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OP, I mean this in a constructive way: you need to do much more research on real estate and personal finance before buying a house. Your questions show that you're out of your depth.
I hope you're joking. My friends come to ME for personal finance advice all the time. I may not be a real estate expert, but I have always gotten advice from parents, who have been in the business for 30+ years. So I can just ask them about things.
Your parents have been in the real estate business for over 30 years, but you're asking random strangers on the internet for real estate advice?
As for your original question: certainly, you can buy a house in the fall or any other time. I bought my first house in the month of January and my current one in October. And a bit of unsolicited advice from someone who stayed solvent through more than a little personal financial turmoil over three decades: don't blow your whole wad on a house.
Your parents have been in the real estate business for over 30 years, but you're asking random strangers on the internet for real estate advice?
As for your original question: certainly, you can buy a house in the fall or any other time. I bought my first house in the month of January and my current one in October. And a bit of unsolicited advice from someone who stayed solvent through more than a little personal financial turmoil over three decades: don't blow your whole wad on a house.
I wouldn't do that. I would make sure I'm left with at least $10K of liquid cash in the bank AFTER I made the down payment and closing costs. But I'll probably have closer to $20K left. I hope that's good enough.
I wouldn't do that. I would make sure I'm left with at least $10K of liquid cash in the bank AFTER I made the down payment and closing costs. But I'll probably have closer to $20K left. I hope that's good enough.
That's great, but I was thinking more along the lines of not buying the most expensive house you qualify for. Consider the possibility of losing your job and having to live on unemployment or a lower paying position for a while. You'll rest easier if you don't have to dip into your emergency fund. I'd have lost my first house if I'd borrowed as much as I qualified for.
Also consider repairs and maintenance (and assessments for condos): roughly 1% per year of the price of your house, depending on house prices, condition, etc. It's better to work that into your housing budget than dip into savings or take out a loan.
Consider valuation. In some places, real estate prices have gone up sharply in the past few years. I don't know your market at all, and even if I did, it still might be hard to say where prices were going. I would consider state and local economic conditions, cost of renting v. buying v. building. etc. As you know, people who bought houses in 2007 took a bath if they had to sell them a few years later; some of them are still under water. OTOH, if I'd waited to buy my first house (in the Denver area), I'd have been priced out of the market.
Just few things to think about over the next few months. When I was selling one house and buying another a few years ago, I found Michael Corbett's books and the Living Stingy blog very helpful.
Actually, I just thought of a good reason to simply wait until September/October. Over those next 6 months, I will be saving $825 a month. That means I will have saved up $4,950. Since I will be putting anywhere from 10-15% down on the house, that means simply waiting and saving for six months, I will be able to afford a house that's up to $49,500 nicer, right??? That would be worth the wait.
No, your down payment is only one of several factors that determine how much house you can afford. Your income and income to debt ratio are probably more important in determining the price of the house you can buy.
Just a bit of advice-there are two kinds of people: smart people that realize what they don't know and ask, and other people that don't know what they don't know and ignore valid advice.
There's literally no point in bringing logic or rational thought into this thread.
But the reality is that it doesn't matter whether the person urging him to act before he wanted to is a mortgage broker looking to make a deal as soon as possible or a sales agent looking to make a deal as soon as possible; both would be looking for a payday.
But the reality is that it doesn't matter whether the person urging him to act before he wanted to is a mortgage broker looking to make a deal as soon as possible or a sales agent looking to make a deal as soon as possible; both would be looking for a payday.
The reality is, it doesn't matter if he has a yorkie or a pomeranian, either, or likes milk chocolate more than he likes tomato soup.
More on point: Isn't it intriguing that he asks for help with claims he doesn't need help?
I am currently renting an apartment and my lease ends on Nov 15th. A mortgage lender has advised me and created a sense of urgency that I should buy a house NOW in the spring time because that's when the "best" houses pop up on the market. He said that by the time school starts, the housing market is full of leftovers that no one wanted to buy, and so I'll be stuck with not-so-good options.
It sounds like maybe you need a new mortgage lender because this one clearly only cares about making the "sale" and is definitely not looking out for your best interests financially. Based on your situation, it makes the most financial sense to wait for the possible raise and until you're closer to getting out of your lease. The only way I would say to pull the trigger early was if you came across your dream home now that checked all the boxes for you, then it might be worth it to buy out the lease.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nep321
Is it true that by September, the housing market is full of crappy leftover homes??
That is absolute garbage. Here's the reality - everyone seems to think that "oh, this house has been on the market forever so there must be something wrong with it" when in reality, maybe it only got a handful of showings because something like the price, location, layout, etc. didn't work for people. Just because a home has been on market for a while doesn't mean it's crappy. There's so much inventory out there right now that people have a lot of options so for every house they did see, there were probably 200 more that they didn't for one reason or another. Look at it this way: would you assume a person is crappy/leftover because they happen to be single? I hope not. Most times it's just that they haven't found the right person yet. Likewise, maybe the right buyer hasn't seen the home yet. Everybody is different and they all want different things so never just assume that a house is crappy because it's been on the market for a while. Unless the house from the pictures is just absolute trash and and is way overpriced or has clearly gone pending and then back on market after a few days, then you might be able to justify that it's crappy because there's probably a reason why an offer was accepted and the deal probably fell through because of a failed inspection or financing falling through.
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