We are buying our first house. Any advice or suggestions?

[LonesomeTriZ]

Being since I am going to be stuck at Fort Benning for at least a year of recovery time. My wife and I saw no reason to be apart any longer. So we are looking to buy a house near by. I have already spoke to a realtor but I was also hoping to get tap into the Varity of experience here as well. What are some things we should be aware of or look for?

[Pete]

look at as many houses as you can. When you find one you like and want to put an offer in on, make sure to factor into your offer what needs to fixed on the home. Also, make your offer contingent on it passing a home inspection by a certifed inspector. Anything that doesn't pass must be fixed.

I would also recommend NOT buying a home for the amount you were pre-qualified for. I am glad I left some room under mine due to property taxes increasing etc.

[Macs]

Buying your first home you can qualify for alot of goverment grants. I bought my first ohouse in 99. I got hooked up with a great mortgage company that told me how to apply for these. The goverment paid my closing cost. They also paid for all my inspections.

[smokinwrench]

Check out the windows, our house has cheap windows and we loose tons of heat through them and not to mention in the summer they let in tons of heat also.

Also as said earlier your paymetn will go up. We made our scheduled payment the 1st month then it went up $105 per month. Your house paymetn will change every year and it normally goes up.

[85ytz250n]

Take a night light, to test plugs, and check everysingle one. Check every faucet, sink, and shower head. Look around the hot water heater for leaks. Check that all lights work, and ceiling fans work. AIf there is a garage, make sure that the door works well going up and down. Check the outside foundation, make sure that there isnt any visible deteriation, if its a wood frame house look for termites. That is about all I can remember, I had a pretty good realtor, she showed me the night light trick for checking plug-ins. Nothing major but will be a pain in the butt to discover larger electrical problems that cost more to fix.

Barry

[oldsking86]

Very true about the pre qual.. just because you can pay it based on those standards doesn't mean you want to run around with your head cutoff just to pay each months mortgage payment. Discuss wht you two want tp pay a month and then with that in mind you can get a ballpark price of the house you intend on purchasing.. Moneydown is an important factor to remember; the more you put down the less your loan is and payments would be. THere are many programs out for first time buyers that require no money down but then you still need to cover closing costs so it's a run around circle but in the end if you grab a hold of a good financer and realtor they can point you in the right direction.

[LonesomeTriZ]

That is a lot of information that I did not even think about. These suggestions will certainly be of value. I am starting a list now with this valuable information. I plan to take it with me when we start to make the deal real. Thanks, I really appreciate it.

What else?

[smokinwrench]

My wife and I searched for houses for about 1.5 years before we bought one.

We always got a good laugh about some houses. Owners woudl want a premium price but the house lookedlike 1960 on the inside. On one house we offerred $75,000 on a asking price of $85,000, it needed lots of work. Owner came down a whopping $500.

We found that nearly every house we looked at needed a minumum of paint and carpet. We got a $2,500 paint and roof repair allowance when we bought our house. We had to have the roof repaired and outside of the house painted in 45 days then they wrote us a check for $2,500, it was kinda tough to come up with that kinda cash that quick after buying a house.

[LonesomeTriZ]

That is my fear. I really do not want anything that needs a lot of work. We might and I say again might be getting into a new construction. tjose houses are so much cheaper to move into.

[XTrumpX]

One thing EVERYONE fails to mention about payment is taxes (except Pete who touched upon it). So after you figure out the loan payment which, for example, was $1000 a month. Now, add the extra $250-? on top of that payment that needs to go into escrow. And don't be the type to say you'll pay the taxes on your own because that's how people loose their house to tax leins or have to pay extra because someone bought you back taxes at an auction, which then you'll have to pay an extra 5-25% on top of what you already owe.

So, figure your loan amount + 1/12th of you yearly taxes + insurance + utilities, that's how you figure out how much you can afford before you sign.

Another good idea is, if they allow it in you area, is to pay a flat fee your round for your utilities. In colder climate regions where natural gas is used part of the year, you can arrange to pay the same amount each month, not matter how little you use during the summer. That way you don't get hit with a high bill between Sept-March. The extra money paid in the warm months stays in your account.

[LonesomeTriZ]

That is a good idea about the utilities.

We firgured the payment, insurance, and taxes on a new contruction 3 bedroom house and it came out a lot cheaper than I thought it would. It almost has me worried it was so cheap.

[weed]

check all the walls and carpet with a blacklight!!!!!!!lol

[LonesomeTriZ]

check all the walls and carpet with a blacklight!!!!!!!lol

Um, gross.

I hope the people that moved into my old house did not do that.

[xd 200x]

Build a house most houses around bases are crap or older than dirt. + I dont think it is wise to buy or build a house with unless you can garentee you will not get tranfered within 2 years. For tax reasons.

[bigreddaddy]

In my opinion, INSPECTION INSPECTION INSPECTION! We didn't have any problems with our house, but a friend of mine just bought a house that WAS inspected. BUT it turns out the dumb inspector didn't catch on that the whole house wiring was very, very old. It is the kind that doesn't use a breaker box. I can't think of what they call it at this moment.
Now this house was supposedly remodeled, updated everything, blah blah. After he bought it his insurance guy went out to inspect and found out about the wiring and said they would not give him homeowners insurance.
So he eventually had to get an attorney and the whole house is now being rewired.
He still has not been able to move in yet, and this happened about 2 months ago.

Good Luck.