[*Mrs.J.2011*]

DF has gone crazy! He now wants to buy a house before the tax credit expires in April.. Normally I would have been great with that, but we are less than 2 years away from our wedding! lol He wants to use the money that our parents said they would give to us for the wedding as part of the down payment and then take the 8k tax credit and put that towards the wedding. (our parents seemed fine with this idea when he "pitched it" to them) I will admit it sounds like a great idea, but we dont know the slightest thing about buying a house! Can someone help! haha we were pre-qualified about a year ago, but didnt go any further into the process. We are going to go back to the mortgage company and start the process again, but then what??

[*krista*]

Contact your mortgage company first, get your pre-approval, then contact your agent and start looking at houses! In the mean time you can start making a list -- must haves, would like to haves, and must not haves in your first home. That's the way I worked with it anyway. It will help your realtor. Although if you are anything like me I did most of the searching instead of my realtor just because I am obsessive like that.

Where I live they have a really extensive online listing which you can search realtors and houses on. If you go to the national assosiation of realtors website I'm sure you can see if there is anything like that for your area. I don't remember the website for NAR though.

Good luck!

[Mars]

Honestly, it sounds like a great idea. I can't offer you any advice unfortunately since I don't live in the US and things are quite different here to there.

Good luck!

[sara~b]

When I was looking I decided on a price point, how much I was willing to put down, what I had to have (yard, 3 bedrooms+, 2 bathrooms+, basement, dining room, etc). Then I made up a list of areas that I liked that I thought I could find houses in my price range. I got pre-approved for the amount I wanted to spend and I put the money for my down payment in a money market account so it would earn interest and I could take it out when I needed it.

I searched for houses myself and negotiated myself so I didn't pay a realtor a finders fee. Once I found the house I wanted I went for a walk-through. I really liked it so I made an offer. The owners happened to be there (not common during viewings) so we went back and forth for awhile. I chewed them down about $5,500 from their original asking price. I also talked them into paying all the closing fees and inspection fees. Once we made an agreement we signed some papers saying that the property was now off the market and we had so many days to close, etc. I put $1,000 hand money down to keep it off the market.

After that I got a home inspector to come out and look at the property. I knew the house was older so I expected and was prepared for most of what we found out. The electrical and plumbing needed work and the fireplace/chimney was unusable without an overhaul. There was a small amount of termite damage to the basement stairs but the homeowners showed me their contract with Terminex that proved they had been having the home treated every 6 months for the past several years and no further damage had been found.

It all sounded good to me so we closed about 4 weeks later. I ended up giving them an extra week after closing to move out (voluntarily) and then I spent 2-3 weeks cleaning, painting, laying new flooring, etc before I moved in.

Hope that helps!

[♥Ashley♥]

It actually sounds like a great idea! Good Luck looking around! I HATE house hunting! Well i like it when its quick and i find something i like right away (for example the custom house we built 1.5 years ago, but I HATED looking for our first house it took forever! Like 8 months!)

Definitely do what Krista said first contact the mortgage company and get your pre-approval amount, then contact a realtor to start looking in the budget for you! Congrats!! Owning a house is awesome!

[~*sierra*~]

that sounds great actually! i have no advice cause my dh had our place before we got together but i agree with what all the pp have said about making a list etc
good luck house hunting!

[Frozendesire]

Oh sounds like a wonderful idea!!!

No advice here but good luck!!!

[*kyle*]

I think it sounds like a good idea financially as well. We first time home buyers will NEVER have another opportunity like the $8,000 tax credit we are getting now. Anyone who qualifies who doesn't take advantage of it is passing up a major opportunity.

I have nothing to add to Sara's post, except that I wanted to warn you about looking at "short sale" homes. Contrary to their name, these sales take FOREVER (we put an offer on one in February '09 and still don't own it). So you could possibly miss the tax credit window. Not to say it couldn't happen but just be aware of your timeframe. Good luck!

[♥Ashley♥]

Ditto to Kyles mention of the "short sales" my best friend made an offer on one in March of this year and JUST NOW is going through closing. So 9 months for a "short sale" ya right!

[Adriana's Mommy]

I'd say go for it.. We will never see the housing market like this again.. Take advantage of it while you can..

We just purchased our home in September and we got the $8,000 tax credit. My advice is to look into building a home.. Believe it or not, it's cheaper to build a home, then to buy a older home.. Just because the market is down.. At least it was in my area.. And you get to choose the house the way you want it..

Also, look for a house with a basement.. One of the advice we got when we were looking for a home was how much better a basement is verses a 2 story house..


Good luck and happy house hunting..

Oh, if your going to build, you have to do it soon because you can't get the tax credit until you close on the house, which is when the house is built.. Example, if your house is done in May, you don't get the tax credit..

Edit:

Go see how much your good faith estimate is before going to the realitor.. It makes everything so much easier.. And ask for the lowest amount and the highest amount your approved.. It gives you a good idea on what your monthly mortgage is..

One more thing.. Look for a house in a HOA (Home Owner Association).. This way everyone has to abide by rules.. Keeps the neighborhood looking good and not trashy.. Example, in my area they can't build a shed unless it's approved by the HOA.

I remember this post from a few months back.. This is why having a HOA is a must.. To prevent something like this..

http://www.justmommies.com/forums/f5...bors-suck.html (Man, our neighbors SUCK!)

We got that credit, and it was so sweeeeet.

You should totally buy a house. Sorry, I guess I am no help.

[ShannonMVT]

Sounds like a good idea! You might ask on the Financial planning board with questions, I've got some ?s answered there when we were buying. We actually chose a realtor first (we got a "buyer's realtor who only showed homes to buyers, he did not sell any homes therefore he had no bias towards certain homes trying to pitch them to us, etc) and we went with the mortgage company he recommended and got pre-qualified. Then an endless search for the right house!

[Chelnae6]

the other ladies. I own 2 properties. 1 custom built and one I bought from a seller. Pre-approval 1st, Realtor 2nd, look at various properties and write down what you like and dont like about them in order to determine things that you like, want, need in a home. Watch out for buying too much house, get something that wont be hard for you to rent out if need be. Short sales take forever. Most foreclosures need extra care. Always get an inspection (most banks wont close without one except u dont need one for most short sales). Make sure when putting in a offer you ask for closing costs to be paid, a seller would be dumb if they didnt pay for it due to the market. Check out HOAs and taxes prior to purchasing a home (you'd b surprised how much your mortgage may go up b/c of it).

[LisanAndy]

Oh gosh, DH and I are trying to do the same thing We're looking at manufactured homes and we found a few with 3-4 bedrooms and 2-3 baths with tons of awesome stuff we really like. If we can't get it by April then we have to save and wait until Spring 2011.

[IamMom]

Kaleigh...this tax credit is by far one of the sweetest deals the gov has provided in a while....coming from a tax accountant..... DO IT. However, I would go to the IRS website and read thru the details of the credit and MAKE SURE you qualify in every way. PM me if you read it and have any questions about qualifying. Not being married you're going to have to decide who will actually "buy" the house and file for the credit on their tax return. Anyway - definintely get an agent involved in looking at houses - they earn their commissions by doing the looking and narrowing down of houses for you. Try to find an agent you know personally in some way - they seem to care more and do a better job, at least that's what I've found. I agree wtih the other ladies too that houses are on super sale right now and this market will NOT last for very much longer. I'm excited for you!!!!!

[*Mrs.J.2011*]

We got our pre qualification letter today! So apparently we qualify for an FHA. I kind of know what this means but what I don't know is if it's going to affect anything. Lol is the process different?

Keri I looked on the IRS site but couldn't find much on how to know if we qualify fir the tax rebate. Hmmmm..

We do have a house in mind so fingers crossed for us girls!!

[midnight_starr]

Here is a link that gives you lots of info on the tax credit
Federal Housing Tax Credit: Frequently Asked Questions About the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

You do have to plan to stay in the house for atleast 3 years or you will have to pay it back.. We also got the tax credit and it was majorly helpful with everything we needed to buy for our home!!

With the FHA loan I believe you guys will have to put a minimum of 3.5% down! Other than that I don't know much else about it because we got the rural home loan.

GL!!!

[IamMom]

An FHA loan allows you to borrow more (up to 97% like Aimee said) and more lenders will be willing to loan you money (interest rates are not as good as with conventional mortgages though)because the FHA (federal housing administration) will insure the loan. I've always done conventional mortgages (putting 20% down) so I have no personal experience with these types of loans. FHA loans usually have lower closing costs overall though I've heard. I don't know in the current housing market/lender situation how FHA loans are being viewed by lenders....I guess you'll find out.

Another option is to do a first and second mortage the first at 80% and the second at 20/15/10/5.....that's how I financed my first place. However I don't know how hard it is to qualify for that second mortgage (usually called a piggy back mortgage). This helps you avoid PMI....private mortgage insurance included in your payment which usually wasn't deductible but for the past few years it has been. FHA loans still have the mortgage insurance component.

Good luck - how exciting!

[*Mrs.J.2011*]

Thanks ladies! We just heard from the realtor we are going to look at the house on Saturday!! Wow this hasn't even sunk in yet!!

[IamMom]

Happy house hunting!!! Let us know how it goes!