NT's Homeowners, I need help.(25+ come on in)

[SneakerProSr.]

I've finally made up my mind to buy a house.

I'm single, no kids, make about 65K a year. The only debt I have outside of housing and food are my car and students loans which totally about $35000 or $900 monthly combined.

I live in DFW so cost of living is relatively cheap. I go to mortage calculators and they tell me I can "afford" a $150,000 house. 

Now I look at  houses in my area and $150,000 gets me WAY more house than I need. Hell I don't have enough stuff to fill up a house that big.

Now I hear about FHA loans with no money down and all that but I just want hear from someone who has actually bought a house and outside of my mortgage what other monthly expenses are involved.

 

[north dade represent]

Bought a house in Oct 2008. 2100 sq feet, big backyard, way more than what I needed but had the living room I was looking for. Put 10% down and now I've lost a lot of the equity that I had in it, but I'm not underwater. Stupdily, I took a promotional offer to another city and now I'm trying to sell my house. I'm not really feeling the market right now, so I might have to move back.

Here's a few things I have to comment on.

1. Make sure you are committed to the area you live in, I mean if there was a job offer with a 25% raise in another city, you'd be cool with turning it down
2. Maintenance is a headache for older homes, minor headache for newer homes. Make sure you budget according to how old our house is.
3. You want to put money down. Unless you're getting an ARM or soemthing you want to get to 20% equity as soon as possible. Then you don't have to put money into the toxic wasteland known as PMI.
4. $150K in Dallas/FW may give you more house than you need, but what neighborhhod are you looking at? You want to be in a solid neighborhood for resale value and just in case you live there for a long time and raise your family there

Good luck bro, interest rates are low as hell, so it's good to jump on it right now. Just make sure the Dallas lifestyle is what you are looking for, cause if you get a taste for another city, you're SOL.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

Originally Posted by North Dade Represent

Bought a house in Oct 2008. 2100 sq feet, big backyard, way more than what I needed but had the living room I was looking for. Put 10% down and now I've lost a lot of the equity that I had in it, but I'm not underwater. Stupdily, I took a promotional offer to another city and now I'm trying to sell my house. I'm not really feeling the market right now, so I might have to move back.

Here's a few things I have to comment on.

1. Make sure you are committed to the area you live in, I mean if there was a job offer with a 25% raise in another city, you'd be cool with turning it down
2. Maintenance is a headache for older homes, minor headache for newer homes. Make sure you budget according to how old our house is.
3. You want to put money down. Unless you're getting an ARM or soemthing you want to get to 20% equity as soon as possible. Then you don't have to put money into the toxic wasteland known as PMI.
4. $150K in Dallas/FW may give you more house than you need, but what neighborhhod are you looking at? You want to be in a solid neighborhood for resale value and just in case you live there for a long time and raise your family there

Good luck bro, interest rates are low as hell, so it's good to jump on it right now. Just make sure the Dallas lifestyle is what you are looking for, cause if you get a taste for another city, you're SOL.

Bro I appreciate words. I currently live in literally the fastest growing city in America and only see people coming out here more and more. The part I'm skeptical about is the whole committing  to be being here for a while. I like Dallas but I don't love it I think my expectations where too high before I came here.

My current lease isn't up until November of this year so I'm not doing anything until August at the earliest.

 

[timcity2000]

definitely the right time... interest rates are not gonna get any lower.

if you can put 20% down, you'll avoid paying PMI (mortgage insurance). wish i could have done that.

 

[yeeupp]

how old are you?

 

[SneakerProSr.]

Originally Posted by YEEUPP

how old are you?

27

 

[jordan201]

Not to threadjack, but I've been wanting to ask this question:

Is there any way someone with bad credit can still buy a house ? If so, how?

 

[dwele farooq al suleed afzul]

Originally Posted by SneakerPro

Originally Posted by North Dade Represent

Bought a house in Oct 2008. 2100 sq feet, big backyard, way more than what I needed but had the living room I was looking for. Put 10% down and now I've lost a lot of the equity that I had in it, but I'm not underwater. Stupdily, I took a promotional offer to another city and now I'm trying to sell my house. I'm not really feeling the market right now, so I might have to move back.

Here's a few things I have to comment on.

1. Make sure you are committed to the area you live in, I mean if there was a job offer with a 25% raise in another city, you'd be cool with turning it down
2. Maintenance is a headache for older homes, minor headache for newer homes. Make sure you budget according to how old our house is.
3. You want to put money down. Unless you're getting an ARM or soemthing you want to get to 20% equity as soon as possible. Then you don't have to put money into the toxic wasteland known as PMI.
4. $150K in Dallas/FW may give you more house than you need, but what neighborhhod are you looking at? You want to be in a solid neighborhood for resale value and just in case you live there for a long time and raise your family there

Good luck bro, interest rates are low as hell, so it's good to jump on it right now. Just make sure the Dallas lifestyle is what you are looking for, cause if you get a taste for another city, you're SOL.

Bro I appreciate words. I currently live in literally the fastest growing city in America and only see people coming out here more and more. The part I'm skeptical about is the whole committing  to be being here for a while. I like Dallas but I don't love it I think my expectations where too high before I came here.

My current lease isn't up until November of this year so I'm not doing anything until August at the earliest.

Yo, you wanna make a 3hr drive Sunday to see the Heat? I got a ticket for you if you let me know in time, for the low. Anyways, check trulia.com and realtor.com and from there, it'll link you to their official site. Usually it'll make u create a sign in to see the full details on the properties, and then their pushy %$@%# call you literally every time you log in. But they were cool and not harassing at all, most big agencies have their own mortgage lenders and credit counselors who will sit down with you for free and tell you how much you can afford, analyze your financial situation, and even help you get derogatory entries off your report for free. I'm surprised you don't like Dallas though, what cities do you like? I always like it when I go down there, plus like you said, very reasonable cost of living and even moreso in the surrounding cities like SouthLake and Garland.

Yea in Dallas he can easily get something  greater than 2000sf with a yard and 2 car garage for that.

 

[neverds]

damn 150k for a house??? i cant even find a condo for that price in the bay area -_- anyways def. put some money down. eventho there are some first time home buyer programs that have fixed intrest rates it would be best to put 20-30k down depending on the price of the house. oh yeah dont forget about prop. tax. they seem to kick me in the nuts twice a year.

 

[BANLEU]

Damn, it's nice that 150k buys you a lot out there. Here in the DMV it barely buys you a condo.

 

[mr jordan04]

Good luck. I'm starting to look for a condo myself

 

[dwele farooq al suleed afzul]

200k gets you

http://www.realtor.com/re...as_TX_75243_M89525-49643 2600 sq ft and a pool

http://www.realtor.com/re...as_TX_75249_M85567-03831 2500 sq ft in a new construction w hardwoor, granite, and 3 living rooms

150k

http://www.realtor.com/re...as_TX_75240_M89589-40003 2300 sq ft w 2 living rooms and a loft

http://www.realtor.com/re...as_TX_75249_M76236-64446 2300 kind of plane though

http://www.realtor.com/re...962-95800?ex=TX524844299 3000 sq ft in Fort Worth built in 2005

or he could do the condo/townhome thing but I wouldn't recommend it in Dallas (since you can get a house for the same price) plus I hate high HOA fees, 150k condos

http://www.realtor.com/re...as_TX_75246_M79376-36584 1600 sq ft condo

http://www.realtor.com/re...as_TX_75209_M72984-83329 2br/2ba panty dropper

 

[SneakerProSr.]

This right here.

Like this is a neighborhood around where I live now at a price I can "afford"

Ain't no way in hell I'm living in Dallas city limits. I did it the first I was here. No bueno plus my brother lives right downtown so when I hang out I can crash at his place.

No further north than Frisco(where I live now) no further south than Addison.

The only way I'd live in Dallas again is if I could afford to live in a high rise downtown.

 

[airjapan707]

FHA requires 3% down but you have to remember there are closing costs. Depending on the state closing costs can run from 3-5% of the selling price. But you can also ask the buyer to pay a portion of the closing costs. The most helpful thing for me was hiring a real estate broker. She did all of the grunt work and really made the whole process really easy. The best part is the broker splits the realator commission so you don't have to pay any out of pocket costs for a broker.

 

[airjapan707]

Originally Posted by JoRDaN201

Not to threadjack, but I've been wanting to ask this question:

Is there any way someone with bad credit can still buy a house ? If so, how?

Do you know what your score is? FHA is the easiest to qualify for and I think the requirement was a score of 640. I could be off by 10 points or so but it's right around that range. It's a lot easier to raise your credit score than you might think.

 

[dens415]

Yeah FHA is pretty cool if you dont have good credit.

I scooped my house in April of 2009 i believe, I'm turning 25 this August. Copped a 3 bedroom, 2 bath in Pittsburg CA for $90K.

The down payment like stated for FHA is 10% if i recall correctly. But my loan lady told me to have double because banks like to see you have "just in case money" is what she said. And with FHA you cant have a POS house that needs a lot of work to do. The first house I wanted needed a bunch of stuff I was willing to fix because once it was done, the house would be

But im happy with my house, nice neighborhood, house was in awesome condition.

Plus the credit score jump every 6 months is always good lol

 

[dosky323]

Bump

 

[sundizzle]

Damn 150k that's it!? Wow. In Cali, I couldn't even buy a kitchen for 150k.

 

[JayDean03]

get a broker, they are much help.

and dont rush to the nicest looking crib, just take your time and you should be good, also get an inspector.

good luck fam.

 

[jschue]

OP have you thought about buying a duplex? You and I are almost in the exact same boat- incomes, age, size of house wanted. I was looking at houses the other day around my area (Missouri) and everything was way too big for me. I live in a 900 sq ft apartment by myself and that is almost too big. What the hell am I going to do with a 2,000 sq ft house?

I'm thinking about getting a duplex now. Each unit same square footage of my apartment, rent out the other side and have the tenant pay the mortgage. Then when I'm ready for a fam buy something with the money I've saved from renting the duplex.

 

[patmc13]

I wouldn't buy a house unless you can put down 20%.  I bought my first house about 9 months ago for $200,000. 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, a little over 2,400 sqf., 2 car garage, and a .25 acre.  I put down payment of $40,000, and I had about $11,000 in closing costs.  Don't worry about buying a house to big as long as you are getting a good deal.  I have 3 bedrooms empty in my house, and my living room and dining room do not get used.  Write your mortgage up on a 30 year fixed, but pay double the principal when you get your montly bill, and you will prolly save over $100,000.

 

[dirtylicious]

how much have you saved up?

 

[cjdynasty]

Originally Posted by Patmc13

I wouldn't buy a house unless you can put down 20%.  I bought my first house about 9 months ago for $200,000. 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, a little over 2,400 sqf., 2 car garage, and a .25 acre.  I put down payment of $40,000, and I had about $11,000 in closing costs.  Don't worry about buying a house to big as long as you are getting a good deal.  I have 3 bedrooms empty in my house, and my living room and dining room do not get used.  Write your mortgage up on a 30 year fixed, but pay double the principal when you get your montly bill, and you will prolly save over $100,000.

51K sitting around and double the principal every month?!  Now thats some saving/budgeting....

Originally Posted by jschue

OP have you thought about buying a duplex? You and I are almost in the exact same boat- incomes, age, size of house wanted. I was looking at houses the other day around my area (Missouri) and everything was way too big for me. I live in a 900 sq ft apartment by myself and that is almost too big. What the hell am I going to do with a 2,000 sq ft house?

I'm thinking about getting a duplex now. Each unit same square footage of my apartment, rent out the other side and have the tenant pay the mortgage. Then when I'm ready for a fam buy something with the money I've saved from renting the duplex.

This is actually the best move if you can pull it off.  I was thinking of this same situation.  Im in Dayton, Ohio, and we have the worst housing market (Buyer's dream) in the country.  However, im born and raised here, so I desparately want to get out.  Therefore, im heistant on making such a long term decision to buy a crib.  Essentially since re-selling here will not be an option.  I am similarly situated like OP, being 26, single, no kids, etc...

  

 

[patmc13]

Originally Posted by CJDynasty

Originally Posted by Patmc13

I wouldn't buy a house unless you can put down 20%.  I bought my first house about 9 months ago for $200,000. 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, a little over 2,400 sqf., 2 car garage, and a .25 acre.  I put down payment of $40,000, and I had about $11,000 in closing costs.  Don't worry about buying a house to big as long as you are getting a good deal.  I have 3 bedrooms empty in my house, and my living room and dining room do not get used.  Write your mortgage up on a 30 year fixed, but pay double the principal when you get your montly bill, and you will prolly save over $100,000.

51K sitting around and double the principal every month?!  Now thats some saving/budgeting....
  

First few years is not hard at all, look at a ammorization chart.  It will be less than $200 dollars extra a month to pay.  Then in years like 10-15 it will be around $500-$600 a month, but by that time in the future hopefully you get promoted with a pay raise...

  

 

[lazyj10]

Bought a house in October.

It was a foreclosure and we haven't even moved in yet. It was heavily neglected to say the least. After months of work (we did 90% ourselves) we're set to move in on Sunday.

I will never buy a home that needs this much work.

3-bedroom, 2 bath, 10sq ft lot, 1550 sq ft home. I now know way too much about homes at 28.