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I'm setting my eyes on a condo in the downtown Houston area, might be a little outside the downtown area. I am single and would like to know a few basic things I should know when they go through my history.
- Maintaining residency is important? How long is enough to show you can commit to terms?
- Ideally I would like to live in a condo until I find a worthy SO to marry and then build a home, meaning I want a lower length term, what would be ideal, 7 years, 10 years, or 12 years? And how does that go into paying it off faster, if I so choose?
- 20% down payment is my plan, so I don't have to have the mortgage insurance, are there other incentives to 20% down (other than paying it off faster and a lower monthly installment)?
- I want to rent this out in the future or sell it, are there some HOAs that rule against renting out condos?
- any other advice or tips are welcome, thanks.
I'm setting my eyes on a condo in the downtown Houston area, might be a little outside the downtown area. I am single and would like to know a few basic things I should know when they go through my history.
- Maintaining residency is important? How long is enough to show you can commit to terms?
- Ideally I would like to live in a condo until I find a worthy SO to marry and then build a home, meaning I want a lower length term, what would be ideal, 7 years, 10 years, or 12 years? And how does that go into paying it off faster, if I so choose?
- 20% down payment is my plan, so I don't have to have the mortgage insurance, are there other incentives to 20% down (other than paying it off faster and a lower monthly installment)?
- I want to rent this out in the future or sell it, are there some HOAs that rule against renting out condos?
- any other advice or tips are welcome, thanks.
-Income? Source, how long you have been there on that job and level of income are relevant
-Credit? If you aren't paying cash for the condo you should know where you stand on that, pull a report from Experian if you can
-10 years is not too obscure of a loan length, so you should find it at most banks. The tricky part is getting a loan for less than $100,000 which a lot of banks don't even want to do these days, and you'd need to go to a credit union if this is so.
-Do you have a written budget and have you been living in the area long enough to know where you want to live?
-20% down, in addition to avoiding pmi, also makes it less likely that you'll have too little equity to sell should you need to move unexpectedly. A lower down payment is much riskier in that sense.
-You should research the rules of the HOA before buying the condo. It's important to know the SPECIFIC HOA and its rules. They do differ!!
Thanks for the reply, pretty much what I was already thinking.
- high income for a single person, no worries there, just haven't been at this same job for very long, roughly 3 months. I will add that I am currently renting and do not plan to purchase a condo until next year, once the lease is up.
- credit is top notch, and no, I do not currently have 100k in savings to pay cash (I'm assuming not many do?)
- I'm still debating which level of condo I want. Whether it be a fixer-upper or a top trim. So price will vary between 45k and 125k. Zillow has some information on who would likely be the loaner.
- 20-25% down
- I will do my research and make sure the rules will allow what I want before I sign anything. I also want to be able to have a small smoker outside and do a bit of wood work on the patio, so I will have some questioning to do.
Thanks for the reply, pretty much what I was already thinking.
- high income for a single person, no worries there, just haven't been at this same job for very long, roughly 3 months. I will add that I am currently renting and do not plan to purchase a condo until next year, once the lease is up.
- credit is top notch, and no, I do not currently have 100k in savings to pay cash (I'm assuming not many do?)
- I'm still debating which level of condo I want. Whether it be a fixer-upper or a top trim. So price will vary between 45k and 125k. Zillow has some information on who would likely be the loaner.
- 20-25% down
- I will do my research and make sure the rules will allow what I want before I sign anything. I also want to be able to have a small smoker outside and do a bit of wood work on the patio, so I will have some questioning to do.
-Your employment history may be an issue. Banks like to see 2 years of steady employment. However, your 3 months may not matter as long as you have been employed IN THE SAME FIELD for the last 2 years. Also If this new job bought a boost in income (i.e. from $40k/yr to $60K/yr), banks will average out your last 2 years tax returns and your current income to qualify you. I don't know what your current/past income is so I can't speculate that you would qualify. However, based on the purchase price of $45K-$125K, max allowable DTI of approx. 40% by banks and your 20% down payment; I can't imagine your income not being high enough to qualify.
-Although loans below $100K are not common, its not that hard to find. I was recently looking for a loan of around $50K for an investment condo and it was fairly easy to find them. You will have a much easier time finding them through online searches over local searches.
-Every condo HOA differs on whether they allow renters or not. This information is extremely easy to find. Just call the HOA before you even put in an offer and they will have an answer for you on the spot.
-Your employment history may be an issue. Banks like to see 2 years of steady employment. However, your 3 months may not matter as long as you have been employed IN THE SAME FIELD for the last 2 years. Also If this new job bought a boost in income (i.e. from $40k/yr to $60K/yr), banks will average out your last 2 years tax returns and your current income to qualify you. I don't know what your current/past income is so I can't speculate that you would qualify. However, based on the purchase price of $45K-$125K, max allowable DTI of approx. 40% by banks and your 20% down payment; I can't imagine your income not being high enough to qualify.
-Although loans below $100K are not common, its not that hard to find. I was recently looking for a loan of around $50K for an investment condo and it was fairly easy to find them. You will have a much easier time finding them through online searches over local searches.
-Every condo HOA differs on whether they allow renters or not. This information is extremely easy to find. Just call the HOA before you even put in an offer and they will have an answer for you on the spot.
- I have 4 years prior experience in a similar position, but making drastically less (about 50% less)
- Yeah, zillow has options as well when looking at specific units
- Thanks, I will do that.
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