HuskerBoard

Good point by JJ...when those guys leave...they are not coming back.

@darkhorse85 Glad you had that covered! Made my sellers cover my house for a year to cover major appliances. Didn’t need it, but never know with a 15 year old house with old W/D and original furnace and AC unit. 

If you can put down 20%, do it. Paying a “mortgage insurance premium” is a racket. 

As as I learned from a buddy, when you move in and start purchasing upgrades that affect other appliances, make sure you do your research. His Nest thermostat he got for Christmas blew up his furnace’s motherboard. Was out the Nest, $300 for a new motherboard, and heat for several days before a repairman could get to their home.

Another one.....Realtors and lenders will convince you that you qualify for more than you really can (want to) afford. Just because you may qualify for X amount of dollars doesn't mean it's a good idea to borrow that much. As @Savage Husker said, try to put down enough to eliminate the need for mortgage insurance. That premium is simply lighting money on fire. And remember with a new home you'll likely want/need to buy all sorts of other items so don't strap yourself to the hilt with your mortgage payment.

And I have no idea what a "hilt" is  :lol:

Yeah, unfortunately, we're going to need the PMI. It still will cost us less than rent would and with rent that money is just being lit on fire anyway. I think ideally we would've liked to have saved up for one more year but rent is about 1200 and a mortage including taxes etc is going  to run closer to 900 even with a minimal down payment. Also allows us to get a dog. 

Of course buying a home with mortgage insurance is still better than paying rent. But work towards eliminating that MI as soon as possible, even if you have to refi in a couple years. I just hate having to pay for things that only benefit people you’re already paying.

I put down 3% with no PMI...This was like 8 years ago.  The lender goes "Yeah, it is a new promotion we are doing, it is really popular"

I was like...Yeah...no s#!t.

Expect to spend around $1000/yr on home repairs, and if you didn't pay $1000 in a year, expect to pay $2000 next year. Furnace, AC, irrigation, W/D, fridge, driveway, deck, etc. all eventually need repaired/replaced.

Also make sure you understand exactly what your home owners insurance does and doesn't cover for things like fire, flooding, lightning.

It makes a person wonder if they learned absolutely nothing from the housing bubble bursting. They still do some crazy things as far as over lending. It’s nice if you can take advantage of it but you know they are still lending to people who they really shouldn’t be.

@JJ Husker Yeah, me!  Haha...PMI is a joke though...you know who should be paying it?  The person that owns the house...the bank.  It is the biggest scam out there.

Also, like RD said...expect to hit up Target, Home Depot and Lowes about twice a week for the first 3-4 months.

Of course avoiding PMI is ideal but to do this for your first home shouldn't sway your decision. Most times when ppl are able to put down 20% it is a gift from a parent on their first house. Avoid an FHA loan at all costs though. 

We just put down money to reserve a lot for new construction and we have until Thursday to back out before we have to sign the purchase agreement.  My head is spinning from everything, but we figured new construction was the only way we could get basically everything that we want.

Also when coming up with your mortgage amount, make sure that you are factoring in your escrow (insurance and property taxes).

Worth watching the whole thing ... but best advice is about 4.5 minutes in.  Discusses how much you should borrow at a maximum.  

Dude usually gives good advice but clearly someone in his family is a real estate agent.  The last thing you need is an agent for buying or for selling.

A lawyer (has a real estate license) will do your contract for 250 dollars.  FSBO is getting more popular because the forms for the sale are online...Agents don't tell you where the good places are to buy...they take you to the houses that you sent them that you found online.

Do your research on where you want to live and why... 

Hmmm, didn't even go there @teachercd ... 

The point I was sharing was at the 4.5 minute mark, basically, look to only borrow or look for a 15 year fixed rate where the payment is no more than a 1/4 of your take home pay.  This does not include being debt free before getting a home and having an emergency fund in place.  

I have no "two cents" of my own advice.  Most folks are like me ... and buy more than they can really afford.

Totally agree on the 15 year!

Definitely sit down and crunch your financials to see what you can afford to pay mortgage+tax+insurance wise. Like JJ said, do not get the max they say you can. Also, budget for those unexpected expenses like was mentioned before. All kinds of things are going to pop up.

Me and my GF just bought a condo. We knew we were going to redo the torn up base molding and get new appliances, but the kitchen faucet sucks too, plug and switch covers are cracked, garage door opened funky the other day, HVAC probably needs a good cleaning. Things will pop up, and they're going to add up on top of everything you payed up front.

If you can find a way to get that home warranty on an older home, I would for sure do it.

Also, don't be afraid to back out if something is not right once the inspection is finished. We did that on the first house we put an offer in on, and it was a blessing. The inspector thought there may have been asbestos in the attic, and we wanted to knock down walls below it. We would have been house poor and the reno we wanted to do would have taken forever.

FYI, you can also just buy the home warranty yourself. It's better if you can get the seller to do it, but we had no bargaining power when we bought our house a few years ago because the Denver housing market was hot. But we did get a two-year home warranty that covered the appliances, furnace, AC, etc.

Never live west of where you work.  You drive into the sunrise, drive home into the sunset.

Have your back face East....minor but nice.