Well, for those that already own homes… do you know of any good websites to read up on, including where first time home owners can apply for pre-approved loans/state aid/ect?
I’m getting sick of looking at decent BUFFALO area apartments going for 900+ a month for a small place so I want to look into buying. My credit in the past is far from outstanding, but heard that first time home buyers usually get cut a little slack. With the new promotion there is no good reason why I should still be renting opposed to buying.
Maybe a mod could sticky this as a lot of members recently seem to be looking into home ownership lately.
How much do you have to put down? If not the traditional 20% that will limit your options in mortgage shopping. Sonyma and FHA are the state/federal programs. Their rates are a little higher because they give you a big break on the down payment requirements. You can pretty much forget about buying a DIY project type house if going FHA because they do an inspection and require the house to be in move in condition.
Some banks have first time buyer plans as well. You should definitely check into that.
I put nothing down. F that. I’ll let the bank handle paying for the house. My money is better spent and invested elsewhere. And no I do not pay a PMI.
There are so many options it’ll make your head spin. Talk to 2 mortgage brokers, figure out which one knows the most and/or is finding you the best option.
You’ll need a couple grand for closing costs, but you don’t NEED a down payment. There are mortgages where you can wrap your closing costs into the mortgage too. And as mentioned, first time buyer programs.
If I were starting out, I’d start by finding a financial advisor/mortgage broker and figuring out what it’s really going to cost and what you can afford. From there, I’d find a realtor I could work with, and then let them do the work for me. Both of those services are free, by the way. They get paid when they successfully sell you a mortgage/house.
And take your time. Looking at houses is a ton of fun. :tup:
NOT TRUE! We (justa4door and myself) just purchased a foreclosure home which you have to get an FHA loan for. It is in need of repairs and the way the loan works is…say you pay 47K for the house but it needs new siding and roof and a couple of pieces of dry wall ,no big deal, they add all the repairs into your loan. It is one of the best ways to purchase a home…THE ONLY WAY TO PURCHASE A HOME AND GET MONEY TO REPAIR IT AT THE SAME TIME. As far as DIY you can’t with an FHA loan. You do need to get a licensed and insured contractor to do “all” the work. And for the inspection the house just has to be in working order…not perfect…all the plumbing needs to work,all heating elements,no peeling paint,no water damage…nothing you wouldn’t do to a house before you moved into it anyway! An FHA loan is really no different from any other loan,but you have to be willing to play by the rules!
thanks guys! I would have approx 3-4K to put down/use for closing costs
poopra… that would be great man :tup:
for the hell of it, I just did my annual credit report and I think the dick head at the dealership was lying to me about my credit being “not so great”
I only have one bad mark on my credit, and that was with my first CC back in 2001-ish… since then, I’ve had 5 auto loans… all but one paid in full with no reported late payments. Plus 2 credit cards that I currently still use (with no late payments reported). Although, it appears that you have to pay to see your credit score… so who knows
total outstanding credit balance (GTO plus CC’s, ect) is not that much at all (sub 20K)
I honestly thought that I’d be in a pretty piss poor position to buy, but I guess I may be wrong. Anyone use e-loan or something like that for applying for a pre-approved mortgage?
Not sure how exactly what my mortgage broker did. It’s been 2 years so I don’t really remember, but I seem to remember something about paying a slightly higher interest rate (maybe 0.3%) in exchage for no PMI. Which works because PMI’s don’t go away until you have 20% of the house paid off and I will not own this house that long. The higher interest rate was still cheaper than the PMI.
If your FICO score is around 700 give or take I wouldn’t worry about it. You’ll still get a decent rate.
Again, use a human to shop for mortgages. There are so many different programs you really want a professional to learn your situation and find the right program for you.
PMI is really the only thing holding me back from buying a house right now. I want to have 20% down and I am close but then you factor in closing costs and it will take a few more months or saving.
I’d like to know more about this mortgage. Who it’s with, interest rate (granted it’s two year old), what the stipulations are, do you have an early payment penalty, etc.
This may not have been the best way to do it, but it worked out for me. I took an FHA mortgage, with a very small downpayment and PMI. 3 years later rates had gone down, and my house had gone up enough in value that I was able to refinance with Wachovia at a lower rate and stop paying PMI. The value of my house had gone up enough to get me close to the 20% equity threshold. Close enough that Wachovia didn’t hit me with PMI.
my pmi = 60 bucks a month. (original downpay was only like 4%, but the selling price was less than it should have been). the bank told me that if i had an appraisal done, and i had 15 % or more equity, they would drop the PMI. easy enough to get rid of it…