Home Owners

[Spider-Who?]

I'm in the market for buying my first home. I just recently received a pre-qualification letter and that's....about as far as I've gotten, lol.

I'm looking into foreclosures - something relatively cheap that I can fix up and make my own.

Anyone have any words of wisdom for a first time home buyer? Any tips about the whole buying process? Good sites to find foreclosures? Good or bad experience with a reality company? Tricks and scams to watch out for?

I'm pretty much flying blind at this point...

 

[Erzengel]

Find a good realtor, someone with a good reputation, preferably someone, someone you know has done work with before.

Also watch some HGTV, mostly Property Virgins. It gives you an idea of how a Realtor should act.

When we were looking around for a house initially, we were with a very nice Realtor, however, she just seemed to show us houses that were available and not necessarily houses we'd be into.

Lastly, in terms of how much to put down, she never guided us. Not like, well I looked at several houses that were equatable to the one you were looking at and they went for $X amount.

We left that Realtor and went with a new one, we did most of the heavy lifting, looking at places through realtor.com and we found houses that we liked but he also showed us houses that were what we were looking for.

We were looking for something move in ready, that looked or was new and there was a house we really liked and he essentially said, this is probably the best place you are going to find for the money for what you are looking for. That's what we needed to hear.

Of course a few days into our "Under Contract", we found out about another house that we initially saw that was "Under Contract" but the same builder was building the exact home down the street so we jumped on that.

So in conclusion:
Find a Realtor and tell them exactly what you want. If they show you houses that aren't in your price range or what you want, tell them.
Go to Open Houses without your Realtor, just to get a sense of what's out there. Also to save your Realtor on time.
Use websites to find houses in your neighborhood and give the MLS numbers to your Realtor to schedule a visit.
Never settle, and you are in a good market for buying, so remember you can come in lower than when the Buyer is asking. Ask your Realtor to give you some prices on equatable houses in the area.

 

[Motown Marvel]

i just bought my first home. i took part in a government program where the government took foreclosed homes and completely renovated them to code. they also furnish the houses with all brand new energy star appliances. and they also pay $15,000 towards the house. i got an amazing deal on a great house. i suggest you look to see if there are similar programs in your area.

 

[Spider-Who?]

That sounds awesome. I'll definitely look into that. Thanks guys!