Might be buying a house soon - what do you wish you knew or could have done differently?

abbynormalartist

Nothing to do with health or fitness but I'd love to hear some thoughts from fellow MFPs.

I've been renting a house from an acquaintance for nearly 9 years now. Last week he fell ill and passed away at a rather young age. I know he still was paying off the mortgage, I seriously doubt that he had a will, and his only family are two siblings who I hardly know. I'm hoping that once everything settles down his family or the bank will offer to let us buy the house for a (very) reasonable price. That's the best case scenario. If that doesn't happen, we'll be looking to buy a different house.

I've only ever rented so I'd like to hear what advice some of you fellow home owners have. What do you wish you knew before, looked for, did, checked? If you could go back, what would you change? Bestow upon me your wisdom!

toned_thugs_n_harmony

Mortgage companies are scammers. Research the crap outta them.

abbynormalartist

lstrat115 wrote: »

Not trying to pry and I understand if you wish not to give this information, but getting a home loan is different in different countries so some of the info you may get won't apply if the person isn't in the same country as you.

That being said..... credit always matters. You don't want to have your credit score run a million times, but it would help you to have an idea of what it is to know whether a home loan is even in the realm of possibilities

I'm in the US.

2011rocket3touring

DO NOT get talked into an adjustable rate mortgage. Stick with fixed no matter how they try to sweet talk the adjustable.

deannalfisher

question everything on the home inspection - the previous owners of my house were very good at covering stuff up - some of which might have been picked up in the inspection

Lounmoun

For a place new to you- Check out the neighborhood at different times of day/night/week and different weather.
We got a foreclosed home for much cheaper. There were some repairs needed but it wasn't trashed.
We should've considered that we are not super handy and don't have a lot of free time or money for house projects though in getting an older home. I wish we had considered that the big yard takes a lot of time to maintain and gotten a place with a smaller yard with less trees. I guess mainly we got more house/yard than we needed to deal with. We've been here about 10 years so it isn't terrible.

Wallpaper is horrible to remove. I hate carpet and paneling. If a house is full of wallpaper, carpet and paneling I would run away.

Motorsheen

2011rocket3touring wrote: »

DO NOT get talked into an adjustable rate mortgage. Stick with fixed no matter how they try to sweet talk the adjustable.

trooth.

and remember, everyone is working for the seller (there's a paycheck in it for everyone but you.)

emcclure013

Figure out what you want and stick with it. We looked at TONS of houses that would be perfect if we "just took this wall out here" or whatever it was. But I had to be honest - I wasn't going to have the money or skill to do any of that stuff, so we waited for something that didn't need fixing up to come along. Now I have a house that works perfectly for us - no work needed.

Like others have said, find people you trust for your home inspection, realtor, ect. It makes a huge difference if you have someone on your side. Ask for extra inspections if you like - we added on a Radon test (because it's common in our area) and sewer inspection just for peace of mind and it was worth it!

Motorsheen

There's really no reason to buy a house when you can just build your own; like me!

JeromeBarry1

One thing I am quite pleased I did was buy a house on the high side of the street. My front yard slopes down away from my house to the street. It's just a few inches. On the other side of the street, the front yard slopes down to the houses. Again, it's just a few inches. The houses on the other side have had warranty foundation repairs to address a hidden spring which the builder didn't notice. That was 20 years ago. Since then the houses on the other side have been through multiple ownership changes. Now, the houses on the high side are owner-occupied, and the houses on the low side are mostly rentals. It's been a slowly evolving response to developer greed.

Don't use an escrow account. Know your tax bill and save your money monthly to make your tax payment when due. You collect the interest on it.
Do make bi-weekly mortgage payments. You reduce your lifetime interest paid that way.
Shop for new insurance every year or so. The only way to "save 20%" is to switch every year.

dc8066

If you are in FL, and thinking about taking a mortgage, be prepared to pay dearly for the house insurance

honeybee__12

Don’t be taken in by the “staging”.
It can hide problems.

midlomel1971

Hire a good inspector and listen to them. Don't get emotionally attached during the home-buying process. When we bought our first house, I totally became attached to it even though it was really too small for what we needed and there were some potential issues w/ the yard. Fast forward a few years, we grew out of the home AND those potential problems became real "pain in the *kitten*" issues. Think of how your life might change in the future (kids, marriage, pets?) and keep that in mind. As far as the qualities of the house, you have to decide which things bother you and which things don't. Do you want it move in ready, or are you okay w/ doing some work on it? Personally, things like wall color don't bother me becuase I am ALWAYS going to repaint a house as soon as I move in. Flooring is a dealbreaker for me if it's not hardwood and it's carpeting. I think the most important thing in a house is that there is no water damage, the electrical and plumbing and the structural integrity of the house are good. In other words, the house must have "good bones"...that is so important because those things cost $$$$ to fix. Things like ugly cabinets and things like that can be changed. They are cosmetic.

Bobo4505

"we'll be looking to buy a different house."

I worked in mortgage industry for the first 13 years of my professional career, and have rejected more potential houses to buy than my wife could have ever imagined.

1) Do not buy the house you live in out of a sense of convenience. Determine what you can afford, know what you qualify for, first. Then shop everything that's on the market in your desired geographic location, with the understanding that for houses on the market for greater than 20 calendar days, you need to identify what other people see as being "wrong" with them. Finally, reassess the house you're in now, relative to what you've seen, and start to pay close attention to the "fresh" listings as they arrive to market. When something worth buying is listed at a reasonable price point, it's alarming how quickly they're off the market again, pending sale.

2) Satellite photos and digital mapping don't (often) lie. Geographically speaking, everyone has a different tolerance/economic comfort zone, where house features+location+community=cost (broadly speaking). You will see those "great pictures at a great price" listings, that when reviewed in satellite photos expose exactly where the compromise is. It might be a water tower, power lines, railroad tracks (vacant or high traffic?), a nearby overpass, airport flight patterns, a neighbor that happens to run a scrap yard in their spare lot next door . . . you get the idea. EVEN IF you do the legwork and reason that it is acceptable to you, make sure you fully understand that same compromise limits your marketability (read property value) in the exact same way should you need to sell the property in the near or long term (and busy roads never get smaller).

3) For your first house, buy house poor and stay cash flow rich. Mortgage companies will tell you the maximum that you qualify for (bigger loans are better for them), and will offer you no reasonable guidance as to how much you should actually borrow, or commit to paying for the roof over your head. Do yourself a favor and calculate what you can afford to dedicate to mortgage payments, taxes, and insurance, total, out of your NET take home pay, after you've already accounted for retirement and personal savings. Don't borrow too much money, and cripple your ability to continue on your path to savings and other meaningful financial goals.

sw33tp3a1

I regret buying my first home last year. I basically settled. So don't settle I guess. Home inspection is A MUST! And check the crime rate, sex offender list, school ratings all those things make a difference.

midlomel1971

I also agree about the ARMs...stay away! Get all of your paperwork together now so you can move fast if you need to. Getting that stuff together takes forever. Also, don't be dazzled by what the banks tell you that you can afford. You'd think the banks would have learned after the housing crash in 2008, but I don't think they have. My husband and I were approved for a ridiculously high amount and we just laughed. The banks are smoking crap. I highly recommend Cap Center!

km8907

Put at least 20% down, don't use Bank of America, get a fixed rate.

The only regret I have with my house is there's no garage. Also I should have listened to my realtor when she said not to use BoA. Otherwise it's perfect for me. In my budget with money to save, lots of light, gated community, quiet, 2 bd 2 bth, upstairs unit, condo so I don't have a yard to worry about, pool/gym/all utilities minus electric are included in the hoa fee. Keep looking and have your must have's at the front of your mind.

SolotoCEO

My three best tips (as a former Real Estate agent - who rents)
1. Be prepared for unexpected (and sometimes major) repairs that as a renter you don't need to worry about. Things like a water heater, furnace, a/c, etc.
2. A home is a lot of work - both inside and outside. If your landlord has done the yard work, you may have a lot of things to purchase like a lawn mower, trimmer, mulch, etc.
3. Know what you feel comfortable with in terms of payments and don't exceed that. Many people qualify for a much larger mortgage (read as higher monthly payments) than they are comfortable with. You still want a life.

Look at your area. Is it a good time to buy. Most of the US is in a sellers market - and if prices drop soon you may be under water (owe more on your mortgage than your home is worth). This is less of a concern if you plan on staying in the home for many years - but you never know what may happen.

Good luck!