You're first home buying experience

['73 H1 Triple]

Ask friends, neighbors and co workers who they would suggest for a realtor. Also ones to stay away from.

Ok, it'll be your first home and you will be selling it later. Make sure it has a nice floor plan.

If it's an older home, make sure you can get furniture in it easily. I helped a friend move into a converted school house. We ended up cutting the bottom frame of his brand new queen size box spring to get it into the bedroom.

My first house was financed by GMAC. I signed their paperwork at closing. Later in the paperwork I signed another paper acknowledging the mortgage was sold to another lender and I would be paying them.

Mortgages get sold all the time. Keep your paperwork in order and receipts from payments made including escrow payments.

My first home was FHA financed. Since it wasn't a "perfect" FHA home, I had a VA inspection which was "converted" to FHA which was accepted. Yes, as screwed up as that sounds, it worked

When you pick a home inspector, ask if you can follow him around. If he says no, find another. IT'S YOUR MONEY on the line. Follow him and ask lots of questions. You'll find out stuff that doesn't make it onto the report.

Also get "bug infestation" inspection. Termites can cause a lot of damage that is unseen by the untrained eye.

If the house you look at is part of a HOA, make sure you agree with the rules before you make an offer.

If it's in town ( or a development)-- Is it fully improved? Meaning sidewalks, septic hooked up & city water?

if country, get full water test on the well and a full septic inspection. A new well is a chunk of money and a new septic system is a VERY large chunk of money.


I'll add more later

Jeff

[Rangerscott]

I'll be in town and will most likely go with FHA for the low down payment.

[wildchild]

first tell yourself that you're going to enjoy looking. don't pressure yourself into finding something. Take your time look at one or two now and then.
figure out what you want - can't live without-
be prepared to look at a lot of crap that people think is worth a fortune
be prepared to tell realtors that you'll be dealing with someone else
my favorite was the bribe money they wanted. (no it wasn't really bribe money) money they want in cash when you make an offer, you know to show you're serious. (funny I thought the paper you signed did that)

mine took a year to find a house I liked, a realtor I liked and a bank I liked. In the end I got what I wanted but it took time. the biggest thing for me was the realtor. once I found one I liked and trusted the whole thing got easier. I still call her if I have questions and she always has time to answer.

houses are the biggest hole in the dirt you can think of. Taxes go up, ins goes up, you pay repair bills (or mat'l costs) Tons of work to do all the time. My travel time has been cut to a percentage of what it was.

bought my first house in '06 as well, overall it was worth it, I love the peace and quiet and privacy but it took time to get it my way.

get it inspected and have repairs done by seller if possible. go back and look many times, look for the details you overlooked when it was just a casual "is this the one" look.

BTW I did buy mine w/o bribe money. seller paid all closing costs.

last tip, when you make an offer and it's accepted. you will be filled with joy. then doubt. then fear. then joy. then..........you get the picture. again if you took your time and found what you really wanted, the last feeling should be one of joy.
the closing of the property for me was pretty "scary". suddenly you realize you're signing for a ton of money. when it was all said and done and they gave me the keys though it all seemed so easy.

[Rider]

I have no good advice on buying a resale. All 4 of the homes I've bought, we built so I've never had to deal with previous owners or home inspections. Just get a good realtor that will show you homes in your price range and not just one's they are selling. And as already mentioned above get a good home inspector and make sure the appraisal is in line with the home price. In today's economy I doubt it would be very far off with banks watching that very closely.
5 years ago, there could be a 20% difference in price and appraisal and the banks would still finance. Part of why our economy sucks now.

Good luck and don't settle. You should be able find good deals right now.

[HurricaneHeather]

We bought our first house in 2006 too. It was a foreclosure that we stumbled upon while looking for a rental(we didn't think we could find a house cheap enough to buy).

We won the bid even though EVERYONE told us we wouldn't(parents, realtors, mortgage broker, everyone).

Our realtor was effing awesome. I worked at a golf course, so I knew someone in every profession you could dream of, so I had a plethera of realtors to pick from that I already knew.

the closing was a nightmare. We'll close this day. No, it'll be tomorrow. No it'll be next week. No, we want $4k now.

We didn't have much leeway since we were buying a HUD home. Everyone said it would be much easier to buy from a previous owner than HUD. Whatever.

It was aweful and stressful and I wanted to punch my fucking broker in the face, but it was totally worth it.

The house was in near perfect condition, only 6 years old, we made it our own, lived there for 2 years then sold it in 4 days for our asking price for a 30% profit RIGHT before the market crashed last year.

Totally worth all the headaches. But we just got lucky I think.

[Captain Morgan]

Make sure you know what you can afford. And then don't look at anything priced more than 5-10k above that range. You'll end up really liking the nicer houses then you'll kick yourself when you realize you simply can't afford them.

I got somewhat lucky. Friends of my dad's needed to sell their father's house and we skipped the realtor, saving a few thousand. However, I came into it knowing I'd need to do some updates. Keep in mind that remodel work can be expensive, so if you don't know how to do the work, keep that in mind when you pick out a house. Don't get a fixer upper in your price range if you can't afford to fix it up. And make sure you save yourself a little bit of money to get some of the things done right away (like flooring).

I've been slowly working on this place, in between second jobs to save up the money to get some things done to it. I'm getting ready to tear out the kitchen floor in a few weeks. Will eventually pull the countertops and replace those as well, but don't quite have the money yet.

And no matter what you buy, make sure it has at least 2 bathrooms. That's the biggest mistake I made, even though I got a good deal on the house. I settled for less than what I really needed. Don't do that. If nothing else, save some more money before buying if you can't afford what you really need right now.

And figure on spending at least another 10% just on the extra shit you want to do. Trust me, you'll end up spending it.

[Cutty72]

1. figure out what you can afford. remember to include taxes, specials, utilities, insurance.
2. leave yourself leaway for repairs that will be required on said house
3. also remember things you will need being a homeowner (lawnmower, ladder, hose, snowblower, shovel, tools, etc)
4. don't count on roomates, most home loans are 30 years, are you going to have roomates for the next 30 years?
5. leave room in your budget for other things you may want/need. furniture/appliances at first, and later on a new vehicle etc... DON'T max your budget completely.
6. DO NOT expect to get everything you want in your first house. Have a list of MUST haves, and wants. Find the house that best suits your needs.
7. DO NOT become emotionally attached to a house and get into a bidding war with another buyer.
8. Do get a relator, but do NOT use the selling relator. The selling relator is out to help the seller get the most money, not to get you the best deal.

That's my tips... hope they help.