If you've bought a house

Boing214 · October 2013

What is a piece of advice that you would give to a first-time homebuyer?

singingirl96 · October 2013

make sure you are not settling. Get everything you want in a house because a 5 year plan may change into a 10year plan... etc. We purchased a town home which was supposed to be our 5 yr plan... now we can't afford to move to a bigger house and we have completely outgrown it.

Boing214 · October 2013

These are all great and definitely things we'll keep in mind.

Boing214 · October 2013

@singingirl96 That's along the lines of something my family has told us, make sure you get one more room than you need if possible. Because you may only need 2, but soon enough you may need 3, etc.

lkamenko · October 2013

I second to get a good realtor. Ours was terrible and it made the whole buying process a nightmare. I still fume when I think of her

Also be prepaired to have a buyer remorse so my advice is to be more flexible with your criteria - and look at many options/houses before making decision. For example don't say we want to look only at new/2story/2car garge/big master bathroom houses. You might fall in love with old charming rambler instead...

aylafsu88 · October 2013

singingirl96 said:

make sure you are not settling. Get everything you want in a house because a 5 year plan may change into a 10year plan... etc. We purchased a town home which was supposed to be our 5 yr plan... now we can't afford to move to a bigger house and we have completely outgrown it.

I agree with this. Figure out where you want to be in the next 5 years and go from there. We wish we had stuck to our plan to have a 4 bd house and not a 3. We could really use the extra room right now. Also figure out what you are willing to sacrifice on. Is it commute, remodeling, yard etc.

StokedWifey · October 2013

hijoi said:

Get a list from the bank of every document you need and make yourself a checklist. Keep copies of everything with you at all times and don't get a mortgage from chase.

Yup.

I also agree with not settling. If our house ever freakin' sells, I'm going to have to tell myself the same thing. We made a list of our non-negotiables and our preferences. It's helped us to weed out some so-so houses.

Boing214 · October 2013

We're actually lucky in that we live in a small town so the commute isn't bad to get anywhere, and also there are very few bad neighborhoods and they are pretty obvious. But not settling is what we have to be careful about since the prices are similar to big cities to buy property with.

APendola · October 2013

Don't get pressured to make an offer outside of your budget. We really liked this one home and we ended up competing against another offer. Be prepared that you may not be able to get the home you want if you are in a situation like that. So be prepared for disappointment.

The max that your bank will approve you for is probably way above your means. Take the time to carefully work out a budget and estimate what your monthly bills will look like ie, heating, electricity, maintenance or condo fees to help you figure out what a realistic monthly mortgage payment will look like. Also, the more years you have on your mortgage - the more money you will pay in interest. So if you can afford to pay your mortgage faster, it will help you save in the long run.

SallySunrise · October 2013

Everything @bellaxanthe said. Also consider school districts. Not just "ratings" because sometimes the things they take into account for those are ridiculous. Talk to parents in the area. Also don't just look into the district but the specific school your child will attend (if they have to attend the closest one, per district rules.) We are in a great district, but our neighborhood is assigned to the worst elementary school in it. Luckily we can appeal to take him to another one, but not all districts allow that.

Boing214 · October 2013

These are all wonderful ideas ladies, thank you so much. I'm very nervous to take this step, but I am so sick of renting and paying the mortgage for these people when I could be paying my own with the same amount.

Boing214 · October 2013

@wmel13 Is that a for sale by owner website? The type of loan we will be going for won't cover those unfortunately. :-/

Boing214 · October 2013

@wmel13 That's wonderful, I'll definitely look on there then, thanks! :-)

britbratjf · October 2013

Everyone has already given you great advice but here is a random one from me - make sure that your doorways are wide enough for you. Ours are like the minimum width allowed when built (I'm sure there are codes for that kind of thing) and I can't tell you how many times we have had to take off doors in order to fit things through them. It's really annoying and not something we would have EVER thought would be an issue. So if you have large furniture and stuff make sure that you will be able to fit it through the doors.

Boing214 · October 2013

@britbratjf That is something that we definitely wouldn't have thought of, but I'll make sure we do now, thanks!

bumpuser1509193 · October 2013

Look at property taxes, know how that # affects your bottom line. Also, try to get a feel for the monthly utility bills, we got raped by our oil bill when we moved it... It nearly ruined us! Make a list...is a master suite a deal breaker, or is it a wish? My H would tell you not to paint vertical stripes, that nearly ended our marriage

Closing costs! Put that in your offer! At the very least, keep that in mind when you are planning your down payment.

apollonia10 · October 2013

I agree about the school district. We found some awesome houses in our search, but they were in a terrible school district and that was a sticking point for us. Pick the school (or schools) you want your kids to go to, then try to find a house in that district.

ETA: Don't think of the mortgage as your monthly cost. Factor in the cost of property tax, possible HOA fees, and house upkeep.

Pleione · October 2013

Don't use a realtor unless you really need one. Most people seem to, but it's not for everyone.

We just bought a house after looking at nearly a hundred in less than a month. We did our own research, drew up socio-demographic profiles of neighbourhoods using census data to narrow down where we wanted to buy, looked at school rankings, crime stats, drove around the area at night to check out noise levels, etc. It was a heck of a lot of work, but it's not work any realtor I know would do for you. We met far too many realtors who were simply trolling for new clients rather than being interested in selling their clients' houses - made us very sad for the sellers and very scared of the time we would be sellers.

If you do get a realtor, don't be afraid to interview a few and choose one you think will represent your interests well. If you sign a contract with the first one you meet, you might be locked in for many months with a potentially rubbish agent. Don't buy the line "the agent's fees are paid by the seller - all is free for the buyer." One one party is bringing money to the table and that's the buyer. So don't be afraid to be discerning. And don't be afraid to negotiate their commission. Two of the only advantages of using a realtor as far as we were concerned was that they could do the paperwork using conventional forms and could provide you comparables. Now if you know how to go about it, there are ways for the general public to get access to info about comparables too for a fee. And you can always bypass the realtor altogether and use forms provided by your lawyer. So fundamentally, if you know what you're doing, get yourself a good lawyer, not a realtor. Good luck!

BubbaJug · October 2013

Get the roof inspected before closing. Getting a letter from your insurance company 2 months after you buy the house telling you you have to have the roof replaced in 8 montha or they're going to drop you sucks a fat one.

Boing214 · October 2013

Thanks everyone!

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