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Home Buying |OT|

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D

Doominated

Member
Zoe said:
The 20% mortgage down payment is all but dead

The article says that most conventional loans still have 20%, but we only put down 10%.
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ScottSullivan said:
Not surprised by this at all, hell, I certainly couldn't afford the full 20%, ended up doing a local secondary lending program that provided 17% at a rate similair to the main mortage and I had to come up with the 3%
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I basically came into this thread to ask how feasible doing something like Scott did is.

I'm 25 making about 62K a year in NJ. I haven't held down my "career" job long enough to have 20% to put down, I have maybe 7-8K cash that I could put down, and generally looking at places that are 200-250K. Am I best off just putting down the down payment amount that I can afford at the time, or would I be better off taking out a secondary loan to cover the down payment through 20% so I can secure the best interest rate on the mortgage?

Obviously I'm nowhere near ready to buy anything yet, but I want to have a handle on everything before I really dig myself in too far.
 
Z

Zunja

Member
Does anyone commute into dc. I'm going to be working there for the long term and want to get a house finally. I'm trying to decide between md and va I have about 65k salary. Im trying to get an area that's a not 1hr plus commute.

Is it ever worth getting a house short term. For example get a house for 5 years or so then try to rent or sell it. Preferebly rent.
 
S

ScottSullivan

Member
Doominated said:
I basically came into this thread to ask how feasible doing something like Scott did is.

I'm 25 making about 62K a year in NJ. I haven't held down my "career" job long enough to have 20% to put down, I have maybe 7-8K cash that I could put down, and generally looking at places that are 200-250K. Am I best off just putting down the down payment amount that I can afford at the time, or would I be better off taking out a secondary loan to cover the down payment through 20% so I can secure the best interest rate on the mortgage?

Obviously I'm nowhere near ready to buy anything yet, but I want to have a handle on everything before I really dig myself in too far.
Click to expand...

I mean essentially I'm paying the 3.5% interest on that 17% I took from the first time buyer program, so I'm paying more over the long term for sure to help with that 30k or whatever(my house was right in your range, 242k) But the way I'm looking at it, I can get in the house now and start paying off that interest and eventually get some real equity going, as opposed to trying to save for 5-10 years to get that 35k
 
Ron Mexico

Ron Mexico

Member
cpp_is_king said:
Bought last year in June on a 7/1 ARM with 10% down. We put a little bit into a bathroom remodel, but otherwise not much has changed. We went to refinance into a fixed rate because I didn't feel comfortable sitting on the ARM for very long (thanks to Ron Mexico's advice from a year ago), so we had to get a re-appraisal, and the appraised value came in at over 200k more than we paid, in just 1 year. WTF! This market is nuts. The even better news is that now we can re-fi into a fixed rate with no additional money down, since it appraised so high we have the 80% LTV covered even though we only put 10% down originally.
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I was on vacation last week and totally missed this. Congrats and glad I could help, even in a small way :)

Doominated said:
I basically came into this thread to ask how feasible doing something like Scott did is.

I'm 25 making about 62K a year in NJ. I haven't held down my "career" job long enough to have 20% to put down, I have maybe 7-8K cash that I could put down, and generally looking at places that are 200-250K. Am I best off just putting down the down payment amount that I can afford at the time, or would I be better off taking out a secondary loan to cover the down payment through 20% so I can secure the best interest rate on the mortgage?

Obviously I'm nowhere near ready to buy anything yet, but I want to have a handle on everything before I really dig myself in too far.
Click to expand...

So as a fellow NJ resident (I live in the Cherry Hill area), my strategies would vary a fair bit depending on the area but in general terms, I've been a strong advocate of exploring all options (so for NJ you may even find some USDA-qualified loans in addition to all the other programs out there). There's opportunity risk in waiting until you accumulate 20% down as mortgage rates, while still low, have been trending upwards and I believe they'll continue to do so.

Also from personal experience (and you'll see this as you start shopping), property taxes vary WILDLY from town to town in NJ. Yes, you're going to see some variation no matter where you go, but even for someone who has been in the financial industry for way too long, I was still shocked by the town-to-town disparity.

Best of luck with the search! If you need anything more specific, feel free to post or PM. I believe I mentioned it previously, but just in case-- I am not looking to solicit any business whatsoever. I actually work for a credit union with a very narrow membership base so in all likelihood I couldn't help in that sense even if I tried.

Zunja said:
Does anyone commute into dc. I'm going to be working there for the long term and want to get a house finally. I'm trying to decide between md and va I have about 65k salary. Im trying to get an area that's a not 1hr plus commute.

Is it ever worth getting a house short term. For example get a house for 5 years or so then try to rent or sell it. Preferebly rent.
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The main headquarters for my work is just outside DC and I have several colleagues that commute from the Prince George Co. area on similar salaries. I'm not down there frequently enough to have ultra-detailed info, but I would give Bowie and its surrounding areas a look. I can get to the Metro when I'm down there in minutes along 50.
 
W

Wubbles

Neo Member
I'm officially out of attorney review!! September 1st close date. Super excited :)

Going to be sad when I have to start writing checks to the builder & mortgage company and I see my bank account's balance deplete heh.
 
O

Ourobolus

Banned
The wife and I went around looking at houses in the Bothell, WA region since she got a new job and her commute will suck from our current apartment

holy hell the housing market here is insane. everything is like 450k+
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
Ourobolus said:
The wife and I went around looking at houses in the Bothell, WA region since she got a new job and her commute will suck from our current apartment

holy hell the housing market here is insane. everything is like 450k+
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Welcome to my life. My wife and I are also looking the Seattle area.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
 
T

trilobyte

Member
Need some mortgage advice for a new home

My wife and I are looking into buying our first home. Our annual income is 150k w/ a take home pay of 7k (after taxes, maxed 401k, maxed IRA)

We found a house we absolutely love whose asking is 440k. @ 20% down, I'm looking at a roughly $2600 month on the house if you include taxes, HOA, and upkeep. The problem is we plan to have kids in a couple of years and every time I run the numbers, I feel we simply can't afford this home. We'll be pinching pennies. Seems like to really make this work I'd need 40% down (~200k down on a home seems nuts to me)

I'm new at this - but am I way off base here? My wife feels like I'm being overly cautious, but I'm not as emotionally invested as she is. I feel like $375k should really be our high end target.
 
Ron Mexico

Ron Mexico

Member
trilobyte said:
Need some mortgage advice for a new home

My wife and I are looking into buying our first home. Our annual income is 150k w/ a take home pay of 7k (after taxes, maxed 401k, maxed IRA)

We found a house we absolutely love whose asking is 440k. @ 20% down, I'm looking at a roughly $2600 month on the house if you include taxes, HOA, and upkeep. The problem is we plan to have kids in a couple of years and every time I run the numbers, I feel we simply can't afford this home. We'll be pinching pennies. Seems like to really make this work I'd need 40% down (~200k down on a home seems nuts to me)

I'm new at this - but am I way off base here? My wife feels like I'm being overly cautious, but I'm not as emotionally invested as she is. I feel like $375k should really be our high end target.
Click to expand...

So without knowing the full extent of your debt to income, I can share that from experience, we're in the same income range, both gross and net, and I wouldn't find $2600/mo to be all that palatable, regardless of the lender's willingness to finance it (and they will-- while I don't know your FICO and the rest of your DTI, your prospective payment would likely be appealing to most lenders).

Including upkeep and the like, our monthly expenditure is closer to $2000/month but again we're much more fiscally conservative than most. We've both had financially reckless exes in our first marriage so the idea of affording the house on one income, while not something we want or expect, was of the utmost importance to us and that's all the while being child-free.

You bring up a good point with being emotionally invested-- it's tough, especially when you think you've found "the one", but on the flip side, you'll never make a more important purchase in your life, so be as thorough and calculating as possible imo.

Either way, you sound like you're on the right track. Best of luck!

tl;dr-- the breathing room of a lower mortgage payment exceeded the emotional attachment to more expensive purchase
 
P

peteykirch

Member
Doominated said:
I basically came into this thread to ask how feasible doing something like Scott did is.

I'm 25 making about 62K a year in NJ. I haven't held down my "career" job long enough to have 20% to put down, I have maybe 7-8K cash that I could put down, and generally looking at places that are 200-250K. Am I best off just putting down the down payment amount that I can afford at the time, or would I be better off taking out a secondary loan to cover the down payment through 20% so I can secure the best interest rate on the mortgage?

Obviously I'm nowhere near ready to buy anything yet, but I want to have a handle on everything before I really dig myself in too far.
Click to expand...

Living in NJ I would suggest to cut tail and get out ASAP.

200-250k in a place like North Carolina could get you a massive plot of land and a pretty much brand new house versus a fixer upper here in NJ with massive property taxes.
 
W

willow ve

Member
This home build has taken forever. First it was end of May. Then looking like late June. In late June we told the builder we were moving on July 29 because our rental lease was up.

And so now my things live in piles in unfinished rooms without me.

They're doing high quality work, but the guys running the job are far too busy for the amount of coordination necessary in the last 4-6 weeks of a build. Still don't have a solid move in date from them.
 
R

rataven

Member
Put in an offer over asking price on a house this morning. I absolutely love this home, not sure if I'll get it, I know the market is tight and the listing agent said they had already received multiple offers.

The only draw back I could find to this house was that the next door neighbor had two yip yap dogs that would not. stop. barking the entire time I was viewing the home. I don't understand people who let their dogs rage at the neighbors. I'd almost like to get inside their heads to figure it out. I hope the dogs don't drive me insane if I do get the house. Property lines are very close and unfortuately they would be on the side with the master bedroom and living room. :/
 
M

muu

Member
trilobyte said:
Need some mortgage advice for a new home

My wife and I are looking into buying our first home. Our annual income is 150k w/ a take home pay of 7k (after taxes, maxed 401k, maxed IRA)

We found a house we absolutely love whose asking is 440k. @ 20% down, I'm looking at a roughly $2600 month on the house if you include taxes, HOA, and upkeep. The problem is we plan to have kids in a couple of years and every time I run the numbers, I feel we simply can't afford this home. We'll be pinching pennies. Seems like to really make this work I'd need 40% down (~200k down on a home seems nuts to me)

I'm new at this - but am I way off base here? My wife feels like I'm being overly cautious, but I'm not as emotionally invested as she is. I feel like $375k should really be our high end target.
Click to expand...

You'll have to really figure out the budget and see if it's still worth it. Our income is ~120K combined, we have 1 child. Purchased last year @ ~285k with 20% down. Payments w/ tax is $1500/mo. Daycare for my kid is ~$1000/mo. I reduced my 401K to matching only, but otherwise we're doing reasonably well. I'll probably just pump more money into a college fund once she's out of daycare since 401k by current employer isn't too stellar.

Daycare costs hurt, it'll hurt even more if one of you are planning on staying home to raise kids. I'd really drive home the fact that some options will be closed off to you w/ a more expensive house.
 
L

LocknessMobster

Member
My wife and I finally found our first home yesterday,we threw in an offer and the seller accepted! Now today we are combing through all the paperwork,contracts ect. There are random questions Ill be throwing out here in the hope that we can get some more understanding of what to do and not to do throughout this process.

We got an inspector who I guess is just a general inspector to check out the property tomorrow. Apparently he only covers things that are noticeable just by looking around,there will be no deep searching if you will. Would it be wise to hire other specified inspectors to cover sewage pipes,electrical,structural parts of the home? I assume this guy will point out issues and then if need be we would hire a professional who specifies in the issue? Is there anything to look out for in the contracts that would be a red flag? We were told about a 1 year insurance warranty in case anything breaks,good idea? Thanks!
 
S

Sarye

Member
trilobyte said:
Need some mortgage advice for a new home

My wife and I are looking into buying our first home. Our annual income is 150k w/ a take home pay of 7k (after taxes, maxed 401k, maxed IRA)

We found a house we absolutely love whose asking is 440k. @ 20% down, I'm looking at a roughly $2600 month on the house if you include taxes, HOA, and upkeep. The problem is we plan to have kids in a couple of years and every time I run the numbers, I feel we simply can't afford this home. We'll be pinching pennies. Seems like to really make this work I'd need 40% down (~200k down on a home seems nuts to me)

I'm new at this - but am I way off base here? My wife feels like I'm being overly cautious, but I'm not as emotionally invested as she is. I feel like $375k should really be our high end target.
Click to expand...

As others have said, it really depends on your debt/income ratio. If you have credit card debt, student loans, and such then I understand the hesitation.

Something else to consider is that 7k is your take home after taxes. Mortgage Interest and Property Tax are both tax deductible and with the majority of your mortgage going to interest in the beginning, that means that your itemized deduction will be huge. A lot of people re-adjust their Federal W4 so that their take home will be greater per paycheck... which can amount to $200+ more per paycheck given your numbers.. but of course you should do the research.

Also kids increases your deductions as wel. As always do what makes sense budget wise for your family. If it makes you feel any better, our income is similar and our mortgage is much more than yours.. about $3000.

LocknessMobster said:
My wife and I finally found our first home yesterday,we threw in an offer and the seller accepted! Now today we are combing through all the paperwork,contracts ect. There are random questions Ill be throwing out here in the hope that we can get some more understanding of what to do and not to do throughout this process.

We got an inspector who I guess is just a general inspector to check out the property tomorrow. Apparently he only covers things that are noticeable just by looking around,there will be no deep searching if you will. Would it be wise to hire other specified inspectors to cover sewage pipes,electrical,structural parts of the home? I assume this guy will point out issues and then if need be we would hire a professional who specifies in the issue? Is there anything to look out for in the contracts that would be a red flag? We were told about a 1 year insurance warranty in case anything breaks,good idea? Thanks!
Click to expand...
That's normal. The general inspector will point out things that you possibly may want to get checked out with a more specialized inspector. Not all of it is needed. They do more than just "look around" though. They should be going through attics/crawl spaces or basements/going on the roof (if possible).. Make sure they check for the usuals like pests/mold and make sure they put everything in the report that you want or that you saw yourself. They aren't perfect so it is your responsibility to make sure they are aware of things.

The thing with specialized inspectors is that sometimes they may need to do evasive things like cutting the ceiling to inspect structure which the sellers have to agree to. Most of the time they won't.

The 1 year warranty is usually for things like appliances.. Washer/Dryer/Furnace/AC/Water Heater/Dishwasher etc. It's nice to have.. but typically even with the warranty it costs some money (for me $50) for them to come up and fix the problem. Also always good to check the age of these things anyway as it will be something you'll need to budget for for replacement down the road

Good luck!
 
M

muu

Member
LocknessMobster said:
My wife and I finally found our first home yesterday,we threw in an offer and the seller accepted! Now today we are combing through all the paperwork,contracts ect. There are random questions Ill be throwing out here in the hope that we can get some more understanding of what to do and not to do throughout this process.

We got an inspector who I guess is just a general inspector to check out the property tomorrow. Apparently he only covers things that are noticeable just by looking around,there will be no deep searching if you will. Would it be wise to hire other specified inspectors to cover sewage pipes,electrical,structural parts of the home? I assume this guy will point out issues and then if need be we would hire a professional who specifies in the issue? Is there anything to look out for in the contracts that would be a red flag? We were told about a 1 year insurance warranty in case anything breaks,good idea? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Things you feel are red flags you could definitely have a contractor come in and look at. You should also think about how old the house is and what may be installed. Our inspector glossed over a lot of the dry rot, got maybe half of them but others my stepdad pointed out. He mentioned roof as 5-10yr, I called for an estimate anyway and roofer said more like it's on its last legs. He said not to make a big deal about reduced water pressure, plumber confirmed that it's 50yr old galvanized piping that's about to fall apart. As much as you think these guys are on your side, ultimately they're trying to make sure the house sells. You should be able to get free quotes/inspections by most contractors, and they know full well that you may or may not go w/ them for your job. We did end up using the roofer, masonry, plumber that we had do quotes during the inspection phase and have been happy w/ results.
 
T

TheCochese

Banned
So, one of the houses we really like is in pre-foreclosure, down from about $280 to around $211 estimated (from the limited info I can see).

We aren't in a position to do anything about it, but I was wondering what that process was like from a standpoint of securing funding, buying the property, stuff like that.
 
L

LocknessMobster

Member
Sarye said:
As others have said, it really depends on your debt/income ratio. If you have credit card debt, student loans, and such then I understand the hesitation.

Something else to consider is that 7k is your take home after taxes. Mortgage Interest and Property Tax are both tax deductible and with the majority of your mortgage going to interest in the beginning, that means that your itemized deduction will be huge. A lot of people re-adjust their Federal W4 so that their take home will be greater per paycheck... which can amount to $200+ more per paycheck given your numbers.. but of course you should do the research.

Also kids increases your deductions as wel. As always do what makes sense budget wise for your family. If it makes you feel any better, our income is similar and our mortgage is much more than yours.. about $3000.


That's normal. The general inspector will point out things that you possibly may want to get checked out with a more specialized inspector. Not all of it is needed. They do more than just "look around" though. They should be going through attics/crawl spaces or basements/going on the roof (if possible).. Make sure they check for the usuals like pests/mold and make sure they put everything in the report that you want or that you saw yourself. They aren't perfect so it is your responsibility to make sure they are aware of things.

The thing with specialized inspectors is that sometimes they may need to do evasive things like cutting the ceiling to inspect structure which the sellers have to agree to. Most of the time they won't.

The 1 year warranty is usually for things like appliances.. Washer/Dryer/Furnace/AC/Water Heater/Dishwasher etc. It's nice to have.. but typically even with the warranty it costs some money (for me $50) for them to come up and fix the problem. Also always good to check the age of these things anyway as it will be something you'll need to budget for for replacement down the road

Good luck!
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muu said:
Things you feel are red flags you could definitely have a contractor come in and look at. You should also think about how old the house is and what may be installed. Our inspector glossed over a lot of the dry rot, got maybe half of them but others my stepdad pointed out. He mentioned roof as 5-10yr, I called for an estimate anyway and roofer said more like it's on its last legs. He said not to make a big deal about reduced water pressure, plumber confirmed that it's 50yr old galvanized piping that's about to fall apart. As much as you think these guys are on your side, ultimately they're trying to make sure the house sells. You should be able to get free quotes/inspections by most contractors, and they know full well that you may or may not go w/ them for your job. We did end up using the roofer, masonry, plumber that we had do quotes during the inspection phase and have been happy w/ results.
Click to expand...

Thank you both! Gonna be tagging along for the inspection tomorrow,3 hour process I was told. I feel better about the inspector after googling the company and reading reviews,the thermo imaging tool he uses seems pretty neat. Fingers crossed everything works out okay,we are both exhausted from house hunting and are ready to settle in before the winter.
 
A

AndyD

aka andydumi
TheCochese said:
So, one of the houses we really like is in pre-foreclosure, down from about $280 to around $211 estimated (from the limited info I can see).

We aren't in a position to do anything about it, but I was wondering what that process was like from a standpoint of securing funding, buying the property, stuff like that.
Click to expand...

Depending on the stage you can reach out to the bank directly, the bankruptcy judge if there's a hearing, or wait for it to go on the market. Banks give loans on these just the same, they know it's a crapshoot on whether it works out or not.

LocknessMobster said:
Thank you both! Gonna be tagging along for the inspection tomorrow,3 hour process I was told. I feel better about the inspector after googling the company and reading reviews,the thermo imaging tool he uses seems pretty neat. Fingers crossed everything works out okay,we are both exhausted from house hunting and are ready to settle in before the winter.
Click to expand...

Take advantage of this and write down make and serial number of appliances like AC, fridge, range, dishwasher... We had a one year warranty as mentioned above and we had both AC systems and a water heater replaced within the first year.

Even for small issues, it's worth bringing out the contractor company for that $50-75 trade fee to take a look. We asked them to come for a look at the 14 year old AC, he found a cracked heat exchanger that could not be patched and we got a whole new system, heat and AC.

Water heater has a bit of a rust spot on top but no active leak, plumber said it's a safety issue, replaced with a brand new and much more efficient one.

You end up spending a few hundred but you get a brand new system and likely get your savings back in lower bills and less headaches. The contractors who come out are "incentivized" to find faults as they get paid by insurance not by the homeowner. And if you get in this situation, ask about upgrading for the marginal cost out of your pocket. The warranty will pay for a base replacement system, but often for a few hundred extra you can get more efficient systems, multistage units, UV air purifiers, whole house water purifier stainless tub dishwasher, larger fridge and so on, addons that you otherwise might not get a chance at.

Also take a close look at insulation in the attic, crawlspace. It can be relatively inexpensive to add more or replace old one when you move in, and it can also make a big difference in quality of life and bills.
 
G

gooderthanu

Member
muu said:
You'll have to really figure out the budget and see if it's still worth it. Our income is ~120K combined, we have 1 child. Purchased last year @ ~285k with 20% down. Payments w/ tax is $1500/mo. Daycare for my kid is ~$1000/mo. I reduced my 401K to matching only, but otherwise we're doing reasonably well. I'll probably just pump more money into a college fund once she's out of daycare since 401k by current employer isn't too stellar.

Daycare costs hurt, it'll hurt even more if one of you are planning on staying home to raise kids. I'd really drive home the fact that some options will be closed off to you w/ a more expensive house.
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Pretty much the same as me. Nice doing 20% down I only could do 5%.. our taxes are low so we got a 334k house and payments of 1800/mo. We just had a kid and daycare looks to be $800 a month. It's crazy stuff. Daycare is the priciest part of a kid
 
M

muu

Member
gooderthanu said:
Pretty much the same as me. Nice doing 20% down I only could do 5%.. our taxes are low so we got a 334k house and payments of 1800/mo. We just had a kid and daycare looks to be $800 a month. It's crazy stuff. Daycare is the priciest part of a kid
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$800 for a infant would be a steal. In Oregon it's 4 kids to a teacher until they're 3, The infant room must be like $1300 now. Even at this rate the daycare is barely able to hold on to decent teachers -- places where it's cheaper it's pretty obvious they have super high turnaround w/ kids that just got out of college rotating in every year.
 
T

TheCochese

Banned
I have no idea what this trend in the 00s was to make an angled kitchen jutout with the sink in it, and put the dishwasher right next to it so you couldn't stand at the sink and have the dishwasher open.

So stupid.
 
L

LocknessMobster

Member
Inspections went great,no structural concerns,sewage pipes were great,no mold or mildew, elecrical was good,roof around 3 years old. The major things that were brought up was the needing to reroute the gutters waterflow from around the house. There was also a question of where the kitchen oven vent was actually venting to,didnt appear to be an exterior venting on the roof and with that there is a part of the house upstairs that has no access to the attic to check whats going on. Also the HVAC and water heater are from 2002 and we didnt see any papers on when they were last serviced. We have requested for the seller to create a crawlspace so we can have access to the attic and for them to have both HVAC and water heated serviced. Once thats taken care of and the inspector can get in there and check everything else out Ill be happy.
 
D

demosthenes

Member
trilobyte said:
Need some mortgage advice for a new home

My wife and I are looking into buying our first home. Our annual income is 150k w/ a take home pay of 7k (after taxes, maxed 401k, maxed IRA)

We found a house we absolutely love whose asking is 440k. @ 20% down, I'm looking at a roughly $2600 month on the house if you include taxes, HOA, and upkeep. The problem is we plan to have kids in a couple of years and every time I run the numbers, I feel we simply can't afford this home. We'll be pinching pennies. Seems like to really make this work I'd need 40% down (~200k down on a home seems nuts to me)

I'm new at this - but am I way off base here? My wife feels like I'm being overly cautious, but I'm not as emotionally invested as she is. I feel like $375k should really be our high end target.
Click to expand...

When you say max 401k, are you both doing 18k? If so, lower that amount and you should have plenty.
 
S

shandy706

Member
Single dad with two girls and I went under contract yesterday on our house. So glad to finally be getting back into our own place.

House inspection is on Monday. Doing USDA guaranteed. Went to multiple lenders and looks like I'm going 3.5% interest rate, on a $152,500 loan with 0% down (thanks USDA).

Fingers crossed all goes well!! Closing is projected as September 27th.

img_89475qjg8.jpg


1500 square feet (house), 2 Story, 460 square feet garage (really happy with huge garage).

(Crappy Photo is a bit deceiving size wise)

Edit * The housing market is certainly insane right now!

Being the top offer on this house kind of surprised me when my realtor came back to me. A lot of houses were much older/smaller square footage wise and had higher asking prices than this one.

There are lots of 1200 to 1300 square foot houses here going for $160 to $170k.
 
L

Linkura

Member
shandy706 said:
Single dad with two girls and I went under contract yesterday on our house. So glad to finally be getting back into our own place.

House inspection is on Monday. Doing USDA guaranteed. Went to multiple lenders and looks like I'm going 3.5% interest rate, on a $152,500 loan with 0% down (thanks USDA).

Fingers crossed all goes well!! Closing is projected as September 27th.

img_89475qjg8.jpg


1500 square feet (house), 2 Story, 460 square feet garage (really happy with huge garage).

(Crappy Photo is a bit deceiving size wise)

Edit * The housing market is certainly insane right now!

Being the top offer on this house kind of surprised me when my realtor came back to me. A lot of houses were much older/smaller square footage wise and had higher asking prices than this one.

There are lots of 1200 to 1300 square foot houses here going for $160 to $170k.
Click to expand...

Nice house. The 1000 sq ft house next door to us just sold last month for $460k. $160k sounds like a fucking pipe dream around here.
 
C

Captain Tuttle

Member
shandy706 said:
Single dad with two girls and I went under contract yesterday on our house. So glad to finally be getting back into our own place.

House inspection is on Monday. Doing USDA guaranteed. Went to multiple lenders and looks like I'm going 3.5% interest rate, on a $152,500 loan with 0% down (thanks USDA).

Fingers crossed all goes well!! Closing is projected as September 27th.

img_89475qjg8.jpg


1500 square feet (house), 2 Story, 460 square feet garage (really happy with huge garage).

(Crappy Photo is a bit deceiving size wise)

Edit * The housing market is certainly insane right now!

Being the top offer on this house kind of surprised me when my realtor came back to me. A lot of houses were much older/smaller square footage wise and had higher asking prices than this one.

There are lots of 1200 to 1300 square foot houses here going for $160 to $170k.
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Nice house, congratulations! I love the mature trees
 
T

TylerD

Member
Zoe said:
The 20% mortgage down payment is all but dead

The article says that most conventional loans still have 20%, but we only put down 10%.
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We are aiming for 10% down. We are going to pay like a 15 yr mortgage on a 30 and only buying enough house that we can live off of one salary relatively comfortably. We almost have the down payment goal reached for our move next year.

I'd have a really hard time putting so much money into a house right up front and would rather have that money invested instead.
 
C

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Linkura said:
Nice house. The 1000 sq ft house next door to us just sold last month for $460k. $160k sounds like a fucking pipe dream around here.
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and this is why i live in texas. Our custom home is 4k sq ft built on 5 acres for not much more than that.
 
Ron Mexico

Ron Mexico

Member
TylerD said:
We are aiming for 10% down. We are going to pay like a 15 yr mortgage on a 30 and only buying enough house that we can live off of one salary relatively comfortably. We almost have the down payment goal reached for our move next year.

I'd have a really hard time putting so much money into a house right up front and would rather have that money invested instead.
Click to expand...

I would also see what options are available to first-time buyers (which I'm assuming you are based on the context here). It's possible there are grants and the like available to you which could either a) shorten your time frame or b) leave you more excess for incidentals, to invest, etc etc.

In the same way I had expected rates to rise fairly steeply around the beginning of the year, I think we're going to level off a bit, maybe as far as the end of '17. I was shocked by the speed of the increases, but if it does stay flat from here, it would make a bit more sense.

Either way, the approach to doing a 30 and targeting 15 can definitely work-- sure you'll pay a slightly higher rate but there's also value in peace of mind and flexibility.
 
C

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
our first mortgage payments are due sept 1st. Amost 60% of the payment is towards the principle. 15 year fixed FTW.
 
S

shandy706

Member
Captain Tuttle said:
Nice house, congratulations! I love the mature trees
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Thanks :)

LocknessMobster said:
Our first house,move in date is a month away. 2600sq ft 4bed,4bath totally updated inside in 2014,200k
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Very nice!

Just got an e-mail from my lender, and my agent, we literally got the go to close a few minutes ago. Original closing date was September 27th.

Just got moved to September 15th!!! I went from being a month out to 2 weeks. Time to panick...X-D.
 
O

otake

Doesn't know that "You" is used in both the singular and plural
Been thinking about Hurricane Harvey and home ownership.

A lot of people, including me, struggle deciding how much to put down for a house, how much insurance to get and whether it's worth trying to pay the mortgage early. This storm has given me pause to think about these things. Most people effected by this storm do not have flood insurance because the probability of flooding in most of these areas was deemed "very low". Lenders did not require it and it's expensive and the statistics made it unlikely. Not having flood insurance in these circumstances makes sense.

Even if these people got flood insurance, it's not exactly cheap. I live in the east coast, hurricane prone area. My house is concrete block structure, I live next to a retention pond and it's not a flood zone. My insurance is not cheap. I do not have flood insurance but if I had it, what is already an expensive policy would become more so.

What if Harvey had stayed a hurricane and brought those 100 mph winds to houston? The dame would be even bigger. Most houses in Texas are wood frame. If the house didn't blow away it would have flooded anyway.

Back to the finances, if I lived in an impacted area, paid my regular insurance for years and paid off my mortgage early, I would be devastated financially. Whatever equity these people had is gone. If they rebuild, they will never be able to re-sell because the world now knows that area floods. So basically, many people around houston now have a worthless asset that is now flooded.

I don't really have a conclusion except a feeling that with climate change changing so much, who knows what other statistically safe area gets hit with a storm. It may be better to not pay for so much insurance, not pre-pay the house since money is mobility and the house can certainly be worth nothing, just ask the citizens of houston.
 
C

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
otake said:
Been thinking about Hurricane Harvey and home ownership.

A lot of people, including me, struggle deciding how much to put down for a house, how much insurance to get and whether it's worth trying to pay the mortgage early. This storm has given me pause to think about these things. Most people effected by this storm do not have flood insurance because the probability of flooding in most of these areas was deemed "very low". Lenders did not require it and it's expensive and the statistics made it unlikely. Not having flood insurance in these circumstances makes sense.

Even if these people got flood insurance, it's not exactly cheap. I live in the east coast, hurricane prone area. My house is concrete block structure, I live next to a retention pond and it's not a flood zone. My insurance is not cheap. I do not have flood insurance but if I had it, what is already an expensive policy would become more so.

What if Harvey had stayed a hurricane and brought those 100 mph winds to houston? The dame would be even bigger. Most houses in Texas are wood frame. If the house didn't blow away it would have flooded anyway.

Back to the finances, if I lived in an impacted area, paid my regular insurance for years and paid off my mortgage early, I would be devastated financially. Whatever equity these people had is gone. If they rebuild, they will never be able to re-sell because the world now knows that area floods. So basically, many people around houston now have a worthless asset that is now flooded.

I don't really have a conclusion except a feeling that with climate change changing so much, who knows what other statistically safe area gets hit with a storm. It may be better to not pay for so much insurance, not pre-pay the house since money is mobility and the house can certainly be worth nothing, just ask the citizens of houston.
Click to expand...
first bold, not entirely true. We got hit by Ike in 208 which had sustained winds of 110 mph and there were hardly any completely destroyed homes in houston, some lost roofs or parts of their roof.

second bold is not true at all. People willingly buy in areas in houston right next to the bayous, which are prone to flooding during rain fall.
However, many of the homes flooded have never flooded before in decades, this was a ridiculous storm that will set a new benchmark like TS Alison did in 2001.
 
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