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Home buyer question
- Thread starter geek4life
- Start date
warcrow
Lifer
Yes, you need find a good lender and see what you qualify for. Now, keep in mind that once you find out what you do qualify for, say $300.000 dollars, that doesnt mean you can afford a $300,000 house. Try to found out (ask the lender) what you morgage payment on a $250k loan would be. once you know what you can afford and want to spend, get a good realtor (ask around) and tell them what you're looking for: 1 story or 2? 2 bedroom? 3 bedroom? garage? and your price range.
get pre-qualified for a loan so you know your price range. You get approved for the loan after you make your offer on the house and it is accepted
find a good realtor and remember that they are working for you - so you do not have any obligation to stick with them if you don't like the way they are handling your home search. You, after all have to pay 2.5-3% commission. I was able to convince them to give me back .5% towards closing costs. 🙂
find a good realtor and remember that they are working for you - so you do not have any obligation to stick with them if you don't like the way they are handling your home search. You, after all have to pay 2.5-3% commission. I was able to convince them to give me back .5% towards closing costs. 🙂
richardycc
Diamond Member
did you get the money from the seller or the realtor? if its from the realtor, its totally illegal, unless you have a realtor license.
IHateMyJob2004
Lifer
Also.
Don't buy the biggest house in the neighborhood. Get an average sized home. If possible, get a fixer upper as you can make a killing that route.
Three L's.. Location, location, location.
As others say about affording a home. After buying my second home, I've drawn one conclusion. Only get a loan based on your salary. Simply because you need to save/invest to and if you have alot of debt, kiss saving money good bye.
Once pre-approved, if you are apprvoed for say, $300,000, try buying a home for only 80% of what "they" say you can afford. So, try to get a home for $240,000. You can always spend more, but shoot for $240K. I would put a cap at $270K(90%).
Lender. it doesn't matter where you get a loan from in my experience. Everything is so price competitive in the mortgage industry, that looking for the best loan for a week will probably only save you $5/month. In my experience, I have found e-loan.com to be a great place to get a loan. Very easy to do actually and no mortgage brokers p'ing you off.
Don't buy the biggest house in the neighborhood. Get an average sized home. If possible, get a fixer upper as you can make a killing that route.
Three L's.. Location, location, location.
As others say about affording a home. After buying my second home, I've drawn one conclusion. Only get a loan based on your salary. Simply because you need to save/invest to and if you have alot of debt, kiss saving money good bye.
Once pre-approved, if you are apprvoed for say, $300,000, try buying a home for only 80% of what "they" say you can afford. So, try to get a home for $240,000. You can always spend more, but shoot for $240K. I would put a cap at $270K(90%).
Lender. it doesn't matter where you get a loan from in my experience. Everything is so price competitive in the mortgage industry, that looking for the best loan for a week will probably only save you $5/month. In my experience, I have found e-loan.com to be a great place to get a loan. Very easy to do actually and no mortgage brokers p'ing you off.
CPA
Elite Member
Tell that to erealty.com I got 1%, plus the buyer agent's bonus.
Edit: hmmm...well looks like erealty no longer offers the 1% back, but I know I got it and it wasn't a problem.
Some practical advice from a recent home buyer (7/2004):
1. Use sites like bankrate.com that have mortgage calculators to get an idea how much house you can afford. Remember that beyond the principal and interest you need to add in home insurance, property taxes, PMI, and other miscellaneous expenses like Home Owner's Association fees.
2. Shop around for a loan. This can be difficult because you often have to compare apples to oranges. Watch for underwriting fees, fees to obtain your credit report, fees for the title company, fees for the bank or broker, title insurance, etc... I believe that companies are required to give you a truth in lending statement that should outline all of these expenses.
3. Loan applications within 7 day period are consider 1 application for credit scoring purposes (something to keep in mind if you are going to shop around).
4. Once you have a good idea about how much loan you can afford, start going to open houses that are in your price range. You don't need a realator to do this - but the realator that is hosting the open house is trying to hook in people just like you. Just tell them you are already working with a realator and they'll leave you alone (or just ignore them).
5. While looking, look for qualities in a home that you like, consider the obvious things like bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and yards. But don't forget the small stuff like age of the house, how much work you would have to do to make it liveable, is it clean, is the heating system older than you are (you can usually tell by looking), are the windows old?
6. Once you have a good idea of what you like, then contact a realator. They'll help you narrow your search down to your preferences and price range.
PM me if you have questions - I'd be happy to answer them.
1. Use sites like bankrate.com that have mortgage calculators to get an idea how much house you can afford. Remember that beyond the principal and interest you need to add in home insurance, property taxes, PMI, and other miscellaneous expenses like Home Owner's Association fees.
2. Shop around for a loan. This can be difficult because you often have to compare apples to oranges. Watch for underwriting fees, fees to obtain your credit report, fees for the title company, fees for the bank or broker, title insurance, etc... I believe that companies are required to give you a truth in lending statement that should outline all of these expenses.
3. Loan applications within 7 day period are consider 1 application for credit scoring purposes (something to keep in mind if you are going to shop around).
4. Once you have a good idea about how much loan you can afford, start going to open houses that are in your price range. You don't need a realator to do this - but the realator that is hosting the open house is trying to hook in people just like you. Just tell them you are already working with a realator and they'll leave you alone (or just ignore them).
5. While looking, look for qualities in a home that you like, consider the obvious things like bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and yards. But don't forget the small stuff like age of the house, how much work you would have to do to make it liveable, is it clean, is the heating system older than you are (you can usually tell by looking), are the windows old?
6. Once you have a good idea of what you like, then contact a realator. They'll help you narrow your search down to your preferences and price range.
PM me if you have questions - I'd be happy to answer them.
richardycc
Diamond Member
thats probably because they found out it was illegal, or another realtor company reported them to the board. I am just telling you what they teach me in realtor class. If they want to cheat, they can find ways around it.
I was able to get 1% back from my realtor when I sold my house here in AZ.
I am getting a little less than 1% back on the purchase of new new house through lendingtree/costco.
OP: Don't forget that a new house will cost you more than just the PI/insurance/taxes, you will also have bills that likely exceed what you did renting, such as water/sanitation/sewer, even the gas/electric is likely to be more expensive. Plus there is upkeep, landscaping, and so much more to spend your money on.
Good luck!
I am getting a little less than 1% back on the purchase of new new house through lendingtree/costco.
OP: Don't forget that a new house will cost you more than just the PI/insurance/taxes, you will also have bills that likely exceed what you did renting, such as water/sanitation/sewer, even the gas/electric is likely to be more expensive. Plus there is upkeep, landscaping, and so much more to spend your money on.
Good luck!
RossMAN
Grand Nagus
Contact Fannie Mae and do some reading, they also have a nice How Much House Can You Afford calculator.
Ask your local bank or Credit Union if they have a first time home buyers workshop? Most banks do, you just have to ask.
Send a PM to Vic he is a wealth of knowledge!
Ask your local bank or Credit Union if they have a first time home buyers workshop? Most banks do, you just have to ask.
Send a PM to Vic he is a wealth of knowledge!
The selling agent was a friend's mom. The deal was structured as a 6% commission with 3% going to the buyer's agent, 2% going to her, and 1% came back to me at closing.
For the buyer's agent I filled out a form at Costco's Lending Tree link. They sent me a choice of realty companies in the area, I picked one, and an agent from there called me. I guess I lucked out because he turned out to be awesome.
Looking back, it appears that I am actually going to get closer to .5% back from the buying agent, but it beats nothing.
For the buyer's agent I filled out a form at Costco's Lending Tree link. They sent me a choice of realty companies in the area, I picked one, and an agent from there called me. I guess I lucked out because he turned out to be awesome.
Looking back, it appears that I am actually going to get closer to .5% back from the buying agent, but it beats nothing.
I applied for a loan through 5 lenders and picked the cheapest one, which turned out to be the bank I do my business with. I realize that some lenders are willing to negotiate their fees, but none of them even came close to the deal I got. While I was getting pre-approved, we went house shopping and looked at a few houses until we found a condo that had a great location and in the middle of our activities. We just moved in last week and our 47" HDTV from Amazon just arrived!
LordSnailz
Diamond Member
good luck, what area are you looking at?
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