Buying a house ????'s

[Wreckless]

Alright guys I've got questions for all of you.... What is the best way to go about purchasing a home. I mean at least the process of starting to look for a home.. Is it best to go and get pre-approved?? what about new builds?? if it is a house that is being built like communities built by Ryan homes for example.....do the builders have their own lenders??? are they good lenders?? better to get your own???? What about speaking with a lender should you go and speak with one when you are ready to put down your money and buy??? or is it best to go and speak with a lender before so that you can get ready to buy...

I know it's a lot of questions but this is my first time buying/ looking into buying a home and just wanted to know what resources are out there....and since I know there are so many experienced people on here figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Thanks.....

[Drifter]

1. Get pre-approved. Try lending tree.com if you want to be flooded with banks offering their services, or just look into some of the bigger lenders. I'm currently working with Wells Fargo on my second home and I've got a real sweet 5-yr ARM loan arranged; no down payment, no PMI.

2. Find a decent (reputable) real estate agent to serve as your buyer's agent.

You will not pay extra for a buyer's agent (save for perhaps a 150.00 admin fee), but he or she will try to get you to sign some b.s. which will lock you into paying him or her a commission irregardless of whether your final purchase was with his or her assistance. Don't sign it or if you do find a place thru him or her, modify the agreement to state "property at (address) only".

This allows you to look on your own as well, and should you find an FSBO home you are not obligated to pay the agent squat.

[DEVIN22CBR]

Im about to buy a house also. Planning on going to the bank soon and see what we can get done. Right now they're only wanting like a 2k downpayment on a 100k house. With 550 a montn payments so it looking alot better than I thought.

The cost of living here though is just crazy. Its so super cheap.

Heres the house

[Wreckless]

Originally Posted by DEVIN22CBR

Im about to buy a house also. Planning on going to the bank soon and see what we can get done. Right now they're only wanting like a 2k downpayment on a 100k house. With 550 a montn payments so it looking alot better than I thought.

The cost of living here though is just crazy. Its so super cheap.

Heres the house

that house for 100k?!?!?!? Man I wish house prices were like that around here.....

[BrownRob]

If you go with a lenders the new home companies use, they will be about .5 to 1 point higher than the going marker (in general). Also, if Ryan homes have special incentives, they might require you to use their lender. I just bought my house 3 months ago from D.R. Horton.. We had an incentive of $20,000 off plus free washer, dryer, strove and dish washer.. but we had to use their lender.. New home is great - but we had to spend about $10,000 on window treatments, fixtures, backyard landscaping, patio, a/c and other odds and ends. So keep that in mind if you're going to buy a new home.

Anyway - to get the ball rolling, contact a mortage company to see how much you can get approved for.. like Washington Mutual or Country Wide.. that should give you a good idea on how much you can spend on a home. Don't forget to count in tax, insurance, home owner fee, power and water bills too..

Next, get a realitor.. it's free on your end..

I'd personally say you should look for a home that 2-8 years old..

[bugeyed]

I'll make a couple of points since this is something I follow closely. I will just bullet these points and let you make of it what you will:

1) Interest rates are going up. And they may not go up a few percent, but in the double digits. I am thinking probably over 10 percent perhaps even over 20 percent. The situation in the bond markets is really ugly for a lot of reasons which I wont get into here, but suffice to say the impacts on interest rates could be severe. The bond markets (US Treasury Bills) will be the final determinant in how high the interest rates go up, not the Federal Reserve. Everyone thinks the Fed sets the interest rates, this in NOT true. The Fed has no control over the real interest rates in the market. So whatever mortgage loan agreements you sign, make sure you are protected from rising interest rates, because they ARE going up.

2) Given the above, what happens when interest rates go up? People start missing their house payments, homes get foreclosed on and they flood the market, which adds to the glut of homes already on the market but cant be sold because of high interest rates. This bids down prices of homes. You can reasonably expect that any house you buy now is going to decline in value against the loan you have against it. Even if your rates are fixed they will still go up relative to the value of your home. It's just like bonds, when there is less demand for the bonds, the price of bonds fall and the fixed interest rate the bond pays goes up correspondingly, that is, the real rate goes up.

3) The real estate loan companies and appraisers are in bed with each other. Expect the appraised value of the home you buy to be a good 20 percent or more over what it is really worth on the market.

4) Be very careful with the loan agreement you sign. Some loan companies include clauses in the loan agreement that will allow them to immediately foreclose on you home for frivolous reasons, such as being late on a payment. Have a lawyer go over it with a fine toothed comb. Never sign anything in haste and demand that the loan company remove a clause you dont like. If they dont agree find a different loan company.

5) Consider that maybe now is not the best time to buy a home. Maybe it would be better to wait for rates to go up and house prices to fall and then buy a home. If you can afford it, save your money and pay for the house in full. There are investment opportunites that do well in a rising rate environments, maybe you can hold your money in those investments until you are ready to buy a home (that is when house prices are much cheaper than what they are now )

6) All the above is strictly my opinion, I am not an economic guru.

[saq]

Excellent tips, bugeyed!

[Ludicrous]

I agree with bugeye. I'm in my second home now. I've been considering buying a home with the BF.

Both of us want to wait until after the election. I believe the interest rates will rise, which will drive property values down. I'd rather buy at a higher interest rate, with lower property value. Why? Can always refinance for a lower interest rate - an overpriced home will be much slower to gain value.

Get pre-approved - know how much you can spend is always helpful in narrowing down your choices. Luckily, I had friends in real estate, who turned me onto a lending agent. He shopped interest rates for me, found the best one I could get based upon my FICO score.

That's another thing - have you ever looked at your credit rating? If not, pull your credit report. The higher the score, the lower the interest rates will be. It will take time, but if there's a lot of BS on your credit report, seriously think about cleaning it up before buying (or after buying, so you can get a better rate on a refinance later).

for credit information, read this forum: http://www.creditboards.com/phpBB2/index.php

[Rascus]

Originally Posted by DEVIN22CBR

Im about to buy a house also. Planning on going to the bank soon and see what we can get done. Right now they're only wanting like a 2k downpayment on a 100k house. With 550 a montn payments so it looking alot better than I thought.

The cost of living here though is just crazy. Its so super cheap.

Heres the house

That house out here would go for 600k and up!!!!

You should ask RSixxy some questions...she's a realtor..she may post in here.

[Wreckless]

Great info guys... hadn't even thought about the interest rates going up by that much! thanks bugeyed!! As far as my credit report goes I was actually planning on gettting it online you know those sites that give you your 3 credit reports for like $30... Yes I know that I can get them free from the credit bureaus but as far as I know those do not have actual scores on them.. the ones online give you your score.. so I figured I would go with that one. So I can see what range my score is in. But thanks for the great info about the interest rates guys!!! Keep it coming all info is definitely welcomed!

[lee]

Originally Posted by DEVIN22CBR

Im about to buy a house also. Planning on going to the bank soon and see what we can get done. Right now they're only wanting like a 2k downpayment on a 100k house. With 550 a montn payments so it looking alot better than I thought.

The cost of living here though is just crazy. Its so super cheap.

Heres the house

that 550 is the mortgage payment. then after they add in the insurance and property taxes...... that payment will be around $800 a month. plus you need to come up with all the closing costs....... could be another $4-6k depending