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Been reading this thread for a while. Finally closing next week after a 1.5+ year search. 15year fixed, 20% down, 2.9% apy, almost no closing costs. This is my second time buying a place. I made lots of mistakes with the first purchase, this is the one I'll be in forever. Buying below our means and doing everything myself (no agent) was actually a lot less stressful. Don't trust agents.
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Dec 21, 2012 21:21
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 07:34 |
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Agents are unnecessary if you are willing to make a whole lot of phone calls and emails yourself. I'd say having an agent is actually a liability in some ways. We ran into tons of listing and sellers agents who would tell us all kinds of information about their client. "They're really desperate to sell because his new job is so far away." Hey, thanks! Now I know they'll cave on price. My listing agent pressured me to accept the first offer and counter with lower offers. My buyer's agent pressured me to bid higher. She also did things like taking me to more expensive houses than I wanted, ones that did not meat the requirements I had, or taking us to her own listings (buyer agents are often listing agents as well). Anything to get more commission.
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Jan 25, 2013 21:45
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Hold off on purchasing and save up a full 20% downpayment. Then you can avoid having to get an FHA loan and will not be paying PMI. Under the new rules, PMI is generally for the life of the loan! Having a traditional mortgage with no pmi and no extra FHA fees will save you an unbelievable amount of money.
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May 30, 2013 17:20
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The credit cards affect part of your credit report. The ration of available total credit to how much you're actually using is part of your score. I don't think having one card maxed out matters much. You want your (total debt/total available credit) to be low. If your total credit limit on all the cards only totals about 6k, you have a problem.Downhome posted:It also should be noted that regardless of what happens, the house will likely be paid for in full within 5 years, give or take and depending on how the market for real estate in NC does. It could be sooner, it could be more like 8-10. We have a lot of around 65 acres of mountain property that we are in the process of listing, and at the time that is sold we are going to pay off whatever house we get in full and then bank the rest. I'd really consider waiting until the land is sold, then. You could actually buy a house cash! That's an even better situation to be in. You don't have to apply for a mortgage at all. No points, origination fees. Very little closing costs. And your offer on a house will be way more attractive to a seller because it's not contingent on anything. You could probably close at a lower price as a result. Don't feel like you've gotta buy right now just because your lease is up. Breaking a lease is a trivial amount of money compared to purchasing a place.
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May 30, 2013 18:16
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lord1234 posted:3) Does anyone have a guess as to what interest rates on a mortgage are nowadays? Bankrate seems to say 4.10%, so are interest rates on the rise? or should we wait another week to try to catch it going back down? What caused the upswing over the last week? http://www.bankrate.com/brm/publ/30yrmolg.asp
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Jun 3, 2013 18:18
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johnny sack posted:Suppose we might want to buy, but aren't completely sure. Should we get pre-approved for whatever amount and just start looking? I assume there is no obligation to buy or sell if you're pre-approved, just that realtors will want you to be pre-approved so as not to waste their time? You don't need anything to look at houses. The pre-approval is really easy to get, I did one over the phone. Its just a statement by the bank that they would probably loan you a certain amount if everything you told them is true. The real mortgage app is later and is way more involved. The pre-approval is only good for a certain amount of time, like 3 months. It's very easy to get an updated one when you need it. You can get one from basically any bank. You do NOT have to get a mortgage with that particular bank, shop around when you are actually applying for the loan! Agents will probably pressure you to get preapproval. I think it's value is really for your own information. If a bank won't even pre-approve you for that amount, you have a big problem.
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Jun 4, 2013 17:25
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CornHolio posted:I have to learn how to maintain a pool now. I considered buying a house with pool last year, reading up on them scared me away. Seriously, go to some pool maintenance forums and read up on keeping a pool clean. Its more work than you think! Also, there's a coating on some types of pools that eventually deteriorates. Its expensive to replace, maybe not as much for a smaller pool. Try to find out how old the pool is. People forget that pools raise your insurance rates, too. They are also statistically dangerous for very young children.
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Oct 9, 2013 21:36
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CatsOnTheInternet posted:You deduct mortgage interest, prop taxes, PMI if you have it, and insurance. The local taxes in your area and your tax bracket/other deductions will make a big difference in the attractiveness of owning vs renting. Really, potential buyers should calculate what their tax bill will be with the house before buying. Also, look into the homestead laws in your area. You can cut your property tax bill down a ton in some places, all it usually involves is filling out some paperwork. Here in new orleans, you can take the first $75k off your home's value with a homestead. Got a house worth less than 75? No taxes. :P
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Oct 25, 2013 15:32
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The financial incentive for agents is to make a quick sale and get to the next one. They don't really care if the sale is 10% higher, they want to get their money and get paid for working with you in as short a time and with as little effort as possible. So buyers agents will generally push you to overpay on houses. "Oh, it's a sellers market!" "We dont' want to insult the seller", etc. Sellers agents pull the opposite move. "Price your house to sell!" "It will never sell at your price, list lower!" "Take the offer, don't haggle!" Etc, etc. As a buyer, think of the sellers agent as being on your side. They will often tell you personal info about their clients that is quite useful in extorting a lower price. Like if the seller has already bought a new house somewhere else or has only limited time to sell. Don't tell your buyers agent ANYTHING about your own situation, how bad you want a house, what your spending limit is, etc. Keep your poker face on all the time. Think of them as the seller's buddy, because that is how they function.
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Nov 7, 2013 17:35
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 07:34 |
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Zero VGS posted:I paid 75k for my condo which came out to 68k after the 8k of Obama homebuyer bucks. The value of a rental property is how much rent it brings in. You know all the costs for the unit, since it's just like yours. Figure out what it would rent for and from there what price makes it a good investment for you. Basing your offer on some other deal you got years ago might not be relevant to this other condo.
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Dec 6, 2013 16:41
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