¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Ive got 1444 sq ft for me and my wife and my dog, got a decent amount of backyard space, same with the front yard, I dont mind yard work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shitty Rambo Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Ive got 1444 sq ft for me and my wife and my dog, got a decent amount of backyard space, same with the front yard, I dont mind yard work I do manual labor all day at work, the last thing I want to do after work is more work lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piky0032 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Just got a block thats a stock standard size for Melbourne/Victoria is suppose.......may be tiny compared some properties ive seen through friends in the states 14m X 32m .........448sqM.......will be trying to put a 25sq house on it......4 bedrooms.....master with a killer en suite and an awesome outdoor entertainment area Its more than likely a 5-10 year investment......wait for equity to build so we can buy other houses and invest invest invest I suppose...... Really looking forward to the build plan process......so many things to think about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 House is a 15-30 year investment, unless you do something like buy a very modest house and double up the payments (which it sounds like you are not -- brand new 2500 sqft house). If you buy and sell a house after 5 years, it will probably cost you less to rent. Might be near the breakeven point. You aren't going to make very much investment over 10 years. Front end is so interest loaded. What do you do for a living? Just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajhall04 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 House is a 15-30 year investment, unless you do something like buy a very modest house and double up the payments (which it sounds like you are not -- brand new 2500 sqft house). If you buy and sell a house after 5 years, it will probably cost you less to rent. Might be near the breakeven point. You aren't going to make very much investment over 10 years. Front end is so interest loaded. What do you do for a living? Just curious. I think it depends. My wife and I bought just a small house for our first one. We lived there four years, made necessary improvements, etc. the market went back up and we decided to test the market. Our house sold in 5 days with multiple offers over the asking price. We were lucky yes. We made a great deal of money on that house due to bimonthly payments and always paying a bit extra if you can. Our house we just purchased was after looking at close to 40 damn homes. We were picky. You have to do what feels right and smart. Don't go house poor anyone! Now we have an acre, plenty of room for the dogs, on protected land so no one bothers us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Yeah every situation is different (markets, timing, etc) and hindsight is perfect -- but we can only make decisions that will effect the future. No rule of thumb is going to perfectly apply to every situation. That said, the biggest buying opportunity of many generations is pretty much gone and things are close to steady state. Swings things a bit towards "rent" when you are comparing rent vs. buy, especially over short periods of time (single digit years). There's a lot of costs in a house that you have to live in it for years to overcome -- taxes, closing costs, seller's commision, upkeep, mortgage interest, etc. Even if you make money on the house over a short period of time, that doesn't mean you couldn't make more by renting and putting the difference in a mutual fund or something. I definitely feel confident that at 5 years or less planned time in a house you should rent. Somewhere in the area of 5-10 is the break even point. Over 10, you should definitely buy. No one knows with anymore certainty than that, though. Too many uncertain future variables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajhall04 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Yeah every situation is different (markets, timing, etc) and hindsight is perfect -- but we can only make decisions that will effect the future. No rule of thumb is going to perfectly apply to every situation. That said, the biggest buying opportunity of many generations is pretty much gone and things are close to steady state. Swings things a bit towards "rent" when you are comparing rent vs. buy, especially over short periods of time (single digit years). There's a lot of costs in a house that you have to live in it for years to overcome -- taxes, closing costs, seller's commision, upkeep, mortgage interest, etc. Even if you make money on the house over a short period of time, that doesn't mean you couldn't make more by renting and putting the difference in a mutual fund or something. I definitely feel confident that at 5 years or less planned time in a house you should rent. Somewhere in the area of 5-10 is the break even point. Over 10, you should definitely buy. No one knows with anymore certainty than that, though. Too many uncertain future variables. Agreed. I think it came down to me was, yes owning a home has added expenses, but it was mine. The difference was not that far off from renting and a morrtgage. However, I did rent 5 years before buying a house here. I can totally relate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piky0032 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 House is a 15-30 year investment, unless you do something like buy a very modest house and double up the payments (which it sounds like you are not -- brand new 2500 sqft house). If you buy and sell a house after 5 years, it will probably cost you less to rent. Might be near the breakeven point. You aren't going to make very much investment over 10 years. Front end is so interest loaded. What do you do for a living? Just curious. Hopefully we would have much more then we should paid off in the first couple of years and the value of the house/prop will have raised.....we are building in a newer area that has major expansion plans.....shopping centers....schools ect ect so hopefully that will assist in house prices rising......fun times I work as a police dispatcher in Australia if that was aimed at me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piky0032 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 House is a 15-30 year investment, unless you do something like buy a very modest house and double up the payments (which it sounds like you are not -- brand new 2500 sqft house). If you buy and sell a house after 5 years, it will probably cost you less to rent. Might be near the breakeven point. You aren't going to make very much investment over 10 years. Front end is so interest loaded. What do you do for a living? Just curious. Hopefully we would have much more then we should paid off in the first couple of years and the value of the house/prop will have raised.....we are building in a newer area that has major expansion plans.....shopping centers....schools ect ect so hopefully that will assist in house prices rising......fun times The plan isnt to move on from here in 5-10....but to use this as a platform to invest in more property.... I work as a police dispatcher in Australia if that was aimed at me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Sounds like a good plan. Always comes down to doing some research and then following your gut in the end. Investing 101 is to stay balanced -- just don't focus too much on the accumulation of real estate. Unless you see yourself as some kind of property manager in the future (which is a good career but a lot of work as well), one killer house is probably going to be a good portion of your total wealth in real estate. It made sense to go heavy in real estate in 2009, not as much now that a huge portion of the opportunity at that time is gone. Just don't forget about stocks, bonds, cash, gold, etc. Gold lost 30% last year and there is still a lot of downward pressure on it (e.g., the fed tapering of quantitative easing). I think gold has a lot more potential as an investment today than real estate (although I'm still waiting on it to come down some more). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stranaspank Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Guys...I'm going to start shopping around next month. Any good books or sites I can use for research on the general process? I'm a bit overwhelmed with the prospects of so much responsibility and adulthood. Assuage my fears. You guys like owning, right? I just want a yard and kick ass kitchen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I'm sure a quick google search would find something sufficient. All you really need to know is that step 1 is to get pre-approval through a bank, then step 2 is to work with an agent. Pre-approvals expire but are usually really easy to renew. I'd say shop around for a bank now and get pre-approved, then start looking around online at homes that are within your range. When you are ready to look for real, talk to an agent. Their job is to walk you through from there so don't worry about the details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuzzersonKillwell Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I didn't use an agent and you may not depending on how savvy you are and how competitive the market is near you. The Dude is right though, pre-approval is pretty much the first step. Your mortgage originator will pre-approve you up to a certain amount, then you can use that figure to start shopping. I wouldn't use lendingtree.com unless you want a million phone calls that you can't stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maneatingcow Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I'm at the point where I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy a cheap condo in a couple months. I'm getting pretty excited about this. I went through the Pre-Approval process and it was pretty easy you just need copies of current statements for all your accounts, including retirement accounts and 2-3 months of payroll stubs. The most annoying part for me was where they allow down payment to come from. I never have a ton of money in my bank accounts so I couldn't say that I was using savings. I've been selling off some of my records on ebay for a while and have a sizeable chunk of cash building up in there for a down payment and they said that I couldn't use that money as a downpayment. I still go back and forth on what the correct loan for me is. I like the flexability that a 30 year loan would give me but the quoted interest rate is 4.125%. The 7 year adjustable makes a ton of sense because I'm looking at places I can pay off in 7-10 years and comes with a interest rate at 2.999%. The problem with that one is it would really put the pressure on me to get that sucker paid off as close to 7 years, and although that is my goal I don't know if I want that pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maneatingcow Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I wouldn't use lendingtree.com unless you want a million phone calls that you can't stop. This. This. Oh my fucking hate filled jesus this. I signed up their thinking it would be a good method of seeing a couple of rough quotes on what I could get APR wise but all it is a never ending chain of phone calls. First annoying thing the only company that actually uses the data you enter in their to give you a rough estimate of what you could get was Qucken. Everywhere else just calls you and makes re-enter everything in. First day of signing up at Lendingtree.com I ended up have 52 voicemails when I got home. After that I was getting 10-20 calls a day for a week. Now a month or so later I only get 3 calls a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuzzersonKillwell Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 That seems weird. You should be able to use any liquid assets for a down payment, at least I would think. In terms of coming up with the loan amount for pre-approval they want to factor in regular or reliable income. So sales of things like records can't be used to increase the limit you might be approved for. Is there really not someone who works in this field on the board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhook Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 My wife does, the not allowed to use certain money thing makes no sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Pretty sure they are just trying to make sure that you aren't taking personal loans to qualify for a mortgage you otherwise couldn't. With eBay, you run into a conundrum in that I'm assuming you aren't claiming as income on your taxes. An underwriter is going to need to make sure your taxes/income/bank statements are all in line. So I'm sure you could count eBay money towards a mortgage, you just have to frame it as a personal small business, which is more headache than it's worth, unless you are taking about many thousands of dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maneatingcow Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 They were telling me that if I wanted to use the sale of records I would need to have each purchaser sign a receipt and no a list of ebay transactions would not be good enough to prove sale. This is the prevent home buyers from using borrowed money for down payment. Basically, creating false sales to have a friend or family member funnel you money for a downpayment. The really messed up thing is that she also said that being a first time buyer the loan board would allow me to borrow money from family and use that for down payment. It's not like any of this really bothers me for the most part I like my Credit Union and the APR and loan structures is better than most other quotes I got. The only thing that really kind of got under my skin is when I went in there I knew exactly what I wanted to get pre-approved for money wise and she kept trying to get me to almost double what I using as my maximum approved loan amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebiglebowski Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Either way, you need money to live on and furnish the home. Just tag the eBay money for this and the regular income for loan repayment. Doesn't change anything. If you need every last cent in your account to qualify for a mortgage, you might be overextending yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuzzersonKillwell Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Wow. That is wild. That all makes some sense but you can't just walk in with like 10k and cash and say, here is my downpayment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maneatingcow Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Wow. That is wild. That all makes some sense but you can't just walk in with like 10k and cash and say, here is my downpayment? Hell no. You need to be able to account for where every penny of where the down payment is coming from. To be fair other banks may be more lax, mine is a small local Credit Union so perhaps they just have extremely restrictive practices. Basically I need to have every penny of my down payment money accounted for. Not a big deal when I'm looking at loans in the 50k to 70k range just a bit annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harley Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 As a home owner, I can give you a few words of advice. 1) No offense to any real estate agents here, but real estate agents do not always have your best interests in mind. They are really just glorified salesman in many cases. And other than having the ability to go and unlock lots of houses with their special real estate agent keys/lock boxes, they are almost useless. Unless your real estate agent is your best friend/sibling, you should remain skeptical and cautious when dealing with them. Also, steer away from signing exclusivity contracts with them. 2) Home-ownership can be expensive. My mortgage is cheaper than rent would be for a comparable house, but every year there are home and yard maintenance costs that add up, not to mention the random and inevitable things that break. Hot water heaters, heating and air units, plumbing, electrical, roofing, etc. all can be pricey things to have repaired/replaced, and you never know when something could happen. 3) Home-ownership can be stressful. Half the time I hate my house. You have to spend a lot of time and money maintaining it, and if you do not, you will wish you did because stuff will eventually start to go wrong. It is a constant source of worry, however, it is something that you bought, that you own, so the stress can be very worthwhile. 4) Spend a lot of time scoping out potential houses you want to buy - you need to get a really, really good feel for the neighborhood, even your neighbors, etc. Don't be afraid to speak to the neighbors and ask their opinion of the area. Do some web crime searches. Go by the house/property at various times of the day, in various weather conditions (especially during/after some moderate to heavy rain - you can see if the house has water drainage issues/flooding). If you have kids, or think you might want to have kids, take into account the school district. If you are never going to have kids, then that isn't such a big deal, and you might get a better deal on a house in a crappier shcool district. But be aware that crappy school district also usually equates to lower class living. 5) Find a really great home inspector, ideally someone who is going to find as many things wrong with the house/property as possible. When I bought my first house, I used the real estate agent's recommended inspector. That probably wasn't very wise and it turned out there were a lot of small issues that he never noticed, or bothered to point out that became larger problems later. So you want to find someone who is known for being a bit of a hard ass. You may have to pay out of pocket extra for a good inspector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hipsterasfolk Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Harley summed it up and dotted the lower case j's! Agents get a cut of the sale, people who are through may overlook "small" details to increase the $$, etc etc Housing is a shady investment market, that is for damn sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avery Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 i 2nd the advice on getting a quality inspection done. we bought our place 10 yrs ago when i was a naive 25 year old. i don't know who picked our inspector, but it was either one of the realtors (and they were both kind of slimy car salesmen types) or it was the seller (but not sure if that was possible). they basically did the inspection while the electricity was shut off and therefore didn't notice a bunch of the outlets were faulty. over time, my husband fixed some of them while the electrician who redid our kitchen lighting fixed some others, but i dunno... it's a basic thing that should've been taken care of by the seller. it's true, there are a lot of expenses involved with owning your own place but i don't really mind it. i have a bunch of friends who have had to move because the landlords decided to up and sell the property. personally, i'd hate it if i was told by someone else (rather than coming to the decision myself) that i had to move out of my home. so there's that. i also ended up loving the location and neighborhood so much i don't really want to ever move anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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