What advice do you have for peope looking to buy a house?

**ironmaiden** · 06-21-2006, 03:22 PM

What advice do you have for peope looking to buy a house?

Buy a house big enough but not too big. Unless you know of things in your life that will change where you want to live (i.e. you know that you move alot), plan on buying a house that you can live in for 20 years instead of buying a starter house and planning to move in 5 or 7 years. When you sell and later buy, you are spending thousands on the real estate agent, closing costs, lawyers, fixing up the old place to sell and the new place to suit your needs, possibly new furniture to fit the new place. And with interest rates rising, a loan costs more.

Remember with a fixed price loan, your loan payments don't change, but hopefully your salary will go up over the years.

Remember taxes. Different towns have totally different tax rates. Make sure you know the ones for the areas you are looking at.

Remember taxes do go up over the years, as does homeowners insurance.

**baronmom** · 06-21-2006, 03:50 PM

Get a home warranty. Go to American Home Shield online and check into one. We have used ours every year since we have lived in the house. You can renew them every year. So far we have lived in our house 8 years, and twice a year every year someone has to come out to look at the heat pump/AC, Our well pump went bad, our hot water tank went bad, we went through two garbage disposals, We had an electrical surge, and each time we only had to pay $50 for the service call instead of hundreds of dollars in replacement costs. The well pump alone would have been about $3000. so, we get our money out of our warranty for sure.

**banana** · 06-21-2006, 04:23 PM

Drive around the neighborhood at all times day and night. This will give you a good idea as to what the neighborhood is like. Dont purchase something with a loan that is too big for you to comfortably afford. I know the mortgage companies always tell you that you qualify for x amount but you have to live also. You dont want to be "house poor". Make sure you hire a home inspector even if the house is relatively new. Check out the school district and the actual schools that your children will be attending. I know in my neighborhood the cut off line is on my block. I wish my son attended the other school, seems like it is much better and all of his neighborhood friends go there. I also would get a fixed rate loan. If I can only afford the house with an arm then I feel I really cant afford the house. I had a lot of neighbors loose their house to foreclosure when they originally took out an arm, the interest rate kept on going up and the housing prices fell. They just walked away from the home.

**YankeeMom** · 06-21-2006, 06:12 PM

Bite the bullet and pay for a home inspector

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 06-21-2006, 06:26 PM

When you start to look have your realtor check on repos and foreclosures. Sometimes they need alittle work but you can pick up a good deal. Our home was a repo and just needed a serious top to bottom cleaning. Most poeple coludn't see past the trash and tall grass, but we could and got a great place. The bank was happy to deal after carrying it for 9 monthes! We spent one week after closing living at my folks while we cleaned, and painted was well worth the looking.

Laurie in Bradenton

**peanut** · 06-21-2006, 08:05 PM

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Buy the worst house on the best block you can afford. Make sure to account for taxes when you fix it up! Fix it up.

Pay 25% down so you can avoid mortgage insurance (this applies to Canada). If you still want mortgage insurance, go to a private insurance company, not the bank. The rates are 1/3 to 1/2 the bank prices.

Make sure housing is less than 35% of net pay. We paid 60% and just about killed ourselves financially, and our marriage!

Jean

**Lmullin** · 06-21-2006, 09:08 PM

Buy a house you plan to stay in for a very long time. Houses are not meant to be bought "lightly"

**nodmicks** · 06-21-2006, 09:25 PM

Originally Posted by YankeeMom

Bite the bullet and pay for a home inspector

I agree 100% We learned this in a very very hard way! Fake heat vents, a new roof that leaked, new plumbing that wasn't sodered or glued just joined and the list goes on and on.

Buy a house with a payment you can afford because being a homeowner has it's own set of suprise expenses.

**Valerie in WA** · 06-21-2006, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by peanut

Buy the worst house on the best block you can afford.

AND...
go small. Seriously. We are four people in a 2-bed, 866 sq foot house. It's enough. Had the second baby been a boy...well, we would've been in trouble, but so many modern houses have 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a living room AND a family room, plus an office or den. IMHO, most modern families don't need that much space. Then you gotta clean it, heat it, etc.

**MOMMYDEAREST** · 06-21-2006, 09:54 PM

you will never find the perfect house.........unless you have it built.........make sure you can afford the house payments........& make sure it has enough room for your family (we are outgrowing our home after only living here for 6 years).

**waterlover** · 06-22-2006, 08:53 AM

If you will be commuting to your job from your new home, do a practice run before buying. Leave from where the house is, on a work day, at the regular time you would be leaving for work and see how long the commute takes.

Here in the San Francisco bay area, people are buying affordable houses in towns, that on the weekend takes 1 hour to drive to their work location but then when they actually do the drive, Monday morning, it'll take 1.5 hours to drive to work and 2+ hours to drive home.

Make a standard checklist that you mark off when looking at each home. Example: Stove is gas or electric. Wood floors or vinyl floors in kitchen. After you have looked at 20 homes you'll forget the small detail items. With a checklist you can compare the houses when narrowing down which ones you like better, with the checklist you'll have the info in front of you.

**MandiDawn** · 06-22-2006, 09:09 AM

I say to yes, buy a starter home if you are handy. Our payment will always be the same (low) while others who bought their forever house will always have a high payment. We plan to buy our next house for the exact amount or less than we sell this house for. Plus - we sell and buy ourselves (no realtor fees) my dad is the inspector and we do all the work ourselves.
Plus - I just love to move!!!!

**ironmaiden** · 06-22-2006, 09:12 AM

Another comment on buying a house for just 5 to 7 years - which is the average amount of time homeowners actually have their houses before moving in the USA.

You buy a house with a 30 year mortgage, hold onto it for 7 years, sell and buy a new house with a 30 year mortgage. In reality, you'd be paying for 37 years total for home ownership. Remember taking out a loan on a second house unless you are shortening the term you are restarting a loan.

And remember that when you pay a mortgage for the first years you are paying mostly interest and at the end of the loan you are paying mostly principle. Like how those banks work it...

**Darlene** · 06-22-2006, 09:16 AM

I agree with buying less house than what the realtor says you qualify for. Taxes & assessments go up and surprise & scheduled repairs will usually cost more than you think.
Agree too with Valerie(yours is to small for me though ,lol) that many people live in houses that are way too big & spend time & money they don't have filling & keeping them up. We live in a small 3 bedroom one bath house. Simplify!

**celina** · 06-22-2006, 11:47 AM

just cause the bank says you can afford that much house....really work your budget with a savings and maintenance amnt....

this is coming from a bankrupt person.....we are on better footing now and in our new home....that we can afford and love......this is a big deal....some banks say you can have 300k mortg..but when the rates go up....you are the one to make that payment..and the rates will go up in the next 30 yrs