Thread: buying a house?

Mel,

Start by making a four column list: Musts, Likes, Neutral, &
ABSOLUTELY NOT! Make blank copies to pass amongst those involved in
the decision & have a family meeting to consolidate & discuss the
entries. No sense wasting time on or falling in love with something
only to find that 3/5 of the household would be miserable there.

Next, take your monthly take home pay times .30 to see about what
you can afford as a house payment including taxes & insurance. For
instance, if (after taxes) you bring home $2,000 per month, $75k to
$80k would put you right about $600 a month on a 30 year fixed 6.5%
rate. Assuming you've saved up to put 20% down to avoid PMI, you'd
want to limit your search to homes below $100k. If you don't have
20% down, you're looking at paying an extra $75-100 per month for at
least the first ten or so years so plan your payment accordingly.

Next, find realtor that is willing to work with your research &
represent you as a buyer. This won't cost you anything as your agent
will split the selling agent's commision when you finally buy your
home. (We used the seller's realtor to buy our last house and
overpaid around $10k because we were in too much of a hurry & too
busy to shop around.) A good agent will be more interested in
helping you meet your needs (the point at which your price & must
list intersect) than selling you something in a hurry or steering
you towards something more expensive.

Take your master list with you to look at each home, and make
detailed notes as you go. Go back to the ones you really like at
least once before making an offer. If you have someone you trust as
an objective observer, take that person back with you on your second
visit. Make your offer contingent on a satisfactory inspection,
appraisal & financing qualification.

After your inspection, ask the seller to repair any large problems
that affect the value of the property or discount the price
accordingly, but be realistic about the small, nitpicky stuff. If
you can fix a leaky faucet or repaint the bathroom, the seller's
good will is worth more to you than the time & money it will take to
do it yourself. Remeber that you want the seller on your side if
your financing takes an extra month or you find that you can only
qualify for a couple of thousand less than the asking price.

Above all, take your time, do your research, & make sure the place
you buy will be a good fit for years to come.

Blessings,
Carla

I just bought my first house a year ago & I did extensive research online. Some
sites to visit are http://www.uspropertyads.com & http://www.realtor.com. Also, check out any
realtor websites in your area (e.g. century21.com, remax.com, etc...). A lot of
them give you links to visit for articles on what to look for in a house and
much, much more!

Make sure that you find yourself a realtor to work with, preferably before you
start looking for houses. That way they can also help you & also may be able to
tell you some other places to visit for more information.

All in all, be patient and don't rush into one of the first houses that you see!
Once you've walked into the house that want, you will know. I did!

Good luck,
Kim

Very important! Check out the school districts in the area you plan
to buy in. We bought our last home 12 years ago. I made a list of
what we wanted 2 living areas, 2 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, trees. Well
this house fit everything on the list. One problem, I wasn't real
specific about the kitchen. We are still in the process of
remodeling our home, because the kitchen really wasn't functional for
us. At the time we had 3 kids and were expecting. I went on to have
2 more and 'adopt' another.

When we were sure this was the home we wanted, I introduced myself to
the neighbors behind us, beside us and across the street from us. I
asked their opinion of the area and the local schools. Some had kids
in school and some of them had kids no longer in school.

I would never move anywhere that I couldn't at least meet my
prospective neighbors. A good part of your happiness in your new
home will be all about the neighbors, especially if you have kids or
plan to have kids. You can also check online to find out about sex
offenders already living in your neighborhood. A friend of mine
didn't and moved in right between 2. She didn't find out until one
neighbor was arrested for a repeat offense.

Drive through the neighborhood at various times of the day. Do the
people that live there feel secure enough to let their children play
in the front yards? In my neighborhood we are, in fact most of us
are 'porch sitters'. We have a nice mix of ages, from retired and in
their 80's to newly married.

Jill, PAM of DJoe/Army/FOB Speicher, Iraq
Josh/Marine Reserves/Broken Arrow, OK
5 other wonderful children and
3 precious grandchildren!

We bought our 3rd home a year and a half ago. This is the one I plan on
staying in until we retire or longer. The main thing to look for is a good
neighborhood where the neighbors keep their homes in good condition so the
value of your home will go up. You are better off buying the worst house on
the block in a neighborhood of nicer homes than buying the best house on the
block and the rest of them are run down. Location, location.....

Next, make a list of what you think you want in a house. Then redo that
list and write down what you MUST have in a house. Besides the obvious
things like the number of bedrooms and baths etc. think about how much
maintenance you can and are willing to do. Does the yard have lots of trees
and bushes? They look good but they are lots of work and having to have a
big tree cut down is very expensive. (Been there) Is the driveway cement,
asphalt, or gravel? Asphalt requires yearly or biyearly coatings to keep it
from falling apart. Gravel requires periodic new loads of gravel or it
turns to mud. Does the house have to be painted? Painting a house is lots
and lots of work, and paint is getting very expensive. Having a pro do it,
is down right ridiculously expensive.

We decided to go with a cement driveway, brick construction, nice size yard
with trees and few bushes. The house is a ranch with no stairs so we don't
have to worry about those stairs when we get older.

Just some things to think about.

Nancy in Ohio

Thanks so much for your im put Carla and Betsy.
Lots of great advice in your emails.

Anyone have their insurance and taxes in their monthly payments?? and if so is
is worth it.......
pros vs. cons.
We were thinking about this last evening and I dont know anyone who has had this
done.
Mel

As far as I know, most banks around here require you to put your insurance and
taxes in your monthly payments. We weren't given an option. Is your bank
giving you a choice? It may be a state requirement or something, I don't know.
The only people I know who don't have it in their payment are people who have
their house paid off and don't HAVE a payment

IMO, it does make it easier. Our property taxes and insurance aren't terribly
high here compared to other parts of the country, I think they are each around
$500/year. But it's easier to let it go in the payment than have to come up
with a one-time payment of $1,000 each year.

Betsy