What things do I look out for in a home, being a first time home buyer?

Question

What do I need to inspect, check into, or generally do to make sure my purchase is good?

Answer 1

First Time Home Buyer Boot Camp
------------------------------------------------
1) Do a day, night, weekend, and weekday visit to the property. You need a feel for the location and area during different times. You will also get a chance to see some of you prospective neighbors. Make your realtor take you or go back on your own.
2) If your buying it, you can include certain repairs or upgrades to be made at the sellers expense. Dont be shy, if you want it done someone is eventually going to pay for it. Might as well try and get the seller to pay it.
3) Along with a offer to purchase, send along any items that sets you aside from other buyers. It is common to accept a low offer if the buyer is well prepared to purchase. A Loan Comitment is better then a Loan Pre Approval, large down payment, excellent credit and a LARGE deposit of funds into escrow will improve your chance of getting an offer accepted.
4) Get some anti depressents when you begin the loan process. Loans are noithing short of hell, you will go to hell and back even with a large downpayment and excellent credit. Its nothing you can avoid, lenders have some real idiots and slackers on thier payroll. If the underwriter is having a bad day, she is going to make it a bad day for you and everyone else involved in your loan
5) Be prepared to send the item you sent 10x last week, 10 more times. At the end of your loan, they will probably ask you to send it once more.
6) The rate and fees will be much higher then anyone says it will be. Things like making you a copy of your loan docs can cost you $100.
7) Inspect everything right before closing, run the trash compactor, dishwasher, washer, dryer & get a pro to check the water heater. Home Warranties are junk. I was quoted $750 in addition to the $40 service call to replace a water heater covered under warranty. I ended up calling a plumber who replaced it for $650 on my own.
8) ask for keys to check any garage or storage spots. My garage door opener didnt work because they showed me the wrong garage. My actual gagrage requires going out 2 gates up and down stairs, across a pool deck or into a dark alley. Verify it is where they say it is.
9) If you buy a condo, demand the budget and minutes for meetings ahead of time. I just got a $6000 assessment to fix 4 roof leaks and another roofing company now tells me our entire association could be roofed with tile for $6000 per unit. Oh yeah the $6000 does not cover the roofs we need since the building is 25 years old.
10) Moving expenses, utility hook ups, cable change, phone jacks, cable outlets ( my cable jacks had no wire to them, installing that was over $1000 for 5 spots because my house is 3 stories) fast food, boxes, packing, and feeding my free help used up over $6000 of my money I planned to fix up my new house with.
11) My lender collects my taxes, when taxes came due they paid just what the old owner paid. I got 2 bills for $2000, I must pay and next year my lender will refund any overage they have right now. I gave them the tax money but they are not taking care of the taxes properly.
12) Im ready to trade in my mercedes and buy a truck, Good Bye Nordstroms- Hello Home Depot :(

Answer 2

I guess what you are asking is can you look in persons private stuff when you are looking at their home as prospective buyer? Thats a interesting question. 99% of home sellers would not care if someone just a took a peak. You are not going to chew someone out who is a potential buyer for something like that. Now if you they found you rifeling through their stuff thats a different story. They may think you are trying to steal from them and want to do something about it. But as the person above said, most realtors do not let you out their site for more then 30 seconds or so. And if they saw you doing that they would probably stop you. Because if something was stolen, they may take the heat. As long you keep to a small peak you will not a have trouble at all.

Answer 3

Go to these websites - Lots of information to read - There is a First Time Home Buyer Guide there also. or go to www.hud.gov

http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/...

http://www.fha-home-loans.com/

http://www.freddiemac.com/

Also:


Decide on how much you want to spend, if you want to escrow the taxes and insurance. Say the taxes are 1200 a YR and insurance 800 a year (just an estimate, ok) That is 2,000 a year divided by 12 = 166.66 If you paid 1,000 a month now - (166.66) your P/I Principle and Interest would be 833.34. Now you decided on the price range you are looking into. If you have great credit, a 1 loan at 130,000 at a rate of 7 percent over a 30 year time would be 864.89 - This is just a estimate - ok -

It greatly depends if you need help with closing cost, (The seller could do Seller Help toward your closing cost). If that is the case, I normally tell my clients NOT to hackle over the price, since you are asking for closing cost help - especially if the home is thru a realitor, and the seller has to pay the realitor their fee which runs from 3-6 percent of the selling price, and you ask for 3-5 percent toward closing cost -assistance) Follow me so far??

Talk with a broker, a broker underwrites for many company's (I underwrite for 150 companies) so I only have to pull credit 1 time, and they look at my credit. A single lender (not a broker) has programs available, but they may not be able to help you and your situation, so you go elsewhere, and than that person pulls your credit (see what I mean.) If you shop, your credit is pulled and that is considered a soft pull, for a 30 day period. Just like shopping for a auto, it is good for 30 days. If you apply for a credit card, that is considered a "hard" pull and it drags down your credit score. When looking for a home, please do not apply for a credit card, Department Charge Card, Gasoline Card or make any major purchases, like a auto, etc. This will pull your credit down.


Try to find someone (broker) that will pull your credit one time, and submit your loan application to company's that will go off his credit report. By the way, a loan application is called a 1003, and they will issue you a GFE (Good Faith estimate, with-in 3 days, that is per the RESPA laws, and the TIL (Truth in Lending). This will tell you the up-front closing cost (etc) associated with your loan. This is a estimate only - not the final - but it does help you figure things out.


Good Luck, and if I can help in any way check out my web site, for links to all the credit reporting agency's and other useful information. I have many programs available, and lenders to choose from - to help you get the best rate available. From USDA Rural, Government loans, Conforming, Sup-Prime, Investment, Commercial just to name a few.

Answer 4

Before you close on ANY home, have it inspected. It will cost you about $300-$400, but it will be worth it.

Also, try to get the seller to pay for it.

Answer 5

walls, floors, doors, windows, studs (wooden ones), neighborhood, flood plains, etc etc etc.