We're buying a house!

[Arisaka99]

Hey All!

For those of those that know me, I've been on the forum since I was 14 or so.

I just figured I would drop in and let everyone know my wife and I put an offer on our first house today.

It's a 1935 built Cape Cod. 3 beds, 2 baths and around 1600 sq. ft. with an unfinished basement (hello loading bench!). Should be a good starter house until our brood of 3 crumb snatchers gets bigger.

Wish us luck!
-Chris

[1911sw45]

Congrats !

[gpidaho]

Happy for you. Great having the basement. Gp

[Sig556r]

Congratulations!

[JBinMN]

Congrats!

[pworley1]

Owning your on home is a great feeling. Congratulations!

[Jniedbalski]

Buying your first home can be very nerve racking. But it’s the best thing me and the wife did

[RED BEAR]

Congratulations. Its a great feeling owning your own home.

[sparky45]

I agree with the above statements, but I'll add one comment NOT intended to cause you any concern:
WELCOME TO THE MONEY PIT!!

[georgerkahn]

My sincere congratulation to you and your wife!!! I've always rather pay rent to the government than to another (who also pays rent to the government) so with two parties getting your $$$$ -- dealing direct is the way to go. Oh -- re "rent to the government" you might inquire. The way I see it, if you buy a vehicle, financed through a bank, and miss a few payments, they RE-possess it, as they are truly the owners of said vehicle, until your loan obligation is satisfied. Re property, including houses, if you do not pay the taxes (to the city; to the town & county; and, to the school district where I reside -- three taxes!), then the government repossesses their property -- perhaps list it in the next tax-sale. PLUS -- if you make significant improvements -- e.g., build a garage, new siding, etc. -- you'll stand a great chance of a new, higher assessment, to enable your rent to be increased!
AND, with this rhetoric, we "think" we own six properties, including one with out house on it. And (again), would NEVER EVER go back to renting. And, a third "and" -- BEST WISHES!!!
Oh -- having lost three different close friends through the years from fires, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make smoke and CO detector for each bedroom, as well as utility and other areas -- we have six working ones in our house -- your #1 highest priority when you move in.
geo

[Wheelguns 1961]

The only thing better than buying a house, is paying it off!

[dangitgriff]

Congrats and best of luck to you and your family.
Sounds like you’re in it for the long haul, so allow me to say this: a major economic downturn is in the cards soon, so you will likely see the value of your house plummet in the next couple of years after. Not a concern if you aren’t planning to sell in the next decade.
Gonna be a prime opportunity for cash home buyers during the next recession, however!
R/Griff

[reddog81]

Congrats! I just realized I'm 1/3 of the way through the 30 year mortgage on my first house. Time flies when you're having fun, or something like that...

2 pieces of advise -
1. Get rid of PMI ASAP. That's a money suck that does no good for you. Figure out how you can get rid off it and make sure that happens quickly. If you don't have PMI that's awesome.
2. Pay off a little extra every month. I add an extra $50 every single month and it only increases the payment by 5%, but the amount paid towards principal increases by about 15% (taxes and interest are a huge portion of your monthly payment assuming you're paying into escrow). This will cut 4 years off my mortgage. Living in Iowa my mortgage is probably much smaller than yours, so $50 might not go as far for you, but determine an amount you can easily afford and stick with it on every payment.

[Beerd]

Ah yes, the pride of home ownership!
Way better than paying rent (or living with your folks).
I'm on house number 3, but then I must be about 3 times your age.
reddog81 gives good advise. Ask your banker for a printout of your monthly payment schedule broken out by principal, interest, taxes & insurance. Might make you go "hmmmm".
..

[Hickory]

Home ownership.
The American dream realized.

[Winger Ed.]

Congrats.
At the end of the year, read the info on your statement about how much property tax you paid.
Then try to figure out where it went.

It'll make ya a Republican.

[reddog81]

Ask your banker for a printout of your monthly payment schedule broken out by principal, interest, taxes & insurance. Might make you go "hmmmm".
..

I just got a mortgage statement in the mail today and 10 years in I’m still paying more in interest every month than principal. And taxes are almost as much as the monthly interest charge��. Owning a home is a much better option than renting, at least in the long run, but you definitely need to know the details otherwise you’re just burying your head in the sand and hoping for the best.

[Love Life]

My houses make me money. Well, most of the time, lol.

[Wayne Smith]

Congrats Chris and Alyssia! Let us know when you will have a house warming - we might make it up there! Erv and Su just moved to Gloucester - a really nice house out in the woods - they keep talking about how far out and the the condition of the dirt road (really nice, both Lynne and I have driven far worse many times!) but they are city folks exploring the country.

What the guys above are telling you is that there is no 'prepayment penalty' on your mortgage - that means that every penny over the monthly payment that you send the bank is applied to the PRINCIPLE - and the faster that goes down the less interest you end up paying to the bank. Lynne and I paid off our last 15 year mortgage in nine years. Of course the boys were out and gone and we weren't feeding teenagers any more, either. You do what you can but keep in mind that the bank allows you to screw them out of the interest you would otherwise pay them.

[bedbugbilly]

Congrats to you and your wife! Hopefully your offer will be accepted and the two fo you can start "nesting". You buy a house . . . but you are it a "home". I built our "first" home and we lived in it for 45 years . . . . hard to leave it but we moved into a condo which is better for us. You'll get great satisfaction in owning your own home and you and your family will take some wonderful memories in it. Enjoy and have fun!