52
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FidgetyRat posted:Your estimate on $1100/m is pretty drat close. Don't forget to factor in the extra costs so you don't get blinded by the "$1100/m is better then my rent!" stereotype. I'm definitely not underestimating, and right now we actually have a really decent place we're renting for $500 so it's definitely a sweet deal there. The only downside is that it gets ultra hot in the summer (second floor, sun all day) and it's not 'ours'. I don't feel like I'm throwing away money, but I would really love to have a place to call my own and be able to have people over and entertain and make the yard look pretty. AND HAVE A loving GARAGE ALREADY  And no neighbors living below you who's apartment stinks like sweaty tacos all the time.But yes, the "only" thing we'd primarily be paying for is electric (aside from heating oil - I know another "bad", but we like to keep the house chilly anyway) since it has a well/septic. Electric would be probably 5x higher than what we pay now due to no gas appliances, etc. But yea, all that stuff really freaking adds up. Not to mention PA's electric rates are going up 30% or so in January. Homeowners would probably be around $500 instead of the $100 or so I pay now in renter's insurance, etc. etc. etc. It never ends, really haha... FidgetyRat posted:If you are going to do a down payment that requires PMI, keep in mind that it goes in brackets, so doing 5% down and 7% down, hell even 9.999% down is all going to be the same bracket.. When you cross the 10% threshold, then it reduces, is if the decision is 7%-10%, make it 5% or 10%, but not inbetween. Good to know, I think I read that somewhere before at some point but completely forgot about it. 10% would be roughly $15k, and I think that's out of the picture unless we could negotiate for seller to pay for closing/partial closing or whatever and then I could sell my motorcycle. But that's a lot of ifs. FidgetyRat posted:Once this house thing is decided and/or over, consider consolidating that 4.5 variable.. That should remove the cosigner requirement (if you expect to get a mortgage, then there's no reason you can't drop the cosigner) as well as let you lock in a lower fixed rate.. Especially if that is a federal direct loan (those are due to drop yet again this July 1) My wife consolidated these loans (AES bought them from a private bank) and they said something about having to stay under her dad's name for whatever reason. I have no clue, it's a pain in the rear end. We were making such quick progress on it that it didn't even matter to me, really. But it's something to think about. Anyway, the wife followed up with the real estate office and the dude is going to give me a call today. I was hoping to look at it today during the day, but it's probably not going to happen. My little sister is graduating tonight so I'll be out of the area until late. I have a sneaking suspicion that this house will go fast, but I dunno. edit: here is the house in question: http://www.fishre.com/detailedListing.aspx?id=56664 dreesemonkey fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Jun 3, 2009 |
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Jun 3, 2009 16:32
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dreesemonkey posted:http://www.fishre.com/detailedListing.aspx?id=56664 Thanks for the link! I just bought it sucker  Man I wish I had extra cash just to throw around to screw people...
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Jun 3, 2009 16:52
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Well for a short update we just looked at the house with a realtor present. The guy was very helpful and wasn't shady at all or anything like I thought he would be. The pros: - Everything on the outside of the house is awesome. The location, the lot, the views, the neighbors (most likely), and it's still close to town but still definitely "country living" - Selling because of a divorce. I've heard this is good because they just want to get out of the property. This is unfortunately only half the story. - Took my cousin-in-law with us who knows a lot about construction and homes in general and he didn't have anything real bad to say about it as we were there (we're going to see them later to get the full details). - Seemingly "move in" condition. - Tons of storage for a house this size (2 car attached, 2-car-sized shed in the back yard, closets everywhere. The cons: - The interior is really dated. A lot of paneling, the bathroom is small and ugly (but it works, I guess). We DID want a "fixer upper", but this is a bit expensive for a fixer upper. A lot of the cost is the location, which is fine with me. So far there were aobut 8-10 showings, but no further interest. Most likely because of it being dated and all that. - The rooms are small and awkward. It being a 5 bedroom is really like a 2.5 bedroom to me. 2 bedrooms upstairs and a third really small one (no closet). The other 2 are in the basement, small, and again no closets. I don't call those bedrooms. - Access to the "finished" basement is through the garage. This is a bit clumsy, again there is no way you could call those rooms down there bedrooms when you have to go through the garage to get there. But it is a large space and it would be easy to rip those rooms out to make a larger space down there for whatever. You could also enclose the one entrance to the garage (there are no fewer than 4 doors!) off the 'dining room' type area to make more sense of it. - To go along with the pro of it being a divorced couple, here is the bad part. They are/were behind on their mortgage, the woman's father stepped in and got them current and I believe he is now paying their mortgage. The realtor guy told us that they were upside down on their loan, but the father was going to eat the difference for his daughter to get her out from under it. But he also wasn't going to "give it away", he said and can carry it for a while if he wants to. He owns a roofing business and did the roof on the house in 2007, no less. - Basement was definitely musty, but to be fair there was no dehumidifyier or anything down there and we have had literally 2 weeks of nothing but rain, we've probably gotten 5"+ recently. No other leaks were noted. That's about it. I'm going to get some contacts at banks from the realtor to talk to a few people and get pre-approved and see what our options are there. The realtor said with a conventional mortgage we'd need 5% down (which we have) and 5% for closing costs, which if I sold my motorcycle we could probably scrape together. Otherwise it would be like getting an FHA loan and then re-financing to a conventional down the road a bit, which I would probably be fine with.
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Jun 4, 2009 19:19
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dreesemonkey posted:Otherwise it would be like getting an FHA loan and then re-financing to a conventional down the road a bit, which I would probably be fine with. Just keep in mind refinancing sometimes costs almost as much as the original closing. You really only want to do this if the amount you save over 30 years will outweigh the cost of the refi., assuming you DO stay in the house 30 years. While you like the house you've seen so far, don't settle. You seem to have alot of cons listed there. Even if it takes a few months to find a house, just stick it out. Furthermore, don't listen to any seller contingencies such as "I can sit on this for a while". Nobody wants to sit around paying dual mortgages for an extended period of time.. Sounds like just another seller's line to avoid lower offers. After 8 viewings and no offers, they should be considering a drop.
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Jun 4, 2009 19:32
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FidgetyRat posted:Just keep in mind refinancing sometimes costs almost as much as the original closing. You really only want to do this if the amount you save over 30 years will outweigh the cost of the refi., assuming you DO stay in the house 30 years. I asked the realtor what he thought of the price and he thinks it was listed a bit high, he though high $130s would be more reasonable. Which is what we would initially offer, probably. And 3% seller assistance or whatever. If they didn't go for that, I have no qualms renting and building up savings while they mull it over. That's a good point about the refinance, I didn't know that. I do have a lot of cons listed but honestly I think the property is great overall, and I do think it could be something we live in for a very long time. It's stupid to try and speculate on this sort of stuff but assuming the interior was updated it could be a very desirable house if we were ever going to sell. Like I said before we weren't really looking for a house, and if we don't get serious about this one I will happily go back to renting and paying off the student loans aggressively (and I'll probably be able to sleep again, hah). What's keeping us around is that it's exactly what we're looking for, it just needs 5 years of night/weekend projects to be pretty
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Jun 4, 2009 19:51
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dreesemonkey posted:Like I said before we weren't really looking for a house, and if we don't get serious about this one I will happily go back to renting and paying off the student loans aggressively (and I'll probably be able to sleep again, hah). What's keeping us around is that it's exactly what we're looking for, it just needs 5 years of night/weekend projects to be pretty Student loans are considered good debt on your record.. Most of the time they carry good rates as well so you're better off saving money for a much larger down payment then trying to pay them down faster. Especially if you are in the 5% down bracket right now.. If you have the option to save heavily for a year or 2 and hit that 20% mark, you'll save a fortune in PMI or FHA penalties.
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Jun 4, 2009 19:56
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I just closed on my first apartment today. We had to wait two hours for my lending bank's attorney to show up because the bank was still finalizing things. Wells Fargo really dropped the ball multiple times throughout the entire process, but 4.75/30 is a kickass rate. Total costs including application fees, closing fees, flip tax, lawyer and mortgage fees/points were about $7,500. That hurts so much, but everyone has to bite that bullet I guess. I can't help but think the entire process could be more streamlined (and thus cheaper), but everyone needs their piece of the pot. This entire process sounded like it would be fun, but it wasn't at all and thank god it's over. Now come the renovation shockers 
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Jun 4, 2009 23:56
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Get into DIY.. The real shockers come when you realize how insanely marked up everything is from a professional.
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Jun 5, 2009 00:37
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Well, rates are going back up. I was quoted a rate of 5.5% for a 30 year fixed. I'm buying a brand new house so the seller is the builder. Anybody have any experience buying directly from the builder? The builder wants to close before the end of the month so they don't have to pay interest on the property for another month. Do you guys recommend I wait to see if interest rates drop between now and then or should I just be happy with the 5.5% rate?
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Jun 5, 2009 01:26
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Figures.. I'm 2 weeks away from my lock-in period and US 30 year fixed rates shot up almost a full %.
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Jun 5, 2009 12:39
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I didn't see this covered in the original post, but it is worth mentioning that the concept of real estate appreciation tends to be rather one sided in that you are constantly hearing "Hey, my grandpa bought this place back in the day for some absurdly low number and its worth $texas today!" Lets use the example of my parents house. My mom and dad bought in 1984 when amotorization tables didn't come in less than 10.5% because it was impossible to get any less than that. They paid $79,000 - I ran 30 years at 5% through the amotorization calculator. Total interest paid works out to $73672.07, plus the cost of the house - yields 152672.07. So, for you to "make" any money you have to sell the house for more than 152,000 which simply isn't going to happen in this market. Interest over 30 years adds up to a significant expense, which should be taken into account when looking at a profit/loss perspective. Another thing that is commonly overlooked is the impact of inflation. If costs for materials and commodoties and labor go up with inflation, pretty soon it becomes attractive to buy an existing house because it is cheaper than materials/labor to build a new one. So, when you take a 3% annual inflation figure into account, again using my parents house - 79,000 to build after 30 years becomes 191,753.74 to replace, in theory. In practice, I spoke with two general contractors because I'm revieing the homeowners insurance and they both agree that a figure of 170-190 is about right, should a hurricane come through and level the place. Appreciation in real estate isn't all its cracked up to be taking all these factors into account.
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Jun 5, 2009 14:10
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dukeofurl posted:Appreciation in real estate isn't all its cracked up to be taking all these factors into account. Yeah, classic example there of how houses pretty much match inflation over time. I know you don't intend it that way, but you make it sound like your parents got hosed on the house. To put a positive spin on it: they've maintained most of their equity after correcting for inflation, and received the associated value of owning a house at the cost of the interest (plus property tax and maintenance). While it didn't make 'em rich, I'm sure they consider it, in retrospect, a sound financial decision.
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Jun 5, 2009 15:42
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Dik Hz posted:Yeah, classic example there of how houses pretty much match inflation over time. I live in Florida. If you own a house in the state, by virtue of having a zip code that starts with 3, you got hosed. To be perfectly honest, I just inherited it and even though I grew up there its nothing special. Just another regular house in a regular neigborhood, with regular neighbors who have kids that are smarter than me and my brother.
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Jun 5, 2009 16:11
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dukeofurl posted:They paid $79,000 - I ran 30 years at 5% through the amotorization calculator. You're comparing apples to oranges with the total amount paid and the 1984 cost of the house, because of inflation. The home's worth, according simply to inflation, should be around the 190k mark. If you adjust what your parents paid, it's more than that, but not by as ridiculous a margin as it at first appears. When the oversupply tapers off and new construction will by necessity cost 190k then the home prices should get back in line.
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Jun 5, 2009 17:39
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Hey all, I am looking at buying my house and am going back and forth if its a good idea or not. About me: I'm moving to Omaha for my new job. It's guaranteed 10 years with regular pay raises and no health insurance worries, all the stuff that comes with being Active Duty. I qualify for the VA loan and can use that if it will help. A month ago it was like 5.0%, now that's at 5.6%. I'm going back and forth between budget, where I want to live, and type of living. I don't plan on moving for 5+ years. I'm 24 years old and single. I'd like a monthly payment of about a thousand a month, but thats neogotiable if I find something awesome. Income: 56k, but only about 35k is taxable. I'll be making per diem and TDY pay, but no clue on that and would rather not calculate that into the picture. Ideally, I'd like a monthly payment of around a thousand a month. Debt: I have the USAA commissioning loan that was 25k @ 2% - I owe 15k still and am making regular payments (440/month.) I have ~20k in savings so I could pay it off, but I like having the pot o gold incase it's needed. I have been looking at downtown Omaha and have come across this: http://www.militarybyowner.com/listings/tourplus.asp?F_BASE_ID=165&F_STATE=NE&LISTING_ID=96364 http://omaha.craigslist.org/apa/1207291461.html Pros: My college (SJSU) was downtown, and I miss it very much. I was looking to kind of something similar now that I am getting out of hell (Del Rio, TX.) - Walking distance to everything downtown - Nightlife! I am a city boy. - 15 minute commute - Farmers Market 3 blocks away - 2 secured parking spaces included in the price - I've talked to the dude and he mentioned a few times he is flexible on the price. Cons: - HOA fees are 250/month - HOA could suck - Parking is in an attached garage, according to Google Maps street view and a phone call with the owner. - Neighbors could suck and I'm stuck. Then, I have something like this: http://www.militarybyowner.com/listings/tourplus.asp?F_BASE_ID=165&F_STATE=NE&LISTING_ID=97160 or http://www.c21hansen.com/index.php?action=listingview&listingID=56035 Pros: - Papillion was ranked #6 in CNN/Money Magazines best places to live 2007. - Huge house - Garage! I have a motorcycle and like tools (Maybe I sell the motorcycle after seeing what Nebraska winters are like.) - Yard is huge - Commute is ~5 minutes - Can get roommates to help with mortgage payment Cons: - When I show people that, the response is something to the extent of "Your wife and 3 kids will love it!" - WTF am I going to do with a 4/3 bed/3/2 bath? - I have little interest in taking care of a lawn. Like mowing isn't a bad thing, but I'd prefer otherwise. - Snow on the other hand, well I'm from California and have no clue on that. - Property taxes in Nebraska are kind of pricey. Then you know, I could rent which is an option. I was thinking about renting the first condo since he's trying to rent or sell, and then buy if I like. Any input would be awesome. xaarman fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Jun 12, 2009 |
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Jun 8, 2009 18:55
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xaarman posted:Then you know, I could rent which is an option. I was thinking about renting the first condo since he's trying to rent or sell, and then buy if I like. Any input would be awesome.
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Jun 8, 2009 21:16
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xaarman posted:Hey all, I am looking at buying my house and am going back and forth if its a good idea or not. Personally, I would stay away from buying condos if at all possible. It's like all the downsides of living in a apartment combined with all the downsides of owning a house. I know in some cities condos are a big thing (san fran, ny, etc), but Omaha I don't see as a condo Mecca. Those HOA fees could go up as well. The houses are nice and will be MUCH easier to resell, but you have to ask yourself if you are willing to put in the extra work to keep the yard in respectable condition. You have to pay property taxes on a condo too so that's not really a housing con. The nice thing about the house is that the HOA (if there even is one) will be much less of a pain in the rear end than the condo's. Obviously you would have much more privacy as well. If you want to live in the city rent a condo or apartment. Don't buy a condo just to "own" something. The last thing you want is to be stuck with a condo you can't sell in the middle of Nebraska.
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Jun 9, 2009 01:31
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xaarman posted:- I have little interest in taking care of a lawn. Like mowing isn't a bad thing, but I'd prefer otherwise. But seriously, if you're anything like most 24 year-old single guys, your priorities and needs will change a great deal in the next 5 years. Which is about how long it takes to see the first dollar of "profit" on the buy vs. rent dilemma. Look 5-7 years in the future. Are you reasonably confident you'll still be single and want to live in a condo, or the house you mention? Dik Hz fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Jun 9, 2009 |
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Jun 9, 2009 03:22
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Call me weird, but I've been looking forward to manual labor for some time. As a guy who used to be very handy before college, the last 8 years or so have been pretty hard. My house will be finished in mid-August and Im looking forward to finishing it off and actually getting back outside doing some yard work for a change. I personally would to nuts in a condo-like situation. On a side note, still 12 days out from my loving lock watching T-Bill rates increase at a record breaking rate. C'mod fed, step in or we'll lose the housing market thats just starting to catch on.
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Jun 9, 2009 13:10
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quote:- Can get roommates to help with mortgage payment Be careful with this line of thinking. Sure a roommate would be a nice bit of income to help pay on your mortgage/bills (assuming you can actually live with the person).. but chances are, you won't have a roommate for 30 years. So make sure YOU can afford all of your bills completely by yourself and treat a roommate as a bonus source of income.
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Jun 9, 2009 13:55
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FidgetyRat posted:On a side note, still 12 days out from my loving lock watching T-Bill rates increase at a record breaking rate. C'mod fed, step in or we'll lose the housing market thats just starting to catch on. I'm locking in my rate today. I don't see these dropping anytime before the end of the month at least. I rather still get a decent 5.5% before it jumps to 6%
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Jun 9, 2009 15:11
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