Soon to be First time home buyer.

[DFBrews]

Thanks for the info so far guys I have a lot more to look into. Need to start squirreling even more money away than normal savings for a down payment now.

[ChunkyMonkey]

#1 rule of real estate

real estate brokers/agents are a complete waste of oxygen, much less your time and money.

mortgage brokers are pretty useful though and well worth talking to initially, they will tell you what you need and where you should be.

BTW, IMHO, prices have a LONG way to fall still.

Price has steadily increased actually. We have more buyers than we can handle. My underwriting is 40 days out compare to 3-4 days turn around a year ago. Personally, I started to fix and flip again last month after 2 years of break.

[funkymonkey1111]

the person i am buying the house with has pristine credit.

unless that person is a spouse or female family member walk away.

the lender will tell you what they need. usually w-2 for the last year, last bank statement, verification of income stuff.

also, before you pull the trigger, make sure you have a good inspection from a licensed engineer instead of just someone calling themselves a "home inspector." make sure you get a radon test, too, and if its an old shitbox in the neighborhood you're talking about an asbestos test.

[Danimal]

There are a lot of things that you need to figure out before you even look at a house. First they are going to calculate your limit of financing using a standard debt to income calculation. I would talk with a mortgage broker to get this information. From what I saw when I bought my house last year all reputable lenders came up with about the same limit, then I just got to pick and choose based on the rate and finance charges.

Then when you know what you have available to you for financing, you will need to look into what YOU WANT to be spending on it each month. When you have that number nailed down then you have a starting point and you have a clear savings goal. In my experience having a clear number makes me save more than I otherwise would have.

You can not close on a property until you meet the finance terms so that is the best place to start. It will just be a bunch of headache and heartache to watch properties come and go while you get that stuff in line. Then the other thing to remember is, location, location, location. The nicest mansion in the ghetto is a miserable place to live. When comparing houses pay close attention to the neighborhood and surrounding areas. It is too easy to walk into a flipped house in a crappy neighborhood and get all excited because the person flipping the house knows what they are doing to really polish a turd. Then when you move in someone steals the wheels off of your car. That happened to my buddy when he moved to FL. The house is super nice, but he is the only one on the block that gets a sunburn or speak English, so needless to say he is pretty excited to sell his house already.

I would find someone that you can trust in the housing industry to help you out in the beginning so that you can bring a realistic financial picture into focus. Looking at stuff that you can not afford is a wast of time and it will sway your thinking about the properties that you can.

[rockhound]

#1 rule of real estate

real estate brokers/agents are a complete waste of oxygen, much less your time and money.

mortgage brokers are pretty useful though and well worth talking to initially, they will tell you what you need and where you should be.

BTW, IMHO, prices have a LONG way to fall still.

you are completely incorrect. this is extremely bad advice.

most home buyers could not get through the disclosures, financing, appraisal, inspection, title exceptions etc. without a broker.

I am sure that you may be the exception, but having a good buyer's broker on your side should be your number one priority. Do not use the agent who's name is on the sign. they work for the seller, not the buyer. Although they cannot lie to you they do not have your best interest at heart and are not there to make sure you are getting a good deal.

I will give you one quick example, I have a client that we are working with. they bought a piece of commercial land from the seller's agent, the property was represented as being completely commercial with a commercial well and that it was zoned for gas station convenience store anything but a restaurant. the sellers agent said so, the property had a snow mobile shop in place when purchased.

jump forward three years, my client asks me to list the property for sale again. i do my due diligence and find out that the property is most Ag2 not commercial, the business that was in place when purchase is built in the only usable land, but is built on agricultural land and is illegal, the "commercial property" is most vertical and completely useless. unless the rezoning goes through this buyer has purchased a useless piece of land and will lose his investment due to the much lower value of the ag land.

had he hired his own agent this would have never happened.

OP shoot me a pm. I can make sure this venture of yours goes smoothly. i do not take listings for the most part (prior clients excepted), i only make sure my buyers are getting a square deal.

by the way your own "buyer's agent" will cost you nothing. not having an agent can cost you everything.

[TriggerHappy]

#1 rule of real estate

real estate brokers/agents are a complete waste of oxygen, much less your time and money.

mortgage brokers are pretty useful though and well worth talking to initially, they will tell you what you need and where you should be.

BTW, IMHO, prices have a LONG way to fall still.

Don't agree about the agent, it depends on the agent. Also don't see the prices are going to plummet. They have been rising since February. If Obama is reelected should stay the same, if Romney, he may flood the market with foreclosures. Interest rates will only go up from here. 3.5 is hard to beat.

DFBrews, I shot ya a PM.

[Irving]

unless that person is a spouse or female family member walk away.

This. I wouldn't buy a sandwich with a woman I wasn't marrying. I don't have a sister, but I wouldn't buy a sandwich with her if I did.

EDIT: And Radon is total bullshit.

[JohnTRourke]

Don't agree about the agent, it depends on the agent. Also don't see the prices are going to plummet. They have been rising since February. If Obama is reelected should stay the same, if Romney, he may flood the market with foreclosures. Interest rates will only go up from here. 3.5 is hard to beat.

and what is going to happen to prices when interest rates rise?? think hard now.

[T-Giv]

This neighborhood is the opposite... young liberal money is coming in prices are rising fast.

My wife and I just purchased our first home 2 months back. Prices were rising fast. We put in an offer on a home that was 5k above the asking price and we didn't get the house. It was on the market for one day! That was in East Wheat Ridge right off of 32nd so close to the Highlands Hipster Mecca.

[colorider]

The Highlands area and everything around it is insane right now. Prices are absurd, and sellers are getting more then asking price.
I can only offer you one piece of advice and it has nothing to do with the loan or any agents.

Get the sewer line scoped out by a pro. The main line that runs to the street.!!!
I can't tell you how many home buyers I have seen get completely screwed by not doing it. Have had 3 customers in the last 15 months that bought a home and had the main sewer line go out weeks/a few months after moving in. The cost to replace or repair it is staggering. One was around $9000. Insurance will NOT cover this.
Make the seller pay for the inspection of it. NOT just run a snake down the line. A camera scope of the line.!!!