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Home Buying Help Thread


TOUCAN

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19 minutes ago, Tyty said:

Can I pay you to be nice to me

I have a complex where i need everyone to like me.  So you don't have to pay me.  I feel terrible already.  

Need anything from me?  I can come over and do your laundry or dishes or something until you're not mad anymore.

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I asked the person who is helping us with our financial side to things with preapproval and what not, for numbers at $310k because that would give us just a bit more wiggle room than $300k and not add much more to the monthly payment, especially when the interest rates have improved by .125% for us.

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7 minutes ago, The Gnat said:

I asked the person who is helping us with our financial side to things with preapproval and what not, for numbers at $310k because that would give us just a bit more wiggle room than $300k and not add much more to the monthly payment, especially when the interest rates have improved by .125% for us.

Yeah that's a good call.  There are definitely price points that stop people cold.  150k, 200k, 300k and onward.  If you can go just above those ranges you might just find the place you're looking for 5k above the nominal price point.  For example, your budget is 310k.  You find a place for 305.  A guy with a 300k budget may not even see the place in his search because he set his filters to 300k.  Best part is that with negotiation, you might still get it under 300k.

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22 hours ago, Tetsujin said:

Finally got a good offer last week after 40+ showings in the past 2 months.

Kinda surprised it took so long.  At least in the part where we live, houses were "overpriced" for what they were offering.  Could build a brand new house for maybe 20k more and comes with everything you want in it.

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When getting pre-approved do you want it for the exact amount of the house you're trying to purchase?

We found a really nice home for $185K. Should I call my loan officer back and tell him to write my letter for $185K. Offer the full amount and ask them to pay closing cost? @theJ I'll tag you here because you've helped me out a ton in this thread.  

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8 minutes ago, holt_bruce81 said:

When getting pre-approved do you want it for the exact amount of the house you're trying to purchase?

We found a really nice home for $185K. Should I call my loan officer back and tell him to write my letter for $185K. Offer the full amount and ask them to pay closing cost? @theJ I'll tag you here because you've helped me out a ton in this thread.  

Get pre-approved for what you can afford, because you might have to go up. So right now we're approved for $310,000, but we are offering less than that. We could also be pre-approved much higher, probably $400k, but we know what we can afford, but if you're just approved for $185k and you offer that on that house, maybe they'll counter up slightly higher or reject because they don't think you can go higher, even if you could.

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21 minutes ago, holt_bruce81 said:

When getting pre-approved do you want it for the exact amount of the house you're trying to purchase?

We found a really nice home for $185K. Should I call my loan officer back and tell him to write my letter for $185K. Offer the full amount and ask them to pay closing cost? @theJ I'll tag you here because you've helped me out a ton in this thread.  

What @The Gnat said.

When we bought last our upper limit was 300k.  We got preapproved for 350k just in case.  The letter just gets you to the negotiation table, and is a pretty minor thing.  Just do it once with some contingency so you don't have to worry about it again.

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15 minutes ago, The Gnat said:

Get pre-approved for what you can afford, because you might have to go up. So right now we're approved for $310,000, but we are offering less than that. We could also be pre-approved much higher, probably $400k, but we know what we can afford, but if you're just approved for $185k and you offer that on that house, maybe they'll counter up slightly higher or reject because they don't think you can go higher, even if you could.

Thanks. Yeah my Pre-Approval letter is for $215K but he said I could get pre-approved for $275K if I wanted, which I felt was way out of my comfort zone. 

Another thing, so I'm going on my first viewing on a house this weekend. Are there any tips? Do I bring my pre-approval letter with me and hold it like a golden ticket? When's an appropriate time to make an offer? 

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7 minutes ago, holt_bruce81 said:

Thanks. Yeah my Pre-Approval letter is for $215K but he said I could get pre-approved for $275K if I wanted, which I felt was way out of my comfort zone. 

Another thing, so I'm going on my first viewing on a house this weekend. Are there any tips? Do I bring my pre-approval letter with me and hold it like a golden ticket? When's an appropriate time to make an offer? 

Walk around, look at everything, look at how good the furnace and water heater look. Whomever your realtor is can probably tell you about how old they are. Think about how much you'd fix or change up from what's there already. Also expect it to be different, pictures are 100% wide angle lens so everything will seem much larger.

Also, try and look past aesthetic stuff. Color can change in a room, consider how much furniture is or isn't in the room.

Pre-approval is for your realtor to use basically to show that you'll be good for your offer. And once you've looked, you can make it as quick as you want.

 

And even if it seems super awesome, schedule a few more visits or other places that just look fine or close to see what you like, disklike, in them.

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22 hours ago, holt_bruce81 said:

Thanks. Yeah my Pre-Approval letter is for $215K but he said I could get pre-approved for $275K if I wanted, which I felt was way out of my comfort zone. 

Another thing, so I'm going on my first viewing on a house this weekend. Are there any tips? Do I bring my pre-approval letter with me and hold it like a golden ticket? When's an appropriate time to make an offer? 

Give a copy of the pre-approval to your realtor. At that point, you're done with it. They know what to do with it. 

I'd see some varying houses before you offer anything. Don't be in a rush. There's always another house. 

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