Yay! DH got a new job (and housing buying questions)

[whtyger97]

My husband got a new job! He's currently a grad student so this is his first 'real' job, and its doing exactly what he wants. He starts on May 3rd. We're both so excited. Its good pay and benifits and everything.

I'm so happy, now we have to start looking for a house! I cann't wait. How does one go about choosing a real estate agent? (if someone here is one, on the west side of cleveland i wouldn't mind a pm, i'd be glad to consider you) We have already looked online and found several houses we'd like to see, can we go look at them first and then get a real estate agent? We know we won't be able to put a bid in till he gets his first paycheck (May 21st), is it to early to look at houses? We are currently in an apartment on month to month and we really want to move out as soon as possible (because its about an hour commute from here to the new job). We've checked our credit rating and are very confident that we can get a loan for the amount of house we want to look at, and depending how much we 'stretch' ourselves have a 5-10% downpayment.
I welcome any and all advice! I'm so excited, we can finially start looking for a

! HOUSE !

 

[Bob Slydell]

I'm west side of Cleveland -- what areas specifically are you looking?

Certainly go look at house without an agent at this point. If you don't find what you're looking for after a while, then go to a RE agent.

 

[oogieboogie]

Countrywide has a really good mortgage program out there called an 80/20 loan. It avoids paying private mortgage insurance (PMI) and it's a 80% LTV mortgage and an 20% home equity loan.

I would check it out. Good luck

 

[whtyger97]

We're actually really flexable about where, just want to be on the westside of cleveland. The job is downtown and we currently live in kent.

The most promising cities seem to be the west park area of cleveland, north olmsted, fairview park, berea, but any of the west side suburbs would be good.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Just wanted to wish you guys well, whtyger97, sure sounds like lots of great things going on in your lives. Super!!! Very happy for you both, my best.

 

[mickeyfan1]

If the houses you are interested in are listed by realtors, the best you can do is drive by. Owners usually won't let you in to look with out an appointment with either your own agant or the listing agent. Of couse FSBOs are different, but you should still call first.

As far as mortgages, you really need to talk to some lenders about their programs, some will lend you 100%, some will lend ony 80% and then there is everything inbetween. If you have a good, clean credit record, and you don't have a lot of debt, you have a good chance to get a lower interest rate. Your debt ratio should not be more than 40% of your income. If it is more, you may not even be able to qualify.

Best of luck to you both. Getting a new job that you want and the salary and benefits you need is great.

Oh, as far a choosing an agent, if the law in OH allows for it, get a buyers agent, that way they are representing you. Otherwise the agent is only representing the seller, as that is who pays them.

 

[whtyger97]

We luckly have no debt besides my husbands student loans. Our cars are both paid for and we don't have any credit card debt, we pay them off at the end of the month.

Right now we're looking at spending about 25% of his take home pay on our mortage.

 

[Big V]

Congrats to your DH on his new job!

 

[mickeyfan1]

Originally posted by whtyger97
We luckly have no debt besides my husbands student loans. Our cars are both paid for and we don't have any credit card debt, we pay them off at the end of the month.

Right now we're looking at spending about 25% of his take home pay on our mortage.

Wow, you are in great shape financially. Provided that the student loans are not more than 40% of his salary, you will probably breeze through qualifying. You may get asked to close some of your CC accounts, we had a lot of CCs that we never used, but the amount of available credit was way high, so rather than have that looming on the horizon, our mortgage guy told us that by closing them, it looks better on the credit report because there is no chance of them being used. My husband wants to buy a different vehicle, but he has to wait till we close, although we are currently approved, they will check our credit 3 days or so before closing, and any additional debt or inquiries can cause us to be not qualified. And since we are not closing till July, and we bought in January (new building), he is getting very antsy to spend, spend, spend, spend. Too bad, he is not alllowed!

 

[Bob Slydell]

Originally posted by mickeyfan1
If the houses you are interested in are listed by realtors, the best you can do is drive by. Owners usually won't let you in to look with out an appointment with either your own agant or the listing agent. Of couse FSBOs are different, but you should still call first.

They should be able to at least go to Open Houses without an agent. Yes, the houses will have a seller's agent, but they won't necessarily need a buyer's agent right now.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Originally posted by whtyger97

The most promising cities seem to be the west park area of cleveland, north olmsted, fairview park, berea, but any of the west side suburbs would be good.

West park and Fairview park are nice -- close to downtown, so you might pay a little more than a farther suburb. Berea's a nice town, older homes, but some cute starter homes around there. I'm not a big fan of most of the N. Olmsted neighborhoods, but that's just IMO.

Good luck on the home search.

 

[JayCT]

The first thing you should do is go to a bank and get prequalified for a mortgage. Or at least find out how much you will qualify for. That way you will really know what you are qualified for. If you go to a mortgage company (instead of a bank) be careful, because a lot of them charge a lot of hidden fees and additional closing costs. Because you are a first time buyer, there are some very attractive programs out there that will help. Look arouond before you commit to any of them.

Also, go to open houses that interest you. Talk to the agents at them and see if any seem nice and easy to work with. It is hard to find a good agent, but by asking a lot of questions, you should be able to tell a lot about them. Ask questions about the house and the neighborhood. If the agent doesn't know, particularly about the neighborhood you are interested in, then they may not be very good. A good agent should know their product. Our agent did nt know her way around the town we were interested in. I had to direct her when we went out to see houses. She wanted to show us houses that we had no interest in. It go the point where I just had her fax me the listing and I would go out to the house on my lunch hour and determine if we wnated to see it that night. Saved a lot of time. We looked at a lot of houses and our agent was getting tired of showing them to us. Be sure you know about the area you are interested in and do not trust everything the agent says. That lovely woods behind your house may be the future site of a high-rise. Go to the town planning department and find out abou the area. This is the largest investment you make and you need to be fully informed about it. Good Luck. Jay

 

[jel0511]

There is a potential problem here. First off, the 40% "back end" ratio includes ALL debts, so it would be both a mortgage payment (which for ratio purposes includes taxes, homeowners, and PMI if applicable). That would only leave 15% of your DH's pay left for those student loan payments. Also, in determining income amounts, usually a mortgage company looks at TWO years of income and then averages out the amounts to come up with the income figure to use in calculating ratios and payment amount you can qualify for. Since this is a new job, if it is significantly more income, you might have a problem getting qualified for a higher amout. Usually a mortgage company won't accept new income unless there is a history behind it, they might be able to stretch the ratios a bit with a higher current income, but not by much. There is a way around the income check, but it means a higher interest rate, and thus a higher payment. You'd apply for what is called a No Doc loan. They don't check anything except for your credit reports, and ensure you have the downpayment money. Also, be aware that almost all mortgage companies require you to have all downpayment monies in your account upon applying for the mortgage. You also need to have all closing costs, and usually 2 months of payments in reserve.

 

[arminnie]

I also recommend going to open houses on your own and interviewing agents. Boy did I week out some just by how awful they were at showing houses. I knew the neighborhood and when I heard them telling lies I knew they were not for me.

Where I lived agents handled both selling and listing. If they specialize in your area and you find a good listing agent they should be able to recommend a good selling agent. They know who is reputable and easy to deal with.

If your husband's new company does any kind of relocation service they can usually recommend realtors also.

I bought a home when I had been out of work in graduate school for two years and didn't have a problem.