[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

Or Buy a condo and worry about almost none of that. While you're cutting grass, we're bbqing no the patio. It's not for everybody, but works for us!

Many condo's don't have patios. Many condo's that do have patios prohibit the use of grills. If your power goes out, you're likely to be SOL on using a generator in a condo complex. Just sayin'..........

[gmdealerguy]

We can't use generators in our condo but I have very large fenced in patio and a BBQ. Love my patio. :-) Most condos don't have patios, let alone large ones, so we lucked out with ours.
We didn't use FHA so I can't compare my closing costs. I will say save,save,save and put down a big chunk.......but make sure to leave extra money for closing costs and at least a years mortgage in your savings. You don't want to move in and be house poor. We saved for years before buying.

[unpopularopinion]

Hey, watch out on those closing costs, and have more on hand than the "good faith" estimate. A friend of mine just bought a house with CHFA, and the closing costs ended up being more than double what he was quoted and prepared to pay. Needless to say, he had a very hectic closing day at the bank when First Niagara sprung this nasty surprise on him at the last moment. He kept the bank branch open an extra hour as he frantically scrounged up the actual amount from cash advances on all his credit cards. Closing costs were about $17k on a $230k closing. No joke.

I'm not sure whether First Niagara is just plain shady or bad at math, but they seemed to be a very disorganized, deadline-grazing operation all around. A memorable example was their forgetting to bring several important, time-sensitive documents to the closing...and then remembering them a week later.

Consolation: he's only paying about ~2% with 3.5% down on a 30-year fixed.

[Stylo]

The GFE is supposed to be pretty accurate. I have to wonder what those costs were. Probably escrow and first payment.

That's the thing though, if he had to tap into credit cards to get the extra money, that's a good sign he wasn't ready to buy a place.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by unpopularopinion

Hey, watch out on those closing costs, and have more on hand than the "good faith" estimate. A friend of mine just bought a house with CHFA, and the closing costs ended up being more than double what he was quoted and prepared to pay. Needless to say, he had a very hectic closing day at the bank when First Niagara sprung this nasty surprise on him at the last moment. He kept the bank branch open an extra hour as he frantically scrounged up the actual amount from cash advances on all his credit cards. Closing costs were about $17k on a $230k closing. No joke.

I'm not sure whether First Niagara is just plain shady or bad at math, but they seemed to be a very disorganized, deadline-grazing operation all around. A memorable example was their forgetting to bring several important, time-sensitive documents to the closing...and then remembering them a week later.

Consolation: he's only paying about ~2% with 3.5% down on a 30-year fixed.

Did he have an attorney? If not, he should have for just this reason. NEVER make a major transaction like a home purchase without your own attorney. What happened to your friend is very unusual. I have never heard anyone having to pay double the estimate. What the heck were all the charges for? Did the bank make him pay for a years of taxes and insurance up front? The only one I ever heard of was a former coworker who tried to handle the closing himself to save money. It ended up costing him more. Jay