My gf is looking into buying a house can anyone give any advice on a good place to go for first time home buyers or a good place for a first time home loan ???
i would talk to foz on here
I’d be glad to spend some time sharing any expertise I can offer.
I can talk/walk you through some of the process.
Usually the first thing I recomend is talking to a mortgage person to find out what programs you can qualify for, and what’s your best route to go.
Here’s some contact information for a guy who has a really good handle on the market, and has been able to help a number of people for me before. Some 1st time buyers, and actually was able to beat out Countrywide by 1/2 point which is humongous over 30 years.
Rick Cardinali : West Penn Financial
412-977-0729
r.cardinali (at) comcast.net
Tell em Mark Foster sent ya
feel free to pm, or e-mail me if you have any questions, or want to get together for a drink (coffee or beer!) and I’d be glad to help in any way I can
mfoster (at) northwood.com
ps thanks SlowCamaro - getting the hang of that alarm yet?
NO!!!. i cant figure out why the factory alarm keeps going off…
i got the basics down lock/unlock. remote starter. roll windows up. but the factory alarm goes off like 1/3 of the time when i disable …oooh well.
we’ll have to walk through that one next time your in town, till then just carry that big Factory Key and you’ll be cool…
If she has good or great credit, try some banks. They typically charge the least fees/points, and the rates are competitive too.
We called a ton of places to compare rates/points/fees. Post Gazette used to list mortgage rates for a lot of places.
If you know Excel I’d recommend setting up a spreadsheet to list all of the fees and points - makes it easier to compare things.
I recommend staying away from FHA unless you fully understand it.
Just go to Dollar Bank. I reallyliked them. I went thru a 'Broker" for my first mortgage and that guy raped me on fees and interest rate. And never believe anything anyone tells you from a “B” lender. I had one dumbass tell me that I would never get a better interest rate than 9%… the next week I had 5 3/4%. Keep in mind they are all trying to get your money so they can make money.
What are points in a mortgage ?
Points…
You pay some many thousands of dollar per point up front to keep your interest rate down.
For example…
Your getting a 10% rate…
The bank may offer to drop your rate if you pay $2000 per point to drop. So you pay $4000 to drop 2 points and you now have a rate of 8%
Keep in mind too that if you get a crappy interest rate to start… after two years of on time consistant payments your credit score will improve and you can re-finance.
Just make sure when you get your loan that there is no buy out clause or that the buy out clause is minimal… les than 2 years is good.
Before you ask…
A buyout clause means this…
If you try to refinance before the time frame specified… you pay a penalty to the lender that does NOT come off the bottom line of your loan.
Typically that is called a pre-payment penalty.
I used to work for Dollar Bank, they are pretty good.
Points are just a fee paid up front, that doesn’t go towards repaying the loan, but is made to make you think that you’re getting a better deal.
Standard terminology is 1 point = 1% of loan.
So if they charge you 1point, and you are borrowing $150k, that will be $1500. Usually if that’s involved in the loan, you have a choice, and the more points you pay,the lower the interest rate.
I’d go with a bank, and I would not go FHA. The only real advantage that gives you is to let you get a loan with zero down, but that will bite you in the ass, so just save up some coin before she buys. You want to be able to pay 20% down, 10% minimum. If you can’t do that, keep renting, and save up some money. For the majority of people, it’s not worth it to borrow more than 90%. And they will go with purchase price OR appraised value, whichever is lower, to calculate your loan to value.
it really depends on the situation. FHA is good when you dont have alot of money to put down and you can put down 3% or lower. Also, if you needed to get the money from a family member or something for the closing costs, you can do that…unlike a conventional loan with a bank. Now if you have good credit and have the 10% to put down, then maybe a bank is your best bet. Though you will get around the same interest rate through FHA. Its alot easier to qualify for an FHA mortgage because its insured through them, then lender will be more likely to approve you. But Beat90tsi makes several good points too. it comes down to what her financial situation is like, what money she has to put down, and how good her credit is, then its easier to answer this question, otherwise, there are a million different ways to buy a house.
1 thing i can definitely recommend…stay away from adjustable rate mortgages
I will say she has EXCELLENT Credit and works for national city who she will NOT use for a loan …she has i think 600 in outstanding credit debt that will be gone shortly i think … She wanted to get a loan for around 85-90k
interest only FTW 
I got my house thru FHA a few years ago.
Nothing wrong with FHA, keeping in mind that you would still go through a bank/broker for the loan. FHA only insures loans, they don’t fund them. There are more programs out there than just FHA, and it really depends on what best suits your needs. You should definitely shop around when it comes time to get the loan, but you really should start by talking to someone who not only specializes in residential loans, but has consistent experience.
Although it is best to buy a home with 20% down, however the majority of people nowadays are purchasing homes with 3-5% down, some barely with closing costs, either way once your in the home you can begin building equity… and can always re-fi to remove any PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance - required when the loan is for more than 80% of the home’s value typically between 50-60 a month for a 100K loan)
You make many good points, but not all ARMs are bad. When I was at Dollar I did commercial loans, but I know we had a residential product that was fixed for 5 years, and had no penalties to refinance. The rate was lower than any fixed rate loan, that was a really good deal. So even some ARMs can be ok.
Just make sure you understand everything before you put a penny on the line. Do not be rushed into anything…you will most certainly regret it.