So excited! House related (a happy rant)

ChristyML

We found the perfect house! It's a little smaller than we wanted, and a little bit more expensive, but the fact that it has nice sized bedrooms, a larger-than-average-for-our-price-range kitchen, and a huge backyard, it makes all of it worth it. 

The only problem is the down payment...we have almost nothing saved up for it, and I don't want to lose this house. Ack!

 

BG09

Congrats!  I hope you get the house!  When do you have to have your down payment by?  Hoping you will have what you need to secure it!

We just picked a home builder and floor plan, and now just need to take a look at the lots that we have to choose from (hopefully tomorrow).  If all goes well construction will begin in 3 weeks!

Exciting times ahead for both of us, I hope!

ChristyML

BG09:

Congrats!  I hope you get the house!  When do you have to have your down payment by?  Hoping you will have what you need to secure it!

We just picked a home builder and floor plan, and now just need to take a look at the lots that we have to choose from (hopefully tomorrow).  If all goes well construction will begin in 3 weeks!

Exciting times ahead for both of us, I hope!

Well, the realtor said she has to have the down payment in hand (or proof of it) before she can even make up a contract, which stinks...so it may be a few months, or less, if my grandfather's house sells quickly (he passed away about a year ago, and my father [his son] passed away about 8.5 years ago, so my brother and I get our father's share of the inheritance, which should be, for each of us about $10K, so that would help a lot with bills, and down payments).

Congrats to you as well! 

dragossoul84

I hope it works out for you but you may want to put looking on hold until you have your down payment in hand. DH and I were looking before our house sold thinking it would sell quickly and lost quite a few houses we really loved not being able to make an offer. We did in the end find a foreclosure that was perfect for us to rehab but having someone buy a house you adore is tough.

FemShep

dragossoul84:

I hope it works out for you but you may want to put looking on hold until you have your down payment in hand. DH and I were looking before our house sold thinking it would sell quickly and lost quite a few houses we really loved not being able to make an offer. We did in the end find a foreclosure that was perfect for us to rehab but having someone buy a house you adore is tough.

This.  I know you're really excited, and I hope it works out for you, but you may want to hold off looking until you have (or are about to get) a down payment.  In many parts of the country, a good house goes in days, not weeks or months (speaking from experience-a house we were interested in sold in 3 days).  If you don't have a realistic idea of when you're going to be able to buy, you're setting yourself up for lots of disappointment. 

SmileyJay

Not sure of your exact situation but you may look into an FHA loan or an 80/10/10 loan. For FHA I think you only need like 3.5% down. In some states you can even finance the 3.5%. The interest rates are competitive and when you get that 10K you can pour it all into the house to make your balance what it would have been if you had the big down payment. on 80/10/10 loans you only need 10% down and you finance the other 10% to not have to pay PMI. 

 Definitely shop around for banks and interest rates. At current rates FHA loans are great for 1st time buyers if you cant come up with a 20% down payment. I think the biggest downside is you have to pay the PMI (although they call it something else) for 5 years even if you have 20% equity.

I would recommend not getting with a realtor and seriously looking until you have your down payment and an approval from a bank you want to work with. There is nothing worse than falling in love with a house and then not being able to buy it.

We got lucky with ours. Got preapproved and fell in love with the 1st house we walked in. It was ours from 1st sight. Everything with super smooth and we closed exactly a month after making an offer. The owners were great. It is amazing how at home you feel when you own the house and totally love it. I think we will live here forever lol

Oh also make sure you have plenty of extra on top of your down payment. Most banks want to see 6 months of expenses in savings due to the current job market. You also will want extra cash for customizing your home (painting, fence, etc.)

Best of luck!!!  

 

FemShep

TheCraftyKoala:

Not sure of your exact situation but you may look into an FHA loan or an 80/10/10 loan. For FHA I think you only need like 3.5% down. In some states you can even finance the 3.5%. The interest rates are competitive and when you get that 10K you can pour it all into the house to make your balance what it would have been if you had the big down payment. on 80/10/10 loans you only need 10% down and you finance the other 10% to not have to pay PMI. 

 Definitely shop around for banks and interest rates. At current rates FHA loans are great for 1st time buyers if you cant come up with a 20% down payment. I think the biggest downside is you have to pay the PMI (although they call it something else) for 5 years even if you have 20% equity. 

Just an FYI-the FHA plan is changing in June.  If you put less that 20% down, you will need to pay PMI *over the entire life of the loan*, no matter how much equity you have, which can become a considerable expense.   

There are other low down-payment options, especially if you're in the military or live in a rural area, but the FHA program became considerably more expensive with this change.   

ChristyML

TheCraftyKoala:

Not sure of your exact situation but you may look into an FHA loan or an 80/10/10 loan. For FHA I think you only need like 3.5% down. In some states you can even finance the 3.5%. The interest rates are competitive and when you get that 10K you can pour it all into the house to make your balance what it would have been if you had the big down payment. on 80/10/10 loans you only need 10% down and you finance the other 10% to not have to pay PMI. 

 Definitely shop around for banks and interest rates. At current rates FHA loans are great for 1st time buyers if you cant come up with a 20% down payment. I think the biggest downside is you have to pay the PMI (although they call it something else) for 5 years even if you have 20% equity.

I would recommend not getting with a realtor and seriously looking until you have your down payment and an approval from a bank you want to work with. There is nothing worse than falling in love with a house and then not being able to buy it.

We got lucky with ours. Got preapproved and fell in love with the 1st house we walked in. It was ours from 1st sight. Everything with super smooth and we closed exactly a month after making an offer. The owners were great. It is amazing how at home you feel when you own the house and totally love it. I think we will live here forever lol

Oh also make sure you have plenty of extra on top of your down payment. Most banks want to see 6 months of expenses in savings due to the current job market. You also will want extra cash for customizing your home (painting, fence, etc.)

Best of luck!!!  

 

I guess I should have been more clear in my original post. We have been peapproved with the FHA loan; the only thing we need is the downpayment. As far as extra money for customizing; they actually have done everything already; we would just need to redo the yard to make it how we want (it doesn't need to be redone, we just would like it to be). 

Lyssapee

I hope it works out for you, but don't fall in love and be willing to be house poor.  We foud the perfect house ,but they wanted 10K more than we were willing to pay.  

We walked away and found a house that was every better for under our orginal asking price.  In between the time we found the second house we were able to save up for the down payment and other expenses.

Buying a home as a lot of hidden cost, depending where you live you may need an additional 10k just for closing closts alone. Plus it may need repairs that aren't obvious.

Good luck in your decision!