still wondering about the closing cost issues. can i make it so the seller pays these? also, anyone heard of this upfront mortgage insurance premium? what in the world? this is too confusing. I'm starting to realize why I have been renting all these years.
what do you mean by closing costs? there are a ton of different fees paid to a ton of different people when you buy a house. in total, it's a lot more than 3k on a 150k house.
everything is negotiable, but there's no free lunch. if you want the seller to pay your (all of your) closing costs, then you can have that happen. but the sales price of the house will be higher than what it could have been. the only real reasons you might want to do this are if you don't have cash to pay your closing costs, and would rather have them written into your loan. or if you have some weird seller with a hangup about a price they have to get, but no weird hangup about giving up the equivalent elsewhere. i think the latter is pretty rare.
i'd probably use a realtor if i were you. they do work for the seller (and are paid by the seller, but their motivation is to make the deal happen, not to get you to pay 5k more). unless you are good at negotiating (i don't think you are), a realtor will help you negotiate a better price - even if just by giving you a step of isolation from dealing with the seller. you're still going to have to do most of the legwork yourself. for a 150k house you aren't going to be their priority.
never heard of upfront mortgage insurance. i think you didn't understand something.