Sources for Objective Information on Home Mortgages

[JTK]

John, something tells me you'll do just fine.

99% of the work is going to be finding a place in your price range that you're willing to accept, with a tax cost you're willing to accept, understanding the taxes do nothing but go up.

For my first home nearly 25yrs ago, I did a mortgage through the state (NY) called SONYMA. At the time it was for first time home buyers, who earned under a certain amount. The interest was crazy low, like 2.9% for a 30yr. My first home was $80K. With all taxes and insurance escrowed in, my monthly payment was around $650/mo. With SONYMA, if you sold the home w/in the first 5yrs, you paid a penalty back to the state. The max penalty was at year 2.5, then it ramped back down to zero by year 5.

For our second and current (hopefully last) home, we used a broker. I don't even think it cost anything at the time? We bought our current home in 2011. Our mortgage is through wells fargo at 4.8%/30yr.

 

[Chester11]

Hey John:

A lot of good advice here.

If you have friends in the area you are looking, ask them for a realtor recommendation. I would not however, take a realtor recommendation for a lender. If your credit union is in the area you are looking, that is a good place to start. (They will "keep" the mortgage, meaning it won't be sold, and will generally process everything locally).

Realtor quality will vary - the first one we used was a nice guy, showed us a ton of houses, but was completely useless when issues arose. You will still have to advocate for yourself, as all he or she cares about it the sale.

Looking back on my first purchase, I would have involved a local attorney to help explain things and review documents. (It would have saved me a lot of time working issues that cropped up after the sale). Others will disagree.

You will be fine.

 

[PimTac]

I know a lot of people’s first step is contacting a realtor. I’ve never dealt with a realtor, obviously, and I’m well-aware that they would naturally have an interest in steering potential buyers a certain direction, for their own benefit.

Your first step should be with the lender. Find out how much loan you can afford and work with your budget. Then see the realtor. Do some searching as well online. If you are looking for homes locally/regionally then you already know which areas you prefer and which ones to avoid

 

[Dave Hess]

Wolf359 had good info on this subject.

Anybody know what happened to him ?
He was in the Boston area and was a realtor / broker.

 

[john_pifer]

We actually bought a home last September and we really like it.

Thanks for everyone’s input.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Realtors - at least in this state - won't even acknowledge you or you a house until you have a preapproval for a certain limit. That's definitely where to start. Sometimes the realtors can give you advice on which banks to start using. In our case, the realtor we used mentioned a local credit union that I never heard of and their rates were .25% lower than anyone else.





That's true. I ran into a situation selling my old house where the neighbor was encroaching on my property with a driveway. The driveway existed for 50+ years. When I bought the house, my lawyer had the previous neighbor sign an affidavit that he did not claim ownership of that portion of the driveway and would remove it if instructed by me.

I did not know about any encroachment until after closing when I was reviewing the documents. That's something that should have been made known to me in disclosures.

Anyway, the attorney I used to buy the house "forgot" to file that affidavit with the county. The new owner of the property next door wouldn't sign it just to be a jerk because he wanted to buy my house but didn't have the money.

When I called the title insurance company to see if they could do anything for me because I have an unsaleable property for which I cannot get clear title, they invalidated my title insurance because the lawyer forgot to file that affidavit with the county. The problem was, without it filed, if we went to court over adverse possession, he'd win.

The closing attorney carries insurance for this sort of thing.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

The closing attorney carries insurance for this sort of thing.

He died a year after closing and the practice dissolved.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

He died a year after closing and the practice dissolved.

I wonder if you can still file a claim.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I wonder if you can still file a claim.

I was able to get it signed by the neighbor. Eventually. We had to get the private individual holding the mortgage on the property to chase the neighbor down. It was a situation .

Someone else' problem now , thankfully.

 

[Chester11]

We actually bought a home last September and we really like it.

Thanks for everyone’s input.

oops - missed the date somehow...welcome home?

 

[PimTac]

We actually bought a home last September and we really like it.

Thanks for everyone’s input.

This is what happens when an old thread gets revived.