Looking to purchase a home, need some advice.

[Shoolig]

I'm looking into purchasing a house in the next few months. I am more interested in a foreclosure since I'd like to buy, then refinance and get myself into something along the lines of a 97-00 Viper GTS primarily paid for with home equity and hold onto my truck, DSM, and 4 runner.

Does anyone have any advice to where to start looking for a house?

I doesn't necessarily have to be a foreclosure, if anyone knows decent real estate sites for Eastern PA (1 hour north of philly, 1 hour south of the Poconos) I'd love to check them out. I already talked to my parents but they didn't have too much to help me out with since they both bought in a different market than I'm trying to.

Anyhow, my total budget is around $5,500 a month, after tax to live on, this will need to take care of heat, food, car, fun, internet, cell, and w/e else. I don't want to take on a car payment w/ full coverage on a relatively expensive car since that would be 1,000 dollars/month in itself.

Some direction here would be awesome. Also- with forclosures I have heard you will have some intensely expensive closing fees since it's typically handled through lawyers rather than the realtor who likes to lure you in with the best incentives possible (info would be nice on this), I'd like to put between 5-10% down if possible but have heard that as much as 15% is required.

I've considered getting an apartment, but, that's just money thrown away IMO so I am not going that route.

I'm curious to see where other homeonwers suggest trying to get my mortgage payment at, I def. do not want to worry about making ends meet, I'd rather be in a smaller house than something large with money worries.

Thanks gents.

[ToTheIX's]

i just bought a house, but decided a foreclosure wasnt for me, the problem with them is that on top of closing costs which you will be 100% responsible for there may be tons of other charges you will be held responsible, any back taxes, etc. not to mention, dealing with the banks that own the properties is a royal pain in the ass, even if you offer them asking price on a property it could be weeks-months before they get around to looking at it (atleast that was my experience) Short sales on the other hand seem to be an easier situation to deal with but still come along with higher closing costs and sometimes a larger then normal down payment

[importpower99]

I could copy and paste and write a bunch of stuff...however I am lazy. So here is a good website put up by my corporation that will help you in your home puchase.
http://www.yourmoneycounts.com/ymc/goals/homeownership

I suggest your read the entire site, it is really good, and written in plain terms that anyone can understand.

I'm looking into purchasing a house in the next few months. I am more interested in a foreclosure since I'd like to buy, then refinance and get myself into something along the lines of a 97-00 Viper GTS primarily paid for with home equity and hold onto my truck, DSM, and 4 runner.

Umm, if you are stating that you are gonna take money from your newly purchased house and put it towards a car, that is a big no no. That would make no sense and would be a bad descision. You should really only take money from your house if you are going to invest it in your home (ie. home improvements, upgrades, etc.).

Some direction here would be awesome. Also- with forclosures I have heard you will have some intensely expensive closing fees since it's typically handled through lawyers rather than the realtor who likes to lure you in with the best incentives possible (info would be nice on this),

Forclosure technically do have more fees associated with them, due to the fact that most of them have existing liens on them, which is why they were foreclosed on in the first place. So you will usually have to pay off the first mortgage company, and whatever leins are on the property. You can get those fees financed into your loan, depending on your credit score.

Your credit score plays a big role, so check it before you do anything. Typically anything above a 700 FICO, can get you 100% financing, but a 600 FICO or higher can still get you a mortgage.

As far as down payment, if depends on your credit. Typical mortgages that you don't get 100% financing for, will require 5% to 10% down. If your income is not that high, you can look at FHA loans. If you qualify you will only need 2.5% down.

Also make sure your total mortgage payment does not exceed 28% of your gross income.

But seriously, read that website, it has calculators to do the math for you. If you have questions that you don't want to ask publicly feel free to PM me.

[Shoolig]

Originally Posted by importpower99

I could copy and paste and write a bunch of stuff...however I am lazy. So here is a good website put up by my corporation that will help you in your home puchase.
http://www.yourmoneycounts.com/ymc/goals/homeownership

I suggest your read the entire site, it is really good, and written in plain terms that anyone can understand.



Umm, if you are stating that you are gonna take money from your newly purchased house and put it towards a car, that is a big no no. That would make no sense and would be a bad descision. You should really only take money from your house if you are going to invest it in your home (ie. home improvements, upgrades, etc.).



Forclosure technically do have more fees associated with them, due to the fact that most of them have existing liens on them, which is why they were foreclosed on in the first place. So you will usually have to pay off the first mortgage company, and whatever leins are on the property. You can get those fees financed into your loan, depending on your credit score.

Your credit score plays a big role, so check it before you do anything. Typically anything above a 700 FICO, can get you 100% financing, but a 600 FICO or higher can still get you a mortgage.

As far as down payment, if depends on your credit. Typical mortgages that you don't get 100% financing for, will require 5% to 10% down. If your income is not that high, you can look at FHA loans. If you qualify you will only need 2.5% down.

Also make sure your total mortgage payment does not exceed 28% of your gross income.

But seriously, read that website, it has calculators to do the math for you. If you have questions that you don't want to ask publicly feel free to PM me.

Thanks, that was quite helpful... looks like I will be settling on a Vette then. Bahhh.

[underpressure02]

I can't type to much at work but I looked for a while for my first house which I just bought this year. I looked on craigslist and set up a bunch of MLS searches. I used zuber realty website for one of the MLS searchs. I had a few different realtors but in the end they all sucked. I found all the houses myself and had them show them to me. I ended up buying a pretty crazy house that was in pre-forclosure. (2 years old, over 5000 sq ft on 3 acres) The owner was super nice and helpful. Had he not have been I prob would not have gotten the house b/c the realtors tried to screw me everyway possible. I save a **** load of money buying the house in pre forclosure and ended up with a super nice house.

It is a buyers market right now if you have cash. Just look at a bunch of houses before making your choice.

[RedDawg]

lol buying a house to finance a car.

excellent idea

[Shoolig]

Originally Posted by RedDawg

lol buying a house to finance a car.

excellent idea

That's not my primary goal here but that's my motivation to go the foreclosure route. A few people I know have done it with great results. Especially if you find your house for substantially cheaper than it's appraised value it's worth it. My brother bought his home forclosed and jokes about how he got 130,000 for just signing the papers. He makes 3x's what I do though and had paid to have all the paper work and leg work taken care of for him, I don't have that luxury so I need to do this myself. Home's (the kind I'd actually consider living in anyway) are finally in my price range and I'm a glutton for oppurtunity so I'm going for it.

[Eclipse GSX 61]

My tip: Invite me to the house warming party buddy.