[MILESTONE] Financial gurus, please help. Trying to buy first ever house.

Oh boy - Cliff notes? This is not some novel you can skip through. Buying a house has so many parts to it - why would you call out financial gurus for this? You can buy any house but whether you want it done right is another story. No one is going to roll out the red carpet for you. You have to first know how much you can afford and also know what you want. There are tons of articles on the internet to get started.

 

If you don't know how to buy a house, meaning you haven't done enough research, then I'm not sure you know enough about your finances to know whether or not you can afford one. Make sure you can afford it first before you go down this path.

 

Go to one of the major mortgage companies, get pre-approved for a certain amount (not pre-qualified), find your house and be done with it. Not that hard.

 

The right realtor makes things much, much easier. Ask your friends/family who they use and go from there.

 

Cliff notes?! Yeh, not that hard except he'll have a ton of questions.

 

Link

 

I am in my mid 20s and just bought my first home, and it was overwhelming at first, but slowly I figured things out with the help of a few people who had experience at it. I started with going through chase as I had banked with them. But after a while I found myself questioning them after they would only approve me for an FHA loan and not a conventional .
I tried using quicken which honestly seemed fine but I felt I needed someone physically infront of me to go through this with. I went back to chase but at the branch itself in downtown and they immediately approved me for a conventional loan, I contracted on a house but chase gave it a terrible appraisal that could not have been more inaccurate.

I left chase and went with Envoy Mortgage through a referral to Mike Ruiz http://www.mikeruizmortgages.com/ they are a reputable company which title companies like to work with as they keep things very simple, clean, and fast. I felt rates were comparable with everyone else. He will pull your credit, ask you questions and see if you are approved for both a FHA loan or a conventional loan. They both have their advantages and disadvantages and it depends on your situation to pick the right one, which Mike will go through with you to help you decide. I would highly recommend working with them.

 

It was great having help through this with a friend of mine, let me know if I can help you in any way.

 

done.

 

Send a PM to Rockets Red Glare. His wife has been the realtor for more than a few of us here on CF. I bought my first house with her. I had way too many stupid questions, but she handled them all.

Also, yes, find out how much you are pre-approved for, and find out what the monthly payments would be.

 

Nice. I'll be in the market in a few months to a year. Thanks for the info as well.

 

Rate wise-nationstar,gold financial,cornerstone. Never get lending from banks, as they are risky at close.


Jan 10th 2014 is a big day. The DTI restrictions will go from 53 to 58 in all loans all the way down too 43%. It will make things much harder to get the sizeable loan you want as it will be equivalent to taking a 15 to 20% pay cut. This includes VA,USDA, conventional, as well as FHA.

 

Just tried to buy a house this past weekend. It was depressing losing the house I wanted, but at least I know the process better. It's a seller's market (in downtown anyway) and I was being manipulated into dropping my mortgage lender for the seller's lender. The entire deal was contingent on that. I thought being the high bidder would put me in the drivers seat, but that's when the sharks started circling.

 

^ This
If you are new to the process, get a good realtor.
An experienced agent should be able to advise you regarding what lender to use because they probably have some connections, etc...

Also, if you are buying a new home, check with the builder.
They often have a list of "Preferred" lenders and at times they offer additional incentives if you use their preferred lenders.

 

Also, stay away from NFM, Inc
Terrible

 

Just a quick comment regarding appraisals.
I don't think the bank/lender/mortgage company is the one appraising the property. They order the appraisals but after that it goes to a 3rd party and it all depends on who they send out

Chase could have ordered 2 appraisals for the same house
If 2 different appraisers went out they could have reached 2 completely different amounts