First time home buyer questions?
My fiance and I are thinking about buying our first home. We are in our mid 20's and have no idea how to go about buying a house. Between the two of us we make good money, and have ok credit. not great, but not awful. We are able to get credit cards and finance a car (for a higher interest rate). Any advice would be much appreciated. Im so sick of throwing my money away renting! My questions are 1) Ive heard about loans and such for first time home buyers, what makes these different? Are they at a lower interest rate? Do you have to put less down? 2) Are HUD houses a good option? Are they ok houses to buy? 3)If you are buying a house do you have to have a real estate agent or do you work with whoever is selling the house you are looking at? 4)Are you more likely to be approved for a loan if you go through your normal bank? 5) Can you be qualified for a loan with negative things on your credit report? 6) Are things like closing costs and inspections included in your loan? 7) When making an offer on a home is it ok to offer less? If so, how much less is acceptable without being ridiculous? 8) I do have a couple negative things on my credit report(including a judgement from an old apartment) These things will be aging off my report in about 2 years. Would it be a wiser decision to wait for the bad things to come off and save money for the next couple years? 9) Do you always have to put a down payment down? If so, how much is it usually? Thanks :)
What was your worst experience as a first-time home buyer?
Did not really know what to do and I was unlucky with my first realtor. It added to the stress instead of him helping me out. I ended changing a realtor. That was the worst experience I had when I was buying my first house.For real estate tips, from home buying, home selling, mortgage, loans tips, and advice please visit my youtube channel Lance Mohr
As a first time home buyer, is it smarter to mortgage a turn key, or a fixer-upper? I am looking in the Atlanta area as well as Austin, TX
The smart thing to do is to buy a home that you love and that you can afford. Like a lot of first time home buyers you are looking at your home as an investment. It is not an investment. It is your home. Yes, your house will probably appreciate in value over the time that you own it. So what? When you sell it you are just going to buy someone else’s price inflated house. That’s not an investment. If you love your house and can afford it will be a source of joy to you and your family for the all the time that you live in it and will be a source of happy memories long after you have moved out of it.The greatest investor in modern times, Warren Buffett, lives in the same house he bought over 50 years ago even though it is worth many multiples of the price he paid for it. That tells me that he doesn’t think a home is an investment and I am not one to argue with him.Investment property is another thing and not covered in your question.Finally, if you do all the work yourself, you may come out ahead buying a fixer upper. You have to buy it right. Calculate the value of the house in its fixed up state. Subtract the cost of the repairs that you figure you will have to make. Subtract another 50% of that for repairs that you will have to make that aren’t obvious to you now. Trust me. There are always repairs you didn’t plan to make. If you can buy the house for the remaining amount it might be worth doing. If you know what you’re doing. If you have the time to make the repairs, If you have cash to buy the materials and hire and work that you can’t do on your own. If you have the patience to live in a mess during the time it takes to get the work done.I have done it both ways. Either way is fine if you get the right house and can afford it.
Dealing with Difficult Home Buyers?
Our house is in escrow. Today, I get a call from my agent telling me that the buyers need to open a new escrow because they have to get another lender. Apparently, they had some bounced check charges on their account. They signed off on a repair credit agreement last week but now say that they did not release their inspection contingency because they forgot to check a box on the form. They won't release contingencies until I give them a "24-hour notice to perform". They want me to sign a loan contingency that stays until funding. My agent says that they are being difficult with the escrow coordinator and won't cooperate with her either. I want to sell my house but I don't want to take it off the market for 6-8 weeks then have the loan fall through. Do you think I should just cancel the contract and rel-list the house?
Financial advice - first time buying house, no credit history?
You can attain a FHA loan with no credit history as they will consider alternative forms of credit including your history of paying utility bills and other things you pay monthly. But you can't use an FHA loan on a fixer upper unless it is an FHA 203k. The harder part for you to overcome is showing a proof of steady income (tax returns) for a minimum of 2 years at a rate to afford to repay the required loan. The rule of thumb of your ability to borrow is 3 times your yearly gross income. So if you need to buy a $336,000 house and make $ 36,000 you will need a roughly $225k down payment. I know you have trouble believing this, but I am willing to bet the friends of yours being paid $30k per year are in two income households and were able to put down a major down payments or made their purchases for a great deal less. If you still think this is ridiculous call your friends and ask them.
How many times can you use a va home loan?
i've been told two different stories. one is that you can only use a VA home loan once in your life time after that you can never get another one with the VA. then i've been told that you can only have ONE VA Home loan in your name at a time so if i get one house get it all payed off and want to buy another then then i can apply for another va home loan. I need some verification please and thank you =]