Kevin and I have been having a blast online shopping for our first home together. We're moving to Grand Junction, Colorado in May after he graduates. After careful consideration, we've decided to become first-time home buyers and are trying to "ejumucate" ourselves on the finer points of purchasing real estate.
To those readers with a little (or any) more home-buying experience than we: Tips? Things to avoid? Dirty secrets? Recipes for success? Pearls of wisdom? Nuggets? Bite-sized... um, ok, I'm done.
15 comments:
FUN! I love looking at houses (as you probably already know). No real advice, except for make sure you actually visit any real contenders in person - I am sure realtors have figured out how to crop and photoshop when posting photos online. Wouldn't it be nice if you could lock down an interest rate right now! They are so LOW!!!
We should be able to lock in at 5% as first time home buyers. We don't have much for a down payment, but with a gauranteed minimum income we should be able to qualify for something. Unfortunately, the debt load for our ejumacations will drain us. I'm guessing I'll try and work as many Fridays as possible....
Any help would be greatly appreciated. We were looking at foreclosures, but we will never be there for auctions so that's out of the question....
Check the Sex Offender list first. I don't know if colorado has one, but Utah does. You can see all the registered sex offenders in the neighborhood. We once looked at a house without knowing the next door neighbor was a registered child sex offender-repeat offender actually.
Right now is an awesome time to buy a house. I would suggest that you make sure and pic a good realtor. A good realtor will know of a motivated seller before the house hits the MLS listings.You can always try a short sale, they can take 6+ months though but, the good thing is that the banks are starting to settle sooner so the home don't go to auction to avoid loosing as much. As a warning, most bank owned homes, or short sales, don't have the seller disclosures (whats wrong with the house) so when you sign a contract on the home you must make a clause in the contract stating that you get a home inspection done and depending on the results you can still back out if the home has mold of something like that. Here is St George the banks areShop with multiple lenders, compare rates and make sure they know that you are shopping around and they will be nice to you. Another thing to keep in mind is that builders are desperate right now! When builders are desperate the home owner wins every time, plus you get a brand new home. Anyways I'll stop rambling. good luck!
I've always heard that you should try to find the least expensive house in a fancy neighborhood. So if you can afford 250k, try to find a 250k house in a neighborhood where the average home price is 350k rather than the 250k house in a neighborhood where the average price is 200k. I guess there would definitely be social issues to consider with this tactic, but as far as the home holding its value and resale issues, it's probably a safe bet.
Thanks everyone! Good comments. Keep 'em coming!
Ok, fine. I'll go and pick it out for you. I'd be willing to make that sacrifice for my darling kids. I know exactly what to look for. he he
Shawn: so does this mean you'll be coming through on the Provo Express? If so, pick me up and we'll pick out their house together. Then we can come back and paint my bedroom.
Shawn and Nicea, knock yourselves out. That would make it easier for all of us, just keep in mind how poor we are......stupid student loans.
I did find an amazing 4500 sqft rambler on 2 acres for 1.6 mil....
One tip: The internet does not have smell-a-vision... just think of that before getting too attached to an online property.
Kevin, just tell us what you qualify for and let Nicea and I do the rest.
And Nicea, yes, then we can paint your bedroom.
Last night I dreamed I won $100,000,000 on a game show, and it made the home search a whole lot more simple.....sigh
I have no advice for you two seeing as how Sterling and I still live in an apartment, but I'm so excited that you know where you're going and that you're buying a house! Sterling and I will have to come visit you one of these days :0)
You are getting a house...so you shouldn't have this problem, but turn on the A/C and heating system if you can. I didn't know how loud the heating and A/C was in my condo when I bought the place... it's bearable, but had I known... Also, go to census.gov to find important statistics about schools, employment, and other facts about your area. (LoL--doesn't that sound so professional? I think that's my first plug for my employer....) Owning property is fun! I'll be painting the boom boom room in very soon.
Looks like I'll be doing a preceptorship in April, so Mom, Dad, Nicea, Momma Glenn, if you plan a trip to GJ to help us out, the second of April will be REAL CONVENIENT. :)
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