We're Buying our First House (and other happenings)! Exciting Times...

The only thing that really jumped out at me after being a realtor for over 15 years is that you're kinda skipping the home inspection. Being there and asking questions is basically why you're paying the big bucks. It's less effective afterwards as you won't be going through the entire house with him. Sometimes the inspectors that the buyers pick end up skipping some stuff so I point them out as I go. Like around here, they always take off the electrical panel cover to check for rust, double taps, etc. Some just skip that part because it looks fine, but you won't find double taps that way. And home inspectors tend to dispense maintenance advice as they go along, hard to get all that at the end of the inspection and that stuff won't be in the report. Pretty much 95%+ of the time the buyers were there during the entire inspection. As I said, sometimes they miss stuff and sometimes what you see is actually nothing, but if you're not there to ask the question, you're probably wasting half your money by not being there.
The realtor told me it was better to show up at the tail end of the inspection. The only reason I can think of, that he would have told me that, would be if he thinks that I am going to somehow interfere with the inspection or bother the inspector by being there.

Personally I would rather be there for the entire inspection. Perhaps I need to check with my realtor on this.
 
The realtor told me it was better to show up at the tail end of the inspection. The only reason I can think of, that he would have told me that, would be if he thinks that I am going to somehow interfere with the inspection or bother the inspector by being there.

Personally I would rather be there for the entire inspection. Perhaps I need to check with my realtor on this.
Yeah I don't know what kind of realtor that is. I always tell my clients to be there for the entire inspection. Sometimes they just have too many people there like parents, friends and other relatives and those people will distract the buyer from the inspection. You always follow the inspector around so he can point out things as he sees them and if you have any particular question about something. Maybe you're not getting a good inspector or the inspector likes to blow through the inspection. Single families typically take 2-3 hours if it needs a lot of work. If it's in good condition, they might blow through it in an hour, hour and half. But it's your money, you should get your money's worth.
 
Yeah I don't know what kind of realtor that is. I always tell my clients to be there for the entire inspection. Sometimes they just have too many people there like parents, friends and other relatives and those people will distract the buyer from the inspection. You always follow the inspector around so he can point out things as he sees them and if you have any particular question about something. Maybe you're not getting a good inspector or the inspector likes to blow through the inspection. Single families typically take 2-3 hours if it needs a lot of work. If it's in good condition, they might blow through it in an hour, hour and half. But it's your money, you should get your money's worth.
It's not a large home (1450 sq ft), and newer (built in 2015).

I think he's thinking there won't be much wrong, and that it won't take that long.

It did look very well maintained when I visited.
 
It's not a large home (1450 sq ft), and newer (built in 2015).

I think he's thinking there won't be much wrong, and that it won't take that long.

It did look very well maintained when I visited.
Well that's good, it takes out a lot of the guesswork. Many times in the 100+ year old homes we have here, there's always a question of how old a particular system is and home inspectors are good at giving you a number and how long something will last. In your case I guess everything is probably 7 years old but you could also ask to see how long the inspector thinks something will last.
 
Sucks that interest rates are so high. But it can't really be helped. We're blessed to have more than 20% to put down.
How soon we forget: https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/historical-mortgage-rates-30-year-fixed

- Rates in 1971 were in the mid-7% range, ......................................9.19% in 1974. They briefly dipped down into the mid- to high-8% range before climbing to 11.20% in 1979.

- Interest rates reached their highest point in modern history in 1981 when the annual average was 16.63%,

- The average mortgage rate in 1990 was 10.13%, but it slowly fell, finally dipping below 7% to come in at 6.94% in 1998.

- Mortgage rates steadily declined from 8.05% in 2000 to the high-5% range in 2003

- Rates began to rise after the 2016 presidential election. They reached their peak at the end of 2018/start of 2019............ between 3.95% on the low end and 5.34% on the high.

Beautiful home! Beautiful family! Congrats!
 
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Anyone have any advice on whether to purchase discount points on the mortgage?

Thinking about purchasing a point, which will lower the rate, and I would break even after about 3 years.

Where the doubt comes in, is whether interest rates will go down enough in the next 3 years to justify re-financing the mortgage for a lower rate, in which case, if I do that, I wouldn't break even on the money I spent ($2800) buying the rate down.

The realtor advises against it...saying I may not stay in the home. But he's also got a vested interest in me moving again...

The banker says she doesn't think the rates will go down much in the next 3 years. If that's the case, buying the rate down would save me money over the long term, because I know we'll be in this house a minimum of 5 years, and probably longer.
 
The house looks great, John. I think it will suit your growing family well. If you’ve got the extra cash, buying down the interest rate makes sense to me, as I don’t see them coming down any time soon.

But, remember, you are in the market for furniture, yard equipment, tools, appliances, window treatments, etc. and will need quite a bit of cash. Make certain you’ve got enough for all that. Putting some of that on a credit card wipes out the interest savings of paying points.

Congratulations on your first house! Our very best to the lovely Britta!
 
Boy, you've been, uhh "busy" John! :D

But congrats on the home! It took me a year to find a house in this market. Luckily I was able to lock in a low interest rate (closed January 2022).
 
Congrats! I’d go with the inspector for the entire thing, you are paying for it so your call, don’t worry what the realtor wants.

I’d avoid paying points as you may outgrow this house quickly at the rate you are having kids!
 
Anyone have any advice on whether to purchase discount points on the mortgage?

Thinking about purchasing a point, which will lower the rate, and I would break even after about 3 years.

Where the doubt comes in, is whether interest rates will go down enough in the next 3 years to justify re-financing the mortgage for a lower rate, in which case, if I do that, I wouldn't break even on the money I spent ($2800) buying the rate down.

The realtor advises against it...saying I may not stay in the home. But he's also got a vested interest in me moving again...

The banker says she doesn't think the rates will go down much in the next 3 years. If that's the case, buying the rate down would save me money over the long term, because I know we'll be in this house a minimum of 5 years, and probably longer.
The interest rates are all over the place now. It was as low as 4.375% a few weeks ago, I just looked and I saw 5.75%. There are probably going to be spikes up and down for a little while, but it's possible it might come down briefly in the next few years. I wouldn't bother paying down the mortgage. You can normally do a no points no closing mortgage refi. The trick with those is that typically the rate is slightly higher. But if you stick with those rates, anytime the rate drops 1/4 point, it's worth refinancing. Typical home ownership is 7-10 years, on a mortgage it's about 3 years as people tend to refi for whatever reason, either lower rates or to take out cash. Also when people sell a home, it's not always planned, just life happens, job changes, growing family, death, divorce, disease, etc. What interest rate did you get? With rates going up these days, it would make sense to lock the rate. Sometimes I read the daily mortgage commentary, if he's suggesting a float for over 60 days, sounds like rates might drop a little in a few months.

 
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