The time has come to buy a house! This is a very exciting but nerve racking time in most peoples lives. Many in OT have done it before and some have done it many times. Please share the tips, tricks, hints or advice you have for a first time home buyer.

Thanks!

New or existing?

Find a good mortgage lender!! Get referrals from friends and family. Just went through a 4-month ordeal because of a mortgage broker (I guess that's what they're called) who overpromised and underdelivered and was just a nasty person to deal with. Getting a mortgage nowadays is much more difficult than in years past. Be prepared to document everything. If you need to do any credit repair, do that first and then get pre-qualified for a loan amount so you'll know what price range to shop in.

do you like money? considering renting a house instead. that is my conclusion after owning two homes.

Make sure the plumbing, electrical, and roof are all good for a while. Save up, because they'll eventually need to be replaced and it can get expensive. I like my house, but I've spent a lot of time and money rebuilding fences, unclogging drains, replacing the garage door hardware (kept the door but replaced rollers and track), etc. etc. Almost had to buy a water main after the city broke the pipe into my house when they replaced the meter, but got them to fix it with a collar. Going to have to do that one eventually. The tax breaks are good, but I average more than $1500 a year in upkeep costs without even having to do anything major yet.

 

Originally Posted by ECUgirl

Find a good mortgage lender!! Get referrals from friends and family. Just went through a 4-month ordeal because of a mortgage broker (I guess that's what they're called) who overpromised and underdelivered and was just a nasty person to deal with. Getting a mortgage nowadays is much more difficult than in years past. Be prepared to document everything. If you need to do any credit repair, do that first and then get pre-qualified for a loan amount so you'll know what price range to shop in.

Im prequalified. Looking to spend about 250k in the cincy area. Our credit is spotless and I have the money I need for a down payment already. I was thinking something existing, I am ok with doing a few repairs myself< i am pretty handy at that kind of stuff.

Try to buy the cheapest house in the nicest neighborhood you can afford.

 

Originally Posted by truesyalose

live on the KY side!

would save me a ton on taxes but would be about an hour from my wifes work

doubt he was talking about kentucky. iykwim

ps glgl. ask friends and family for realtor recommendations imo

 

Originally Posted by Cmoney3

Im prequalified. Looking to spend about 250k in the cincy area. Our credit is spotless and I have the money I need for a down payment already. I was thinking something existing, I am ok with doing a few repairs myself< i am pretty handy at that kind of stuff.

That's awesome!! Congratulations :) That should make it much easier.

Just went through this a few months ago...didnt have to worry about a loan tho. Houses are cheap where I live. GL and just go with whatever your lady wants.

 

Originally Posted by G6Dragon

Look at a lot of places to get a feel for what you like, and what you can do without. Have an idea of what your plans for this property are, do you want a finished product? or a fixer upper you can put money into and make your own, how long do you plan on being here? Get a home inspection and go through the inspection with the inspector, you will learn a lot about home maintenance and it could save you serious cash. Don't be afraid to haggle or come in low on your initial offer, if you are looking at a lot of places you will have a pretty good sense for the market.

This.
Also, I would avoid Home Owmers Associations. Make the seller cover some repairs. When we bought our house, the couple was involved in a nasty divorce and pretty much had to sell to settle out. We had the seller cover: foundation drains and sump pump, mold abatement, crawlspace insulation replaced, two back doors replaced, subfloor and foundation band replaced at said backdoors. Been here about 9 years and the biggest repair was a water heater replacement a few years back ( did it myself so it wasn't terribly expensive). However, there is an endless list of odds and ends including reairing the refrigerator 4 times.

 

Originally Posted by Z-Fresh

What kind of mortgage you getting? I'm a first time buyer (soon!) and hear of so many different options. You know what the best are?

30 yr fixed, as long as you have 5% to put down its the best type. lock in the all-time low interest rate

 

Originally Posted by sean614

If you don't have enough money locked up now and are expecting to borrow "gifts" for a down payment, then do so 30 days (bank statement period) prior to applying for a mortgage. Make sure you keep all deposit slips that are not direct deposit from payroll and are able to explain them. Do not deposit large sums of cash. It will cause you a nightmare to have to source everyone of those deposits and a lot of the time you will not be able to use them as $$$ to put down on a house. It's just much simpler this way.

Make sure you are able to get everything into the mortgage comany in a timely manner. If they scan you over a package on a Tuesday Morning, try and sign the paperwork and have it back to them on Wed morning. these are all things that will help make this transaction painless.

god this reminds me what a nightmare the whole process was for me. I had 4 wire transfers from full tilt that showed up as foreign wire transfers for like 10k total and I needed the funds for down payment and couldn't prove where they came from and they wouldn't accept online poker as a legit source so I couldn't use those funds and had to do like you say with a "gift" that I paid back.

biggest pain in the ass ever I must have faxed 1 million things back and forth for 3 months straight to close that loan.

glgl op

 

Originally Posted by wowswift

oh, and always go look, pictures don't tell you much

This is sooooo true. I was amazed at how much better homes looked on the internet than in person. Realtors are good at taking the pictures at very flattering angles.

**I saw one house that looked amazing online, but it had a very odd/disjointed floor plan once I saw it. Each of the rooms looked nice in the pics, but it's hard to get a feel for the flow of a house unless you see it in person. I also echo what wow said about taking notes. My realtor had me rank them on a scale of 1-10 and take notes about anything I wanted to remember later. They do all start to run together after you've looked at dozens of them.