House buying/owning advice

[Dugout DickStone]

You need to crap in every stool in the residence before signing an offer sheet.

[WildcatNkilt]

you know how there's an extra charge for floor mats when you buy a new car?  same goes for new houses.  you want a driveway?  that's extra.  deck in the back so that your back door doesn't have a three foot drop into your yard?  extra.  other than stuff like that, though, prices can be comparable.

Every builder has different allowances for you to spend on various parts of the house (flooring, appliances, fistures, etc.) that is built into the price.  When you go over the allowance figure you are OOP.

I had a buddy who had to pay extra for vinyl flooring in the bathrooms, otherwise it would have been carpet.  Can't imagine how much extra he would have had to play to have the contractor put in tile.

[chum1]

House Hunters International:

English country fixer:  These stone walls are fantastic, and it would be very easy to build a roof on top of them.

French country fixer:  And if you were wondering, the pile of bricks in the middle of the living room does come with the house.

Australia:  One of the highlights of this house is all of the flat surfaces to stack your empties.  Plus, you can jump into the pool from the roof. 

Belgium:  The living room has these round windows that are weird as crap, so that's a plus.

Turkey:  There's a crazy guy who lives in this shack right outside the bedroom window, but you'll never even notice that he's there.

Malaysia:  Yes, it is very common here for hissing cockroaches to nest in mattresses.

[steve dave]

you know how there's an extra charge for floor mats when you buy a new car?  same goes for new houses.  you want a driveway?  that's extra.  deck in the back so that your back door doesn't have a three foot drop into your yard?  extra.  other than stuff like that, though, prices can be comparable.

Every builder has different allowances for you to spend on various parts of the house (flooring, appliances, fistures, etc.) that is built into the price.  When you go over the allowance figure you are OOP.

wait, so this isn't like you decide what you want your house to look like and then they build it on the land you already own?  this is like they're building 200 houses and they'll sell you one on a lot they own and you tell them what kind of tile to put in when they do it?

no, you buy a lot you want a house on.  you hire a builder to build the house there.  you choose a house model that you want them to build.  most of them will have a list of house kinds that they specialize in or whatever but you can pick out whatever kind of house you want.  they quote you the price which will include the figures for the allowances on the crap inside, roof, brick, flooring, etc.  you can then go pick out the specifics on that stuff and if you pick out better stuff than they quoted you pay the difference.  

[sys]

no, you buy a lot you want a house on.  you hire a builder to build the house there.  you choose a house model that you want them to build.  most of them will have a list house blueprints of house kinds that they specialize in or whatever but you can pick out whatever kind of house you want.  they quote you the price which will include the figures for the allowances on the crap inside, roof, brick, flooring, etc.  you can then go pick out the specifics on that stuff and if you pick out better stuff than they quoted you pay the difference. 

that sounds like a good deal.

[felix rex]

If you're Interested in moving to dc, let me know. Daris can vouch for the place. Great bones.

[AST]

Do not get a house with a pool, unless you're a swimmer. 

[schreds21]

Don't look at houses you can't afford....it makes houses you can afford seem shitty

Yeah. This is probably not true for you, but will definitely be true for your wife. Really, you want to exclude her from this process as much as possible.

This x eleventy billion.  My girlfriend, who lives with me, was "helping" me when I was looking for a house.  I knew my price range and told her so of course, every house she found and suggested was at the upper limit of my range.  Either that, or it was a shittty fixer upper project.  Now, I definitely have the skills to do my own work.  Unfortunately, my job schedule does not allow me the time to do my own projects so I wanted a house that was move in ready.  It took me a year and half but I finally found exactly what I was looking for and I got a great deal on it as well.  

[schreds21]

Get a 15 year mortgage instead of a 30 year mortgage. http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/15-year-30-year-mortgage-calculator.aspx

Why not just get a 30y and put extra cash towards the principle each month?

Nobody ever follows through in doing that.

That is exactly what I'm doing.  I put enough extra towards the principle each month that I end up making an extra payment and a half per year.  The trick is to do an auto pay with instructions that the extra dollars go towards principle, not your escrow account..  If you're writing a check every month, you may be tempted to only make the required payment thinking you will catch up later.  It will never happen.  You also don't ever have to worry about being late.

[Stevesie60]

Get a 15 year mortgage instead of a 30 year mortgage. http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/15-year-30-year-mortgage-calculator.aspx

Why not just get a 30y and put extra cash towards the principle each month?

Nobody ever follows through in doing that.

That is exactly what I'm doing.  I put enough extra towards the principle each month that I end up making an extra payment and a half per year.  The trick is to do an auto pay with instructions that the extra dollars go towards principle, not your escrow account..  If you're writing a check every month, you may be tempted to only make the required payment thinking you will catch up later.  It will never happen.  You also don't ever have to worry about being late.

[sys]

sounds like you've got the world by it's tail there, schreds.  good luck to you and your little filly.

[chum1]

southern spain:  i just turned 45, so i am retiring from my job as a street artist in glasgow and am looking for a nice vacation home with an ocean view.  my budget is $500,000.

[pissclams]

southern spain:  i just turned 45, so i am retiring from my job as a street artist in glasgow and am looking for a nice vacation home with an ocean view.  my budget is $500,000.

sounds like property brothers is more your speed. 

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

Building is great, but existing homes are a much better value. especially if you buy a fixer-upper or foreclosure. Home improvement is CHEAP right now in this shitty economy.

Don't ever get suckered into a "bidding war." Most of these are bullshit concocted by the seller's agent.

Realtors are basically the scum of the earth, but it's pretty hard to avoid dealing with them.

When it comes to financing:
-  Put 20% down, or get there fast. If you can't get to 20% within a year, you shouldn't be buying.
-  Strongly consider a 15-year fixed. It may add a couple hundred to your monthly payment, but it will double the amount of each payment that goes to principal.
-  If you can't afford a 15-year, consider a 7-year ARM. It is extremely unlikely you'll live in your first home for more than 5 years.
-  Do not buy points.
-  Do consider paying a slightly higher APR in exchange for a "lender credit." Estimate the number of years you'll probably live there and do the math.

[O-town Kat]

no, you buy a lot you want a house on.  you hire a builder to build the house there.  you choose a house model that you want them to build.  most of them will have a list house blueprints of house kinds that they specialize in or whatever but you can pick out whatever kind of house you want.  they quote you the price which will include the figures for the allowances on the crap inside, roof, brick, flooring, etc.  you can then go pick out the specifics on that stuff and if you pick out better stuff than they quoted you pay the difference. 

that sounds like a good deal.

Ha ha yeah lots of   when they send you to the light store, furnishing store etc.  had not put much thought into what color of grout to put in between the tiles in the bathroom.  Beats being completely unhappy with the previous owners crappy taste though.

[pissclams]

i would never live in a home that someone else already lived in.  disgusting.  imagine all of their skin flakes and scabs, etc, that are ground into the carpet and crap.  gross. 

[Rage Against the McKee]

i would never live in a home that someone else already lived in.  disgusting.  imagine all of their skin flakes and scabs, etc, that are ground into the carpet and crap.  gross. 

No kidding. I guess I could just replace all the carpets, floors, and cabinets, but that sounds like a real pain in the ass.

[pissclams]

i would never live in a home that someone else already lived in.  disgusting.  imagine all of their skin flakes and scabs, etc, that are ground into the carpet and crap.  gross. 

No kidding. I guess I could just replace all the carpets, floors, and cabinets, but that sounds like a real pain in the ass.

thing is, their scummyness prob worked its way into the foundation, etc

[Dugout DickStone]

southern spain:  i just turned 45, so i am retiring from my job as a street artist in glasgow and am looking for a nice vacation home with an ocean view.  my budget is $500,000.

sounds like property brothers is more your speed. 

Oh man, clams just rejected your first offer without countering!

[pissclams]

ya sure did, also, $500k in Southern Spain???  hmm, might have to readjust your expectations  

wtf?

[sys]

if you can borrow at 4% it would seem like you'd want to take as long as possible to pay that off.

[jtksu]

One would think.  One of the emawccountants could probably explain why that's not the case.

[chum1]

if you're comparing interest rates between all of your loans, then you might not want to pay anything off early because you'd prefer to use that extra cash for paying interest on your next loan.

[wabash909]

ya sure did, also, $500k in Southern Spain???  hmm, might have to readjust your expectations  

wtf?

Exactly.  500K in Southern Spain right now?  Hahaha, good luck with that!

[chum1]

looks like i know more about hhi than its strongest proponents.  could this place be any more like the phog?  sheesh.