Hey Guys,
Last night Harry informed me that his family (mom and dad) informed him that they have gone ahead and given all three kids their inheritance, which is a fair amount. So Harry wants to take some of it and put a downpayment on a house since house prices and interest rates are lower. It's pretty amazing as I didn't think I would be a house owner. So I know many of you here own houses and I would love to get some advice and hear what kind of experience you guys had buying your home.... thanks
First question.. is it worth getting a Realtor?
Our Realtor saved our bacon. I mean, she was amazing, she knew all the right things to ask and did a great job for us.. TWICE! We tried doing it oursleves and just had a lot of heart ache. So, for us, she was worth it!
CONGRATS! I am so happy for you!
Congrats again Kenny. I think it is WELL worth it to you to get a Realtor. They will help you find what is in your budget and fight for you behind the scenes. At least ours did. He acted as a "representative" in the negotiations. He knew when the seller was trying to mess us around and he straightened them out. The trick is to find a personable one who isn't a used car salesman (no offense to any who may be reading the forums). In case you don't know, you don't have to pay a realtor, they make a their money by selling the house for the seller.
Yeah I wasn't sure about that.. I had heard that the sellers normally pay for the realtor.. but not always... but it sounds like it's a good idea to get one. thanks
Hey Kenny, any home buying/mortgage/financial planning advice you need, I am here for you! We do all that. :)
Quote from: Bryancd on April 08, 2009, 11:20:14 AM
Hey Kenny, any home buying/mortgage/financial planning advice you need, I am here for you! We do all that. :)
Thanks Bryan.. I'll be bugging you. :)
Well, that must have been a surprise! Congratulations!
I'll stay out of the advice chain. What little I know of the US housing market is that it works completely differently to ours.
Is it a good time to buy over there? Over here it looks like lots of people have given up waiting for things to 'get better' and the housing market is starting to pick up again.
Well, being that I just moved into my first home two days ago, let me say that our Realtor helped us out tons. They know what to look for, they likely know more about certain areas then you do, etc etc.
Ours was very methodical, we looked at about 30 houses before we saw the one. She never rushed us, never told us we were taking too long. Always told us to take our time and try as much as possible to leave emotion out of the equation.
So yes, I'd get one!
Plus you Americans can claim mortgage payments on your income taxes, we can't do that up here.
Wow. Tax relief on mortgages? That disappeared over here about twelve years ago. Never thought I'd hear of that again!
As far as I know. It's the only reason my brother bought a house when he lived in Northern California. I assume with the economic times it's still in effect.
The interest portion of a mortgage payment is 100% tax deductible. It's one of the few great tax breaks we have left!
Quote from: StarTrekFanatic5 on April 08, 2009, 10:54:14 AM
Hey Guys,
Last night Harry informed me that his family (mom and dad) informed him that they have gone ahead and given all three kids their inheritance, which is a fair amount. So Harry wants to take some of it and put a downpayment on a house since house prices and interest rates are lower. It's pretty amazing as I didn't think I would be a house owner. So I know many of you here own houses and I would love to get some advice and hear what kind of experience you guys had buying your home.... thanks
I was living in apartments since college and lived at home for a few months. I looked at over 20 houses with my realtor and very happy I had her along for the ride. She was great at pointing out things to watch, questions to ask and she was very familar with the geographic areas. I bought a fixer-upper for almost 40% off and that was over 10 years ago. Definitely give yourself time and have a list of non-negotiable features. That will help the realtor narrow down the list. Congratulations - this is a
GREAT time to buy. Oh - try to see homes when the owners are not there. Some of the experiences I had with owners were a little awkward - kind of like a reality show **shiver**
Quote from: marcnrow on April 08, 2009, 12:37:20 PMSome of the experiences I had with owners were a little awkward - kind of like a reality show **shiver**
I HATED looking at houses with the owners home. I felt bad looking in the rooms, I felt like I was intruding in their space. When no one's there you can look around, voice your opinion, etc.
Quote from: billybob476 on April 08, 2009, 12:53:33 PM
Quote from: marcnrow on April 08, 2009, 12:37:20 PMSome of the experiences I had with owners were a little awkward - kind of like a reality show **shiver**
I HATED looking at houses with the owners home. I felt bad looking in the rooms, I felt like I was intruding in their space. When no one's there you can look around, voice your opinion, etc.
I agree with that. We tried to move 2 years ago (but didn't) and I'd say that the same applies from the sellers viewpoint as well. It's simply much more comfortable all around if you can look round an empty house.
Congratulations Kenny, you will love having your own place and as i put on FB earlier you need to look for a place with a great basement to put your stuff in. What i will say is its the MOST stressfull thing you will ever do. Stay calm, stay focused and make sure you both are in charge of the dealings and that you fully understand whats going on. My move went pretty crappy but that was to do with the fact i had a big chain. As you are a first time buyer it should go pretty smoothly. Plus looks like you have the excellent talent of Bryan to use and lets face it, everyone wants a bit of Mr Dunn LOL.
Great news Kenny, I look forward to seeing your pictures of your new house once you get it.
I'm looking forward to visiting! :)
YAY house warming party at kennys.
Quote from: billybob476 on April 08, 2009, 12:53:33 PM
Quote from: marcnrow on April 08, 2009, 12:37:20 PMSome of the experiences I had with owners were a little awkward - kind of like a reality show **shiver**
I HATED looking at houses with the owners home. I felt bad looking in the rooms, I felt like I was intruding in their space. When no one's there you can look around, voice your opinion, etc.
You know what's worse than that?? A realtor who doesn't give the home owner advanced notice that they are bringing you by to look at their home and it's totally filthy. We looked at a house where a dog peed on the floor in several places and it hadn't been cleaned up! I was NOT buying that house. We ran into a few homes that were messy...like the owners took off just for 30 minutes and were gone until someone called them to tell them we left.
Quote from: HawkeyeMeds on April 08, 2009, 04:07:17 PM
YAY house warming party at kennys.
Oooh that sounds fun. :D
Quote from: HawkeyeMeds on April 08, 2009, 02:25:38 PM
Plus looks like you have the excellent talent of Bryan to use and lets face it, everyone wants a bit of Mr Dunn LOL.
...especially the tasty bits!
Quote from: HawkeyeMeds on April 08, 2009, 04:07:17 PM
YAY house warming party at kennys.
If you were closer Meds, that would be a night to remember! And if we couldn't remember, we would always have the police report to remind us!
Congrats Kenny, It is a great time for you and Harry to buy. I guess it is important to find a good Realtor. Maybe check around with friends and co workers who have bought homes and ask them if they have any good recommendations. Like the others have said, you want one who will not rush or pressure you into buying. One thing I found when I was looking at my first house, that at the start I was looking at houses I had no interest in, and knew 10 seconds after walking into the house, that I did not like it. So make sure to give plenty of feedback to your Realtor on what your likes and dislikes are, and what you want in a home, that way it will save you a lot of time in that you are not looking at houses that would not interest you.
Good Luck, I am sure it will be a lot of fun.
Congratulations Kenny!
I can't offer any more advice than what has already been mentioned, especially as our systems are totally different, but I will agree that it can be a very stressful thing to do and you and Harry will need all your wits about you. It's also so rewarding when you find your home and then you forget about all the stress!
Best of luck!
Thanks everyone for the advice.. sounds like it's going to be a fun adventure.
Lynn and I have bought two houses. The first was a classic, "fixer-upper." Thankfully I'm pretty handy and I did a ton of work on that place and loved the house even with it's problems. We made some profit off it. The house we live in now was newly built for us in a brand new subdivision. We got to spec it out a bit to what we wanted. I also like this place too and love the area. We both had fun house hunting and enjoyed it. Never really found it stressful at all. Just look around and shop - it's obviously a buyer's market right now so I'm sure you can get something for a great price. Good luck and have fun!
Quote from: Bryancd on April 08, 2009, 05:04:49 PM
Quote from: HawkeyeMeds on April 08, 2009, 04:07:17 PM
YAY house warming party at kennys.
If you were closer Meds, that would be a night to remember! And if we couldn't remember, we would always have the police report to remind us!
LOL aint that the truth.
Thanks everyone for your help.. I actually got pre-approved yesterday for our home loan. Everything looks great, now I just need to find a house to buy.
Ooooo post pictures and we'll help you pick ha ha.