Yep. I went from a 650 sq ft apartment where my summertime electric bills were in the $200 range to a 3100 sq ft house and my summertime electric bills are still below $300.

If you're buying an existing home, you can often ask the seller to provide utility bills over the past few months or so. That way you'll know what you're in for.


And as others have stated... "Location, location, location!" I ignored this rule when I bought my house and have regretted. You'd be better off paying a little more for a little less house in a neighborhood that you like, rather than paying less for more house in a crappy location.

 

I did not even think to ask for utility bills

and yes location matters to her and I. I still don't know what town I will be working in so we have it down to neighborhoods in the two possible towns. I just hope I do not get a job that requires me to relocate. I would be willing to move, but I really like the area I am in now.

I suppose I could afford 20% by the time we are ready to make a selection.... I could afford 15% right now I would just like to have money set aside for the "what if" situations.

thank your for all of the advice. I am sure I will have more questions as the time nears, but for now you all have helped a lot.

 

Even PMI aside, most lenders will give you a better rate on a house if you have 20% down (25% for a condo).

If you buy a place and decide you need to replace the carpet, change the damn stuff before you move in. Carpet is not that expensive, and can be done in one day, but replacing it after the house is filled with your belongings is a pain.

 

The day I signed the papers for my first house, I got some lunch and then headed to Home Depot. Spent a week remodeling before moving anything in.

 

No you don't need to put 20% down. Hardly anyone puts 20% down.

100% financing is still available. You just have to be a Vet or buying in a slightly less populous area (USDA).

Most loans are done with 3.5% - 10% down.

Your rate is determined by a number of things, one of which is your downpayment. Your credit score will have as big or bigger an impact upon your interest rate than your downpayment. Address stability, job stability, & assets are other things that affect your rate.

You can pay your closing costs out of pocket, the seller can pay them for you (but that will affect your selling price) or you can roll them into the interest rate. Of the 3 the way that usually hurts the least is having the seller pay them.

 

Smart man. I am changing my carpet now and it's basically all the hassle of moving again.

You CAN get 100% financing, but it would be pretty stupid to do so. Most people do not put down 20%, but then again, most people have 6+ credit cards and carry a balance on them.

If you buy a $400k house at 0% down and get a 5.5% interest rate, the house will cost you a net of $817,616.16. If you get 20% down, you will likely get 5% or less; net cost of $698,418.51. And based on my recent experience, I would guess 5.5% is a low estimate and 5% is a high estimate. The numbers are probably further apart.

 

We're looking to buy a rental house and in negotiating with an Indian couple, whose house is pretty nice and cute. They're listing the house for $315K, yet the most they'd discount is $3K. We offered $300K and they wouldn't budge. C'mon, in this economy, sellers are willing to discount a lot, but this couple wouldn't budge at all; granted they bought the house 3 years ago for $460K, but now its market value is around $300. It would make one heck of a rental house (we have relatives who are looking to rent, otherwise, we wouldn't rent that house to dead-beat people). Usually, it'd take 2 months to find a house you like in your price range. It's taken us over 1 month already.

P.S. 30-year interest rate is now 4.3.

 

This might sound like it has racist undertones, but I don't mean it that way at all. We were looking at houses and it was instantly obviously who owned the house previously, based on the smells that were trapped inside. Different types of cooking create different scents and odors that get caught in carpeted areas and in anything else porous.

If you aren't prepared to change out any and all carpeting, make sure there aren't any odors that aren't to your liking! Or at least negotiate the cost of carpet replacement into the price.

 

Smokers are even worse.

Getting rid of the kitty litter box smell can be quite expensive too.

P.S. the 4.3% someone quoted above isn't an absolute. Since the CHANGE they've changed how interest rates are calculated. There is now a base rate (of around 4.3) and then you have multiple add-ons for things like loan-to-value, credit score, loan size, buyer strengths, loan term, loan type, etc. Only the top 1-2% of the people get the lowest rate.

I own a mortgage company and in the past month or so I've been closing loans at rates that vary between 3.5% to 4.375%. If you are ever going to buy or refinance THIS IS THE TIME!

I've only done one loan with a 30 year term, all the rest have been for 25 years or less.

When my wife and I first got into Real Estate rates were this low and you got as short a term of a loan as you could get and still afford the payments. Then rates started top climb and people had to get 30 year loans just to qualify. Fast forward over 40 years and once again rates are this low, but most people have never even thought about a loan for less than 30 years. You've got to change your thought patterns.

Loan come in 5 year increments. They are basically only quoted as 15 or 30 year loans but you can get 5-10-15-20-25 year loans. 20 year loans are a good blend of payment vs. quick pay out.

On a 20 year loan at 4.5% for each $100,000 of loan you will accrue an EXTRA $8,400+ equity in the first 5 years vs. a 30 year loan.

For the first and only time in most people's lives you have the opportunity to get a home and actually have a chance to pay it off. Refinance your current home for the lowest term you can afford and even if you don't stay in it long enough to totally pay it off you will build so much equity that when you buy your next home you'll have such a large downpayment you may not need to finance it for more than 5-10 years

We are headed for Carter era interest rates. The multi-trillion dollar Healthcare bill alone guarantees it. And that doesn't even factor in all the other huge spending bills that have been passed since the election. There's no question of IF we'll have these rates, the only question is WHEN. By buying or refinancing now at the lowest term you can afford you have the chance of not getting hamstrung when the rates rise to those atmospheric levels. RENTERS will suffer the worst because you will be paying the owner's high interest rates, their cost of the house along with a profit.

If you're like most people you function so much better economically without a car payment, just think of the options you'd have without a house payment.

 

^ Good points!