Seasoned homebuyers

[krunchykrome]

The fiancee and I will be looking to buy a house within the next four months. We are in the process of being preapproved and we don't expect any issues.

Upon obtaining our preapproval letter, we will begin our house search. We have a few houses that we like and will visit.

What advice can you seasoned home buyers give us? Anything we should look out for? What mistakes did you encounter that we can avoid?


UPDATE:

I just received the preapproval letter. Everything looks good; now it's time to start looking for a house.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Expect to see a lot of garbage.

Find a good buyer broker and real estate lawyer.

Always have a home inspection.

 

[d33pt]

Inspections! Get as many as you can afford, but at the very least, get a thorough general inspection. Then decide from there if there are other specialists you want to get. We ended up getting a drain pipe inspector too since the general inspector said most of the drains were slow. The few hundred you spend now can save you thousands later if there are unseen issues.

It's definitely a buyer's market, so don't be afraid to lowball. They just might take it.

 

[Linflas]

Concentrate on things that are important like layout, room size, and structure that would cost you significant money to change and ignore all the silly crap that all these HGTV shows seem to focus on like what furniture the current owners have in a particular room or what color the walls are painted. For the life of me I could not get my wife to look beyond superficial things like that when we were looking for our first house and that was before HGTV was around to reinforce attitudes like that.

 

[djheater]

I read seasoned hamburgers.....


mmmm hamburgers......

 

[imported_Section8]

Aside from the top 3, location, location, location, try if you can to put 20% down to avoid the MIP or mortgage insurance premium. Also, do not escrow your taxes or insurance. Make sure your lender does not charge you a fee for this. Countrywide allows this without a fee. I deposite mine in my Ing account and pay them myself. I make about $300 in interst that way.

Good luck.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Linflas
Concentrate on things that are important like layout, room size, and structure that would cost you significant money to change and ignore all the silly crap that all these HGTV shows seem to focus on like what furniture the current owners have in a particular room or what color the walls are painted. For the life of me I could not get my wife to look beyond superficial things like that when we were looking for our first house and that was before HGTV was around to reinforce attitudes like that.

Those HGTV shows focus on furniture and wall color for selling a home, because it does impact the first impression a home leaves on the buyer.

As a buyer, though, you're right. Wall color and layouts can be changed. I would sit down with your fiancee and prioritize what features are important to you. Would you rather have a nice, upgraded kitchen or a big back yard? Proximity to work? Garage? A newer home that's a bit smaller but "move-in ready" or an older home that you might have to put some work into to update? The answers to these questions will help both you and your realtor narrow down your search.

 

[Genx87]

You couldnt have picked a better time to get into a home. The market is bottoming out and you will make nice appreciation when it bounces back.

What to look for in a new home? Hard to say as everybody has different needs\desires.

But some general rules of thumb.

How old is the roof?
Any water in the basement?
Cracked foundation?
Siding, how old, what type?

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: Section8
Aside from the top 3, location, location, location, try if you can to put 20% down to avoid the MIP or mortgage insurance premium. Also, do not escrow your taxes or insurance. Make sure your lender does not charge you a fee for this. Countrywide allows this without a fee. I deposite mine in my Ing account and pay them myself. I make about $300 in interst that way.

Good luck.

Unfortunately the VA does not allow us to do this, I guess it is the price I pay for having a no money down loan.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

If you're going to watch those HGTV shows about selling a home, do so for things to ignore. The single biggest thing to look for is a shell in good condition, meaning, the roof, siding, framework, and foundation. The next thing is plumbing and electrical. By the time you get those checked off, everything else is cosmetic, and can be done relatively at leisure.

Also, know what you can do and what you can't when factoring in things that need to be done.

 

[D1gger]

Buy the cheapest house in the best neighbourhood.

If you buy a smaller or older house in a very good neighbourhood, it will tend to appreciate faster than a house of the same cost in a less desirable area.

 

[SeaMonki]

Get your own house inspector instead of the ones your agent recommend.

 

[NoCreativity]

Originally posted by: Genx87

How old is the roof?
Any water in the basement?
Cracked foundation?
Siding, how old, what type?

Things like HVAC age and driveway condition too.

The big mistake I made was buying a house that needed moderate indoor updating and lots of landscape updating and figuring I'd tackle most of it myself. 2.5 years into it and I'm maybe a little over half way done with the list.

edit: Listen to SeaMonki too. I had an agent recommended inspector and as I've been working on the house I've found things he should have pointed out that would have made me take a pass on the house. Nothing major, but annoyances that have cost me extra time and money to fix.

 

[V00DOO]

Originally posted by: SeaMonki
Get your own house inspector instead of the ones your agent recommend.

Yes, pay for your own inspection of the house.

 

[rivan]

A very detailed inspection is crucial.

If the home's mechanicals older than about 10-15 years, a home warranty could be a good bet too. Ours is ~$500/year and in it's second year it saved us $3k on a new AC. I expect our other AC zone to die in the next 2-3 years with a similar replacement cost, so we've renewed it for a third year at least.

 

[olds]

Get pre approved, not pre qualified.
If you find a house you like, have it inspected by a professional.
Buy a home warranty, it's only a couple hundred $.
Be sure to save some money for things like curtains/drapes/appliances, etc if they are not included.

 

[pstylesss]

Originally posted by: d33pt
Inspections! Get as many as you can afford, but at the very least, get a thorough general inspection. Then decide from there if there are other specialists you want to get. We ended up getting a drain pipe inspector too since the general inspector said most of the drains were slow. The few hundred you spend now can save you thousands later if there are unseen issues.

It's definitely a buyer's market, so don't be afraid to lowball. They just might take it.

QFT. I offered 10,000 below asking on a recently reduced home (they reduced by 30k), then I told them I wanted 5k in closing costs, then I came back and said I wanted 28k in work done (what can I say, I wanted a new deck ). They settled on just giving me 2500 in closing to fix a couple things. Definitely lowball them.

Also, be sure to interview brokers, get recommendations for brokers from people you trust. Interview your Realtor and get former client numbers and call them. A Realtor works for you, not himself. If my Realtor didn't work so hard for me I wouldn't have received the deal I did.

Buying down points isn't always the best thing to do, but it may work for you.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: SeaMonki
Get your own house inspector instead of the ones your agent recommend.

Yep... Ask your realtor for a recommendation of their favorite home inspectors, and then pick someone else! Trust me, if the realtor likes them, it's probably because they're not through and overlook things that jeopardize the sale and the realtor's commission.

 

[Baked]

Buy a ranch and build your own house in the middle.

 

[Squisher]

Start setting aside a large chunk of change to furnish the house.


My wife and I had been in a house for 20 years, then upgraded to the house we have now. It was then that the wife decided all of stuff that was perfectly fine at the old house was junk. She promptly went out and spent $15K on a living-room and bedroom furniture.

I'll say that I probably spent $100/wk. at Home Depot that first year. Get 10% off coupons off of ebay and always have them sitting around.

 

[pstylesss]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: SeaMonki
Get your own house inspector instead of the ones your agent recommend.

Yep... Ask your realtor for a recommendation of their favorite home inspectors, and then pick someone else! Trust me, if the realtor likes them, it's probably because they're not through and overlook things that jeopardize the sale and the realtor's commission.

That's why you need to find a realtor you can trust. I went with the inspector mine recommended and he was extremely thorough. The inspection took almost 3 and a half hours to complete and I was with him the entire time -- asking dumb questions. Of course, my Realtor is one of my best friends... so he isn't in it to screw me.

 

[amdskip]

Get a house with good bones, paint and floor coverings are minor details. I purchased my house before they made improvements to it to save money. I lived with just the subfloors for a while but it worked out well in the end. Also do 20% down, if you cannot do it rethink you house buying decision or get a smaller house.

 

[tenthumbs]

A lot of good suggestions here. One I haven't seen is probably most important. Be aware of your neighbors and neighborhood. You can control what you buy but a loud, messy neighbor can't be fixed. Don't be afraid to snoop around. You'll have to live with it.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: tenthumbs
A lot of good suggestions here. One I haven't seen is probably most important. Be aware of your neighbors and neighborhood. You can control what you buy but a loud, messy neighbor can't be fixed. Don't be afraid to snoop around. You'll have to live with it.

Good suggestion. Try visiting the home at night/after work to get an idea of the noise/traffic when there's people around.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Get a house with good bones, paint and floor coverings are minor details. I purchased my house before they made improvements to it to save money. I lived with just the subfloors for a while but it worked out well in the end. Also do 20% down, if you cannot do it rethink you house buying decision or get a smaller house.

We won't be putting 20% down. There is no way we have that much cash available, even with gifts from our parents. We're looking at putting down max 5%.