POWMIA

I would also like to remin you of another very very important thing when looking and purchasing a home...... LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!
Especially this day and age of eminant domain, be sure to choose a house that is protected from the possibility of the township or city from taking your land for things such as road expansion, sewer line, gas lines or water lines. I have seen this become a horrible problem for many many people in NJ.

beep

I would be very cautious about any place that's been on the market for a long time. If it's not selling, there is almost always a profound reason why. The idea of getting a "bargain" going in will likely be offset by the problem of getting a good price when selling later. Property that isn't selling quickly can be symptomatic of any of a number of issues...repair needs or history, location, neighborhood crime, mispriced to begin with, airport noise, etc.

So, the big moral here is to think about resale BEFORE you buy. Used cars that are clunkers are cheap, too, but have little to no upside for resale.

FWIW, I'm a Real Estate Appraiser...

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Beep


Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. - (Isaac Asimov)

Trooper

Wanted to give an update on the situation. My wife and I both interviewd at the same hospital last week for different positions, she is an OB nurse and i applied for a PC tech job. We decided to just rent for another year, get a nice savings and then put a good sided down payment on a house. We are still moving to Marysville Ohio mid to end june for those jobs, hopefully. We just are waiting on phone calles, which should come end of this week or mid next week.

Thanks for all the advice and tips, im sure other have used whats here as well

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

wildcat2000

Its alot of paper work if you ask me. I have a first time buyer's loan of 5.25% with no down payment required. Usually you can get away with that, and right now its a buyers market still with the economy down low.

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leejo

Huh? It's not a buyer's market yet. We're about to hit a soft patch and then it'll be a buyer's market. Maybe this fall.

And what do you mean by the economy down low?

Trooper

yeah i had an estimate done for a morgage, 4.2%. With no down payment the monthly payments where 980 per month for 35 years, so we figured rent for another year, save up and make a nice down payment on a good house some place.

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that sounds like a good idea trooper.
-Vulcan

USN_Squid

Leejo, the Colorado market IS a buyers market in all but the most trendy areas.

Trooper, consider the cost of renting for a year. For the sake of example if you are saving $200 per month for your downpayment, but paying $600 for rent that you'll never see again you really aren't doing yourself any favors. Normally the break even point for renting vs. buying is about two years depending on the market, but if you can get the seller to pay the closing costs (avg. 2.5% of loan) then your break even comes much quicker (e.g. they want $100,000 for the house so offer them 101,500 and they pay up to $3,000 in closing costs). I understand if you just want to wait because you're not comfortable buying yet, there's nothing wrong with that.

Also, it's very common that a home sitting on the market for a long period was just a greedy seller asking way too much and being stubborn about lowering their price to market realities. Like Beep said, look at the history and do some digging.

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leejo

I guess I've lived in trendy areas forever and it has skewed my perception of reality. Charleston, SC to Dallas to Austin to Houston. All of these markets are pricey but show signs of softening.

Also, my wife and I have an aversion to buying homes in the middle of bulldozed fields, so we tend to look in older neighborhoods closer to downtown. Sure we could get a new house 30 minutes outside of town in such a field for a lot less, but our realtor friends report having trouble selling those homes when there's a brand new subdivision in a similar pasture right next door...