OT: Home buying tips please!!!!!

[JudicialTyranny]

Just an FYI, we're military and we used USAA the first time we bought a house. As much as we love USAA as a financial & insurance institution, we will not use them again for a mortgage. They often sell their mortgages to other companies - ours was sold 2x's when we owned our first house and our mortgage went up because of this (at least one of the times it was sold). You might want to shop around for a mortgage. We did the Lending Tree thing and weren't really happy with any of the companies they referred to us. So a friend recommended Countrywide (she's a mortgage broker). They had the lowest rates that we were able to get at the time and they never sell their mortgages. However they did tell us that 1 in 4 of their mortgages are ones that get sold to them by other companies. We have been really happy with Countrywide and their staff.

If you get a mortgage from a broker, it is almost guaranteed to be sold. I used a broker for one of my houses and he told me the mortgage had been sold while we were at the settlement table. I had another mortgage through a bank and they eventually sold it also. It's not uncommon.

Countrywide is one of the largest mortgage holders in the US, so generally they will keep their mortgages.

Countrywide had one of my mortgages (after it was sold to them) and I had trouble with them getting my escrow payment correct after the county screwed up the tax bill. It took about 3 years before the account didn't have overages or underages in it.

I don't see how selling a mortgage could increase a payment - they can't change the rate. Unless it was an adjustable mortgage and you were up for an adjustment upward, the only things that can increase the payment are increases in payments toward your property tax and/or insurance in escrow. That would occur if your property taxes went up (and they always seem to every year around here) or your insurance went up (and it's been doing that a lot lately). All of those things would have happened regardless of who held the mortgage.

 

[brandylouwho]

Just a note on selling mortgages...many, many banks do this and even those who don't often do it (Countrywide, Bank of America, Wells Fargo to name a few) still can at times.

When you use a broker it is generally "sold" immediately, they don't usually ever collect even one payment from you. They are not a bank. But, they often have hundreds of banks to choose from and find you a good rate/program whereas the local bank may have only a few programs to try to fit you into.

At the closing table...you have every right to read everything, but it is really a waste of your time. I used to work as a closing agent and the main things to review are the HUD-1 Settlement Statement (the chart of all the fees...shows exactly where each dollar is going) and the note. Even the mortgage itself is a standard form-- you can't really change the wording...as long as it has your name, address & the right loan amount the rest is standard.

The note will have the loan amount, interest rate and will tell you if it is an adjustable rate or a fixed or a balloon. That is important.


Just don't be afraid to ask questions during this whole process...a home is usually a person's largest investment. I can't believe how many people I come across who don't understand something and are afraid to ask. A good realtor, mortgage loan officer, etc will understand and help you...if they don't-- go elsewhere Don' let them make money off of you if they aren't going to treat you well.

And tha is my 2 cents for the day.

Good luck and happy house hunting.

 

[aclass]

I'm new to this board, but not new to moving. We just moved to PA as well, and are now in our fourth home in 8 yrs. Since you can use USAA, I would highly recommend their Movers Advantage program. They can connect you with a realtor, give you info about the new area. Our first three houses we used them and didn't have a realtor we didn't like or steered us wrong. This last move my DH company asked us to use their "prefered" realtor here. Boy was that a mistake! He neglected to tell us some things which would have impacted the purchase of this house. We will be back to USAA for the next move.
Our first purchase we actually rented an apartment for three months to really get to know the area first, we used Homebuying for Dummies book to help understand all the little extra cost involved with homebuying. Now we research school districts and decide where to concentrate our searches by which schools we'd like to have our kids go to.
I haven't figured out how the companies make money selling mortgages but they must or there would be a lot less of them selling them. In the application papers the company is required to disclose what percentage of the loans they sell (0, 25, 50, 75 or 100%).
As alot have pointed out that an inspection is very important, we also make a satisfactory radon test and appraisal part of the contracts. If the purchase price is 200,000 and the appraiser says its only worth 150,000 you can try to renegotiate and if that doesn't work, back out.

HTH
Ali

 

[Lisa_Belle]

1 - Don't just get pre-qualified for a mortgage, get pre-approved. You'll know pretty much what the bank will give you, and it may give you an edge if a seller needs to complete the sale quickly.

2 - If you can swing the payments, get a 15-year loan vs. a 30-year loan. You'll build equity faster, and the monthly payment usually isn't a whole lot more expensive. Try to avoid ARM and interest-only loans.

3 - Location, location, location. People like neighborhoods with good schools, level lots, cul-de-sacs, low crime, etc. Do research the schools. People without kids don't always think about this, but you'll probably kids one day. And you don't want little Johnny and little Susie in a sub-par school. And remember that individual schools can vary greatly in the same district.

 

[alicenwonder99]

1 - Find out about the schools. I know you are from out of state, but you will need to do alot of research on this. And just don't go with what you find on the Internet. Somehow you'll have to actually talk to parents in the school district. You don't want to move, then find out that the public schools are so crappy that everyone sends their kids to the private schools (which is a HUGE expense).

2 - Make sure you LOVE the house. You should be able to walk in the front door and know "this is it". Don't buy a house that you aren't impressed with. I know many people who bought a house and hated it from the day they moved in.

3- Unless your dh is a contractor and you KNOW he can do alot of the work himself (or you have the money to hire someone), DO NOT buy a house that needs alot of work. Trust me, it will NEVER get done. I'm not talking about painting 1-2 rooms. I'm talking about a house that needs new flooring, new kitchen counters, the shingles are falling off, etc. (you know what I mean).

4 - Walk around the neighborhood and see where are the parks, library, schools, stores, etc. See if there are kids riding their bikes around. You'll know if it's a safe neighborhood if there are alot of kids riding/running around without their parents.

Good luck.

Mary

 

[natenapril]

Great ideas about the schools. They are my biggest concern. My DDs will be in Kidergarten and 5th grade and my son will start scholl a few years later.

I found a house we really liked but it was in a community where there were 100 rules. And while I think some rules are good, some of their rules were silly. My DH and I wanted to purchase a storage for the bikes and gardening tools. However in this neighbor hood one of the rules was no building on the property other than the house or garage. The house had a 2 car garge but my DH has too many tools.

1 - Find out about the schools. I know you are from out of state, but you will need to do alot of research on this. And just don't go with what you find on the Internet. Somehow you'll have to actually talk to parents in the school district. You don't want to move, then find out that the public schools are so crappy that everyone sends their kids to the private schools (which is a HUGE expense).

2 - Make sure you LOVE the house. You should be able to walk in the front door and know "this is it". Don't buy a house that you aren't impressed with. I know many people who bought a house and hated it from the day they moved in.

3- Unless your dh is a contractor and you KNOW he can do alot of the work himself (or you have the money to hire someone), DO NOT buy a house that needs alot of work. Trust me, it will NEVER get done. I'm not talking about painting 1-2 rooms. I'm talking about a house that needs new flooring, new kitchen counters, the shingles are falling off, etc. (you know what I mean).

4 - Walk around the neighborhood and see where are the parks, library, schools, stores, etc. See if there are kids riding their bikes around. You'll know if it's a safe neighborhood if there are alot of kids riding/running around without their parents.

Good luck.

Mary

 

[bnorm27]

A little OT here, but aren't you going to miss those pipeline checks? How much would you normally receive? I'm just a little curious.

 

[JudicialTyranny]

I'm not sure how much money you make, but since you are moving to PA, check out the Pensylvania Housing Finance Administration (http://www.phfa.org/). They have first time buyer loans via state bond money that have very attractive rates.

My sister got a loan through them for her first house and she got a great rate, and was also able to refinance it to a lower rate when rates dropped with no costs at all (and I mean ZERO - they simply lowered the rate - there wasn't even a closing to go to).

I don't know if it is still the same, but you don't get the loan directly from the agency - you go through a participating bank or broker, and you may need to push them for it because I don't think they make a lot of profit off of it, so they may try to steer you to some other loan. Keep at it if you qualify.

 

[natenapril]

I don't receive the checks but my husband and children do. It's was only 800 last year. And since everything is more expensive up here there is no way I will miss it!

A little OT here, but aren't you going to miss those pipeline checks? How much would you normally receive? I'm just a little curious.