Looking to Buy Our First Place
Jul 21st, 2008 by Nut
M and I are starting to look for our first place and up until today it’s only been us going online or walking around our neighborhood looking for open houses. But today it gets serious as we’re meeting with a real-estate person who is going to be helping us through the process. He’s experienced and my friend raved about him, so we think it’s going to be a big help. Understandable, though, we’re nervous.
I feel as though I’m prepared…sort of. I’ve read up on what the process is going to be like, what the different steps are going to be, how to prepare for them, etc. But still, this being our first time buying a place we’re both feeling a bit uneasy. What if we pick the “wrong” house? What if we can’t afford what we want? What if…? There are just too many what ifs out there and this meeting today is going to hopefully clarify a lot of these questions.
Any tips? Questions we should keep in mind as we meet with this guy?
Open an ING account and get a $25 bonus!
- A good question to ask is “Is it worth waiting to pay in cash?”
Personally I don’t think I could ever afford to buy a house with cash.
- Also just make sure MAKE SURE you get a building inspection done. It may cost you a couple of hundred dollars but it could save you THOUSANDS! and if they do find something wrong with the property you can use that as a bargaining tool to bring the price down.
- Also know that you will probably have to make some compromises. It is hard (if not impossible) to find the PERFECT house.
But good luck I’m sure it will be a great adventure for you
Just a couple points to consider:
+ Don’t fall in love with any one house–after all, they are just “sticks and bricks.”
+ Consider a 15-year mortgage, even if it means buying less house. Imagine the freedom you’ll feel in 12-15 years living debt AND mortgage free!
+ Along those same lines, don’t overcommit on the mortgage, just because you qualify. Be very, very conservative and avoid “stretching” to get into a house. You can always upgrade later if things improve, but as this market has taught us, you can’t always downgrade on your terms.
+ This is a buyer’s market, so asking for concessions from the seller in the deal should be relatively easy (and your agent will know that). Ask them to pay closing costs, or bid a few thousand below the asking price. People will do just about anything now to get out of a house if they are motivated to sell it.
Enjoy the process–it is a lot of fun, and if you take the “frugal” approach you won’t regret it six months down the road. Good luck!
When we decided to start looking we looked at our base incomes and decided how much money we would be willing to spend per month on a mortgage. Then we played with mortgage calculators to get a range on how much the house could be. Make sure that the calculators are taking home owners insurance, pmi (if you’re not putting down 20%), and taxes into account or that you add extra funds.
Also consider sitting down with a loan officer up front. They will tell you what they are willing to lend you and you can use that as a guide for looking. We never looked outside of what we could afford because we didn’t want to fall in love with something that was impossible.