I've been looking on and off for the past few years for a house. Wasn't in any big hurry to move out. I found a house right next to work, checked it out. They wanted over 200K at that time so that was a no go. They later dropped it to 199,900 which was still over my budget. They did some work around the property and re-listed again at 154,900. I did a second look at the place and my parents decided they would help me out with the down payment and all that which helped a bunch. I was approved for 125,000 so after taking a second look we decided to get it inspected and if that went ok put in an offer. Home inspection went pretty good it needs a new roof, gets water in the basement which was things we already knew so no surprise. Basically most of the stuff that was pointed out was stuff we knew. We decided to kinda low ball at 110k. The money will be going straight to a nursing home so not like they are getting anything out of the deal.

Fast forward to today I get a call little after 2 saying they countered at 115k LOL :nice:

So I gotta go sign some more papers tomorrow and hopefully will be in by the end of next month.

It's a sorta 5 BR (only 1 room actually has a closet and according to my mom it's not a BR without a closet) 1 bath. with a 2 car garage on 1.20 acres. I'll post some pics later or when I actually get in do a video tour

 

Hmmm.

The only way to buy a house and not screw yourself is:
1) 20% down (minimum)
2) 15 year mortgage w/ bi-weekly payments
3) Monthly payment is no more than 25% of your take-home pay

Good luck. You may want to check out http://www.daveramsey.com

 

Bi weekly would never work for me. I get paid bi weekly so I'd never have enough

 

Ahh, young grasshopper. Much to learn you do.

Bi-weekly payment means taking the monthly payment multiplied by 12 months and then divided by the 26 pay periods you're paid.


Run some numbers for yourself. You want to build equity faster and kill that mortgage as quickly as possible. Don't fall for the tax deduction BS. A tax deduction merely means you borrowed $X-thousand but you're receiving a credit for $Y-thousand if you itemize your return.

Just remember, insurance and property taxes will ALWAYS increase every year.

http://www.mortgage-calc.com/mortgage/biweekly.html


30 Years
Results: Year Standard Plan Balance Bi-Weekly Plan Balance Year 1: $113,520.61 $ 112,849.50 Year 2: $111,953.88 $ 110,572.04 Year 3: $110,294.65 $ 108,160.11 Year 4: $108,537.45 $ 105,605.79 Year 5: $106,676.51 $ 102,900.66 Year 6: $104,705.71 $ 100,035.82 Year 7: $102,618.55 $ 97,001.83 Year 8: $100,408.16 $ 93,788.73 Year 9: $98,067.27 $ 90,385.92 Year 10: $95,588.17 $ 86,782.21 Year 11: $92,962.71 $ 82,965.74 Year 12: $90,182.24 $ 78,923.94 Year 13: $87,237.62 $ 74,643.52 Year 14: $84,119.14 $ 70,110.38 Year 15: $80,816.55 $ 65,309.61 Year 16: $77,318.98 $ 60,225.40 Year 17: $73,614.90 $ 54,841.01 Year 18: $69,692.15 $ 49,138.74 Year 19: $65,537.79 $ 43,099.80 Year 20: $61,138.16 $ 36,704.33 Year 21: $56,478.77 $ 29,931.27 Year 22: $51,544.30 $ 22,758.32 Year 23: $46,318.50 $ 15,161.89 Year 24: $40,784.16 $ 7,116.97 Year 25: $34,923.08 $ 0.00 Year 26: $28,715.97 $ 0.00 Year 27: $22,142.38 $ 0.00 Year 28: $15,180.69 $ 0.00 Year 29: $7,807.99 $ 0.00 Year 30: $-0.00 $ 0.00
Monthly Payment:$671.11 Total Interest: $126,599.16 Bi-Weekly Payment:$335.55 Total Interest:$101,707.72


You Entered: Principal:$115,000.00 Interest Rate:5.750 %Term:15 years Results: Year Standard Plan Balance Bi-Weekly Plan Balance Year 1: $110,023.04 $ 109,068.06 Year 2: $104,752.23 $ 102,785.91 Year 3: $99,170.24 $ 96,132.85 Year 4: $93,258.69 $ 89,087.00 Year 5: $86,998.12 $ 81,625.17 Year 6: $80,367.93 $ 73,722.79 Year 7: $73,346.30 $ 65,353.85 Year 8: $65,910.10 $ 56,490.82 Year 9: $58,034.88 $ 47,104.51 Year 10: $49,694.70 $ 37,164.03 Year 11: $40,862.13 $ 26,636.67 Year 12: $31,508.07 $ 15,487.78 Year 13: $21,601.76 $ 3,680.66 Year 14: $11,110.58 $ 0.00 Year 15: $0.00 $ 0.00
Monthly Payment:$954.97 Total Interest: $56,894.89 Bi-Weekly Payment:$477.49 Total Interest:$50,114.37

Here is some more info:
http://www.daveramsey.com/radio/high...-the-Way-to-Go

 

congrats on looking at home ownership. pay close attention to the home inspection and factor in any anticipated repairs. and beware, some of them can cost a ****load of money. roofs can be $5-8K. heat/air replacement can be $3-6K. basement dig out/waterproofing could be $2-5K.

i'm going to disagree some with VW that you must pay 20% down and finance only 80% and do all the bi-weekly stuff. while that is useful information, its more important to not overload your ability to make the required payment, and DON'T buy more house than you can afford. also don't make yourself "house poor" where every dollar MUST go to the house. now - once you can make your basic payment without trouble - then yes, you should pre-pay as much as possible to avoid interest.

something to bear in mind - is that as long as interest is tax deductible, then it actually costs you less than the face value. it actually costs you something like face value minus about 10% or 15% or 20% or whatever your tax rate is.

another thing to know. bankers are pretty creative to sell houses. its common to get a primary mortgage of 80% at a fixed rate of around 5% or less for 20 or 30 years, and then get another mortgage of 10-15% with a 7 or 10 or 15 year balloon at a variable rate, and then only actually pay 5-10% down. (this also avoids PMI which is very expensive) the idea here is that you MUST be able to afford both mortgage payments and you MUST be able to pay off the second mortgage if the rate increases.

now i'm also going to agree with VW that every dollar you pre-pay and avoid interest is another dollar in your pocket which makes you ahead in the game. so- unless this is rental property (another subject), then you want to prepay with double payments, or extra payments, as much as you can. also be aware that pre-payment early in the mortgage is worth 3 times its face value. $1000 extra here and there is worth $3000 over 30 years (or at least it was with higher interest rates of the past). by contrast, an extra $1000 at the end of a 20-30 year mortgage period is only worth $1000 because you already paid $2000 in interest for that principal.

i used to dump every extra dollar into my house payment, and paid it off in 10 years instead of 20. having a house that's paid for frees up a lot of money for college, or retirement savings, or whatever.

 

Slap a metal roof on that sucker and call it a day there jinx 50 year roof so event you wont need to reroof it.

 

So when do i get to come over for beer?

 

Yeah but they cost A LOT more

 

Yea but you NEVER have to mess with it. Its a one time investment. Normal roof 20-30 years metal roof 50+ years. By the time you buy 2 shingle roofs you could have got 1 metal roof. When my house needed a new roof my dad pushed for it cause he didnt want to be retired and the house needing a new roof. Just watch out there slick when its wet.

 

You have to remember that you will save money in the long term. That's the problem with people today is that they look at the short term all too often. It's like buying a diesel truck -- yes, it is more expensive at the initial purchase, but in the long term money is saved on maintenance and fuel because it can out haul a gasser.

Home ownership is not as simple as people make it out to be. I was bit in the as$ many times by surprises (water heater went out, discovered termite damage) that one has to take everything into consideration.