- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Eco-Friendly Family
s/o insane... buying a house help?
so even though i've worked in real estate for 5 years, this is totally new territory for me.
i don't know exactly the best way to go about this. we've been searching on the internet so far....... at what point should i contact a realtor? or should we try to do this w/o one? i'm thinking that as a buyer, there isn't any harm in us using a realtor since so far all the houses we've found have been listed w/a company and are not FSBO.... i know in some states the buyer pays realtor fees as well, but in my state the seller pays a fee to their agent and the buyers agent... so theoretically there shouldn't be a fee for us to use one...
i think i'm just a bit scared to take the leap!
also, any other tips you can give a first time buyer?
dh's brother also works in real estate and does appraisals so we'll see if we can get his help once we pick something out... (he lives 3 hrs away otherwise we'd use him all the way)
can you think of any other websites we can use to look for houses other than zillow, trulia, realtor.com, and craigslist?
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Re: s/o insane... buying a house help?
When we brought our house a couple years ago we made sure we got pre-approved first for the mortgage. It makes things go much faster. If you aren't getting a mortgage then don't worry about that obviously.
We looked on realtor websites directly as sometimes houses were only listed through them. So try Re-max, Century 21 etc. If you don't mind buying a short-sale or foreclosure then you can look at bank-owned properties through the bank websites. Contact a realtor when you are ready to look at houses and put in offers. Also, I don't know what state you are in but be careful of working exclusively with one realtor as some places make you sign a contract and you want to be sure you like your realtor and their company prior to signing a contract.
Yeah....you're not the only crazy one! We decided to buy a new house when I was around 28 weeks. We're selling our house in NY and bought one in PA, so I don't know how much is the same and how much is different compared to where you live.
We did a lot of research, mostly on Trulia. Once we had several houses we knew we definitely wanted to see (we even went so far as to drive by the ones we had narrowed down so we could narrow down further), we contacted a real estate agent. It was easy for us to choose as we have a very good family friend who does it. We gave her the list, and she sent us the full MLS listings of the houses so we had even more info on them.
I'm not going to lie - it took quite a bit of work to find the house we're buying. We were out probably 3 or 4 weekends in a row looking at 6-10 houses each weekend. We put in offers on 2 houses before the one we're buying. We were even in contract at one point, but on inspection we backed out. It was very stressful, especially with being so pregnant, and I cried a lot. It's all going to be worth it when we move shortly after LO gets here though!
As far as commission for the agent - I've talked to real estate agents in KS, MO, PA, and NY and it works the same in each of those states. Basically when you agree to a purchase price on the house, a designated percentage of that goes toward paying the commissions - it's nothing in additionally out of pocket. All 4 of those states it's typically 6% that is then split between the buyer and seller's agents. So it's not really a concern for you as a buyer, but when you go to sell eventually, you just have to remember that you're not going to receive the entire purchase price.
Good luck! Happy hunting! I have to say as stressful as it was, I loved looking at all the houses.
Getting pre-approved is definitely key, not only because it makes the process easier, but then you know what you're working with. Also remember that just because you're pre-approved for X amount doesn't mean you have to buy a house that is X amount. Seems obvious, but many people forget that! Since you're first time home buyers, there should be decent incentives available for you, although with the housing/mortgage crisis that occurred, I can't speak to how things are now.
That's all I've got--if you work in real estate, then you probably know of some great agents who can help you
It might also be of help to ask around about reliable home inspectors. Getting a trustworthy one is essential.
Good luck! Exciting!
<a href="http://s1103.photobucket.com/albums/g471/HealthfulMama/?action=view
thanks ladies!! i've still got some realtor connections, so it's just deciding who i actually trust to help us out lol.
i'll talk to dh later and see about getting the preapproval process started and go from there.
god i'm dying to get out of this house. i hope we can find something soon and get out of here soon! preferably before the baby comes!!
Don't pick an agent randomly, and don't pick one just because you like them. Pick one with recommendations and referrals from people, and pick someone with lots of experience and extensive knowledge of the area.
Check out neighborhoods and houses online ahead of time so you have a sense of pricing and what's available. (I'd been doing it for a year!)
And last, don't do a short sale. It will take forever, and there are ridiculous amounts of pitfalls and stressors. And then after taking forever, it could fall through anyway.
Definitely get the pre-approval. Around here, most real estate agents won't even take you around until you have the pre-approval. And definitely know what your budget is as far as payment, they should be able to help calculate that for you.
I also took pictures of every house because 1) It helped me remember which was which and 2) It was hilarious how outdated the houses were!
get pre approved, then decide exactly what you want to pay. Some people get approved for MUCH more than they want or can afford to pay. I'm not sure, but sometimes there are big tax incentives and mortgage deals for 1st time buyers.
go by the prospective homes at various times of day/night/week to see what the neighborhood is like. There might be a redneck neighbor who likes to target practice, or there might be a house rented to college kids who party all night, etc.
get recommendations for home inspectors, and make any offer contingent on the successful inspection. Some things like mold, water drainage issues, structural issues, etc would be deal breakers. Other things might mean that the seller gives an "allowance" off the contracted price in order to fix the problem. Still other things might need to be fixed by the seller prior to closing.
along with your budget, think about your needs and wants. For us, that included # of bedrooms/bathrooms, lot size, school district (more for general location than actually thinking about schools), water source (city or well, not spring), lay of the lot (there's a lot of steep lots here), private or public road access, etc.