Wish you would haves - first time home buyer

The big thing that I would watch for is the size of your mortgage payment itself.

When my wife and I were shopping, our agent was taking us to houses that we clearly (in our minds) could not afford. When I asked her why, she told me "you can afford this."

While technically we could have qualified for a loan for the amount wanted for the houses she was showing us, there was no way my wife and I were comfortable with the monthy mortgage that thoses prices translated to. Once we told her what we were comfortable paying each month, even though she told us "we could afford more" she started showing us houses in the price range that translated to a mortgage payment that WE were comfortable with, and we bought one.

A house is a long term commitment. Just because you can afford a certain payment now doesn't mean you will be able to afford it in 5 years. Most people are optimistic that their situation will improve - "I'll be making more money in 5 years than I'm making today," but that's not always true. Are you going to have a child in those five years, want to buy a new car? Maybe have another child?

I've lived in my house for 15 years, and never missed a payment. I'm thinking that if we had listened to her "you can afford this", we'd have a real nice house in foreclosure right now. When we were shopping, this was back in the day when almost anyone with a pulse could qualify for any loan of any amount. I'm glad I listened to myself and went with a house that I was comfortable I could afford.
 
Last edited:
Good points above on keeping things affordable. We made the decision we wouldn't buy a house that would take two incomes to afford. That allowed us a whole lot of flexibility when we were raising our kids.

Live beneath your means.
 
Alright got a little more time to absorb the feedback and comment though I don't have time to comment personally to all, thanks to everyone for the help and advice.

Yes with the VA loan no PMI is needed. We put a bid in for 122,500 on a short sale listed at 137,000 - 1460 sq ft, 2 car garage, and very nice 1/2 acre lot. Basic run of mill house in these parts, though I'm not a home inspector I crawled through the attic looking for water stains, etc, etc and it looks to be pretty solid. A/C might could be bigger, current standard is 13 seer this looked like an 11 seer to the eyeball. All in all pretty nice, nothing fancy but nice.

We made the offer at noon, and they already countered with 132,000 and seller agreed to all other terms, of course the bank still needs to agree also... so they came down 5,000 right away and agreed to all terms...

I'm thinking of countering at 125,500... <----- any opinions on that

Oh yearly taxes look to run around 1493 per year with homestead exemption and I was told military could recieve another exemption on top of that.

Yes also to we see our selves in this for 3 - 5 years. At least till my helo career "takes off" hahahaa :rofl:. (im sorry....:rolleyes:) and we can afford more, preferably at the local airpark.
 
My short-sale purchasing experience was a giant waste of time, as was my neighbors, as was a co-workers, as was a friend. I haven't seen someone close on one in this geographic area.

What the seller accepts means little really. It's all about the bank -- and they take their sweet time -- and they also change the terms up on you.
 
Unless a short-sale already has an approved price from the bank (typically done by the realtor through a dummy offer), anything between you and the 'seller' is just idle paperwork shuffling.

I remember some quirk about VA loans that has to do with the age of the roof. They dont finance if the roof is older than X years and many roofs have been re-shingled on short notice to make a sale happen (I may misremember that and it is FHA that requires this).
 
I haven't read any specifics on the VA's requirements but our realtor was telling us about some things she has seen - like requiring the home to be pressure washed and the grass to be cut etc, etc. - so yes it has to pass the VA's inspection process as well as a home inspector's.

Yes on the paper work shuffling ordeal that is where we are stuck right now, playing the shell game of guess how much of an offer we are willing to take to the bank.

We know several friends who have all successfully purchased a short sale in the area recently, so fingers crossed - we feel 130,000 is a very good price so if we can get them under that even better. As fast as they came down to 132,000 I think they may have their "approved" price already.
 
Me? I would stick with the lower offer...it is a buyers market...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top