Looking to buy a house

[brikis98]

It seems like a decent time to buy a house, so I want to tentatively start looking around. I live in MA and want to buy something in the Boston/Somerville/Cambridge area. I plan on living in the house, but also renting out a few rooms (provided I can afford something big enough!).

I'm a first time buyer and had some questions:

* Should I go through a real estate agent?
* What are the best resources for looking up available houses? What websites, books, newspapers, etc?
* What's the easiest way to calculate what it would cost me? That is, typical down payment, monthly mortgage payment, utilities, taxes (and tax writeoffs?), etc? Is there a good calculator online somewhere?

 

[FoBoT]

yes, get a buyers agent. ask friends or co-workers if they recommend someone

agency's web sites are good places to search and there are some general sites

 

[Deeko]

Step 1: Collect Underpants
Step 2: ????
Step 3: Profit!

 

[Poulsonator]

Without question go through a real estate agent when buying, especially if it's your first time.

Mortgage Calc

Realtor.com

A lot of times the listings you find will have a real estate agent attached to it, so you simply call him/her and set up an appointment to see the property.

When my wife and I are looking for a house, we start by thinking about what exactly we want/need in a house, and how much we want to spend. We then figure out where we want to live. From there, we start looking up properties in those areas, starting with the link above (there are more, but you'll find them by simply clicking around). We find houses that match our criteria, and narrow it down to houses that we want to actually take the effort to go see.

After that, you simply contact the # on the listing and make an appointment.

Always remember that the real estate agent is working FOR YOU. Make sure you get what YOU want, and if you are at all unhappy or sketched out, say so.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I recommend ziprealty.com as a great website to access listings and research. For mortgage information and rates, I recommend bankrate.com I'm closing on a place in Cambridge in a couple of weeks. Good Luck!

edit - if you're interested, feel free to pm me and I can give you the info of my real estate agent who specializes in the Somerville/Cambridge area. I have purchased two homes and sold one thru her.

 

[Perknose]

Houses are relatively easy to find. They are large, don't move much if at all, and are frequently found near roads. The ones for sale often have For Sale signs on their front lawns. And front lawns are dead easy to find, being generally located directly adjacent to the fronts of houses.

 

[lokiju]

I found an agent from Keller Williams by calling on a ad for a house I had found on Yahoo Real Estate, she showed us the house in question (which we didn't like) and from there over a few month period she show my wife and I dozens of homes until we found the one we now own.

We couldn't have asked for a better agent though, she was very responsive and bent over backwards to keep us happy.

Hell she even threw in a 1 year home warranty for us.

She knew we were first time buyers also and held our hands from start to finish until we had the keys in our hands.

Even now months later after we closed on the house, she just sent me an email reminds me to file for Homestead Exemption.

So from that experience, I'd suggest making sure that whoever you go with, is someone that is working as hard as they can for you since in the end they're getting a cut of the money that you're paying to buy a house and are basically working for you.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Yes, definitely get an agent. Just closed on a house this past Monday. If you don't know what you're doing (which you don't as a first time buyer), definitely get one and let them do all the work. Mine made it super easy.

 

[alchemize]

Google base (base.google.com) actually has a really good search engine. Trulia.com is good too.

 

[Tweak155]

How does the agent get paid? Is it like a weekly/monthly thing til you buy a house or....

 

[tyanni]

Originally posted by: Tweak155
How does the agent get paid? Is it like a weekly/monthly thing til you buy a house or....

They get a percentage of the selling price, just like the sellers agent. Which can be a good or a bad thing, depending. In our case, the seller and buyers agent were both from the same agency, so they cut the seller a deal on the percentage and he paid the closing costs. However, it can add to the amount the seller has to pay at the end.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Perknose
Houses are relatively easy to find. They are large, don't move much if at all, and are frequently found near roads. The ones for sale often have For Sale signs on their front lawns. And front lawns are dead easy to find, being generally located directly adjacent to the fronts of houses.

I've heard that you can generally find houses pretty easily if you can find a driveway. 99% of the time these lead right up to a house.

If you spot a driveway, it's a good bet there's a house nearby.

 

[Tweak155]

Originally posted by: tyanni

Originally posted by: Tweak155
How does the agent get paid? Is it like a weekly/monthly thing til you buy a house or....

They get a percentage of the selling price, just like the sellers agent. Which can be a good or a bad thing, depending. In our case, the seller and buyers agent were both from the same agency, so they cut the seller a deal on the percentage and he paid the closing costs. However, it can add to the amount the seller has to pay at the end.

So basically the seller is paying your agent?

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Tweak155

Originally posted by: tyanni

Originally posted by: Tweak155
How does the agent get paid? Is it like a weekly/monthly thing til you buy a house or....

They get a percentage of the selling price, just like the sellers agent. Which can be a good or a bad thing, depending. In our case, the seller and buyers agent were both from the same agency, so they cut the seller a deal on the percentage and he paid the closing costs. However, it can add to the amount the seller has to pay at the end.

So basically the seller is paying your agent?

Correct. The agent brought them the buyer.

 

[Tweak155]

How are closing costs figured? Who is responsible for the cost?

I'm looking to buy in the next year or so, so I'm taking notes too.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Tweak155
How are closing costs figured? Who is responsible for the cost?

I'm looking to buy in the next year or so, so I'm taking notes too.

This should give you some good info - http://bankrate.com/brm/green/mtg/basics-toc.asp

 

[MrChad]

Pick up a copy of Home Buying for Dummies. It helped me out quite a bit when I started shopping for my first house earlier this year.

 

[jersiq]

Originally posted by: Perknose
Houses are relatively easy to find. They are large, don't move much if at all, and are frequently found near roads. The ones for sale often have For Sale signs on their front lawns. And front lawns are dead easy to find, being generally located directly adjacent to the fronts of houses.

Is it ever possible to be indirectly adjacent?

Sorry OP, you may now resume your thread, and yes get an agent.

 

[Indolent]

Originally posted by: Tweak155
How are closing costs figured? Who is responsible for the cost?

I'm looking to buy in the next year or so, so I'm taking notes too.

In the current market, it shouldn't be too hard to get the sellers to pay your closing costs. You just put it in the write up for the offer you give them and see if they accept it.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Pick up a copy of Home Buying for Dummies. It helped me out quite a bit when I started shopping for my first house earlier this year.

Also, don't forget the lube, when you see howmuch a place in Boston goes for, you're going to need lube, lots of it.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: jersiq

Originally posted by: Perknose
Houses are relatively easy to find. They are large, don't move much if at all, and are frequently found near roads. The ones for sale often have For Sale signs on their front lawns. And front lawns are dead easy to find, being generally located directly adjacent to the fronts of houses.

Is it ever possible to be indirectly adjacent?

Sorry OP, you may now resume your thread, and yes get an agent.

I dunno, is it ever possible to be couth?

As for whether I used the term correctly, there are only Two Million, Four Hundred Thousand references to the term "directly adjacent" in Google., so you decide.

Your lamentable confusion might stem from the fact that "adjacent" means that the first, and most rigorous definition of the word is "lying near, close" while constant usage has given we mere collective bumpkins the second meaning of "next to, adjoining".

ad·ja·cent (?-ja's?nt) Pronunciation Key
adj.
1. Close to; lying near: adjacent cities.
2. Next to; adjoining: adjacent garden plots.

Sorry is my linguistic rigor was over your head. I could have foresworn the use of "directly adjacent" but I didn't want to be so terse as to be abut. :laugh: