What was your first time like? (Buying a house.)

[Thegonagle]

I'm scared, but excited at the same time.

Wish me luck!

Here's the listing: http://www.edinarealty.com/Consumer/Lis...ctTypeID=&FirstLetter=&Sort=1&Cookies=

 

[Aimster]

Great feeling.

Saving up for another.

But.. I need 3x more down. Not easy buying another house.

 

[spherrod]

It is a great feeling - very nice when you get the keys! moving on the next time becomes more complicated

 

[apinomus]

Seems way expensive compared to what it would be going for here! Friend bought an equivilant-sized house just this week (idiot...) for $64,000. I don't know how they're working it out financially, but they're going to end up paying $150,000 with interest on a 30-year term. Seems crazy, like he's over-paying or something.

 

[radioouman]

It was more of a relief than anything. Buying a house was one of the most stressful situations that I've ever been in.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: apinomus
Seems way expensive compared to what it would be going for here! Friend bought an equivilant-sized house just this week (idiot...) for $64,000. I don't know how they're working it out financially, but they're going to end up paying $150,000 with interest on a 30-year term. Seems crazy, like he's over-paying or something.

Well, this one is 5 blocks outside of the city of Minneapolis, one of the recent real estate "bubble" areas (thankfully slowing down a bit, not bursting though) and this is by far the best deal I've seen for this money as far as the location and the condition of the house goes. I'm moving fast on this one, faster than I'm actually comfortable with, because if I don't put my offer in, someone is going to. This one was just reduced by $13,600 after 60 days because the owners need to sell now because they already moved to their new place.

 

[franksta]

Signing the papers was the easy part. I hated orchestrating all the other stuff, inspection, assessment, and getting the utilities turned on.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: franksta
Signing the papers was the easy part. I hated orchestrating all the other stuff, inspection, assessment, and getting the utilities turned on.

Yeah, I'm going to be busy if they accept my offer (contingent on satisfactory inspection, naturally).

 

[imported_JoePa]

Be super careful when you do your walkthroughs. I just bought my first house this year and had a huge headache on the day of the closing. We never saw a structural problem in the house because the woman living there had all her stuff blocking the cracks in the wall. The inspector never saw it either because they don?t move stuff. The final walkthrough was the first time we were there when the house was empty and boom the cracks in the wall jumped out right away. They family refused to give us any money back on it. My lawyer even asked to setup an escrow to hold money until the repairs were made. They declined. But we had no choice. Since the family insisted on closing on the last day of the month, we had to be out of our apartments that day. Power was shut off, everything.

First thing I did when we unlocked the door to the house was take a claw hammer to the wall. It turned out that the damage was because of a very poor repair job and it wasn?t structural at all. Total cost to fix was $100 for a sheet of sheet rock and plaster. The kicker was that the estate was splitting the money from the house 10 ways. So it would have cost them a whopping $10 each. But instead they decided to make our closing 4 hours long and very frustrating.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Thegonagle
Well, this one is 5 blocks outside of the city of Minneapolis, one of the recent real estate "bubble" areas (thankfully slowing down a bit, not bursting though) and this is by far the best deal I've seen for this money as far as the location and the condition of the house goes. I'm moving fast on this one, faster than I'm actually comfortable with, because if I don't put my offer in, someone is going to. This one was just reduced by $13,600 after 60 days because the owners need to sell now because they already moved to their new place.

Wow, I'd no idea there was a bubble going on there...
Seems wild to have 3 bedrooms packed into 834 square feet.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Thegonagle
Well, this one is 5 blocks outside of the city of Minneapolis, one of the recent real estate "bubble" areas (thankfully slowing down a bit, not bursting though) and this is by far the best deal I've seen for this money as far as the location and the condition of the house goes. I'm moving fast on this one, faster than I'm actually comfortable with, because if I don't put my offer in, someone is going to. This one was just reduced by $13,600 after 60 days because the owners need to sell now because they already moved to their new place.

Wow, I'd no idea there was a bubble going on there...
Seems wild to have 3 bedrooms packed into 834 square feet.

I know, but it's laid out well. Just no dining room and a relatively small living room. But it's going to beat the hell out of my 450 sq ft apartment, especially considering the unfinished basement, garage, and back porch.

EDIT: Gotta go now.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Thegonagle
Well, this one is 5 blocks outside of the city of Minneapolis, one of the recent real estate "bubble" areas (thankfully slowing down a bit, not bursting though) and this is by far the best deal I've seen for this money as far as the location and the condition of the house goes. I'm moving fast on this one, faster than I'm actually comfortable with, because if I don't put my offer in, someone is going to. This one was just reduced by $13,600 after 60 days because the owners need to sell now because they already moved to their new place.

Wow, I'd no idea there was a bubble going on there...
Seems wild to have 3 bedrooms packed into 834 square feet.

my 1 bedroom apartment is 800 square feet!

Anyway congrats on getting your first house! I'm looking to do the same once I get the $$ saved up.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: apinomus
Seems way expensive compared to what it would be going for here! Friend bought an equivilant-sized house just this week (idiot...) for $64,000. I don't know how they're working it out financially, but they're going to end up paying $150,000 with interest on a 30-year term. Seems crazy, like he's over-paying or something.

Ok, lets do the math.

Assumptions that I make:
[*]Cheap apartments in Kansas run $300/month.
[*]Apartments go up in price 3% each year.
[*]Housing values go up in price 3% each year.
[*]Taxes, insurance, and misc house costs are $2000/year.
[*]Interest rate on 30 year fixed loan was 6.5%.

You can change these assumptions if you wish and I'll edit my post.

House cost:
[*]Interest and principal on the house is $404.52/month.
[*]($404.52/month) * (360 months) = $145,628 paid over life of loan.
[*]Taxes, insurance, etc paid over life of loan = ($2000/year) * (30 years) = $60,000.
[*]Total paid: $145,628 + $60,000 = $205,628.

Apartment cost:
[*]Year one: $300*12 = $3600.
[*]Year two: $309*12 = $3708.
...
[*]Year 30: $728.18*12 = $8738.
[*]Total paid: $180,009.

So, after 30 years, owning the house costs a bit more. $205,628 - $180,009 = $25,618 more to be exact.

But wait! Your "idiot" friend has a house that is now worth $155,344 that he can sell. Thus, in fact, your "idiot" friend paid $25,618 for something that is worth $155,344. He can sell it and make a profit of $129,726 compared to someone in a cheap apartment for that same 30 years!

Now do you call him an idiot?

 

[Ramma2]

Congrats!

 

[purbeast0]

awesome man!

hell if I could find a house that size around here (MD area close to DC/VA) I would pick it up in a heartbeat. However, that doesn't exist around here.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Great feeling. Just keep in mind that when you get 20% of it paid off, your rates will decrease because you won't have to pay hazard insurance anymore. If you can get that much paid down and your in a good location, you might want to consider keeping the house and renting it out.

They say there are only a few milestones in a man's life....

1. Graudating from High School
2. Turning 21
3. Graudating from College
4. Buying your first house
5. Getting Married
6. Having kids

 

[Utterman]

I'm 20 and I will be closing on a house this Monday. I can't wait!

Some details
-Got onto a loan program through FHA.
-Receiving a $3500 grant to go towards the principal of the house.
-Purchasing the house for $122k
-House was appraised for $138k
3...
4. Profit!

Also, my interest rate is 4.99% w00t!

 

[purbeast0]

You all must live in the middle of no where to get houses so cheap! DAMN YOU ALL!!

 

[Fritzo]

Thanks for the link. I scheduled a showing


Think I'll offer $154,000.


Anyway, congrats! You're feeling the right way- scared to death and excited. It's a big leap, but the payoffs are well worth it.

 

[Cheetah8799]

St. Paul / Minneapolis is pretty tough right now. Congrats to the OP on a $150k house. The area I'm looking at is all $200+ for anything that isn't rundown looking.

 

[shimsham]

buying a house was easy for me. i didnt really care about layout and all that crap. as long as the yard was fenced and i had an extra room to make a game room, i was happy. with those criteria, i let wifey shop away. our realtor was great. scheduled all the appts. for inspections, etc. i just did a walk through on the homes my wife was interested in, and showed up to sign the papers.

no fear. no nerves. i was just happy that i dont have to move again for a loooong time after 5 yrs of apt. living.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

It's certainly a learning experience, that's for sure. We started looking for a house before we got married. They had some really nice town houses near us for about $200,000. Two car garage, 2800 sq. feet. The long we looked the higher the prices went.

Once we started thinking about spending 200K we decided maybe a house would be a better idea. We couldn't find anything we liked on the resale market. Unless the house was $400,000.

We found some new houses where we wanted to live but ended up paying a lot more than we ever considered but now it's not a big deal at all. Our house has doubled in price in 5 years.

The actual buying process took a long time. Plus, they had to build the house. Signing all the papers and making that down payment was the worst part.

 

[thedarkwolf]

My house is just a tad larger and its pleny roomy for me but I doubt I would be as comfortable by myself. Doubt I would want another person in here with me though. The small size comes in handy when you have to pay the heating bills. BTW $42k here and thats with a 1 1/2 car garage and an 80x120 lot .

The only problems I had were with the bank I was getting my loan through. They kept losing crap and making me jump through hoops. Ended up taking me an extra month to close.

 

[SearchMaster]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: apinomus
Seems way expensive compared to what it would be going for here! Friend bought an equivilant-sized house just this week (idiot...) for $64,000. I don't know how they're working it out financially, but they're going to end up paying $150,000 with interest on a 30-year term. Seems crazy, like he's over-paying or something.

Ok, lets do the math.

Assumptions that I make:
[*]Cheap apartments in Kansas run $300/month.
[*]Apartments go up in price 3% each year.
[*]Housing values go up in price 3% each year.
[*]Taxes, insurance, and misc house costs are $2000/year.
[*]Interest rate on 30 year fixed loan was 6.5%.

You can change these assumptions if you wish and I'll edit my post.

House cost:
[*]Interest and principal on the house is $404.52/month.
[*]($404.52/month) * (360 months) = $145,628 paid over life of loan.
[*]Taxes, insurance, etc paid over life of loan = ($2000/year) * (30 years) = $60,000.
[*]Total paid: $145,628 + $60,000 = $205,628.

Apartment cost:
[*]Year one: $300*12 = $3600.
[*]Year two: $309*12 = $3708.
...
[*]Year 30: $728.18*12 = $8738.
[*]Total paid: $180,009.

So, after 30 years, owning the house costs a bit more. $205,628 - $180,009 = $25,618 more to be exact.

But wait! Your "idiot" friend has a house that is now worth $155,344 that he can sell. Thus, in fact, your "idiot" friend paid $25,618 for something that is worth $155,344. He can sell it and make a profit of $129,726 compared to someone in a cheap apartment for that same 30 years!

Now do you call him an idiot?

Well, you're simplifying things a bit. Cost of maintenance/property taxes/etc. is built into the apartment rent, but paid in addition to the mortgage for the homeowner. In addition, there are expenses with buying and selling a home that are incurred if you don't plan on living in the house for the full 30 years. I'm a homeowner and it's been fantastic for me, but there are situations where renting is a superior option.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: SearchMaster
Well, you're simplifying things a bit.

Yes, I did. Housing/apartments won't go up at a constant rate over 30 years. Taxes won't stay the exact same. The friend may prepay a few bucks in principal and save thousands of dollars. I ignored any possible tax deductions. Etc. I had to simplify to keep the post reasonable.

Heck, the 3% growth in costs is probably grossly underestimating the true cost of the apartment and grossly underestimates the value of the house. If I used 5% for both, the apartment would cost a total of $254,738 and the final house value would be $276,604 making the net gain of $325,714 for the home owner. Numbers I used were very conservative.

Cost of maintenance/property taxes/etc. is built into the apartment rent, but paid in addition to the mortgage for the homeowner.

I don't understand your comment. I didn't add taxes/maintenance to the apartment bill. I only added it to the house bill.

In addition, there are expenses with buying and selling a home that are incurred if you don't plan on living in the house for the full 30 years.

Yes, if you constantly move, houses are not a good deal. But since you may move doesn't mean that buying a house is bad.

I'm a homeowner and it's been fantastic for me, but there are situations where renting is a superior option.

Yes, that is true. But so many people on ATOT bash houses while ignore the fact that the house could still be $400/month in 30 years while the crappiest apartment will be $728/month in 30 years. I just like to point out this flip side. You pay more up front to save big in the long run. If you never live in one place for long run, you'll likely be better off renting.