Tips on buying a house

[katiesue]

oh something else I saw on one of those firstime homebuyers tv shows. If you are approved for say $250K and the house you buy is $200K - you don't get the $50K difference to make improvements. Those have to come out of your pocket. (it was really funny when the broker explained to the guy how it worked, he was floored).

[Prudence]

When you're looking at homes that aren't empty and staged, remember that looks can be deceiving. Sometimes rooms look smaller without anything in them than they do with - which seems odd. And if the house is still occupied, it can be hard to see past all their stuff and imagine your stuff fitting in.

Oh, and look for non-forecloseures/not bank owned in areas where there are lots of foreclosures in such. Maybe the owners are like me and are willing to cut huge deals because the foreclosure competition is just too great.

[Morrigoon]

Not to mention seller concessions like closing costs and repairs!

[Betty]

All such great advice. Really really helpful. You guys totally rock - you know that? I swear -the answers to everything are online - and the vast majority of them are right here in my little LoT home. Where's a kissing smiley when I need one?


Speaking of HOA's. I've heard a lot of horror stories about them. What's your experience with them? Helpful? Or small people who want to rule the world - or at least the neighborhood?

[Betty]

Can I expect them to do repairs that come up in the inspection? Is that a pretty normal thing to have happen? (that is the house needing repairs that the owner wasn't already aware of and them agreeing to fix them)

[alphabassettgrrl]

Originally Posted by Betty

Can I expect them to do repairs that come up in the inspection? Is that a pretty normal thing to have happen? (that is the house needing repairs that the owner wasn't already aware of and them agreeing to fix them)

You'll get a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally long list of things that are wrong with the house. Every house. Spots of dry-rot, areas of termite damage, slight problems with the plumbing that in real use, you'll never notice. Some might be worth fixing, but that will depend on what's wrong, and how bad it is. We got a slight reduction in the price because the chimney has some slight damage that we probably should get fixed but haven't.

Your question about HOAs- I despise them. I asked the universe to send me a home that didn't have one, and I got it. Sure, you risk redneck neighbors, but for the most part, I'll take the risk, over the certainty that the HOA will annoy me and make me pay for the priviledge.

Things to do: You'll need to show 3 months of bank statements to show you have the down payment, and make sure nothing shows up as an unusual deposit (have the money before you apply). They want to make sure you have the money free and clear, that it's not a loan from somewhere.

Get a second loan going. Our first one had something odd happen, and eventually they rejected us. Had we had a second application, we would have closed a bit sooner.

Never accept any variable-rate loan. Fixed rate, fixed payment.

I second the suggestion to visit the neighborhood at different times. See what it's like. Especially on a Friday night.

Good luck! May you find your dream house!

[Betty]

What's this I see about Land Use fee for all the listings on Red Fin? Do you know what that means?

[Prudence]

Depends on the repair. If an appliance doesn't work (my case), then yes - certainly expect them to repair/replace. However, what you're going to get is a laundry list of every possible flaw. And every home, no matter how well prepared, will have such a list. If the owner is no longer in the area, repairs become more difficult. Is it worth it to you to fight for touching up paint or making other minor corrections? Your realtor will advise you on what is best. If you fight for every little thing, though, the seller may decide you're too much trouble and let the deal fall through.

[Morrigoon]

Depends on who's in charge.

My preference is homes with no HOA, but that's getting harder to find these days, and of course no HOA means your neighbors can be as redneck as they want, and there's nothing you can do to protect your property's value. So it depends on what your priorities are.

The biggest problem with HOAs is that they're run by the people with the time to run them

For me, a big selling point on my condo community was when I saw that everyone had a different fence around their back yard, and different plants in the front. That told me that the HOA wasn't ridiculous with its rules, and that you had some ability to personalize your space. On the other hand, someone else might see that and think that the non-uniformity takes away from our property value.

I lived in one neighborhood in Summerlin (in Las Vegas) that was really cute, but we noticed high turnover in the residents that lived there. Turns out, the HOA was run by a bunch of old people with nothing better to do than drive the neighborhood writing nastygrams to anyone whose lawn was 1/4" too long, oil stains on their driveway, or an ugly truck parked out in front (actually, the nastygram was because there was stuff in the back of the pickup, but I'm sure the real reason was because the truck was ugly and there's nothing they can do to forbid that)

If you come across neighbors when checking out a house, they're a great source of information about the area. Don't just ask them how they like the neighborhood though, because almost everyone will say great. Ask specifics like who are the loud partyers, do the neighborhood kids run around together, are there lots of teenagers around, how's the HOA, etc.

[Betty]

Talk to the potential neighbors! Simple advice yet I don't know that I would have done that first. Good thinking.