Tips On Buying A House

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1305935469' post='2244009']
Mommy and baby kittens are doing well. The mother cat wants constant reassurance from Mrs. Bro Adam that she is doing a good job with her babies.

Our list for things we want to do to repair and things we want to buy for the new house is now about 10 times our current (drastically reduced) bank account. The first order after basic repairs and a lawn equipment will be a home school room.
[/quote]
Find your local flea market and start making friends with some of the vendors - they can probably point you in the direction of good deals.

[Archaeology cat]

Praise God that you were able to close! If you aren't already on Freecycle, check it out.

[southern california guy]

[quote name='Brother Adam' timestamp='1305921946' post='2243929']
http://www.trulia.com/property/3036160914-1411-Adams-St-Dansville-MI-48819

[img]http://thumbs.trulia.com/pictures/thumbs_3/ps.22/b/b/5/4/picture-uh=52e4604bded177fa85726194b4a9e5b-ps=bb54f7e2791f3b3141c58f046700df.jpg[/img]

We closed, blessed be God. Afterwards the selling agent explained how the deal was basically dead 3 times the past 2 months and its a small miracle we got to closing. Deo Gratias.

We also came home to find a litter of 5 kittens on our bed. The mattress may be a loss.
[/quote]

Congratulations! That is fantastic. Incredible relief isn't it! It looks like you got a pretty nice place.

That's too bad about the mattress. Now that I've got a big room, and a whole house I want to move my little twin bed into one of the spare rooms and get a nice big bed. But boy are mattresses expensive! Especially the latex ones like they have in nice motels.

Edited May 22, 2011 by southern california guy

[Brother Adam]

Follow up questions:

1) Equity: How is equity in your home actually measured? Our realtor said if the house was not distressed (short sale) that it could have easily sold for $20,000 more than what we purchased it for. She noted the list a page long of people who inquired about the house after our offer was accepted. Is the equity in the house based on the actual amount of the sale? In that case we would have $4,000 in equity in the home with our down payment. Or is equity based on what the home is appraised for? Or is it what it could sell at market today?

2) Faster pay off: Our lender has a program where you make automatic payments every two weeks (26 times a year). It ends up being the same monthly payments, except you make one additional payment. It would save us $20,000 in interest and we would pay it off in 22 1/2 years instead of 30. They want to charge us $300 + $1 per payment for this. That seems odd to charge for such a service. Would you, or do you participate in this type of program?

2b) Is there anything wrong with switching home owners insurance like you do car insurance? We opted to use our car insurance company for home owners and have since looked around and found insurance a lot cheaper from a good company. Will it screw anything up to switch?

3) Repairs: There are many simple repairs that I don't have a problem with, but some that need attention that I don't know how to go about. The first is to repair our deck. It does not look like it was put together well in the first place and it is starting to fall apart. I'm hoping to learn how to repair it without googling "deck repair". How did you learn to do repairs around your house that involved more than a screw driver, paint, or drywall?

4) Water softeners: We have well water and a water softener system. It includes a large bucket of salt that the water seems to run through. I have never lived in a home with this type of system. How do you maintain them?

Thanks for any insight!

[CatherineM]

1. Equity and appraisal goes hand in hand. Appraisals are based in part on comparable sales in the neighborhood, and if there are lots of short sales in the area, then the comparables will be lower too.

2. Our mortgage allowed us to pay off up to 20% a year, and to increase our payments 10% a year, without penalty. It was called the incredible edible mortgage. We paid off a 15 year loan in 4 years doing that. We only bought a one bedroom condo, and don't have kids. Every extra penny we came across went on the mortgage. Having a paid off mortgage is the most wonderful feeling of security. It is well worth any sacrifice.

3. I grew up watching my brothers fix stuff around the house. I also learn well by reading things. The library will have all sorts of books by popular mechanics, or time/life, or reader's digest, on how to fix stuff. You might want to start watching shows on hgtv or diy online. If you really want to learn to do stuff, volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

4. No idea.