First time home buyer, what do you think.

[88vert]

For 10 years old you are getting a great deal,with a new door on the garage it would look even better.Is there like a little "work shop"in the garage.

 

[JoshC]

Well, kinda sorta. It's just a regular 1 car garage, just little wider, and that little room on the side, well it was locked and no one has a key and it doesn't come into the garage via another door, so i think i would cut a door out inside that way i can have alittle workshop. Man, i just love to think about the "what do i want to do" in this kind of purchase. But i shouldn't get my hopes up, seems like everytime i do i get burnt! But with a little prayer and effort, i'm sure the good Lord will provide me with what i need, i just hope it has a garage, haha!!

Happy trails!!

 

[88vert]

I wish you all the luck!

 

[eskals]

The garage looks older than the house. Is it? I agree, the garage tends to distract from the apperance of the house.

One thing about that siding, is consider what type of finish you want to apply on it. A lot of people put up cedar siding, and put a transparent stain on it. Looks absolutely beautiful for a while, but it needs constant maintenance to keep it looking well. Looks like that is the case with this house. A solid color stain or even a paint will give much better longevity and require much less maintenance. Just a thought.

The house does look good though. I like that it is up away from the ground, not real close which will just cause troubles later on. If it has a basement, watch out for foundation leaks. Block walls are troublesome when it comes to leaks.

Eric

 

[JoshC]

88vert, thank you!

eskals--yeah we have already talked about the siding and the work that needs done, first step is to clean it really good then we'll have to see what's available in terms of long term protection. I don't mind the maintience because we really want a log cabin, so that would be 10 times more work, but i love this little place and i hope everything works out today. I'll let you all know what happens when i get back from my appointments, thanks!

Happy trails!!

 

[Frisckey1]

Home Buying...

Congrats on all your new endeavors! Depending on how your appointments go, you may not need this advice, but I will give it anyway.

We bought our house last year, for alittle more than what you are saying they are asking, and we heard about this guy that is a mortgage broker. Mortgage brokers are the bomb! We only had to do 1 credit report and he ran it against several companies for the best rates. We got a 7.5% loan w/ no points/no downpayment. Our mortgage is 608.00/mo, plus an additional 150.00 a months for taxes and insurance. Seller paid closing costs. Try looking for a broker...you don't pay him anything..not a dime (at least we didn't), he just used the companies that his brokerage deals with and they give him a "commission" of sorts.

Good Luck!!!!

 

[Stephen]

Hey congrats on the purpose.

I think you'll find that even if you have a few other houses in your lifetime, you'll never love one like your first one again.

Enjoy!

 

[JoshC]

Hey thanks fellas, yeah i know what you are talking about on the brokers, we haven't talked with one yet. I do have some good news though. I was approved for the loan!!!!!! I was excited. But they APR was little more then i was looking for. It was like 7 and a quarter or something. Which wasn't bad, but we can do better at this time. So i'm getting ready to call another company who said i should be able to get 6.38m that would be great! So i'll let you know how that goes. For now, here is a link to my album on webshots of all the photos from today and yesterday, let me know what you think.
my "hoping to be" home

Happy trails!!

 

[addkev]

Remember to look at the points, the lowest APR, isn't always best if you are going to have pay more points. And, now that you are pre-approved don't do ANYTHING to your credit. A coworker of mine was preapproved and then went and got a loan to buy new furniture for his house, when it came time to close he was denied, because he had increased his debt to income.

CONGRATS!

 

[JoshC]

That's a good point, i appriciate that!

Well i just got pre approved for another load at 6.38%. It's amazing how that works. That is going to save me over $100 a month! Sweet! More money to spend on the explorer, yeah that will go over well! Right now i'm holding the contract off until thursday so we'l just have to wait till then and check it out. Thanks everyone!

Happy trails!!

 

[kvo]

Have you already bid and got the house?

If not, may be you can do that now, no sense in waiting and have the house sold before you have a shot at it.

Definitely have the seller pay for the home warranty (1-yr), check for leaks from the roof also. We didn't check for that when we bought our house in the summer and found out about the leaks in the winter time. I guess you could run a water hose on the roof and see if it leaks anywhere.

Oh yeah, check to see if the electrical meets current codes and if it has enough juice to run all your appliances, TV, surround sytem, tools, etc. in the house. Outlets near water sources should be GFCI - ground fault circuit interupter. If you have a 200 AMP service then you're golden, if you have a 100 AMP then depending on your usage, you may need to have it upgraded - an item that you could negotiate with the seller (50/50), just a thought.

Seeing prices in other parts of the Country and compare to what we have to pay here in CA, especially in the Bay Area is very painfull. Median price is about $500k in San Jose. For $500k you'd get about 1700SF, 3bdrm/2.5 bth, 20-35 year old house that would need at least another $25k worth of improvements to make it decent!!! Add 1.125% property tax to the mortgage payment and you never have enough money.

Regarding loans, if you're going to be in this house for less than 5 years, you could also consider a fixed/ARM loan (i.e. fixed rate the first 3-5 years and then adjustable after that). This will get your mortgage a lot lower the first few years, IF you're going to buy another house within 5 years. Just another option, it's hugely popular here in the Bay Area.

Very Important: when you're at the title company to close the loan, take your time to go through and read the documents, and make sure you understand and agree with all the fees. Some of the fees (documentation, credit reports, initiation, etc.) can be waived by the title company if you discuss it with them.

Save all your papers/receipt, you're going to get a major refund (IRS and State) at the end of the year after getting married and buying a house.

Good Luck and have fun with your new house.

 

[JoshC]

Wow, that's alot of info to take in at once. But man i sure do appriciate all the help from everyone. maybe we should rename the site: www.explorer4x4andhomebuying.com haha.

Anyways, no we haven't made a big yet. Last night the realestate agent called me to try and scare me into making a bid fast cause he said "the other contract has been put in" and then he asked me "what your starting bid was going to be" and i said, "well i think we might start out at 76, he said "nope. Nothing in the 70's will take that house. You need to make bid like tomorrow in the 80's." I replied, "welllet me think about it, i'm in no hurry so i'll let you know what i decide." He was just trying to scare me so i called my dad and talked to him about it.

Luckly the realestate dudes boss is a good friend of my soon to be mother in law. Well we gave her a call and she said, "no you have plenty of time. The first contract went in the low 70's and it probably just made the morgage company mad! They haven't even replied yet." So we decided to meet with her tomorrow night and she is going bring a contract and she is going to tell us what it is going to take to buy the house, hopefully it will be in our price range. I met her up there today cause she hasn't even seen the house and she loved it. She said she thought it was worth what they were asking, and it is. She's not pulling my chain, she is honest and up front with me so i'm happy about that. After the contract is signed they have to appraise it first, then the inspector will come and check it out for us, so we'll hopefully get the ball rolling again tomorrow, so i'll let you all know what happens tomorrow night, thanks again!!

Happy trails!!

 

[88vert]

There is a lot of money to be made in realestate

 

[kvo]

JOT017 -

Don't let the agent bullied you into making a bid you're uncomfortable with. Only bid what you think is worth to you, depending on how you guys feel about the house, if you absolutely have to have it, or not.

If the house has been on the market for three months or longer, the seller should be very motivated and you can get it for a decent price. I don't think the market there is anything like over here where people used to bid way way over the asking price. I think as long as your offer is reasonable and is somewhat close to their asking price, they would sell you the house instead of keep making the mortgage payments themselves.

I think your pre-approved loan is going to be beneficial in showing them that you're ready to sign on the dotted line if they're ready to sell! It's your bargaining chip, reason to them that instead of having to hold on the house and keep making payments of it for months, they can sell the house to you and have it done and over with.

I also agree with one of the previous posts about trying to stay away from mortgage insurance by making a 20% down payment. Another creative option is to have two mortgages: 1st - 80% of the loan, 2nd - whatever the difference between the 80% and what you put down (i.e. if you put down 5%, then the 2nd mortgage will be 15% of the loan), your interest rate on the 2nd will be a little higher but it's all deductible.

 

[JoshC]

Well, i got some more news, seems like the other couple had bid 79,900 and they didn't take it, so we are still going to meet tomorrow and then decide what we are going to do.

kvo--About the percentage thing. If we don't have the morgage insurance, and something happens to Kelly or I then they will have to repo the house if we couldn't afford it, so i think we will keep the insurance so that if something did happen the house will be paid off. It was a good idea, i didn't know exactly what it was until my dad explained to me, thanks!

Happy trails!!

 

[JoshC]

Well, we had our meeting, we met for about 2 hours, looked everything over really good. Talked about everything, went to dinner and talked about it again. The morgage company counter offered at 83,000, so we decided to bid that! She is putting our bid in in the morning. They just countered today, so hopefully the other couple hasn't gotten their bid, if any, in yet! I'm leaving to head to NC tomorrow and she told me that she is going to try and push it through so can know for sure if it is ours before i leave! Man, i am on cloud 9!!!!! We really wanted this house, so we decided that we could afford it, and hopefully it will be ours! I'll let everyone know as soon as i can, thanks again everyone!

Happy trails!!

 

[ljancewicz]

house

two words Alum. Siding

 

[Bionc Marsh.]

!!!!!!!!!!

You got'a be kidding, alum, siding!!!!!

That s*@t went out in the 70's.

Josh, if you must cover the wood (and I don't recommend it), use vinyl at least.

 

[JoshC]

I'm not covering the wood, that's one of the main reasons i'm buying the house. It just hasn't been treated for 10 years that's why it looks a little black. But i'm keeping the word, thanks for the suggestion anyways! I'm hoping i can hear something today, so i'll let you all know!

Happy trails!!

 

[kvo]

Nothing a little power washing and a little bleaching can't fix (only if you want it a little lighter). After the cleaning, then a few coats of sealants and it's as good as new. Yeah, you want to give it a few good coats of sealants so it doesn't dry out, curl up and be more susceptible to fire.

Good job and hope you got the house.