Buying a House Thread

[gargantula99]

I have friends that live in freemansburg that have that same layout In their town house. Must be popular In PA. Or the same builder.

[Nit3h4wk C0uP3]

So I've looked a little bit online, and I can't find an answer. This new house has a septic system, which means no cooking oil or olive oil down the drain. Besides storing it in cans and disposing of it in the trash or elsewhere, where does it go? Any thoughts?

[gargantula99]

Some townships offer recycling for it.

[Mike]

So I've looked a little bit online, and I can't find an answer. This new house has a septic system, which means no cooking oil or olive oil down the drain. Besides storing it in cans and disposing of it in the trash or elsewhere, where does it go? Any thoughts?

some folks will buy to run in diesel trucks. Shouldn't be hard to get rid of

[ikethegreat]

Check your local dump.  Our dump has a section for disposing that kind of stuff.

[timot_one]

So, I think we're going to be getting a house built.  Gotta see what we qualify for and figure out what we can afford.  Not sure where to start though.

[Nit3h4wk C0uP3]

We started by getting pre-approved. Making sure our credit scores were in order and finding out what we could afford. What you get approved for and what you can afford may be different. I'm not sure what the process is for building a house..

[gargantula99]

Same process for a spec house. Which is what I think you're talking about. Instead of paying the previous owner, you're paying the builder.  Only difference is that here, you're getting a warranty for the house.

[timot_one]

Yeah.  The building part isn't really my concern.  I'm more concerned about starting the process for the financial aspect.  I guess we can start by seeing what we can get pre-approved for.

[alpha]

Yeah.  The building part isn't really my concern.  I'm more concerned about starting the process for the financial aspect.  I guess we can start by seeing what we can get pre-approved for.

I would also calculate how much you want to pay on a mortgage.  You may be pre-approved for more than you want to pay.

[timot_one]

When I sit down and look at everything, I want to be sure mortgage payments and taxes aren't higher than what I'm paying for rent right now.  It all depends on what kind of rates we can get, and how much we can put down.  We have some money saved up, but more would be better.  The good thing is that we are willing to save more and wait to get the house that we want.  The builder that we spoke with still has a lot of lots to build on.  The area we are looking in is still being developed.  There isn't even a street where we are planning on buying.

[b_beau_09]

Tim - depending on your credit, you can get phenomenal rates still.  I think they're going to hover around the 3.2-3.5% for a little bit longer.  Make sure you remember to add in any HOA fees when you're doing your monthly cost as well as your mortgage and taxes.  Usually when the bank or whomever writes you a pre-approval letter to accompany an offer on a house, they'll break it all down for you.

[ikethegreat]

Keep in mind, with most mortgage companies if you don't put down 20%, you have to get mortgage insurance which can be a couple hundred extra a month.  

Are you a first time home buyer?  A lot of places have first time home buyer's assistance.  I had to take three first time home buyer classes and in return the county I live in provided monetary assistance towards my settlement.  I would never have been able to buy my house without it.  

[Mike]

Keep in mind, with most mortgage companies if you don't put down 20%, you have to get mortgage insurance which can be a couple hundred extra a month.  

Are you a first time home buyer?  A lot of places have first time home buyer's assistance.  I had to take three first time home buyer classes and in return the county I live in provided monetary assistance towards my settlement.  I would never have been able to buy my house without it.  

Same here first time home buyer programs a big help. 20% and mortgage insurance isn't always true its credit dependent. We had the option to finance with 0 down and no mortgage insurance (pmi). We put money down to lower the monthly payment regardless. But banks will offer 0 down no pmi if the credit scores are high enough. Really your credit scores and income to debt ratio go a long way in determining what your going to be offered.

[timot_one]

Keep in mind, with most mortgage companies if you don't put down 20%, you have to get mortgage insurance which can be a couple hundred extra a month.   

Are you a first time home buyer?  A lot of places have first time home buyer's assistance.  I had to take three first time home buyer classes and in return the county I live in provided monetary assistance towards my settlement.  I would never have been able to buy my house without it. 

Same here first time home buyer programs a big help. 20% and mortgage insurance isn't always true its credit dependent. We had the option to finance with 0 down and no mortgage insurance (pmi). We put money down to lower the monthly payment regardless. But banks will offer 0 down no pmi if the credit scores are high enough. Really your credit scores and income to debt ratio go a long way in determining what your going to be offered.

I've already been looking into classes for first time home buyers.  At the level we're looking at, it would be a bit of a stretch to put 20% down.  We know what we want and what we are able to afford for monthly payments.  It may be a matter of waiting longer to put away more money for a bigger down payment.  We are probably going to go to a local credit union soon to get the process started, or at least see what we need to do to prepare for this.