Home Buying Tips?

[Vypurr]

Hey all. I am looking to move from where I am living now, and I have been looking at the possibility of just purchasing a home instead of getting into renting.

I am just overwhelmed by what is out there and how many resources there are for buying a home! I have a few questions about how to figure out what is right for me!

1) How can I determine how much I can REALLY afford? I don't want to be living paycheck to pay check, but I am willing to cut back if I can own a house.

2) How can I find out how good (or bad) a neighborhood is? I work in Center City next to City Hall, I would like to be closer to that area, but really don't know the surrounding neighborhoods that well!

3) Where is the best place begin my search? My requirements are simple...I want 2+ Bedrooms, Driveway, Garage, and Finished Basement!

4) After I have found some places I like, how do I begin the process of making an offer, and getting a mortgage? How much would I typically have to have in cash to put down on a house?

Any advice, or anything I have missed would be sweet! I will post up some places that I have found that I like just to share!

[cmr076]

from what i know, after looking into this for myself...

how much you can afford is up to three times their annual household income, if they can make a 20% down payment and dont have a **** ton of other debt.

you can get a 100% loan, however the less you put down the less the bank is likely to lend, from real estate friends i have heard at LEAST 20% (and the more you put down the more you will likely be able to borrow) and IIRC if you put less than 20% up you need to get private mortgage insurance. Theres also a couple types of loans that you will see, but your best bet is to call a real estate agent...

as far as the neighborhood, i would go to the neighborhood and ask the people you see... nobody will be more honest than the people living there! you can probably call the police department too (not sure about how helpful philly will be but in the burbs they will give you stats)

just a word of warning, your asking for a LOT in center city unless you want to spend HIGH 6 figures (or close to 7) a few of my dads partners live in that area and have all that you listed and are all living in 7 fig. houses...

i know this will sound REALLY gay but every night my gf puts hg-tv on when shes going to bed and theres a lot of informative shows on there that address exactly what your talking about.

[Got Insulin?]

Well, the North East and Roxborough are good places to start. Immediately arround the city can be kind of husky, and living in the city is unlikely to net what you're looking for for a decent price. Neighborhoods vary block to block in some parts immediately surrounding the city and, luckily, we have people from all areas to chime in. I was born and raised in the NE, and went to school at Roman Catholic (Broad and Vine) and spent a good deal of time in Roxborough and Manyunk, so I can vouch for all of those areas being nice, but can't really say anything about the housing market. Good luck with the search.

[assault187]

I'm in the same boat just looking further away from the city. Is it possible to subscribe to a thread here?

[igo4bmx]

I live in the manayunk /roxborough area.
homes here can be had for as low as 180k up to 800k
generally the area is decent- i really like the area i live in.

[max2k1]

Will, everything is based on your credit score. Right now the mortgage industry is very tight about their lending. Sub 650 credit scores are having a rough time getting approved right now because of all the defaults on sub prime loans. Also be careful with real estate agents, most dont really know crap about mortgages and slow down the process.

My dad is Mortgage Broker and owns his own company. He also sub contracts for a large Mortgage company, finding fraud.

My mom is a Mortgage Underwriter for GMAC. She decides if the people get the loan or not

PM me if you got any questions

[max2k1]

I just had a talk with my dad and got some answers from him about whats going on in the industry now

You need a credit score above 650 to even be considered

Your monthly bills and potential housing costs cannot exceed 40 percent of your gross monthly income.

Most companies are looking for 3 percent down payment + closing costs. But that number will be goin up to 5 percent shortly

[Yes SiR]

When we decided to start looking for a house, we went to our bank to be pre-approved. And just because the bank tells you you can spend x amount, it doesn't mean you HAVE to. We knew what we wanted our monthly expenses to be, regardless of how much the bank told us we could finance. The pre-approval process was pretty quick and simple and gave us a baseline to start looking at houses and it showed our realtor and the seller that we were serious. We did some internet searching first, and I actually found the house we ended up buying that way. But we contacted a realtor and started looking. Having a good realator really made the process easy and enjoyable. She was able to tell us more about the areas we were looking in, tax information ,etc. Your realtor can then help you with your other questions about how to proceed once you've found something you want to put an offer on.

We also found it helpful to bring someone with us to look at a house a second time. We were distracted by the idea of buying a new home that we missed many details, both good and bad.

[EvlEgl]

Vyypurr...Pretty Good advice So far from the people who Have responded...That answers your questions about the Financial Part of it.

As far as your requirements for a house, I wouldnt even look at a house if It didnt have a garage. Try and ask around with people you know or if you know a real estate agent then give them a call and have them start looking at whats on the market. If you give them your List of Requirements they can do searches in there system and you pretty much just have to Look at ALOT of houses...Until you think you found the one....Then at that point, If you lik it you Make an offer to the seller...It can be whatever you think is a fair price...they either say yes or No (I would Lowball like a mother****er and work your way up) tell yourself you Wont go above a certain price and if they want more than that, Than start looking for another house...There's Plenty of houses out there...you just have to find time to look at all of them.

[ThePrimerSuspect]

Fishtown is really coming up, and quickly too. just gotta be careful cause theres still alot of ****ty areas down there. lower northeast is barely hanging on though. thats what im afraid of right now. i wont buy anywhere other than the NE, cause im not ready to move out of the city yet. and im afraid to spend too much and lose out when i move out of the city in a few years. so now ive pretty much stopped looking for houses and am considering renting again for the next few years.

[bastid]

I live about 2 blocks from City Hall, bought a condo about 6 months ago. From the things you are looking for (2+ br, driveway, garage, basement), you'll need to think about the burbs. You might check out around Fox Chase. My friend just moved into a new house there relatively inexpensively. Another alternative would be between Cherry Hill and Medford in NJ, but you'll be faced with increased car insurance and virtually zero gun rights (if that matters to you).

Also, be prepared to walk away. Housing prices will likely fall another 10-15% over the next 12-18 months due to a bunch of foreclosures that banks are sitting on but not listing in the market (supply far outweighs demand right now). Consider looking into short sales from folks who are underwater and owe more on their house than it's worth. A good website for non-Philly homes is www.everyhome.com.

I know a great real estate agent out of Horsham if you're interested. She discounts commission which motivates sellers to work with her and really goes above and beyond to help.

Good luck...

Patrick

[Vypurr]

Fox Chase, Jenkintown, Abington, Willow Grove, Upper Moreland are all on my list (and they are only 10 minutes from where I live right now).

NJ is out of the question because I am 23 with an STi and a Motorcycle...

Can you gimmer cliff notes on what a short sale is? I will google it, but I suspect that I will be buried with technical jargon!

[bastid]

Originally Posted by Vypurr

Fox Chase, Jenkintown, Abington, Willow Grove, Upper Moreland are all on my list (and they are only 10 minutes from where I live right now).

NJ is out of the question because I am 23 with an STi and a Motorcycle...

Can you gimmer cliff notes on what a short sale is? I will google it, but I suspect that I will be buried with technical jargon!

A short sale is a sale of a house to get out of a foreclosure situation.

For example. Let's say I bought XYZ house in 2006 for $300,000. Let's say I didn't put much down on the house. I will likely still owe $290,000 on the loan for a house that now is worth $270,000 on the market. Compound that that I've been late on payments 6 months and will foreclose in 3 months.

A short sale is basically a "fire sale" on a house to avoid foreclosure. Almost universally better prices. You just have to deal with some bureaucratic BS that you wouldn't have to in a standard sale.

[Vypurr]

Any opinions on Neighborhoods near Upper Darby? I see some great prices out there.

[jpalamar]

^ What he said. I think in about 2 years is when the best home prices are going to hit. There are new houses that haven't sold and there are many forclosuers that will need to be sold.

[Honest_Bob]

One of these would look nice in your future kitchen.

http://www.goodwife.com/

[max2k1]

Originally Posted by bastid

I live about 2 blocks from City Hall, bought a condo about 6 months ago. From the things you are looking for (2+ br, driveway, garage, basement), you'll need to think about the burbs. You might check out around Fox Chase. My friend just moved into a new house there relatively inexpensively. Another alternative would be between Cherry Hill and Medford in NJ, but you'll be faced with increased car insurance and virtually zero gun rights (if that matters to you).

Also, be prepared to walk away. Housing prices will likely fall another 10-15% over the next 12-18 months due to a bunch of foreclosures that banks are sitting on but not listing in the market (supply far outweighs demand right now). Consider looking into short sales from folks who are underwater and owe more on their house than it's worth. A good website for non-Philly homes is www.everyhome.com.

I know a great real estate agent out of Horsham if you're interested. She discounts commission which motivates sellers to work with her and really goes above and beyond to help.

Good luck...

Patrick

YOU SON OF BITCH! You moved back closer to the area. How about you come visit an old Crippled friend from High School son!!! One of the last times we talked, you said you might get rid of your M3 for a Ferrari. What happend

Sorry about going off topic Will, Ive known Bastid for 12 years since our freshman year. So I had to bust his balls haha

Will send me a PM with all the questions you want answered and I will have my parents answer them. They have over 60 years of combined experience and are more than happy to help out any friend of mine. But a quick tip of advice. Try to get the balance down on your car and bike, your credit cards as well. The less money you have to pay out on your monthly bills, the more money you can afford for your mortgage. Remember my second post. Your monthly bills + potential housing costs cant exceed 40 percent of your gross monthly income. Lenders have become really strict about that

[bastid]

Originally Posted by max2k1

YOU SON OF BITCH! You moved back closer to the area. How about you come visit an old Crippled friend from High School son!!! One of the last times we talked, you said you might get rid of your M3 for a Ferrari. What happend

Mortgage, condo association fee, parking fee, city wage tax, life, etc.

Theoretically I could get a 360 Modena for about the same as I paid for my M3 new. However, a $6k belt job and $4k clutch every 3 years doesn't exactly sound appealing to me. Especially considering the F430 is chain driven... Prices are falling pretty steadily thanks to the economy and the release of the 458 Italia... Talk to me in 12 months

PS - You home now? Send me a PM or hit me up on FB.

[djb5118]

you could look at conshohocken. there are a lot of properties out there and a ton of younger people to hang with

[ThePrimerSuspect]

Originally Posted by Vypurr

Any opinions on Neighborhoods near Upper Darby? I see some great prices out there.

upper darby has its good and bad. just stay as far away from the philly border as you can and you should be good.