Anyone got advice for a first time home buyer?

Answer 1

First Time Home Buyer Boot Camp
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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) BIDDING WARS ARE OVER- PUT IN A LOW OFFER AND OFFER TO PAY 1/2 CLOSING COSTS, INSPECTIONS, WARRANTY. IT SAVES YOU ON PROPERTY TAXES EVERY YEAR YOU OWN THE HOME. DONT ASK FOR SELLER CREDITS AT CLOSING TAKE IT OFF THE SALES PRICE.
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. Dont assume they cover anything.
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.
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.
12) Im ready to trade in my mercedes and buy a truck, Good Bye Nordstroms- Hello Home Depot :(
13) WHAT SEEMS BAD, GETS BETTER. A HOME IS THE ONLY PURCHASE THAT YOU CAN USE WHILE IT INCREASES IN VALUE. EVERYONE NEEDS A ROOF OVER HTE HEAD, HOMES JUST COST A BIT MORE. BUY A GOOD HOUSE VS A JUNK HOUSE. IF YOU DONT LIKE IT MUCH, NEITHER WILL BUYERS WHEN YOU WANT TO SELL IT.

GOOD LUCK- DONT GIVE UP OR QUIT.

Answer 2

Hello,

Congratulations on deciding on a long-term decision.

By deciding to buy your home, you will do the following:

1. Stop paying someone else's mortgage.
2. Build your own equity.
3. Since you have a good income, you will book the tax benefits.
4. Fix your monthly payment on living in a home for your lifetime (based on your mortgage).

The Process:
1. Check your credit by yourself. Try to work on any cleanup that you might need to do (like some irregularities in payments or any other incorrect reporting regarding your credit history. A good Mortgage agent should be a great help and be able to do everything for you. But some mortgage agents might use this for a rip-off.
2. See if you can identify your objectives, needs and wants. Like, if you want to live close to downtown, a new home, a nice neighborhood, commute, lifestyle etc.
3. Find a good Realtor who will help you understand your objectives, needs and wants and put them in perspective so that he will help you identify the home you will want to live in.
4. A good Realtor should be able to take care of the entire process. You have to zone into your dream home out of the Millions of properties available out there. You will also have to identify your constraints in terms of finances, having a Realtor will give you all these ideas.
5. It is very important that you pin your requirements, it will make the process of selection very easy.
6. The process itself.
a. Find a Realtor.
b. Find a Mortgage Agent.
c. Find a house.
d. Once selected, make an offer.
e. If the offer is accepted
Order inspections, title reports, HOA docs if it is a PUD / Townhome.
Finalize Mortgage.
Remove Contingencies based on investigations.
Get ready for sign-off.
Sign-off
Do a walkthrough inspection
Fund your mortgage
Get your Keys

You may want to browse on the internet for some more preliminary understanding.

Disclosure: I am a Licensed Realtor with Century 21 in Sunnyvale, CA.

Answer 3

DO all the little things you can to improve your credit. Get yourself preapproved so you know exactly what youll need to put down, how much you can spend and what you can afford monthly. Figure out what area you want to live in and find neighborhoods where houses have been appreciating lately. Definately get a home inspector to inspect any houses you are thinking about buying. Also, keep in mind for budgeting improvements and new furniture. When you get that far, make sure your house is less then what its worth. A good way to find this out is the website, zillow.com. If you put in an address it gives you a Comparative market analysis and gives you a pretty good idea what houses are worth. Also, when you do buy a house, try to pay 1 extra mortgage payment a year towards the principle. It can take 7 years off of a 30 year mortgage.

Answer 4

Find the right buyers agent. As a realtor myself there are alot of choices out there but you really can get one that wont cost you anything as our commission is paid by the sellers. They will be able to help you through the entire process from finding the right home, helping you figure out what you would like to spend , getting approved, making the offer and then making sure that everything goes smoothly for the close on the home you choose. Just make sure you interview a few and dont be afraid to fire them if they arent answering your questions, returning your calls...Good Luck and enjoy the process.. it can be really fun

Michelle

Answer 5

Check your credit reports and be proactive with them, you can get them at http://www.annualcreditreport.com

Talk with a mortgage planner on your situation, needs, and goals, and find out what you can afford. Make sure you have your personal paperwork in order (taxes, bank statements, etc) so that you can submit them in a timely manner to your lender.

Get pre-approved.

Visit open houses every weekend, educate your self on your local market offerings so that when you do go to put an offer in on something you like you will be able to make an appropriate offer.

Answer 6

A lot of good stuff to learn before you learn it the hard way here:

http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/real_estate/

A nuts and bolts approach that gives you strategies to make your outcome better, and explains why and how it all works.

Answer 7

http://www.lendermark.com/first_time_home_buyer.htm