Well its that time. I'm about to but my first home. I think I'm gonna make good use of the forclosure market. My soon to be bride will be graduating this spring and I don't see the point in renting when I can get a nice home for 100k +/-. So any words of advice.

 

Move to Arkansas and buy my place...

 

Don't buy more then you can easily afford

 

Dont buy a house in a neighborhood of old people...
there are 5 houses for sale in my neighborhood for sale.

 

nasty,

Now is an excellent time to buy. Look around and make low offers rather than simply falling in love with one place and paying too much.

I believe a house should be a home and some place you really like to be, but that can fit a lot of places. Also, this doesn't have to be the last place you get, so unless it's the deal of a lifetime in the place you plan to stay forever, think at least a bit, about resale.

I would avoid any place with a homeowners association like the plague. Lots of problems and lots of expense associated with that.

Think about a 15 year loan. Slightly higher payment, but the rates are lower and the payoff is half the time as a thirty year loan. Or you can pay an extra principal payment every month with your regular payment, and save a bundle in the long run.

Don't buy a used house in a neighborhood where they are building new ones. In this economy the new ones can be cheaper than the used ones and the value will not rise. In these areas you might find a foreclosure that the bank would love to get off the books. But they will drag their feet and make it difficult by not committing on your offer for a long time.

Ask a realtor for comps in any area you might be interested in. Then look for bank owned ones and really low ball them if you want the absolute lowest price in a certain area. Be willing to take a place that is not in the best condition if the price makes it worth your time to fix it up. It's just amazing how cheap some places go for. Many people have just walked away. A house next to me in California sold for over 400 thousand. When the value dropped they just moved out and left it. Two years later it sold again for about 225 thousand directly from the bank. Now it's worth about 135 thousand. They may go lower yet, but they are lower than they've been for many years. Your timing is excellent!

When just getting started it's feels so good to just get your foot in the door of home ownership. And it's a great thing. But bargain from strength to get what you want and be willing to let it go if the deal is not right for you.

Look around the neighborhood and see if the people there are ones you want to live with. Are there junk cars parked around? Are the yards kept up? Are the neighbors mostly renters? Are there happy kids out riding bikes? Are there bars on the windows? Stop and talk to someone out watering the lawn and see what the attitude is.

When I bought my last place in Smith Valley, Nevada we were out scouting around some distance away and went into a neighborhood of new homes. Turned out they were all on very small lots and cheap. There were some druggie types standing around leering at us as we drove through. Later we were in another area and stopped to talk to a woman out in front of her place watering. She was really nice and pointed out an area across the valley. She said "that's where all the rain is" as she pointed. That did it for me and we went to check it out. Now I have five acres there and am building a new house. Love it. Beautiful place and great neighbors.

 

Remember to have a Fire Insurance policy on the property going into "closing".
Otherwise, you'll wind up trying to get one over the phone while sitting at the table signing all the paperwork.

 

Thanks for the replys guys. I'm still lookin. Found a few housed that are around 1400sqft in the 110k-140k range. I kno my fiance sure likes them. And I'm trying to be patient and not jump into anything. But with her its hard. She gets her sights set on something and then she wants it and its hard to pull her away.

 

Here's a few items my wife and I used when we bought in late 2008.

- If you two plan on having kids, make sure you check the area for registered sex offenders and re-check the area on a regular basis. Know who they are and where they live. This way you already know how far away they are and won't need the laser range finder to get a distance for the scope on your rifle. (Wait, did I say that out loud???)

- Look for homes that have been on the market for at LEAST 90 days, perferably 120 days or more, especially new homes. The bank/developer will be more willing to part with a property that hasn't sold because they don't want to pay any extra fees (taxes, water/sewer, maintenance, etc.) that eats away at their profits. This is what my wife and I did, and our house had dropped by $60,000 in 8 months.

- School districts. Finding a good one not only for your own children, but in the event you need to sell it later or want to upgrade to a bigger/better home later makes it more attractive to potential buyers.

- Don't be afraid to haggle with them on price, especially when the house has been on the market for a while. One of three things will happen: they accept the offer, they decline, or they will come back with a counter offer. Don't be upset if they decline the offer either, because you can use that to your advantage if you plan on submitting another offer.

- If you want an upgrade, ask for it. We didn't want an electric stove/oven, so we had them run a gas line to the kitchen as part of the deal. We planned on upgrading the microwave, stove, and dishwasher anyway, and selling them paid for the gas line they ran.

- Check to see what the tax breaks are for buying a new home. When we bought, the $7500 tax break was the one you had to pay back over time, so we skipped taking it come tax time.

- Penalties for early payoff. Make sure your loan doesn't have these in the event you win the lottery or experience some other kind of cash windfall and decide to pay off the loan early. Also see what the options are for other loans, like first time buyer, FHA, etc..



Hope this helps .....



Kris

 

Get a place that has enough land to build a big garage.

 

even if it has a large garage.

 

Be prepared for the bank to require documentation on everything from where your savings came from to how/where you earn and spend your income.

If the house is used don't be afraid to ask for a home warranty.

Be sure to get the home inspected by an independent inspector, not necessarily one the realtor uses...you want to make sure they are representing your interests not the realtors

 

Don't buy without an inspection, even if it's a new house.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. And the place I'm lookin at is on 12 acres, so I got plenty of room for a BIG garage

 

If you are moving to California,
Before you move into your new neighborhood, check with your local police department and have them tell what and where the crimes are in your neighborhood and who is committing them.

Nice looking neighborhoods can be rampant with crime, also check the schools.

Check Megan's Law for sex offenders that might be living down the street.

Don't let the Realtor get you into something you cannot afford.

Jim

 

Thanks for the tip about the crime rate jim. I'm not moving to cali but I'm sure that's still something to check out no matter where you live. And I've already worked out a budget. And im stickin to It. I don't wanna get over my head. I'm hopin this will be my only home purchase but with the way things are you never kno. The place I'm lookin at is advertising "first time home buyer benefits" but I'm wondering what the fine print is. Can anybody shed some light on that? And they said they would pay for the closing cost. Is it really that expensive? Or is that another thing where I need to look at the fine print.