Advice for for time home owners
- Thread starter D1J8Z
- Start date
- Location
- Forest Hills
set yourself a min/max budget n go with a few realtors to compare deals. also i think obama is giving 1st time home buyers a deal, something about turning $8,000 tax credit into a down payment.
- Location
- Bergen County NJ
dont settle find the 1 u really want and make sure u get a home inspection they are like $200 but could save u thousands
Tangs Rule
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Staten Island
Find a mortgage broker that you trust.
- Location
- NY
Location, location, location.
Best of luck. This will be a nerve wracking adventure, but it should prove to be very profitable (because of the current economy and state of the housing market) in the long run.
swimmer
Best of luck. This will be a nerve wracking adventure, but it should prove to be very profitable (because of the current economy and state of the housing market) in the long run.
swimmer
- Location
- NY
Going through a bank will only let you compare the programs that particular lender offers. You'd have to go to numerous banks to get a variety of programs to compare for the best deal. No different than going shopping.
A Mortgage Broker normally deals with 10-15 banks/lenders. Those lenders offer the broker 6-30 different programs each. The broker (if they are good and honest) should be able to offer you the best programs without you having to 'go shopping' like the example above. Should save you lots of time by going through a Mortgage Broker.
Many brokers have gotten soiled reputations in the past. Not all are as 'standup' as the other. If you can possibly get a recommendation from a trusted friend that would be ideal.
The amount of guidance to be offered to you is virtually endless. Entire books have been published on this very subject. So asking for advice in a reefing forum (not the ideal place to ask
) is going to yield you some good information, but it will likely be very abbreviated and not necessarily complete without knowing the details of your finances and specific situation.Best of luck on a stressful but hopefully rewarding journey. First time homeownership is always memorable.
Russ
Outside of don't do it....renting was so much easier and stress free.
If you have ANY debt (loans/CC/anything) get rid of it first.
When you plan your budget remember house costs are higher than apartments, electric bills will be greater, bigger house means bigger heating bills. Also add in a little extra for unplanned expenses like appliance repair...locks need to replaced...landscaping. My monthly living expenses tripled when I went from a 2 bedroom to the house and this was pre reef tanks.
Leave yourself a 3 month cash reserve, if you estimate the living expense to be 3K keep 10K in cash for emergencies; people loose jobs, storms knock over trees, being prepared before it happens will save you untold stress.
A good trusted attorney and broker are priceless assets.
Buy the house you can afford in the area you like, school districts are key on the island for resale value. The areas with good schools have not been hurt as badly as everywhere else.
Find out what you can about the house and seller, retired vet? upgrades to the house that still have open permits? STAR rebates? These may not sound like much but when the house gets re-assessed and your taxes jump 2K because he was a vet who had open permits for that hobby room your budget may need to be re-built...oh and you may not find out for almost a year.
Stick with a 30 year fixed, a lot of the mess people got into was due to adjustable rates jumping higher than they could afford. With a fixed rate your monthly payments should only rise yearly after the tax assessments.
If you have ANY debt (loans/CC/anything) get rid of it first.
When you plan your budget remember house costs are higher than apartments, electric bills will be greater, bigger house means bigger heating bills. Also add in a little extra for unplanned expenses like appliance repair...locks need to replaced...landscaping. My monthly living expenses tripled when I went from a 2 bedroom to the house and this was pre reef tanks.
Leave yourself a 3 month cash reserve, if you estimate the living expense to be 3K keep 10K in cash for emergencies; people loose jobs, storms knock over trees, being prepared before it happens will save you untold stress.
A good trusted attorney and broker are priceless assets.
Buy the house you can afford in the area you like, school districts are key on the island for resale value. The areas with good schools have not been hurt as badly as everywhere else.
Find out what you can about the house and seller, retired vet? upgrades to the house that still have open permits? STAR rebates? These may not sound like much but when the house gets re-assessed and your taxes jump 2K because he was a vet who had open permits for that hobby room your budget may need to be re-built...oh and you may not find out for almost a year.
Stick with a 30 year fixed, a lot of the mess people got into was due to adjustable rates jumping higher than they could afford. With a fixed rate your monthly payments should only rise yearly after the tax assessments.
Last edited:
Dont listen to that nonsense. jk. You can pay rent for 30 years and have nothing to show for it and it does nothing for your credit. Purchasing a home is a big risk but the reward is worth it. I am finishing my first year of ownership and I only regret that I have to fix stuff not the landlord, lol. Also as mentioned you get an $8,000 tax credit that does not have to be repayed and all of the interest you pay is tax deductible so you get big returns in the begining, depending on your income. Go for it
- Location
- NY
Not quite 100% accurate. If you pay off an installment loan, car loan, student loan, equity loan, personal loan, etc., then the debt will not be included in your qualifying ratios. However, if you pay off revolving debt, such as credit cards, the debt will still be used in your qualification. If you pay off the credit card 90 days (3 months) before you apply for your mortgage, then they won't use it for qualification purposes. The reason being, credit card debt can be run up again without having to re-qualify for the credit card after the mortgage is granted, hence the term 'revolving'. Installment debt must be qualified for after its been paid off, they'll see the existing mortgage at that point.
+1
Same is true in every area.
Open permits wouldn't be possible. Any existing building permits that don't have a final completion and a certificate of occupancy won't get past the Title company. Without a C of O the bank shouldn't let you get near the closing table.
swimmer
1) figure out what YOU can afford not what the mortgage broker says you can afford.
2) Put together a wish list of what you want and what you need and use that as a guide to what house you look for.
3) Location, Location, Location. Worst house in the best neighborhood will always beat the best house in the worst neighborhood.
4) Look at as many houses as you can stand with out killing yourself. Don't settle.
5) Cabinets, Paint colors, carpets, Light fixtures, etc. can always be changed - look beyond the cosmetics.
6) Big expenses not to overlook - Roof, Windows, Heating, Electric, does the house have Sewers or Septic. If septic how old is the system. Carpenter ants or termite damage.
7) a good honest Home inspector will cost between $350 to $500+. Unless you know your realitor personally be cautious of the inspectors they recommend. ( the inspector wants to be recommend again by the agent once you use them when will you need another inspection?)
8) When you find your house set your limit on the max you're willing to pay for the house. Its easy for emotions to get the best of you in a bidding war then you can resent your home due to buyers remorse. If you find the home that is absolutly perfect and you absolutly can't live without it, I wouldn't play around with low balling and pissing off the sellers, I would give close to your best and final offer.
9) use a mortgage broker and shop a mortgage on your own, if your deals are as good or better than the brokers then that broker is no good move along.
10) Don't judge a book by its cover. If you choose to see a house from MLS pictures and get turned off by curb appeal or it LOOKS small from outside. Go inside anyway, I've been surprised many times.
11) Just like our hobby, Patience and no question is a stupid question.
Good Luck
Oh yeah, if you're looking for an realestate agent I can give you my Dads information.:tongue1:
2) Put together a wish list of what you want and what you need and use that as a guide to what house you look for.
3) Location, Location, Location. Worst house in the best neighborhood will always beat the best house in the worst neighborhood.
4) Look at as many houses as you can stand with out killing yourself. Don't settle.
5) Cabinets, Paint colors, carpets, Light fixtures, etc. can always be changed - look beyond the cosmetics.
6) Big expenses not to overlook - Roof, Windows, Heating, Electric, does the house have Sewers or Septic. If septic how old is the system. Carpenter ants or termite damage.
7) a good honest Home inspector will cost between $350 to $500+. Unless you know your realitor personally be cautious of the inspectors they recommend. ( the inspector wants to be recommend again by the agent once you use them when will you need another inspection?)
8) When you find your house set your limit on the max you're willing to pay for the house. Its easy for emotions to get the best of you in a bidding war then you can resent your home due to buyers remorse. If you find the home that is absolutly perfect and you absolutly can't live without it, I wouldn't play around with low balling and pissing off the sellers, I would give close to your best and final offer.
9) use a mortgage broker and shop a mortgage on your own, if your deals are as good or better than the brokers then that broker is no good move along.
10) Don't judge a book by its cover. If you choose to see a house from MLS pictures and get turned off by curb appeal or it LOOKS small from outside. Go inside anyway, I've been surprised many times.
11) Just like our hobby, Patience and no question is a stupid question.
Good Luck
Oh yeah, if you're looking for an realestate agent I can give you my Dads information.:tongue1:
should have phrased the comments a little better...
swimmer you're right that the house can not have the open permit at the time of sale BUT if the past homeowner closed the permit(s) before they put the house for sale you will not see the work assessed in the current taxes. This happened to me, my taxes jumped $2,800 the first year after the town re-evaluated the closed permits and yearly tax increase.
The CC/loans were not to get the mortgage just, IMO, something you don't want over your head when get into a house. There is some 'sticker' shock (at least for me) when you start getting all the bills you never had renting. If you've never paid for gas/heating before that $400 bill in January can be a tough nut to swallow so why add 2 or 3 CC payments at $125 month on top.
I've been in my place 7 years now, renting was great but couldn't have done half the things around the house and with the tanks while I was renting. Plenty of good deals out there right now add in 8K and the low rates I see no reason not to if you can afford to.
swimmer you're right that the house can not have the open permit at the time of sale BUT if the past homeowner closed the permit(s) before they put the house for sale you will not see the work assessed in the current taxes. This happened to me, my taxes jumped $2,800 the first year after the town re-evaluated the closed permits and yearly tax increase.
The CC/loans were not to get the mortgage just, IMO, something you don't want over your head when get into a house. There is some 'sticker' shock (at least for me) when you start getting all the bills you never had renting. If you've never paid for gas/heating before that $400 bill in January can be a tough nut to swallow so why add 2 or 3 CC payments at $125 month on top.
I've been in my place 7 years now, renting was great but couldn't have done half the things around the house and with the tanks while I was renting. Plenty of good deals out there right now add in 8K and the low rates I see no reason not to if you can afford to.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
We have our home for over 30 years now and it is paid off. As is my car, boat, and daughters collage.
The most important thing we do and have always done is something my wife taught me as soon as we got married.
Every week we took our pay checks and we had a list of all of our monthly bills.
Utilities, mortgage, taxes, repairs, car insurance, weddings, cell phones. work boots, etc.
We put it all in a notebook. That was like a wireless computer.
Now we use a computer. Then we would take from our pay and write down all the expenses for the month and add it to those items on the list.
The money would go into the checking account but we knew (and still do) how much we have put away for "each" bill.
($20.00 for insurance, $5.00 for wedddings, $50.00 heat etc)
We don't steal from any of those accounts. We also put in a few more bucks for each item. Now when I get a heating oil delivery for $2,000.00 I don't care because we have $5,000.00 put away for oil.
At the end of every week we know exactly how much money we have left for entertainment and we could spend all of it if we like, because all of our bills are taken care of. We have been doing this from the day we were married 35 years ago and never ran out of money. Every year we went on a nice vacation, and to this day, we never ran out of money.
Some weeks we had no money to spend because of either being out of work or something like that but our bills were always paid. We never paid an interest payment, because thats just stupid and we bought everything for cash. Now we use a credit card to get the free miles but we pay it off as soon as the bill comes.
The system just lets you know exactly how much you have extra (if any) at the end of the week.
If you have no extra money at the end of the week, you are on a downward spiral and need to make more money or get less bills, there is no way around it, but you will know well before you get into debt.
You have to keep good records and know exactly how much you have put away fro each bill and deduct it when you pay a bill.
By putting in a little more into each department each week it came to so much money that we invested the extra. It is still listed in those accounts but it is also making money. I just installed a new $5,000.00 boiler with the extra money I had put away for oil. It is like it was free.
because it didn't really come out of my bank.
Good luck
The most important thing we do and have always done is something my wife taught me as soon as we got married.
Every week we took our pay checks and we had a list of all of our monthly bills.
Utilities, mortgage, taxes, repairs, car insurance, weddings, cell phones. work boots, etc.
We put it all in a notebook. That was like a wireless computer.
Now we use a computer. Then we would take from our pay and write down all the expenses for the month and add it to those items on the list.
The money would go into the checking account but we knew (and still do) how much we have put away for "each" bill.
($20.00 for insurance, $5.00 for wedddings, $50.00 heat etc)
We don't steal from any of those accounts. We also put in a few more bucks for each item. Now when I get a heating oil delivery for $2,000.00 I don't care because we have $5,000.00 put away for oil.
At the end of every week we know exactly how much money we have left for entertainment and we could spend all of it if we like, because all of our bills are taken care of. We have been doing this from the day we were married 35 years ago and never ran out of money. Every year we went on a nice vacation, and to this day, we never ran out of money.
Some weeks we had no money to spend because of either being out of work or something like that but our bills were always paid. We never paid an interest payment, because thats just stupid and we bought everything for cash. Now we use a credit card to get the free miles but we pay it off as soon as the bill comes.
The system just lets you know exactly how much you have extra (if any) at the end of the week.
If you have no extra money at the end of the week, you are on a downward spiral and need to make more money or get less bills, there is no way around it, but you will know well before you get into debt.
You have to keep good records and know exactly how much you have put away fro each bill and deduct it when you pay a bill.
By putting in a little more into each department each week it came to so much money that we invested the extra. It is still listed in those accounts but it is also making money. I just installed a new $5,000.00 boiler with the extra money I had put away for oil. It is like it was free.
because it didn't really come out of my bank.
Good luck
How does everyone feel about Co-ops ?[/QUOTE]
Any environment you have to ask a board for permission for anything, and give them 20% of any capital gains you make on the sale of you're home to a person that they have to approve is a crappy situation to me. This is just my opinion. Some people it works out great. Depends on the type of person you are. Make sure the Co-op board doesn't have a problem with aquariums.
Any environment you have to ask a board for permission for anything, and give them 20% of any capital gains you make on the sale of you're home to a person that they have to approve is a crappy situation to me. This is just my opinion. Some people it works out great. Depends on the type of person you are. Make sure the Co-op board doesn't have a problem with aquariums.
- Location
- Wallingford, CT
Taxes on the Island is like a mortgage in itself! On my previous house, the escrow for taxes was higher then the interest & principle of each monthly payment.
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
My daughter has a co op in Astoria. It is 400 sq feet and she pays $700.00 a month for "maintenance" which is another word for nothing.
Killerdrgn
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Park Ridge, NJ
Oh holy bejezus!!! 400 sq ft? that's way too small! Is the toilet next to the bed or something?
- Location
- Baiting Hollow Long Island NY
Yes it is tiny. It was her first CO OP and she bought it on her own with her money.
It is for sale so she can get a larger one, hopefully a much larger one.
It is for sale so she can get a larger one, hopefully a much larger one.
- Location
- Forest Hills
coop,condo,attach/detach house,mansion,etc... all has their pros and cons. do your research on each and determine which would suit you the best.
to some aspect it is like our reef tank. find the one that suits u the best. no one knows your situation and preference better than yourself.
to some aspect it is like our reef tank. find the one that suits u the best. no one knows your situation and preference better than yourself.
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