*I should apologize now for what are sure to be a large number of house-buying-related posts as we explore this option. Hopefully we all learn something! If it is totally boring, feel free to click away. (Swim away! Swim away!)
People always joke that buying a house entails signing away your life and your first born and your left arm.
I am beginning to believe them.
I have started researching mortgages. FHA loans look like the way to go. They even have ones that include the ability to add in your home repairs (which, considering the houses we are looking at is going to be important).
Seriously, they ask for EVERYTHING! Look at all of this! Ack!
And then the closing cost information. Greek. Absolute greek.
Holy. Crap. I remember thinking buying a car was nerve-wracking. My excitement at a possible solution for us has turned into a near-permanent state of hyper-anxiety. The good news is that it looks like for FHA loans they do take into account the issues you have had in the past couple of years. You know, like my bedrest and maternity leave and crazy medical bills and Hubby being unemployed...that kind of thing. So, that comforts me.
People who have bought houses...how on earth did you get through this???
I know we want 3 bedrooms. Yes, 2 would suffice, but we want wiggle room - office, guest room, another nursery...you get the idea. And a yard. Pretty much at the top of my NEEDS list. The house we are drooling over? Honestly, it's not realistic. Not with our current financial state. We don't need that much space...but we WANT to need that much space.
Gotta start small, right? Baby steps. (Ha. Baby steps. Who came up with that? Sorry, tangent.) But seriously, with our luck...We have an understanding landlord (to whom we now owe money), and have 3 months of electric bills at home. So, really? We want to get a MORTGAGE? If bad luck continues, we are going to be in even worse shape!
At the same time...taking risks is part of life, being ALIVE. Without risk, well, we wouldn't have P. And I questioned our decision to do IVF every step of the way, and look how that turned out :-)
Considerations:
Many of the houses we have the money for are still using OIL HEAT. Very romantic. Also very impractical and super-expensive to convert.
Old drafty windows. I imagine those are easier to replace and would help immensely with energy costs. too bad it is probably impossible to get into the walls to put in better insulation without a total rebuild.
I feel like I need to go to Lowe's and start taking those classes like in the commercials... Gah!!! O V E R W H E L M E D.
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Get a very good mortgage person. We used one from my old job's credit union (I dont really use that account, but they had the best rates, and their mortgage person was TOP notch). That will help you sort through the madness. And your realtor will be invaluable to helping you understand the Greek; we used Peter's aunt and she was priceless.
ReplyDeleteIf you can, I'd say try to avoid oil heat. Retrofitting isnt cheap and the cost of oil is not stagnent. We have been there, where we couldnt afford to put oil in the tank. Not so bad (and can be romantic) when you dont have little ones... But, when you do... You need something consistent. If you can do swing it to do something that's a little easier to keep warm with, I'd try that.
Good luck!! Buying is tough, but well worth it!!!
Yeah we used Wells Fargo and our broker was really sweet. Without her we would have been lost. I think a good mortgage broker is more important than the realtor. Ask around and get a referral!
ReplyDeleteBuying a house is very stressful I'm afraid and the first night you move in you think 'What have I done?' Within hours though you forget that and the size of your debt. After a while there's a sense of peace that comes with having your own home. Get a house you can afford - def agree with the baby steps. You don't need the extra stress of struggling to pay the mortgage. My first mortgage was cheaper than my rent. x
ReplyDeletewe have a really complicated (totally legal!) income history/situation so when we bought our house it was so much WORK getting everything in place. But we had an AWESOME mortgate guy and the worlds most patient realtor, which made things less scary and so much easier.
ReplyDeleteI hope it goes well for you guys!