I hear what your saying, but we already looked at a couple and we’d be paying almost as much as a mortgage. I totally realize it probably doesnt make sense to get a house if we haven’t lived together before, but I just don’t want to get an apartment.
why not? an apartment carries no risk, a house with a woman that you’ve never lived with before is a big risk.
at least tell me you’re getting the house 100% in your name and you can afford the entire mortgage if she walks… if you answer no then definitely do not buy a house.
That I can manage, although I understand the risk I don’t foresee this happening. (i know that’s what they all say.)
Here’s my advice.
Figure out what your combined income is if you are both applying for the mortgage. If it’s just you then all the better. The first home club requires you to be at or under $54,320 for 2 people and not a penny more. As mentioned before, that’s a free $7,500. You can apply the grant early and get whatever matching amount ($4 to every $1) and you can also don’t have to use the funds immediately after the program is completed.
Use your income to figure out what mortgage product suits you best. If you qualify for the first home club I suggest doing the SONYMA low interest loan that allows you to finance 97% of the cost of the home. You wouldn’t need down payment assistance through SONYMA so you can get the 4% interest rate. NACA doesn’t require a down payment, but rolls your closing costs into the cost of the house and has a slightly higher interest rate. The first home club will take care of your 3% down payment and the majority of you closing cost. The result would be a lower mortgage payment and give you equity in the house as opposed to being upside down on the house from day 1.
As for what you can afford, every $1000 of purchase price constitutes about $5/month for a 30 year fixed mortgage. Every person at the education course that spoke said put the minimum down, you can always pay more than the monthly payment. If you make one extra payment a year that goes towards principal, you pay of the 30 year loan in 22-23 years.
A few people mention sellers concessions. Don’t do it. You don’t need to for <$100k house and if you are looking for a fixer upper you need the house to appraise at that value or you can forget it which is what Carnut was saying.
If you ruling out the city, don’t. You can get up to $22k for a fixer upper so if the city doesn’t bother you it might be perfect for you.
A rough estimate on 100k: 3k down + 3.5k taxes + 3k closing costs - First home club including deposits (9,380) = $120 out of pocket at closing.
As far as monthly payment:
3.5 taxes
4% interest
3% down
$750/ year property ins
.52% PMI
859.29 a month mortgage
Good Info. We may wait and try to put closer to 10k
In the meantime, now is a good idea to get a cheap apartment…
You probably don’t foresee the house burning down either but you’ll still get homeowner’s…
Nope, that’d be my luck…I’d get everything in the house and get settled and then a fire tornado would rip through buffalo but only hit my house.
Ill just PM.
Thanks to Jack for the info. I really do appreciate it.
How does employment history play into getting a mortgage…My fiancee is miserable at her job and wants to start looking for some new employers. She doesn’t want to jeopardize us getting a mortgage though.
They usually want 3 years of employment at the same place. I would call whatever lender you plan on going through and asking though.
I did a SONYMA loan about 4 years ago, they wanted 5 years of tax returns, and bank receipts. They wanted at least 2 years of job history.
i was at my job for about 1 year when we got our loan.
x2 google it and take a look. As soon as I start my new job the gf and I are signing up
I will say this again… NACA check them out at naca.com
I have a better mortgage than 99% of the country that aren’t using this program. I only say this because I am sure that there is some minority program out there that whops this programs ass, but I do not qualify.
Not to steal from Progrocker BUT…
hypothetical Situation: your credit sucks for misc BS, your job history sucks for various reasons … but you want a house/investment property. You can put down 30% cash and the rest is guaranteed by VA loan. What are the odds of getting approved for a mortgage? we’re talking on a 150K house ( duplex or small 4 unit)
That is the point of the VA loan as they limit the risk of the lender. You will be fine. I was recently pre-approved on a va loan and don’t even have a job they just used my “fixed income”
PS two houses FS on my street come be my neighbor. <3
in.
One more thing, you will want as much cash as possible in your pocket to get the house running after you buy it.
I’ve had mine for about 4 years, according to my spreadsheet I have very close to $20k into the place, and that is just getting it livable and decent. Money goes like NOTHING, and I have a great circle of friends who are professionals at certain trades, they did a ton of work for cheap/free.
Quick story, my boss just bought a house in Cheektowaga, his first house. He gets the keys, then gets to the house, notices there is no water on. ECWA had shut the water off because someone didn’t start a new account with them. He had them come out and turn the water on.
They turned it on at high pressure, and blew out a bunch of pipes in his house, and even blew up the water heater.
Day 1 in the new house, he had to have a back-hoe digging in his front lawn, and plumbers replacing a TON of pipes. $2800 out the window in a matter of seconds.
ECWA said “oh thats on your property, our side is fine, that is your responsibility”.
Whats funny is that ECWA did the same thing to me when I bought my house, shut the water off. Lucky I didn’t have any problems but it is shitty what they do to get their 5 cents worth of water. I told my boss that my average water bill is $40 per quarter, he just laughed.
Maybe … Honestly I’d like a 4 unit and a bigger garage.