Recent home buyers please help

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amother

Bisque

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:21 pm

Dh and I are trying to figure out how much money we need to buy a house besides for the 20% down payment. How much are closing costs? Lawyer fees? How do we figure out what our mortgage will be? We are not planning to do any immediate renovations.

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:26 pm

I think closing costs are dependent on where you are buying for the most part. We didn't use a lawyer. Mortgage -- there are online calculators, but make sure to include property tax and home insurance (if you pay that as part of your monthly payments to the lender, which we do). Additionally, because our home is in a zone federally marked as a flood zone, we were required to pay an exorbitant amount of flood insurance which jacked up the price considerably.

ez-pass

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:28 pm

Depends where you are buying. Pm me and I can help u with the info you want.

Kiwi13

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:29 pm

there are plenty of online calculators for various types of mortgages, but to get a more realistic idea for your situation given your credit and finances, current interest rates, etc. you'd probably want to sit down with a mortgage broker and discuss different options. If you know the type of house you're interested in, (price range and location), the mortgage broker should be able to walk you though a sample situation. Closing costs vary based on things like purchase price, taxes, if there are any sellers' concessions, and then there are more standard items like engineering inspections and attorney's fees. Sitting down with someone in person can help you make sense of it.

Dolly Welsh

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:44 pm

I heard one percent of the purchase price will be spent on closing costs.

Be very careful that your advisors are not standing to benefit from the transaction. If they are, they will quite naturally try to get you to think it is within your means. They just need to make the sale. They sold a mortgage: good. What happens later: not their problem. That doesn't mean they are dishonest, it's just their point of view.

I knew a couple who were told the value of a house by the lender of the mortgage. They didn't get it appraised independently from an outside appraiser.

The lender may have even actually owned the property. So the lender said it was worth A Lot. They took a loan for A Lot. They had trouble paying it and decided to cash it. It turned out to not be worth A Lot at all. They had foolishly taken the word of the same people who were lending.

Get an independent opinion - more than one is good - of what the thing is worth.

Also, get a few of these calculations about what it will all cost you, and do your own.

There WILL be needed repairs. You won't be able to argue with a broken boiler or plumbing or electrical and you had better take a very good look at the roof.

HAVE money in reserve.

CONSIDER the zoning about taking in a roomer or boarder. You may have to. If it's not allowed, consider that.

And landscaping is no joke. You may not be able to do all of it yourself. HAVE financial reserves.

Take a very good look at the trees. Taking a dead tree down or trimming it way up high is a job for professionals and oh boy can that cost plenty.

When you add up your monthly costs, don't forget trash removal. There is often only one provider and they will charge whatever they want. ASK your neighbors or find out somehow.

And power use. That goes up.

Taxes in these hard times are guaranteed to go up.

Don't go out to your last dollar: be very well able to afford it because there is always the thing nobody expected or could expect.

Last edited by Dolly Welsh on Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:46 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:46 pm

1% on closing costs? That sounds awfully low to me.

Dolly Welsh

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:47 pm

It may be, yes.

amother

Wine

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 2:52 pm

depends on the cost of the house. keep in mind that you can put closing costs into the mortgage. thats what we did, so it significantly lowered our upfront cost.

here's an example.
our apt cost 287k.
we put down 170k.
our closing costs were 3k but spread out into the mortgage.
attorney fee I think was 2k?
additional fees for appraisal and other bank costs maybe altogether 1k?

painting 5k
carpet cleaning 300 dollars?
installation of new carpet, 3k?
custom closets, 4k?

moving costs around 1k?

we also made sure that we had 2 years worth of maintenance/taxes/mortgage payments IN THE BANK before our purchase, should chas shalom we lost our jobs or something of the sort. (this came out to about 25k), but most people make sure to just have at least 6 months worth.

posting anon for (I think) obvious reasons.

amother

Blonde

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 5:09 pm

I bought a house last year in Northern NJ for $455,000. My closing costs were approx $16,000

You might not be planning on renovations, but things will break or need to be repaired, so you need plenty of money on hand.

causemommysaid

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 5:38 pm

Just know that whatever you estimate it will end up costing more. Tack on an additional 10%-15% to whatever your final number is.

amother

Bisque

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 6:26 pm

amother wrote:

$16,000 for closing costs!!! What does that even mean????

Frumdoc

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 6:31 pm

General advice is to have at least 6 months of mortgage repayments in the bank, or in savings. Plus 6 months worth of taxes/bills as a cushion.

Differentiate between essential renovations, such as plumbing, maintenance or repairs and electricity, from non essential stuff that can wait, such as built in cupboards, carpeting, redoing kitchen (unless it is unsafe).

Some people like to and can afford to do it all at once, others do it slowly over years. It is more convenient to turn the house upsidedown and renovate right away, but not strictly necessary.

amother

Crimson

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 7:18 pm

Wow. This thread is making me realize that save for a miracle, we will NEVER be able to buy a home. Still renting with 5 kids...Sigh.

Appreciate your homes and use them in good health, sisters!!!

amother

Blonde

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 7:39 pm

Off the top of my head. Closing costs include the first months mortgage payment, the title insurance or whatever. Lots of fees. I don't even remember. But when we aplied for the mortgage we got a good faith estimate so we knew what to expect. Buying a house is very very expensive.

amother

Bisque

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 9:48 am

We understand 20% down payment and still having 6 months worth of mortgage payments in the bank. We are trying to understand closing costs and how some people are saying its 5% of the cost of the house while we have friends and relatives in real life who say its no more than $5,000. Can someone who REALLY knows about this please explain?

joyful mom

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 11:17 am

If you want more accurate numbers then call a mortgage broker who you will consider using and they should be able to tell you better what to estimate for your closing costs. The closing costs includes many different fees so it really varies from closing to closing. Also, often at the closing the buyer needs to pay back the seller a portion of the property tax that was already paid which can be an additional several thousand dollars or more to add to your closing costs.

amother

Pewter

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 11:26 am

I do mortgages and can help you if you are buying in NY/NJ. you can pm me for answers to your questions

Last edited by amother on Tue, Apr 21 2015, 11:32 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Jetblack

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 11:27 am

OP - as a mortgage broker I can tell you that there is no way for anyone here to be able to answer your question accurately given the lack of details you provided. Many posters have given some good pointers, but in order for you to get an accurate answer you will have to speak to a loan officer. You'll have to do that anyway in order to obtain a pre-approval. Most real estate agents won't be willing to show you a house without it.

Closing costs vary by location (NY is generally more expensive than NJ because of mortgage tax), loan size (title insurance... is based on that), and even based on the type of house (coop vs single family, existing vs new construction) you're buying!

There's nothing like owning your own home - good luck on finding someone that will be there to hold your hand throughout the process!

amother

Ecru

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 12:40 pm

dh is thinking of buying a small house for investment purposes. (rent it out)
He wants to pay for the whole thing so no mortgage
what other fees are there besides for taxes and insurance?

amother

Bisque

Tue, Apr 21 2015, 1:25 pm

Pewter how can I pm u?

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