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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
   
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | There has been some great advice.... especially about keeping your emotions out of it, shopping hard for your lender and getting PRE-approved before you begin shopping so you know exactly what you can afford and making sure you hook up with a good realtor -- and do not hesitate to change realtors if the first one is not working for you. Keep it business-like - - get the home inspected by a certified home inspector as someone said and go with him on the inspection. There are good reference / guide books you can read to help you get going so you might want to do some research. Look out for yourself! Don't be afraid to negotiate on the closing deal.... i.e. getting seller to pay for certain things or fix certain things, etc. Anything is negotiable. |
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 Roan On The Range
Posts: 7889
 
Location: Stephenville, TX | Y'all talked me out of them...mobile homes are officially off the list.
Thank you everyone for the replies!
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 Queen Bee Cat Owner
Posts: 3629
Location: Way up North | Absolutely get your own realtor! We weren't really looking when we found a place we wanted to look at so we didn't think we needed a realtor. Long story short, the sellers realtor showed us the house and we ended up using her as our realtor to put in an offer. She absolutely did not have our interests in mind and it got really messy before it was all said and done. We have now lived here for four years and after a lot of work are very happy with our purchase but will be mush smarter for our next purchase. Oh, our realtor only lives 1.5 miles down the road from us and we have not seen or heard from her since we closed. |
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Roan On The Range
Posts: 7889
Location: Stephenville, TX | How about owner finance? If you've gone that route, what was your experience like?
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| Running Roan - 2014-01-03 12:13 PM What about mobile homes? In my price range I can get more land with a mobile, but I'm not 100% convinced that's the way to go. I'm thinking I'd get more value out of a stick-built house. This will be a starter place, so I need to consider resale potential. Thoughts?
NEVER,EVER, again would I even CONSIDER a mobile home. I had a VERY nice double-wide on 5 acres, arena, 4+ stall barn, hot tub, tile floors, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, I practically had to GIVE it away - hardly ANYBODY will lend on them and their value does nothing but depreciate. I will never own one again. There is a reason they are affordable.
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| Running Roan - 2014-01-04 10:56 AM Y'all talked me out of them...mobile homes are officially off the list.
Thank you everyone for the replies!
YAY! |
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 On the Countdown
Posts: 2934
Location: Texas | I just bought my first home. I rented for a yr and a half, looking for almost a year. I found several places that were perfect, or so I thought, and I couldn't get them bought. When I found the house I bought it was so similar to the very first house I LOVED but much closer to work.
I had told my realtor I was done, do not send me anything else. She would send stuff and I would almost ignore her. One of the last houses I looked at I told her to find me a mobile home because I didn't think I could find something I wanted, and could afford. That is when my house came up... I am sure my realtor I finally bought something. I was way to picky in some areas! She would think the land would be great and I would find something I did't like. But she also got hung up on little things that didn't bother me. Have a list of what you would like but don't get dead set on it.
Look past the what the house looks like inside, wall color, etc. That kinda stuff can be changed. Mine had DARK 1970s wood paneling throughout, I painted all of it. I have already gutted and rebuilt the bathroom, it was HORRIBLE!
I will have to fence and put some type of barn up for my horses. But my payments are doable.
It was a stressful experience, but I am glad it is over with. happy house hunting. |
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On the Countdown
Posts: 2934
Location: Texas | Running Roan - 2014-01-04 12:32 PM How about owner finance? If you've gone that route, what was your experience like?
I was looking at a house that did owner finance...SCARY! Banks/Mort Companies interest rates were 3.5-4.5% and the owner finance was 8.75% for 15 yrs and then they wanted like 20-25% down... The owners can charge you whatever interest rate you want. I was going to do a USDA loan, no money down; interest rate fairly cheap. USDA requires it to a stick built house, and I believe it has to have some acreage. They only way I learned of this was my first house I looked at that I loved, I had some saved not enough and this was a easy way to get into it. When I found the house I bought... The gov't was shut down so I went with a conventional loan, way cheaper in the long run because of PMI. USDA and FHA PMI runs the entire life of the loan and the convential PMI stops after a certain point. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 495
Location: Washington | Running Roan - 2014-01-04 10:32 AM
How about owner finance? If you've gone that route, what was your experience like?
If you go this route, make sure the seller has the house clear of any loans. We just got out of a mess where the guy stopped paying the bank, so the house got foreclosed on even though we were making our payments. Less learned the hard way!
As others have said, get pre approved first, then find a realtor, or get with a realtor for suggestions on a good lender and find out what loan work best for you and special programs out there. Get the inspection and be there when they go through the house. It's like a pre purchase exam on a horse. Have copies of EVERYTHING for money earned and spent. We had to have a copy of any check being deposited and a copy of the deposit, pay stubs, bills of sales. We're self employed so there was a lot o paperwork involved.
We closed on our new house the weekend before Thanksgiving. We were driving around one weekend and found the house, I contacted the realtor about the house, she suggested a lender, got pre approved, put in an offer and got to work on a few things that needed to be done to the house to pass for the loan, it was a foreclosure. From the time I called the realtor to closing was a month and it was 23 days from offer to closing.
Edited by Lopin' Leopard 2014-01-06 9:12 AM
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  Extreme Veteran
Posts: 494
Location: La Frontera |
Last on the mortgage side-your acreage WILL affect who can do a mortgage for you. If you are between 5-10 acres there are only so many lenders that can do it. Less than 5 and any traditional mortgage company can do it. Over 10 and you are likely going to need to talk to Farm Credit. Be very upfront about your acreage. It is important.
We just purchased our first home last fall. I will second this! 3 days before we were set to close our mortgage company said they wouldn't loan on the property because it was considered ag property. It is a single family house with a barn on 15 acres with no agricultural tax exemption. I fought tooth and nail but they wouldn't budge. Thankfully I got a personal loan to cover the purchase and then went to a mortgage broker and got a mortgage through Cole Taylor bank.
So if you're looking at "larger" acreages make sure the bank you're using will loan on that type of property. |
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