How long did it take you to buy a home?

[undergunfire]

With the market being so low right now, I am dying to buy a house. I just dream of being able to do whatever I want with a house, having a super sweet bunny room, fenced yard for Sammy, possible "kitty yard" for the kitties, etc. I hate renting and having to be super careful with the animals, so they don't ruin anything.

We are renting at $975 a month. We could buy a house and have our payments for less or equal to that. I've been looking around online for houses and I have seen so many that I love. Then there is the $8k house credit now and options to get houses with no down payment (I watch lots of HGTV!).

I guess I feel anxious because when the market goes back up....those $100k homes will be up towards $150K. The market was out of control when I first moved here 4 years ago. My parents purchased their house for $200k...it is probably worth $120k or less in this market. A house down the street from them that is much nicer is just $124k!!!


So...how long did it take you after how many years of renting, to finally buy you're first home either having getting married or doing it on you're own?

 

[BethM]

My husband and I just bought our first house. I am 33, and he is 28. We got married last September.

For us, I could never have bought a house without him, as he had the down payment. We need both incomes, though, to make the payments.

We sort of got lucky. The $8k tax credit is a real bonus for us, as is the low prices right now. Even so, we didn't get everything we wanted. The house is a bit on the small side, which I just keep reminding myself that is a good thing because it helps keep the energy bills lower. Less house to heat and cool!

The housing market here isn't quite as bad as in some places, so while the prices are low, they're not rock-bottom. A lot of the places we looked at were larger, but needed lots of work. Neither of us wanted to get into something that required a lot of DIY stuff, or big outlays of money to hire contractors. So we went a bit smaller, and the house needed (almost) no work. Even the paint colors inside are acceptable, so we didn't even have to paint, and the previous owner took the time to clean everything really well.

We did decide to do a down payment, which I recommend doing the biggest one you can afford, as it will save you in interest in the long run. (We were also lucky to get a REALLY low interest rate.) Jason had the money for the down payment and other misc. moving expenses (inspection, misc. furniture, moving truck, etc.) from an inheritance he got when his grandmother passed away a few years ago. (The rest of that inheritance paid for our honeymoon last year.)

 

[undergunfire]

We unfortunately don't have money for a down payment. It is really hard to save money and it would take us years and years to possibly save a decent down payment...by then, the market could be back up and we wouldn't be able to afford to buy.

We are looking right now at finding new jobs...or possibly starting up a coffee shop with my BIL & SIL's help. They own a store in Madison, WI right now and have former experience owning a coffee shop. We have awesome ideas, so we are hopeful.

It just stinks that we probably aren't in the place to buy a house now....but maybe in a year. I just fear houses might be too expensive again by then?

Since we probably can't buy a house now, we are going to look for a new place to rent as our lease is up in January. We really need a yard with a doggie door for our dog!

 

[slavetoabunny]

Right now is probably an extraordinary time to buy a home.
The prices are great.n I work in commercial banking, which deals with the builder end of the deal. The market isn't friendly to the seller right now. Make an offer based on what you can afford.

I purchased my first home in 2004 and the age of 45. Granted, prior to that we lived in CA for 11 years and there was no way we could buy there.

 

[EileenH]

We looked for about 8 years. When we first got married, we rented for a couple of years, then looked but it was at the height of the market and every time we bid on something we could afford, they hiked the price up and we couldn't afford it anymore.
So, we took a couple of years off, continued to rent; we were lucky, we found a place for $600/month (but to be fair, it had a bunch of mold that made my husband pretty sick), but we were able to save a bunch of money.

We resumed looking, and my dad passed away. We asked my mom if she wanted to buy something with us, and after thinking about it, she agreed. She sold her house and is helping us out, but it's still suuuuuuuuper expensive, owning a home. It's nice not to have to answer to anyone about anything, but it stinks that every time something breaks, it's up to us to fix it.

I still look on online at homes; I think it's more fun now. I thought house shopping was very stressful; I'd fall in love with a house only to be outbid. So, it's more fun to "window shop" now that I'm not in the market anymore.
Here's a picture of me, my husband, my mom & our dogin front ofour house. It looks a lot bigger than it actually is:

We have the upstairs, and she has the downstairs.

 

[MikeScone]

I bought my first house when I was 29, quite without planning to do so.

I had just set up shop as a new lawyer, and the elderly lawyer next door to me brought me an estate to handle, as he was too busy. It turned out to be a really complicated thing - the old lady who had lived (and died) in the house had a will, but it was invalid. I had to search the house for another will - it was a tiny house (600 sq ft or less), and every square foot was filled with paper and... stuff. She never threw anything away. We wound up filling three pickup truck loads of paper before we were done, and found three more invalid wills. In the end, we finally found a valid will - only it was dated 1953, and left everything to someone in Egypt (this was in 1981). Along the way, we found out that she had been married in 1950 to someone else in Egypt, who had died in the meanwhile, and then a woman turned up who was her father's daughter by his second wife (whom he had married without bothering to divorce her mother)... I could write a book.

Anyway, until we found all these people we couldn't put the will up for probate, and that took nearly a year. All I could think of is that in the meanwhile I was responsible for this house. So, I mowed the lawn through the summer, shoveled the driveway in the winter, and so on, just to make it look like the place wasn't abandoned. We finally got things straightened out, and, as the trustee of the estate and I were preparing for the final estate sale to get rid of all the stuff, she said to me, "you ought to buy this house, it's perfect for you". After thinking a lot about it - I'd been living in the same apartment for eight years, and wasn't in any hurry to move - I decided to go for it.

It seemed very expensive at the time - $30,000 - and I had to take out a huge mortgage - $15,000 (at 16.5%) but I never regretted it...

 

[Nancy McClelland]

we bought our first house six months after we were married--Larry just couldn't stand paying money to someone else and not getting anything back. That was in the Bay Area in Northern Ca. It was $42, 900. The in-laws kept harping about paying too much, til the smaller house across the street sold the next month for $54,000--that was in 1976. Now is a great time to buy--FHA has a Nehemiah Program which pretty much makes the seller take part of the proceeds and make your down payment.

 

[BethM]

Around here, it is impossible to get a home loan without a down payment anymore. We were turned down by one bank before we found another willing to give us a loan, even with a down payment.

Our house has a new roof, water heater, furnace, and heat pump. We also got the seller to pay for the home warranty, so although I'm still nervous about something breaking, hopefully it won't be a huge problem.

 

[Gordon]

Well, real estate in Louisville is pretty cheap anyway, compared to other cities this size, but I bought my house in August of 2001, for $54,000, which truly is not typical, even for here. It is a style of house called a "shotgun". The reason it's called that, is because if you were to open the front door, and shoot a gun through it, the bullet would pass through every room, and out the back door, lol. The shotgun style is quite common in the older neighborhoods of Louisville. There is also a "camelback shotgun" style, which is a shotgun, but with a second floor on the back end, kind of resembling a camel's hump, lol.

I have lived on my own since I graduated from college, in 1990, but I've always had decent enough paying jobs, and rented cheap apartments, so I was able to buy this house completely with cash, no loan at all.

The house is over 100 years old, but was already fixed up when I bought it. The only thing I might do, many moons from now, is turn it into a camelback, by adding a cast iron spiral staircase in the living room. I would turn that upstairs area into my room, and let Peter and Bugs have our current bedroom. --They've already taken it over, anyway.

 

[undergunfire]

Thank you for all the replies, you guys....I love hearing everyone's individual stories :biggrin2:!

So, we went and looked at a coffee shop bistro that was for sale on Monday...and we learned that we probably won't get a bank loan because apparently you need a hefty down payment for businesses. So, there is the option to find a business where the owner will carry financing....or we buy a house and do it through that way . Ryan has been talking with his uncle (who owns a car lot and a bar in Cali) about which way we should go about things...

So...Ryan filled out the paper work online for the first time buyer's grant thing and wants to possibly start looking for a house to buy in the next few months since our lease is up in January. We need to see how much on a loan we can get, so we are going to go to the bank soon to find out. I've seen people on HGTV get houses with no down payments, ask for closing costs to be covered, etc....so we might possibly be able to get a house.

I need to find time to sit down and read/research about buying houses and stuff. I am really clueless when it comes to all the money talk and things like that.

 

[Bunnymom,K]

When Scott and I got married we rented a house for a few months- it was tough because when we got married I already had 3 dogs and a cat (I had to give up my bunnies when we got the rental). Then after a few months we bought a cheap trailer house (big mistake) and moved to my grandpa's farm. The deal was we could move a trailer house into the old cow pasture across the driveway in exchange we helped him out (his health was not very good but he still wanted to farm). So after a couple years I got rabbits again- and our chickens lol. It was nice to be on the farm, however the trailer house was one problem after another. Turns out the "new carpet and interior paint" was just covering up moldy floor boardsssd: We spent almost 8 years living in that place trying to fix things up. But it was only 2 bedrooms and by this time we had 2 kids and still had dogs and cats.

Then 3 years ago my grandpa passed away from cancer and the farm was sold- (way too much land for us to buy) but some neighbors bought it and were going to sell the home place (some acreage and my grandpa's house, the barn, etc) but they were asking twice the appraisal value and there was no way we could buy it. So we had to move. We moved around a lot as a kid, but this was the hardest move of my life. Not only had that farm been "home" to me my whole life, but it was home to my kids and it was the final resting place of several very special pets.

2 years ago we bought half an acre in Broadview (we had been living just a few miles west before- but Broadview only has a population of about 150), and we built a walk out basement and a modular home to put on top- it's been two years and we are still struggling with getting everything finalized because the marked dropped out as we were building.

So 10 years later and we "hopefully" will officially be signing papers on our first real house this fall!ray:

 

[BethM]

undergunfire wrote:

So...Ryan filled out the paper work online for the first time buyer's grant thing and wants to possibly start looking for a house to buy in the next few months since our lease is up in January. We need to see how much on a loan we can get, so we are going to go to the bank soon to find out. I've seen people on HGTV get houses with no down payments, ask for closing costs to be covered, etc....so we might possibly be able to get a house.

I need to find time to sit down and read/research about buying houses and stuff. I am really clueless when it comes to all the money talk and things like that.

I wish you good luck, and I second that you should look into the financial stuff, it will help you a lot.

I recommend applying for your home loan with locally-owned banks. They can sometimes help you out when a national place can't. If one place turns you down, apply at a second place. You will have to provide just about every financial detail about your lives, so make sure you have all of that in order. Apply for your loan as soon as possible, the bank will usually give you a time-frame on it before the offer expires. That way, you're not in a rush at the last minute to find something before your lease is up.

Remember that those tv shows were filmed a year ago (or more if they show a repeat), and that each market is different. (ie, the economy in Austin is not too bad, so lenders will lend more, and take more chances on borrowers than they might in a city where the economy is worse off.) Where I am, no one will do a home loan without a down payment. But, our seller would not pay any of our closing costs, because there are plenty of people looking to buy here.

Also, make sure you have enough money saved to cover your Earnest Money, and home inspection. These are necessary, and come out of your pocket up front. I also recommend that ask the seller to include a home warranty, you will need to ask for this at the same time you make an offer on the house. You may need to purchase some appliances, as well, so you should have enough money set aside to cover that.

 

[slavetoabunny]

I agree with Beth. I work at a bank, and in today's market I would be very surprised if you found a zero-down, closing costs paid deal. When I bought my house in 2004, the market was hot, hot, hot. Those were the days when they were offering 125% mortgages with no documentation. That was one of the major causes of today's real estate crisis. I did put down 20% on my house and I got a mortgage where all my closing costs with the exception of the 1% broker fee were paid.

 

[EileenH]

My biggest advice to you is to make sure you know how much you can afford and stick with that. Though the banks are more cautious nowadays that a few years ago, I was blown away by what they were trying to lend us - one of them, when I did my calculations, I would have been $700 [shadow=red]in the red[/shadow]every month! When I told the bank that, they said I should cut down on my expenses, like food.:shock:I decided it would be better to wait until I had more money saved than be on a diet for 30 years.

Around my way, there is no way you can have 20%. You'd need to have $90,000 downpayment *without* closing costs. But, if you have good credit they put it into something called PMI, or in my case, a smaller second mortgage.

 

[slavetoabunny]

PMI, or Private Mortgage Insurance, is required by most lending institutions when your loan-to-value is greater than 80%. It's fairly pricey.

 

[EileenH]

I know..somehow I circumvented that with a second mortgage. We had a good down payment (about 10%) and both of us had phenomenal credit, so perhaps that was it.

 

[BethM]

We went with the mortgage insurance instead of starting out with two mortgages. It's not actually adding a whole lot to our monthly payment (less than $100), and after we pay off 20% of our principle, we don't have to pay it anymore.
We put down 8%. We could have put a little more down, that's the minimum the bank was requiring and we decided to put the rest in the bank in case of emergencies. (Jason doesn't believe in credit cards.)

We lucked out and got a fixed 4.75% interest rate. Our loan officer said she locked that in for us on Thursday, and by Monday the rates were up almost to 6%. Woohoo!

 

[BethM]

undergunfire wrote:

So...Ryan filled out the paper work online for the first time buyer's grant thing and wants to possibly start looking for a house to buy in the next few months since our lease is up in January.

What online paperwork are you referring to? According to my bank, and federal websites, all you need to do is fill out a form when your taxes are filed next year.

 

[undergunfire]

Thanks, guys....I only had time to skim through you're replies, as Ryan and I are on our way out the door to drive by a this house..

http://www.azmoves.com/Property/PropertyDetails.aspx?PropertyID=349757


Does anyone know anything about foreclosures?

 

[BethM]

Foreclosures can often take a long time to buy. They are now owned by a bank,and banks aren't set up to be in the house-selling business. Some are not organized, some just don't know how to go about it. But since you have time until your rental lease is up, you might be able to score a good deal on a foreclosure if you have the patience.

From this listing, there are no appliances included (though there are some in the photos, so some may stay), and the seller (the bank) won't pay for any repairs.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a house from anyone who wouldn't pay for any repairs. Sometimes they won't even let you do an inspection, before the contract is final,and that is BAD NEWS. You could end up with some serious problems that will cost you a ton of money. No matter how good the price looks, just walk away. (Unless you and Ryan are knowledgeable fixers.)