Buying my first house. Tips?

Make sure you know all the monthly cost upfront, I bought a home in the best school district you can find in Chicagoland, taxes, hoa, insurance, utilities added up to be around $1000 month + mortgage

 

Use Zillow.com. Lots of information about the home. Previously sold prices, neighborhood information, schools, etc. It will give you some guidance and it's free. From my experience, it's pretty accurate.

 

I agree. Most usually move on from their first home anyways so going with a 15 year loan is almost pointless unless the rate is that much better. Keep more of your money to contribute towards savings. If you know this is the last home you will ever buy than just start putting extra towards principle and decide later if switch the term makes sense. Using an amortization calculator can be used to help make this decision.

For first time buyers DO take the time to do your homework on what you can truly afford payment wise. Don't ever rely on what you are qualified for, it surprises me how many people do this. Qualifying for a home that's 350k doesn't really mean that's what you can afford.

 

The reason I went the 15yr route is that I paid almost half the cost of the house up front which gave me the option of going with lower payments if needed. I even threw in the idea of going only 10yrs but they advised me that even with a bigger down payment it would be better going 15yrs allowing myself a buffer zone. With my setup I have no penalty if paid off early (I made sure of that) and we put all the extra we had toward the house over those 2yrs. I hate being in debt.

 

I will add, pay your mortgage weekly and always pay more than the minimum.

 

15 Year isn't a bad idea, it's just not for everyone.

 

I would take all advice with a grain of salt including mine... I realize I am late to the party but am happy to help. I am CA Real Estate Broker and have been for 10 years. Also Retired Navy and 70% Disabled from the VA. Sense you are using your VA loan if you have filed for and received a disability rating from the VA at I believe 10% or greater your VA funding fee is waived for life no matter how many VA loans you do. I would shop Lenders as well as Realtors to see who the best fit for your needs and want are. Be sure the two are able to work together. Communication is key here! If you are having communication issues early once you get into escrow and time is of the essence it will only get worst. Zillow will get in the ball park but that is all it's good for. Their data is old and out dated and inaccurate. They used to publish their accuracy rates but I have not seen them for a long time. Used to be 10-30% off in many markets... That's a lot if you do the math. DO NOT SPEND ANY MONEY ON ANYTHING WITH OUT TALKING TO YOUR LENDER FIRST! of course you can pay your normal bills. Don't go buying new tires and wheels or on vacation or putting deposits on diamonds, no new cars, no new furniture, all these things can and will change your loan situation. While the big online lenders, USAA, NAVY FED, Veterans United, Etc offer great service over the phone and online I prefer and recommend you find a local lender you can sit across the table from. It will help you to understand them and help them to understand you better and in my market in SoCal most sellers will ask you to apply with a local lender they know and trust if you lender is not known locally.

 

o yeah i forgot...and it pretty much echo's Ventura a bit

But find a local lender who is actually going to help you and explain things. I was lucky that my realtor recommended a place and they were amazing and super helpful (and non pushy which was nice!) But having the local place to go was awesome. I probably spent three hours the first time there with the lady just going over all sorts of things. How points would effect things. Finding the right amount of points to use. Different interests rates. All sort of stuff.

As for 15 vs 30 year and paying extra each month....all that is just up to you.Just have to pick what is right for you. Paying extra is something to do research on as well. I did my first year but i dont anymore. I went with the investing route instead. By that i just mean instead of paying more i just invest each paycheck into two mutual funds. But i dont plan to live in my house till the mortgage is paid off either (i have a 5 year plan to buy land and build my own) so its also a way to just save up more money

 

Thanks for all the help everyone. There is so much I need to learn and you guys have been a big help. All of the advice is greatly appreciated.

 

No. No it doesn't.

 

Ok

 

What I meant by extra note was taxes, ins. etc. not just house note. Essentially I pay two extra notes a year. You would be surprised how far ahead you get when you bypass interest.

 

Buying the first home was easy...selling is a little more involved

 

Since this thread got revived I guess I will post an update. I have been through the process twice now and I'm still not in a house. The first deal fell through because the seller refused to make any of the necessary repairs and I'm currently less than a week from the set closing date on the second one and now there is a problem with the title not being clear. This is far more frustrating than I thought it would be. I already gave notice to move out of my apartment so as of Aug 17 I will be having to find another apartment to move into if this deal doesn't work. The seller said I can rent the house from him until he sorts things out but in very leery about doing that especially since interest rates are going up and I'm only locked in to my current rate for another month. I don't know what to do. Any advice would be appreciated. What do you guys think I should do? I don't want to lose the opportunity on this house but I may have to start all over again.

 

If you carry a mortgage, pay weekly.

 

I pay bi-weekly.

 

I'm on the other side...house is listed since October last year. First potential buyer tried to scam me into a rent-to-own and I would have waited 18 month on the money with them being able to get out whenever they please but I would have to front the realtor fee of 6%....2nd potential buyer presented a pre-approval letter, went through inspection...all good to go until the bank wouldn't give him the mortgage because of his residency status (not legal I guess) now he found a bank that's willing to do it and we hope it will all work out until mid August. Paying for a vacant house and paying rent kinda sucks, but it looks like there's an end in sight now.

 

I carried a house empty for a year because I wasn't willing to play the "remote landlord" game from Korea, and the local market wasn't moving. Ended up breaking even and happy for it.

 

Same here, it's up in Chicago and I've seen renters trash a place more than once so I didn't want to deal with that...I'll come out even and that's all I want at this point

 

Ask the seller for a consession, along with the realtor. A VA loan has a funding fee of 2.15%, so you can use the confession to offset your closing costs. You can also go with a slightly higher rate and receive a lender credit of 1-2%.