Me and my dude are trying to be in a house by 2016. Like, we aren't trying to sign another lease in this apartment. So if we start now, is it realistic that we could be moving into our own home by early next year? What was your experience? We don't even have a clue of where to start but I'm hitting this joint up tonight.

http://beltline.org/event/public-meeting-special-call-southwest-westside-study-group-housing/

or just the financing part?

the financing part is a PIA nowadays....
BUT...there are new laws that require the lenders to close loans within 60-days of starting the process...so that should help.

If 2016 is your target....
Starting to pinpoint locations now is a good idea.
Hunt down your financing and start comparing lenders....

The whole process shouldn't take more than 90-days if you find a house, make offer, get inspections done, go through the financing process then close.
.

So now it's just about finding the house and the financing. My whole thing is that if we are paying $800+ in rent, that could be a mortgage.

Typically your real estate taxes are going to be rolled into your mortgage as escrow...also insurance....

when i last refinanced, the new mortgage company made that mandatory for the first year. i figured, why pay them upfront, i'll change that after the first year, but i've kept it because it's more convenient. so far they haven't screwed up like the one time one of the previous mortgage companies forgot to send my property tax payment, which they blamed on compooters and straightened out after i contacted them.

or at least based on the loan type somehow. I'm not clear on how they're basing it.

We keep it for the convenience on one of our properties, but not on the other one. We were burned in the past the same way....they didn't pay on time and it was a PIA getting it all squared away. That only happened once though...and it was after the mortgage was sold to another company so I think they were being honest about how/why it got screwed up.

The thing that you have to watch out for is that tax rates might change frequently and you'd have to adjust your escrow amount accordingly.

>BUT...there are new laws that require the lenders to close
>loans within 60-days of starting the process...so that should
>help.

I'm closing on a place this coming Tuesday, but started the process in mid-December.

And the clock doesn't start until you do the Rate lock in.

He makes it seem like there are penalties they (as the lender)face....not sure what the penalties are though. Whatever it is....it's motivating him to make haste...which I like...a LOT lol..

makes sense

im in harlem tho

and i still dont see any logic to these wild swings in condo fees from place A to place B

)))--####---###--(((

bunda
<-.-> ^_^ \^0^/
get busy living, or get busy dying.

they'll get you a lender who can tell you if youre approved or what to do and give you areal solid game plan to make what you want happen in the time frame you want it to happen

its not rocket science. people do it literally every day.


does it really matter?

wonder what bin's doing?
http://i.imgur.com/phECCMp.jpg

Talk to the Real Estate agents at these Open Houses...
Take note of how they do their thing and make your selection of a Real Estate Agent from that pool.

Our luck with cold calling agents has been dismal....at least in the DMV....
.

but they were bullshitting.

ended up with an older lady who contacted us after using their website.

She was hungry as shit for a sale

pre-qualified, they saw that all my checks from work were different rates, and they asked if I had a full time job. I told them I usually worked 40 hours a week, but that I was a contractor who didn't get paid vacation time...and it was summer time, so I had just taken off a week or two. They checked my last two months of payments, and said yeah...come back to us when you got steady income.

I started the process up again maybe June 2010...looked around a whole lot, was dealing with two, even three realtors...and made the decision on the house to get by August 2010. Thing is, it was a short sale, which I would never in life recommend...but I ONLY did it because the owner was actually the realtor (sounds like a conflict of interest, huh). So from there....I paid the initial escrow on like August 30, 2010, and signed the official paperwork and got the key December 7, 2010.

I had to fix some things, so I didn't move in til like January 2011. It was livable already, but my parents wanted me to make some changes before moving in...refinishing floors, changing the pipe system from copper to plastic, and...some other shit I forget.

------------------------------

50+ FREE Mixes on www.DJR-Tistic.com!

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once check and see what you really can afford
consider your mortgage payment needs to include taxes and insurance
your down payment needs to be in the bank and you need to be able to show where it came from

credit is huge
and be sure that you and your dude are in it for the long haul
you do not want to be breaking up a yr later and having to try to sell the spot and taking a loss on your purchase.
also consider getting something that if one of you loses a job the other can handle the bills for a few month.

I got a good life man

Living together for 4 so I think we are in it for the long haul

just saying be sure ur sure...

I got a good life man

tomorrow and still havent packed

prototype

stand ur ground, believe in urself,
believe in love, prepare urself for love, remove the negativity from ur life, and accept the love u kno u deserve

so I can for real let you know how it goes.

i looked into buying a house before i moved atl, but for a number of reasons those plans fell through. i never went through the loan process at the time, but i did enough research to see how much i could afford for a house. that made it much easier when i decided to make the purchase.

so be sure to make sure to check your credit. try to have it as clean as possible. and of course have some money saved up because things start to add up. i was able to put only 10% down, and still got a really loan rate, but again i really lucked out.

also check to see if you qualify through naca (www.naca.com). i sat in the original sessions and even if you don't go through the program they give you a lot of information. the process can be long, but my sister is going through the program now and she has said that its not too bad.

http://michaelbluejay.com/house/

save 20% of what ever you can afford
then save 6 months living expenses
begin searching

~~~~~~

Rule of thumb: every 100k borrowed = roughly $700mo payment.

Lots of young people can comfortably afford $700/mo.

How many can save 20k while paying rent?

it's a personal decision obviously though
if you're pressed to buy a house then buy it, lessons from 2008 be damned

~~~~~~

thing to achieve....
It's DEF a good rule of thumb....

But in places like NYC, DMV, San Fran, etc....... it's a non-starter for most folks...unless they start Reaaaaaaaaaaal Early...

Like...I want to buy a house in 8 years early....


But even then...in a robust market...the PMI is going to drop fairly quickly as values increase....

You know what happens? The only people who get to build wealth through home ownership are people who already had it.

I know a lot of young-ish homeowners. The only ones who put 20% down got a significant cash infusion from mom and dad. Guess what they looked like?

The only way that equation works out for most folks is if they get free housing currently and can have it for an extended period of years...

It can be done indeed....

I just feel like it's an outdated model.

the days of staying in one place, moving to another in a few years are over IMO (obviously market dependent)

if you buy...you should plan to stay in that property for a good 8-10 yrs mininum.

even then...when you do move...keep it & rent it out.


does it really matter?

wonder what bin's doing?
http://i.imgur.com/phECCMp.jpg

In the grand scheme of things.....it was a matter of
a)Wait & TRY to save...which would take 5 years at LEAST and then end up with 5-years worth of cost inflation in the DMV which essentially would have nullified the savings benifits...

b)Buy as a HOME to live in...NOT an investment.

PMI is a bitch but we are almost done with it.

Homes are terrible investments.
If your main reason for purchasing a house is because you want to build wealth, you should look at other investment opportunities

_______________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"

In terms of a risk and return tradeoff.

In order to create an optimal investment portfolio, (i.e. minimize risk, maximize return) you have to be diversified.

For most people, a very large percentage of their total wealth is wrapped up in one 'investment', their home.
So most of their total investment is exposed to risk in the housing market and they are unable to do anything to mitigate that risk.

A home is a bad investment for other reasons as well.
(1) A house is very illiquid. You can not get out of the investment quickly without paying a large cost.

(2) There is a substantial cost to maintain your investment in order for it to generate returns. We don't see that in stocks, bonds, etc.

(3) The rates of return to housing are historically very low.

This is not to say that people shouldn't want to buy houses. They should if they want to.
But the house should be viewed not as an investment. It should be viewed pretty much like any other consumption expenditure.

_______________________________________

The money you invest in it was money that you were going to spend anyway. I bought a house to have somewhere to live. Right now, my mortgage is significantly less than it would cost me to rent my place. In 15 year's time, my monthly housing cost will be virtually the same. I imagine that a renter's wouldn't.

At the end of 30 years, I will have an asset worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that I basically got for spending money that I was going to spend anyway. That's wealth building.

That's a choice between two different ways to purchasing housing services.
You can rent (the rent payment is your fee for housing) or you can buy (interest payment + tax + etc. is your fee for housing).
So it's the case of choosing the cheaper option.

I'm not saying no one should ever purchase a house.
There are definitely situations when buying is better than renting, and your case may be one of them.

What I am talking about is housing as an investment, which is exposed to risks and often comes with very low returns. Comparing it to investing in stocks, bonds, etc, it is an awful place to put your money.

Think, for example, if you didn't stay in the home for the full 30 years. If you sold it after 14 years, you would be exposed to risks of the housing market.

_______________________________________

>But in places like NYC, DMV, San Fran, etc....... it's a
>non-starter for most folks...unless they start Reaaaaaaaaaaal
>Early...


i personally wouldn't buy in any of those areas unless i really had it like that

90% home owners i know didn't have the 20%
a lot of them had FHA loans even
they enjoy their homes and all that....still doesn't mean it made sense financially
it's just a pure mathematical evaluation to me

~~~~~~

Like...
As a single person... you have the luxury of looking at it strictly mathematically.
But from a family standpoint...there's a LOT more at play...


Even in expensive regions....rent is STILL going to be high so that should be factored in because it still works out mathematically better to at least have real estate that you're paying into with a potential for ROI if you need to move. But like Bin says....you go into it long term...if you KNOW you're not going to be staying put for at least 8-years....yeah...don't buy unless you dropping a good down payment to dead the PMI up front.

Like a coworker of mine recently bought a house, and she and her husband used a FHA loan. They have PMI. It lasts for the life of the loan.

When I was running figures with my lender, I was able to put down the 20%, but I asked about putting down less just to have more in the bank for emergencies, etc. My lender said less than 20% would require PMI on the loan, but it would not last the life of the loan. Just until I've paid enough to make up the difference of what was put down vs. 20%

So if you have 15% saved, it might be worth it to jump if you have financing that does not require PMI for the life of the loan, cause interest rates are expected to be a full point above where they were last year.
______________________________________________________________________________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"

avoid pmi and the 2nd mortgage is tax deduction and can be paid off at any time (unlike pmi)

the interest rate thing is valid but no one knows what it will do
they have been saying it'll go up to 5% the last 3 yrs...meanwhile it hit a record low a couple of months ago. no one knows

~~~~~~

Not saying it can't be done, but the second mortgage thing was also a hallmark of some of the subprime lending scandals. Not everyone may allow that type of set up depending on your situation.
______________________________________________________________________________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"

the 2nd mortgage too....

But the available products are just changing like crazy the past year or two.... I'd heard there were loans that carried PMI for the duration but I thought it was bullshit... that's just crazy.

I have to imagine it's reserved for crazy loans though....man...that would really suck.

Caught up with someone who was the victim of predatory lending. They bought a house with more than one mortgage. And the mortgages were way out of balance with one another. Like they were almost equal in amount.

Not like what SPM is saying with a small second mortgage to fill that gap between savings and 20% down. And the rates were wild high and I think they still had PMI too. They blamed it on the market, and that the area didn't blow up like they though it would.

Ended up having to walk away from the house. Bank gave 'em like 15K for their trouble.

I didn't have it in me to tell them they basically were more of a victim than they were willing to admit.
______________________________________________________________________________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"

if your 2nd mortgage rate is crazy you're 1st mortgage rate is probably crazy too because you had bad credit
it's almost always cheaper than PMI regardless though, if you get a 2nd mortgage that adjusts the base rate it's based on would have to jump several points for it to be a hurt piece

2nd mortgage is only against 10% anyway. so probably <50k
it's a car payment you can tax deduct basically

~~~~~~

not sure if it's only for certain types of loans...
We're dealing with a construction loan right now and they stated up front that the amount of gift money was limited...
not that we HAD any gift money coming...but I thought that was an odd new rule...
.

It took three weeks of convincing for my Lender to believe the funds belonged to me and were not a gift from "Marcus Graham".

.

.

~~~~~~

A house is not an apartment and buying anything like a car or a house with someone that you have no legal status with is going to be a problem.


.
.
.
"Today is your day to have a better life -- it's your right."

if shit goes south & somebody wants a divorce?

it gets REAL ugly

if you can buy it solo, do so. nobody to ask when you wanna make a change, nobody elses credit to worry about, nobody else gets the mortgage deduction on the taxes, etc


does it really matter?

wonder what bin's doing?
http://i.imgur.com/phECCMp.jpg

>if shit goes south & somebody wants a divorce?
>
>it gets REAL ugly
>
>if you can buy it solo, do so. nobody to ask when you wanna
>make a change, nobody elses credit to worry about, nobody else
>gets the mortgage deduction on the taxes, etc
>
>

Yeah, it's one thing to buy on your own and let someone live with you. But if two people go in together with no legal status trouble is only around the corner.



.
.
.
"Today is your day to have a better life -- it's your right."

Might be messy to divest if it comes down to it....
But Real Estate purchasing isn't something that has to be limited to married people.
.

YOU NEVER Buy anything of significant value like property or a car with a person that you live with and have no legal status.

Wisdom.




.
.
.
"Today is your day to have a better life -- it's your right."

We're married now...but we weren't when we purchased our first home.
Weren't when we sold it either...

We disagree. I gave some wisdom, you can argue if your like.


.
.
.
"Today is your day to have a better life -- it's your right."

I won't front...
I'm reading more into your response (and the reasons behind it) and advice than how you presented it....and I shouldn't do that.

Not trying to argue.

This is funny.


.
.
.
"Today is your day to have a better life -- it's your right."

before we get a house?

a relationship with the person, because if it don't work out y'all are screwed.

Hell, divorced folks go through hell and they have rights. What do you think unmarried people go through? They go through Super Hell...


.
.
.
"Today is your day to have a better life -- it's your right."

I started getting semi-serious about home buying in fall of 2013.

Started the financing process with one lender in the Spring of 2014 but got cold feet. Went to a couple of open houses just to feel things out. My realtor is actually a high school friend of mine.

Got serious and got my financing in June of 2014. In most markets, that's late in the game. Housing market heats up in spring, and that's when you'll typically see the most inventory.

Got negative traction on my first offer and pulled out of negotiations. Didn't like the house that much anyways. Got outbid on my next two, one of which was a short sale. Last house, which was the biggest and nicest I got and moved in in late November.

So basically from me the process took five months (June to October)and then I chose a 45 day closing window. Everything was pretty much smooth sailing from there.

But you want go ahead and get your financing straight first. No point in looking if you don't know how much you can afford. Plus a good lender will help you do some math too. The house I ended up in was the most expensive of the four I bid on. But my lender told me for every 10k over my budget I went in a house, that equates to $40-50 more a month in mortgage. So I'm only paying $150 more a month than I planned. For the house I got which is waaay bigger, with a better layout and being that it's a long term investment, I'm happy with that. But without a hard working lending agent, I would have assumed the place was out of my price range.
________________________________________________________________
______________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"

part. you'll determine that with your on patience and time.


I wish I could get out of my house and buy something on the beltline.

Y'all buy those labels, I was born supreme

I was on a mission

I was still at my parents house
My wife (girlfriend at the time) just had a baby
and she was staying at her parents house
I wanted our family together plus.. House rules and people in your business just stressed me out.. And it was time..

I definitely didn't want to rent especially given how cheap (at the time) some of these houses was going for in Philly..

My credit was good enough
And I've been at the job for 5+ years at the time so money was good
Went to the bank to figure out how much house I can buy given the variables

So I started looking around neighborhoods that I wanted to live in and went from there

I saw the house I wanted, contacted the real estate agent..and it was on from there



edit: I learned a lot through the process, but there were a few mistakes I made (I was rushing) which included:

When negotiating start low especially if it's on the market for a min
I straight went for the listing price cause I didn't want to risk losing the house.. thinking back I should went lower

Get all the necessary things that needs to be done before you move in (painting, changing fixtures, etc..).. it's way much easier

I didn't have 20%, so I was paying PMI.. (I had to wait until my equity was at 20% and even then it's not going to stop automatically, I had to pay for an appraisal and provide them with that info ... otherwise I had to wait until my equity was at 22% AND call their asses)
Honestly the bank approved my request without a down payment and if I did have 20% I don't think I would have used it for the downpayment..
I would have used it to do stuff around the house






@silentintellect

south philly is the 2nd hottest RE market in the US (according to redfin)

>I definitely didn't want to rent especially given how cheap
>(at the time) some of these houses was going for in Philly..

graduate hospital been popping for a couple of minutes
but i'm honestly surprised with the market in point breeze right now
my family owns 4 houses in the area, should be interesting what happens in the next 5 yrs

~~~~~~

it's going to be real interesting in the future


@silentintellect

sold in the 90s (probably for peanuts)
that whole block is $500k+ up now
kenny gamble owns a ton of houses in graduate hospital
i guess he bought them up in his hey day, his housing portfolio is probably worth over $10mil now. crazy

~~~~~~

Got that thing built from the ground up

Christian Street is totally different now from the 90s (even the early 2000s)
My white homie who works with me got priced out of Grad Hosp area.. he waited to long.. (I think he was waiting for the rachetness to die down, meanwhile the other white folks that decided to live there were a little more patient)


@silentintellect

my sister and an okp lived there around that time
i walked thru on the late night tip confused as hell
recently i hadn't been to south philly in maybe 3-4 yrs
so all the stuff in point breeze is crazy to me (hipsters walking around 22nd wharton etc)

~~~~~~

I looked on craigslist day after Thanksgiving, went to see the house the next day, moved in on Dec 22nd and closed on Jan 29th.

so i definitely didn't have a typical experience. i happened to connect with some house flippers who bought a piece of shit house, remodeled/renovated it beautifully, and sold it to me...and were even generous enough to pay for my downpayment and closing costs (although looking back, all that was done in a bit shady way LOL)

d

told you shit was shady...i can't believe it all worked out

i was also changing jobs a week after i closed and i was SHOOK. the mortgage company re-verifies your job up to 5 days after you close to make sure...

d

All things considered, it didn't take the wife and I that long, probably two months. We started looking in late October, and closed on a place on like Dec. 30. But we were lucky in that we had a good amount of money set aside for the financing, and we were looking to buy a home in areas where the market isn't **that** competitive, at least relative to lots of the Bay Area.

I'll just say this: 1. Start saving money now. 2. Try to buy something near the end of the year. Don't know if it's true down there, but sellers are a lot more eager to unload before the year ends.

-----------------

www.albumism.com

Checkin' Our Style, Return To Zero:

https://www.mixcloud.com/returntozero/

the house i'm in now took 3 months from the first time we saw it til closing. we were in a short sale situation before that (that thankfully fell through) that was obviously going to take much longer. but i suppose if you count the process including the short sale it took from July to February before we closed.

from the time i got a real estate agent in February, locked in on my house and negotiated my price by mid march, got the home inspected, signed papers by end of May.

This was after a former real estate agent told me 8 months before i got my house, my credit wasn't good enough to get a house and to wait a couple of years.

Thank god i didn't accept that bs and k.i.m.

First house I bought was for mom and dad and sisters. Took about 60 days to complete the process. I never lived in the home and I chalk it up as a rental property. We looked for 2 days, found a lender and it was smooth sailing. Helps that I have been at my current job for years and my credit is straight.

My soon to be home is another story. It's newly built. After looking, my wife fell in love with a new community. We committed in November 2014, and still have not moved in. From chosing different options, weather which delayed the construction, and over all completion, we should finally be moving in by end of month. That's 5 months! If we ever move, I doubt I will comit to a new construction again.