Hi, the women and I are ready to buy a house. This renting thing has become a huge pain in the ass. Tired of all the rules. No pets, no bonfires, made me remove my garden. This asshole sealed the deal with making me rip out my garden. Apperently a clean organized garden is an eyesore. What happened to pay your rent, don't tear anything up, and be left alone? I've had my fill of this landlord shit. What is some advice you'd give to young couple buying their first house? This is all new ground for me. Is there something you would do differently if you had to do it again? Just looking for input/advice from you guys that have been there. Thanks in advance

Fatcat,
I have been a real estate broker for 24 years, and am also a landlord (I would never require a garden to be removed!) in Michigan. PM me and I would be happy to fill you in on how to get started... mortgage rates are the lowest ever! There are several tips that cover a wide array of how to get the best home for you. I can also refer you to a good agent in your area that can also help.
Techman9188

Thanks Techman PM sent. Anyone else? I know most of you own a home. You must wish you would have done something differently? Please share. I'll take all the input/advice/stories I can get. Thanks

Buy a house with a big friggin garage!

My only complaint is that I don't have enough garage or storage space. I have just enough garage space for 3 Ody's 2 quads and a 66 VW bug. I have to play musical vehicles when I want to work on them. I also have an RV I have to rent a space for because there is an ordinance in town that won't allow us to park RV's on the street in front of the house.

So when you buy, make sure its big enough for all your needs!

Rand

Will do Randman! A big garage is my only requirement. The rest is her baby!

Ditto on the bigger garage and a place to park a trailer. I can hear the carnival music when I have to move stuff around to work on it (4 buggies and 4 quadzillas + tools) in my 2.5 detached garage. Plus I look like little Billy from the Family Circus cartoon dashing around the garage around, over, and under stuff to get from front to back! Had to settle the wife down over the winter with a remote car start on her Saturn b/c she can't park in my "man cave"...I mean...garage. And get a driveway that's not single lane so you don't have to play musical cars either. Lastly, if you're neighbors aren't the loud a-holes...guess what...YOU ARE! LOL!!!

You should be able to get a sweeeet deal right now. I wish I had your problem!! I've got my house up for sale right now for 2.5 months now and there are so many low-baller offers (a lot of them quite insulting). And there are so many short-sales and foreclosures bringing everyone's price down. Banks are essentially "dumping" onto the market. It sucks. Too many people looking at my move-in-ready-updated-home and expecting a fixxer-upper price! NOT ON MY WATCH! Annoying.

If you are a veteran and using a VA loan...realtors and sellers are shying away from VA buyers. The VA is sooooo friggin' anal and slow about everything and won't give you a dime over appraised value, so alot of time you'll have to cough up extra cash plus the minimum 4% down they want.

I lived in my bachelor pad for 9-years now and finally hoping to get my 5-acre paradise. Things have gotten a little cramped with a fleet of ATV's, 2 cats, wife, daughter, car, truck, and a 12' trailer on my 0.19-acre lot and 1100sf house with no basement!!! lol There's no room for my girlfriend!!! lol ;)


Good luck.

Wow 2.5 car garage..... I wish! Mine is only a 2 car and everything is put in with a shoe horn!

Oh yeah, I forgot, I have to park my ATV trailer beside the driveway.....outdoors! How primitive!

Rand

Funny you say "shoe horn"...
When I OPEN my garage door with the opener right now, I have to open it about 24" and then kick-roll my one '88 Zilla in 4" so the interior door handle clears it! It got caught yesterday morning on it and I'm lucky I didn't lose my garage door! LOL

Two potential buyers have to submit their last/final/best offer by 6pm tonight on my place. Its agonizing and I will either be moving soon, or, still waiting. Good news is that I don't have to move.

My .02....
Stay away from HOA's they will make your life Miserable.
Back yard access is a must.
Your better off to buy less house in a better neighborhood rather than more house in a bad. Remember, Location location location.
If you find a place you like, go observe the neighborhood at different times to see what it's really like before you buy.
If financing never take a mortgage longer than 15 years. Do you & your wife a favor and buy a lesser house if you can't swing the 15 year mortgage.

I hope this helps & good luck..

Hi, the women and I are ready to buy a house.

hmm....maybe two houses

weekly repayments and location location location, don't buy where you would not want to rent

Getting pre approved before even looking was nice.

Buy less house than you can afford and make additional payments. In my opinion you would have nice equity when the market rebounds and upgrade. I keep telling my wife this is our first house not our last. You guys are killin me with these 2 and 2.5 garages. I have a carport that was converted to a shop. Not even big enough to put one ody in let alone two. Just my two cents which is probably what it is worth.

Fatcat,,
get preapproved for you loan.. NO ADJUSTABLE RATES..
20-30 yr loan..FHA
Know what your credit score is..
know what the max(monthy payment) u want to pay..
what do u qualify for? what do u want to spend..
how much $$ do u have to put down..try to have a least 10% to put down
SAVE SAVE SAVE, TURN IN TO A TIGHT WAD
be prepared to look at some shitholes...realaters will show u anything that's in ur budget

You and the wife need to make a list of NEEDS, WANTS( im not kidding) it will save the aurgument later..

Example.. NEEDs for myself.. RV Parking Both sides of House..Min 2 car garage,Pool, and a decent size lot..min 3
bedrms 2 baths, 1500 sf min..single story easy enough..(right)

its a buyers market out there, be pickey
best of luck

odysseyfreek

Do not sell your buggy(s) to afford a house! lol

Ditto on getting pre-approved. It's easy and free. Then you know at least what the bank will give you.


Here are some cool Excel tools I've used over the past few years...

And when you close on a house, there are plenty of other fees to pay for...(MAY VARY STATE-TO-STATE)...

Seller's Expenses at Closing:
Title Guarantee
Room Fee (Use of a room at the title agency for closing)
Deed Preparation
County Transfer Tax
Escrow Fee
Discount Points
Termite Inspection
Brokerage Fee (Realtor commish)
Mortgage Cancellation Fee
Assessment Payoff
Est. Tax Proration (any unpaid property tax on sellers home)
Home Warranty
Mortgage Pay-off (if residual)
Mortgage Pay-off Fees
Buyer's closing costs (if they expect you to pay a % of their costs, like often in a VA loan)

Buyer's Expenses at Closing:
Brokerage Fee (Realtor commish)
Home Inspection
Home Appraisal (by your lender)
Down Payment
First month's payment
Insurance (often 3-6 months of future insurance $ is required at closing)
Property Tax (often 3-6 months of future property taxes $ are due at closing)

Also, if you have <20% down on the loan, you will likely have to pay PMI in your monthly payment in addition to principal, interest, and insurance.

Get your property tax and insurance in escrow so that it reserves the payments automatically and they don't sneak up on you. Build it into your payment and make sure you can afford it.

Read all the fine print and ask your realtor as many questions as you have.

Once you buy or sell a house, I swear you should AUTOMATICALLY become certified as a real-estate agent! LOL

Just like everyone else here said get preaproved, I don't think they are allowed to do adjustable rate loans anymore but if they are don't get one, also check in your state if you have PMI like dmoneyallstar said its loan INS if you put less than 20% down (its another payment that's goes no where) location location location, you need to know if this is where you want to live forever or is this a starter house, if you plan on staying forever who cares about resale (i would still tell you to worry about resale because your life goals change with out notice) look at things like schools, jobs, shopping, here in AZ you almost have to live in a HOA or your neighborhood will get over run and your house won't be worth anything, just make sure you find a HOA that works for you know all the rules and regulations before you buy ask all the questions, can i park a motorohome, build a shop, ect,

If you have time 3-12 months look at short sales its a pain in the ass because the banks take so long to close but if you have the time you can get great deals.

also do the work yourself realtors SUCK all they want is your money and they don't care about you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but its a double edge sword for the legalities you need them! set up searches on realtor.com http://www.realtor.com/?source=web and Zillow http://www.zillow.com/ they are like craigslist for houses and have the same listings your realtor will have, that way you can find the houses you want to look at instead of the 3 or 4 they will show you.

Good luck and you will find the perfect house.

Stay away from ARM loans my friend.... People tend to get overwhellmed and loose their home to the bank. Then I come in an purchase them for pennies on the dollar, thus the reason I have such a large potfolio of realestate ..... Easy money indeed! Never purchase any realestate that is at your max loan amount.... This is a patient mans game. Just because one slips through your fingers, rest assured their will always be another deal just arround the corner. Also realize that your first home will most likely not be your grow old home. You will eventualy be in a position where you will want bigger and better. It's the American way. Best of luck to you sir

My only advice would be this. Get into a house that already has the "hard to add on" features you're looking for. Like, lets say you're looking at 2 different houses that are similar in price. One has a nice kitchen and hardwood floors but only a 2 car garage. The other has carpet everywhere, a out dated kitchen, but has a 3 car garage or a pole barn sitting on 5 acers. Go for the latter. Its easy to get caught up in a nice looking well optioned home. But remember, it would be a lot harder and in some cases (like mine) not even possible to add on a garage or more storage space. It would be much easier to update some floors and cabinets. So basically get a home that has the features you would not want to (or be able to) add at a later date.

BIG ASS GARAGE...LOL

Put enough down so you don't have to pay private mortgage insurance.


Randy

i'm one of those guys with the 2 car garages... and a 30'X40' shop... and 40 acres....

Bite me Jr, said the old guy with the 2 car garage!

Rand

When you get pre-approved, the bank or mortgage company should also provide you with a net sheet of all the closing costs. I got my pre-app back yesterday and there are $7k of closing costs, not even including my down payment! It's insane. Put a damper on my plans, really.

Such a buyers' market. I'm getting sick of people playing the $/sf game on my house that's for sale. People don't understand that it's not the QUANTITY, but also the QUALITY of those square-feet! They're bringing me foreclosed-fixxer-upper offers on my completely-updated-move-in-ready place and thinking they're accurate. Very stressful! At least I'm by no means under-water on my place.

Should be more nice houses going for cheap once ObamaCare bankrupts small businesses, makes US businesses even less competitive with offshore businesses, and we'll all suffer. And I quote "It's not a TAX." Baaaaahaaaahaaaaa! >=/ Filthy POS.

Thanks a lot guys! Tons of good info here. I'll have to go through this thread and make some good notes. 7k in closing costs?!?! That sucks! We're planning to spend around 50k on our first fixer upper place. We're both wanting to be very conservative on what we can afford. Leaves us more to fix it up. Thanks on the links also. I'd rather do as much of the work as possible. Does anyone have any good books they recommend on real estate? With some effort could I do this deal safely without a realtor? I'm all for learning to save $. What service do they offer besides locating the place? Thanks

Ride around find a home that has been vacant for a few years contact the bank that holds the title make a low ball offer, if I was looking for a home the first one I would low ball is the one on the corner of old gentleman road and trumbo road its been empty for 3 or so years now, rumor has it the basement flooded when the sump was not working I am sure their is many other things you can point out that would greatly lower the price.

Plenty of really old farm houses setting empty that has barns you can use for a shop, too hot to do anything fire up the car with a/c start driving and looking rather than setting in front of the TV

The job of a Realtor is to fu_k you out of as much money as they can, THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND avoid them at every cost, they will do the leg work find you a house you like cheap then pocket 30k 40k for one days work, you pocket the 30k - 40k by getting off your ass start looking doing research don't buy that shit "I work for you not the seller" bullshit they work for themselves and will do what ever it takes to make the most.

Find out the names of the people who the banks hire to clean out these houses they for closed on or people gave back to the bank their is a few here in the area.

See a house that has been empty for a while stop go look at it most have a letter on the door or picture window with contact numbers who is in charge of the home and numbers you can call if you have a complaint about the home, grass too tall etc. call them find out who you call to make your low ball offer.

Research the taxes before you buy talk to the banks and the county ask them to tell you exactly what your going to pay in taxes now the property your buying is worth 1/2 what they have been taxing it for in the past.

Serious about buying one let me know I will go with you and pick it apart, let me inspect it first, I have been remodeling working on houses of all types since I was 10 years old and was following my dad around helping him in his remodels and flips, every house I looked at for the daughter I found at least 10 items the home inspectors and banks missed these clowns are doing it for a living and are completely clueless .