Buying a New Home

M.,
My husband is a branch manager at a bank, plus has a huge amnt of experience with mtgs. He is extremely knowledgeable in all kinds of credit situations. Let me know if you would like to talk with him.
A.

My dad is a realtor so I just went with him first. However, you are suppose to get qualified first. That way if there are any surprises on the credit report than they can get taken care of, you would be surprised what they find that no one knew about. They also can talk to you about what you qualify for and what you can actually afford. We went with RMS, they helped us clean our credit report, find out what we qualified for and got us a loan.

Hello My name is H. I own a mortgage company. My website is Halllendinggroup.com I can help you with this. PLease give me a call ###-###-#### I would love to help

My advice to you would be talking to David Baker with Caldwell and Baker Financial. He owns a small mortgage company in Des Moines. I really like the way he works because he's able to beats all quotes you get through banks BECAUSE he's a small company. He's also really honest and will break down whatever information you get from lenders/banks/etc. He takes a lot of time explaining to you every step of the way. He moves as fast as you let him. What I mean by that, if you get him the information fast enough he can get it done for you as quick as you move. He mentioned to me once the fastest he's done a loan was nine days. He can go about getting you pre-approved and leading you to a good real estate agent as well. I know he helps get your house sold too by letting other clients know. I would highly recommend shopping around, BUT when you are done, call him and let him know what you have and I bet he'll beat it! Nice guy too. I never felt talked down to. His number is ###-###-####

Sorry if I sound like an infommercial, but I couldn't be more impressed with this guy!

First, SELL YOUR HOUSE!!! I cannot stress this. It is so easy to get stuck with two morgages these days. In the meantime, talk to a realiter about BUYing a house. You might have to pay them if they help you sell yours.

The best place to start is banks. Shop around and get pre-approved for a mortgage so you have a price range to start looking for a new home. When getting pre-approved you'll get the best rates if you pay off any other debt you have (mainly credit cards). Just make sure you don't use your credit cards for at least a month or so before you are getting approved for a mortgage. You're also going to want to talk to some real estate agents to see what you can sell your home for. Feel free to shop around for those too, make sure you have an agent you like. If there are any updates to your house you've been thinking about doing, go ahead and do them. You can raise the resale value of your home a lot just by painting, new appliances, flooring... whatever is outdated. Talk to your realtor and see what they suggest. A good one should be able to tell you which updates would be worth the money and which probably won't change the value much. Good Luck!

My advice is if you want to sell and buy a new home to list your house as soon as possible. It is such a buyer's market that it is super hard to sell a house right now so it may take a while to sell.

Hi M.,

I am actually a Realtor so I have a lot of experience in exactly this scenario. There is no right way to do it, but some people like to start looking for their new home before putting their current home on the market while others choose to put their home on the market first for fear that they might not be able to sell it. They figure that if it sells, they will be able to find a new home. I have worked with people who have done it both ways over the years. It makes a little more sense to me to start looking for your new home before putting your current house on the market because if your current house sells quickly and you can't find something right away, you may have to move twice. Most standard contracts allow for a couple to write an offer on a new home contingent to them selling and getting the proceeds on the house they currently own. This ensures that you won't get stuck buying the new home if your current house doesn't sell which is what most people are trying to avoid.

The best thing for you to do is to contact a Real Estate agent in your area. They can be a wealth of knowledge about the home buying/selling process and many of them will give you a free market analysis on your current house so that you have an idea what it might sell for. I am a Realtor in the Cedar Rapids area so if you live in that area, I would be happy to talk to you about it. Otherwise, talk to friends or family and see if anyone has used a Realtor that they would recommend and give them a call. I'm sure they would be more than happy to talk to you about it.

M. Harris
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M.-
Congratulations a beginning this new adventure of selling & buying a new home! It will be stressful at times, but can be a really good experience or a horrible. However, I believe you make it good or bad depending on your attitude during the process.

With that said, start by finding out how much you would qualify for. Try different options of qualification...bank, through your realitor and/or a mortgage company.

Next bring in several realitors at different times to see what they would do if they were the owners of your home to get it ready to put on the market. A good realitor is going to be up front with you and honest. Everyone has something they can do to their home to up the value. You may feel like the realitor is too honest if they tell you to do this, this and this. And you may not like hearing it. However, that in my opinion is a GREAT realitor. It can be disheartening to hear their opinion, but he/she is truly looking in your best interest...selling your home and make a profit for you. Just remember, you don't need to make every change they recommend, so ask your realitor to put in order what the #1 thing to fix and so forth.

On the other hand, the realitor that doesn't say much is looking more in his/her own interest of making a buck and doesn't want to lose your business. Again, just my opinion. That realitor wouldn't be someone I would pick.

So you know your financial range for buying a new home and you found your realitor. Start making those changes you can afford to do that will increase the value of your home. As you are making these low cost updates, start working with your realitor to find homes you can afford to move into. Remember this. If you qualify for x amount in $ for a loan/mortgage, ask yourself "Can you afford the payments?"

Not everyone who can get a $200,000 mortgage can afford it. What is that monthy payment going to be? Check with the utility company to see what the past usage has been. Can you afford that when added to your bills? A smart realitor is going to help you find this out. Look for a home that YOU can afford.

Now, many people have different feelings as to when to put their homes on the market. To me it completely depends on the market and how comfortable you are financially.

Most people, especially at this time, would put their home on the market and try to get it sold before looking for a new home. Honestly, again my opinion, this is the smarter move with todays market.

A second option would be to put it on the market and begin looking. Also not a bad option.

A third option would be to look for a new home and once you find it and make the offer, then put your house on the market. Not always the best idea, but again, it depends on what the housing market is like.

In 2005 my husband and I took option #3. We found our new home and made an offer. In offer we said the purchase was contingent on the sale of our current home. Then we put our home on the market. A few weeks into it, and no offers on our home we were selling, someone came along and made an offer on the new home. We had 48 hours to decide if we were going to let our dream home go, or close the deal. We gambled and closed the deal. At the time the housing market was pretty darn good. It was stressful and we did worry about having to make two mortgage payments that we knew we couldn't afford. In a worse case senario we would have to rent our 1st home if it wasn't purchased. It freaked us out, but we also had my sister-in-law who was renting an apartment at the time and wanted to get into a house for her son
s sake. We trusted her and knew she would be a good renter. But we knew we were gambling there as it's not always good to rent to family! LOL.

About two weeks after closing the deal on our new home, we sold our old home. What a feeling! We were very lucky that everything worked out for us.

Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to make sure I touched on everything. Not only my experence in buying in selling, but I also feel it's good to touch on the different options.

No, I am not a realitor. Just full-time Administrative Assistant who also has her own home business w/Southern Living At HOME AND a wife and mom. Good luck! I'd be interested in hearing how things go. If you have any questions, need an opinion or anything else... feel free to contact me!
T.