What advice would you give to someone who wants a house

[Pink Cashmere]

Jun 12, 2024 18:02:04 GMT -5 bookkeeper said:

Other advice I would offer, there is no such thing as "our forever house".  Some people will stay in the first home they buy for a long, long time, but most Americans don't.  Years ago when we were shopping mortgages, the average length of an American mortgage was 6 years.  I have no idea what it is now.  People move around, that's how realtors make money.  Don't get too invested in the place you live until you have stayed a while.

I bought my house with the intention of it being a “starter house”, thinking I would buy another, “nicer” house within the next 10 years.

Then I decided that retiring asap was more important to me than buying a fancier, more expensive house, and I started working on making my house be my forever house. 

The house I live in now was supposed to be my “forever house” but the location, among other things, makes it questionable whether it’s really that or not. If not for a few things, one of them being that the local housing market has gotten crazy, we’d probably be really serious by now, about selling this house and moving somewhere else.

[busymom]

I would've been happy to live in our current house forever, but sadly the neighborhood is changing.  Plus, it's a multi-level, so unless we install a way to move from floor to floor as we get older, we'd probably be better off with a one level house.  

[TheOtherMe]

Jun 12, 2024 13:18:36 GMT -5 resolution said:

They may want to check with their city or county for first time buyer programs. They might be able to get some assistance that would get them into a home faster.

This little town had a one time reduction in the assessment for a new build.  That kept the property taxes artificially low for two years because the first year I lived here, the property taxes were based on it being farm land.  The next year, the one time reduction was in effect and in year 3, reality hit.

When I was looking for houses, I did intend for this to be my forever house.  I would not look at a house that was not all on one floor, including the laundry.  

The pickings were a lot less because of that requirement, but I mostly like my house and I would not want to live in a house with lots of steps for daily living.

[WannabeWealthy]

All some great opinions!

I think that I have an advantage because I'm a military veteran BUT I wouldn't even think about a home unless I have the cash in the bank, stocks, 401k, whatever that will allow for that downpayment + closing costs + 1yr of EF for the house -- not necessarily a job loss.  

I went the route of not needing to worry about things breaking in a house because I bought brand new.  That was my goal so that paying more upfront would cost me less 5-10yrs from the purchase simply for being a new home.  There's no guarantee of course, but chances are pretty high that you can focus on building back the amount of money you spent to put on the home.

All the other things people mention here, I would consider "after the fact" of having the money to even go talk to a realtor.

Good luck!

[Pink Cashmere]

Jun 13, 2024 7:50:56 GMT -5 busymom said:

I would've been happy to live in our current house forever, but sadly the neighborhood is changing.  Plus, it's a multi-level, so unless we install a way to move from floor to floor as we get older, we'd probably be better off with a one level house.  

When we were looking for a house to buy, I insisted it be one level, given that it was supposed to be the house we grow old together in. I’d already talked to enough people over the years, that had 2 story houses and never went upstairs, especially not after their children moved out, so that seemed like wasted space to me. Plus, Mister wasn’t even old yet, and already had bad knees. 

Our house is not even close to huge, but it is big enough that the vast majority of houses in this area that are this size or larger, or even a little smaller, are multi-level. 

[resolution]

We had talked about the possibility of remodeling our house to put a bedroom on the ground floor when we are older, but I don't like the idea of just closing off the upstairs. I think I would rather install one of those stair chair lifts on the main staircase and keep using the upstairs. We found some indications that there had been a chair on it in the past.

[debthaven]

Our house has a strange footprint ... big downstairs, with one Master bedroom and bathroom but very little closet space.

There are two sets of upstairs bedrooms. One set of stairs is our Master bedroom and bathroom and closet. The other set of stairs leads to three kids' bedrooms and their closets and (shared) bathroom.

The two sets of upstairs bedrooms don't communicate due to being on either side of the cathedral ceiling in the LR. I know this is weird. 

I would definitely suggest having at least one bedroom and bathroom downstairs.

I know we all think about getting old, but sometimes people (even kids!) break bones so it's convenient to have a bedroom/bathroom on the ground floor.

[finnime]

We bought the only one-level house for several blocks here. We knew with DH's mobility issues we did not want to need to deal with stairs. Our laundry machines are downstairs, and I'm good with that.

[Tennesseer]

Don't.  

[Peace77]

I suggest start by checking the credit report.  Now is the best time to fix errors and improve the score.

Save money.  There never such a thing as too much.

Look into first time homebuyer grants.  The process is slow but worthwhile.  I know someone who received $25,000:for down payment or closing costs.

Get a 2nd job to save more money.  

[haapai]

It's a bit counterintuitive but this might be an excellent time to check out first time home buyer programs and down payment assistance.  So many other folks are discouraged by the combination of high interest rates and low supply that your chances of getting into such a program have probably gone way up. 

ETA:  What's available in my area has income limits and limits on the price of the house.  By national standards, these limits might seem low, but from my perspective, they are hardly limits at all.  People who don't think of themselves as particularly low-income should definitely check out the income limits and definitely find out if AGI instead of gross income is being used. 

[countrygirl2]

We did something we said we would never do. We bought a house and rent the land. But this particular place has a good deal in our opinion. The original buyer had a 40 year lease on the land, they lived there 20 so our lease is for 20 years. The increase annually is limited to the CPI raise for each year and no more. The payment includes trash and sewer fees. We were able to get a nice home in an over 55 community for $300k. It has increased in value and will continue to do so in Washington state. We aren't too concerned about that at this point.

We looked at new ones and for $450k to $550k could have bought new. But they are even closer than this one and the taxes are really, really high. Oh I forgot, also since its over 55 and no one allowed under 21, that we are exempt from school taxes and that's grandfathered in, so that will save us a bunch too. We both feel like this will help us on expenses. I was really shocked that we found this. So even if they sell the land they will be tied into this lease. And 20 years for us would make us 98 when the lease is up. I can't see either of us living that long or being able to live independently if we did. Another problem with the new ones, they rarely build a one story. This one has 2 steps in the front to get into the house. Or one step up from the garage and the next room having 1 step. Everything inside is on the same level. The more we have talked about it the happier hubs and I think we will be.

I know I'm aging, my short term memory is a problem at times. For now I can go back to where I was and remember or can in a few minutes, but it worries me it is happening. Hubs is doing the same. I hope when we get down to one home, simplify our accounts and get down to just a couple we will be able to do better. We are trying to simplify everything and I think hubs getting cancer made us realize how complicated we had everything. I am the only one that really knows the ins and outs, so it needs simplified. We are all getting excited about the move now, even DD so I think things will go well. It will just be busy for a month or two, till I get everything in place insurance wise and all.