What is the best way to go about buying our first house for a young couple w/not alot to put down?

Question

Just married w/a little girl. We want to settle in a home of our own and maybe expand our family. We need more room to grow for the future. We both work extremely hard but still struggle on how we can own a decent home w/ out spending an arm and a leg. We are afraid of being jacked around and make a huge mistake. We are old fashioned and weren't born into money. We need advice.

Answer 1

Mexico! You can get a nice house there for pennies on the dollar.

Answer 2

Step 1 -- Find a mortgage broker who will sit down with you and help you understand what you can afford. Then, get pre-qualified for that amount. Do not proceed to Step 2 until you have done this.

Step 2 -- Drive around looking for areas you would like to live. Look for nice neighborhoods near schools, stores, etc. Look for areas that have a good mix of small, medium and larger homes within a 3 mile radius.

Step 3 -- Find a Realtor that you can work with. Tell them how much you've pre-qualified for and what areas of town you like. They will match what they can tell about your location preference with your budget and start hunting for some homes.

Step 4 -- Look, look, look, look. Don't buy the first thing you see. Don't even buy the "perfect" house when you see it...at least not immediately. Take your time. You should probably count on seeing 10 houses and making, maybe, 2 offers.

Step 5 -- Make the offer contingent on inspection. Then get every kind of inspection you can: structural, termite, fireplace, roofing, etc. If you see anything you don't like or the inspector advises you could be an expensive repair, either walk away or add a clause to the contract asking for repair credit.

Step 6 -- DO NOT buy a house that is more than you can afford. The real estate market is pretty much at the top right now. Most real estate is declining a bit in price. That isn't bad if you are going to live in your house for a good long while...don't worry about timing. However, that also means you will likely not have buyers for your house banging your door down, so you'd better be sure you can afford to live there for a good long while.

Good luck! Home ownership is the first step to building wealth. It will be a stretch and might even be financially painful, but it is a step well worth taking.

Answer 3

The great thing about buying home these days is all the options available to home owners in purchasing. When dealing with mortgage brokers they have several different types of loans that can help a young couple to get into a home without any money and at a very reasonable price. I buy houses all the time with no money down. It is possible and can be very effective. There are also many different loan possibilities. The first one is an interest only loan. This is were you only pay interest on your home loan and it is simple interest not compounding interest so it can be very reasonable. Be aware that you will need to refinance in about five years. Which is usually not a problem because the average American refinances their house every 3.2 years. After five years you may be in a better financial situation so you can sell the home or just refinance it and turn it into a 30 year fixed. I would not go into a variable rate mortgage rigth now because who knows what the Feds will do with interest rates. My advice is to find a good realtor (follow your gut feeling not all realtors are crooks) which can be hard because when it comes to real estate people, especially realtors and brokers just want their commision and don't care about the person. My advice is just follow your gut feeling when working with a realtor and mortgage broker. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Answer 4

I'm in the same boat minus the kid. I bought my first house at 22. I put no money down because I didn't have any. But I am in the military and used the VA benefits to secure the loan. I got an awesome deal. No matter what your situation is, you can get buy a house (that's not always a good thing). Mortgage brokers while lie, cheat, and steal to get you in a home even if it ends in foreclosure. I'm sure you probably want to stay in the area you are currently living in now, so moving to a cheaper location is probably out of the question. My first suggestion is to improve your credit. I don't know your credit score but I know ways to make it better than it is right now. If you know someone that has a credit card that has been open for a while and is always on time with payments, ask that person to add you to become an authorized user on their account. This will reflect on your credit score as having that account since the time the actual card holder opened the account. Instant good credit. Now that you have you credit score on the up and up. Find the location you want to move to. Find the house and make the offer. Your finances will allow you to purchase the house. There are many types of loans for first time buyers. Ask the showing Realtor for recommendations. Good luck

Answer 5

Check into your area to see if you have available to you a program called "1st time homebuyer". You can usually get a house w/o much of a downpayment. If I were in your shoes, I'd go w/something not too expensive, like a starter home. Build up some equity and resell it for something you really want later on when you can afford it. Also, if you go w/a realtor, shop around, do interviews if you need, make sure they're working for you, that they understand exactly what you want and what you can afford. Ask alot of questions, don't be shy and if something doesn't feel right, go w/your gut on it, don't be afraid to say no...if it's the right house for you, everything should fall into place. If you're nervous from the get-go, let it go.

Answer 6

As previous posters had mentioned you should consult a knowledgeable mortgage professional to see what you qualify for. After you get that out of the way you should work with a good buyers agent that will find you a good deal ask for a comps in the area so you don't overpay for your property. Also, you should ask for a seller's concession to pay for closing in exchange for a higher asking asking price. The closing costs will eat your downpayment up (it is around 6% of the loan). Also, you should make a decision in how long you plan on living in the house for. If you are planning to live there for a long time you should take out a 30 yr fixed; if you plan on staying for 5 yrs you should get an interest only for 5-10 yrs.

Answer 7

Before wasting your time with a Realtor, check with a mortgage broker. They have access to numerous programs and can get 100% down in most cases. Once you see what you can qualify for AND what you can afford (or want to pay), you then come up with a number of how much you can spend on a home. Then you find the Realtor and begin the searching process. I think this is best because you know what your payments will be and you know when to say when on putting in offers.

Answer 8

Educate yourself about the process of buying a home, learn as much as you can on your own.

Then ask for referrals from friends, family or other trusted sources for a good Realtor, Real Estate Attorney and Mortgage Loan Officer.

Word-of-mouth is still the best form of advertisement for these type of professional services.


PS -- Shop with common sense and practicality and not your ego.

Answer 9

What seems from reading your question is that you are looking for a good deal for buying a home .Ofcourse persons like you and me can't dream of buying a house twice in this life ,so you need to do a bit of research while stepping out.
First of all you need to check the decent house which is affordable and within your limits .Then you look for a good mortgage officer .
I do mortgages to the higher fives and lower sixes and credit issue doesn't matter that much until and unless it is very much horrible .For getting more details write to me at [e-mail]
regards,
kish

Answer 10

I didn't have the born into money thing either. Sucks to be us, huh? There are some really good programs for first time buyers. Fanny Mae is one. You can sometimes get into a rent-to-own situation also. What you need is an experienced person, be it relative, friend or broker, someone you can trust to go through all the options for you. Don't believe what someone tells you they can do for you if you don't have proof to trust them. You can sometimes get into a government program that helps you get into a house that needs some repairs and if you do the repairs, that qualifies as a down payment. Good luck.

Answer 11

If you are willing to sacrifice a bit of space, you can do as I did and many other people do,,,rent out your basement as a one bedroom apartment. I did this about 20 years ago because I could not have afforded a home any other way. Now that I own my home outright I still rent the basement for extra cash. Good luck.