We're currently in an apartment and could possibly downsize, but it would only save us like 100-200 a month tbh. Our parents live like 70 miles from my place of work so I couldn't commute from there, unfortunately.

That's exactly why I'm trying to get in now, don't want to wait and let the home prices go up another 10-20% before I buy.

How many houses have you looked at so far? You made a good decision passing on the dump in the OP.

Gutted and remodeled my first home with wife after looking at roughly 30+ homes and leveling dollar value/condition/sqft at the current time back in 2010. Remodeled and sold that home in 2014 and bought in a much better neighborhood after having our first kid, and have over 60% equity primary mortgage/current appraised value ATM.

If you are positive about a fixed level of loan payment you can afford, throw it though a mortgage calculator and include taxes and PMI if this is your first home. Take that total monthly payment and start today like you are paying against that home, but put any excess in a savings account so youhaveto live like you're making that $300k plus mortgage payment. E.g. if your rent is currently $1200/mo and your final payment is $2400/mo - make your current rent payment and impound $1200 to your savings you don't touch, start living off the remainder.

You said this will be your home for 10+ years, won't knock that ideology. Just think about what your life was 10+ years backward in your life, and if you would make the same decisions back then as you will now. Family, life, kids, careers dictate a lot of decisions. Home ownership comes with a bucket of pros and cons.

We have been looking at many houses but they are being purchased extremely fast. That is the 3rd house we have stepped foot in, I just tried to get a viewing at this one today, but it is already under contract

was on the market like 2 or 3 days.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-39922?view=qv


I appreciate the financial advice, that's something like what we're doing now. Our rent is $1,400 and we're looking to have a mortgage for ~$1,800 plus homeowner's insurance. We're currently banking $2K each month so increasing our housing bill by $400-600 shouldn't be too big a deal for us.

Too far?

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4...91014882_zpid/

my mate bought an apartment recently

went to the auction after going out the night before, hadn't slept, went straight to the auction

stood up the back leaning on the fence wearing sunnies and a hat, big beard

spent more than he had his mind on

they gave him a bottle of champagne for winning the auction; he downed the whole thing in front of 'em

Just found that one like 20 mins ago.

Way too close to Candler road, crime is pretty terrible there, especially where it intersects with Glenwood or anywhere south of that.

Your mate sounds alpha as fuk

If this is your first home have you factored in the Primary Mortgage Insurance? We had that for the first year and refinanced it out a year later, but it is always a gamble that interest rates won't be higher in a year, or that your house will be worth more/less depending on the market. Better to factor the cost in and make sure you can cover it for about three years minimum.

A lot of your time spent on researching what your dollar is actually worth in your area, at the given time you are looking, given the housing available at that time, is worth its weight in gold. Never be in a hurry to make your potentially largest purchase/debt leverage. Be smart and take your time - your sig says Mech Engineer and you did a good job applying that to how much damage was present in the OP. Pressures and resentment of rushed purchases and uncovering issues leading to larger potential costs can make or break solid marriages, kids or no kids.

We made spreadsheets of SQFTs, asking prices, max percentages above asking that we would commit to and nothing above no matter what, what we liked on each particular place, what features made this location or home stand out, etc. and made it a game. Helped remove emotional attachment of the instant and clarity/logic to a 15/30 year loan commitment. When we settled on ones we really liked, I would drive there during lunch, I would walk the neighborhoods during the night, stop by on weekends and check out the local grocery stores/markets/gym locations. How close to police/fire stations if there is an emergency, why would anyone think of that when it's not happening daily, but it mattered when we thought about kids and it matters to people who will potentially buy your place later. We lost a few we liked, and gained a few we liked that were listedbecause we waited and took our time to assess a lot of options. The "market" is always doing sh!t, there is always the best time and worst time, whatever. Fitting a fixed and comfortable budget is paramount over a place having a nice kitchen and no money + added stress at the end of every day.

[QUOTE=Jacobcapra post_id=1549489281]Your mate sounds alpha as fuk[/QUOTE]lol yeah brah he's pretty vargn alpha, got lots more stories about the kunt; especially the ones with he and i

[QUOTE=jeshelton post_id=1549489771]If this is your first home have you factored in the Primary Mortgage Insurance? We had that for the first year and refinanced it out a year later, but it is always a gamble that interest rates won't be higher in a year, or that your house will be worth more/less depending on the market. Better to factor the cost in and make sure you can cover it for about three years minimum.

A lot of your time spent on researching what your dollar is actually worth in your area, at the given time you are looking, given the housing available at that time, is worth its weight in gold. Never be in a hurry to make your potentially largest purchase/debt leverage. Be smart and take your time - your sig says Mech Engineer and you did a good job applying that to how much damage was present in the OP. Pressures and resentment of rushed purchases and uncovering issues leading to larger potential costs can make or break solid marriages, kids or no kids.

We made spreadsheets of SQFTs, asking prices, max percentages above asking that we would commit to and nothing above no matter what, what we liked on each particular place, what features made this location or home stand out, etc. and made it a game. Helped remove emotional attachment of the instant and clarity/logic to a 15/30 year loan commitment. When we settled on ones we really liked, I would drive there during lunch, I would walk the neighborhoods during the night, stop by on weekends and check out the local grocery stores/markets/gym locations. How close to police/fire stations if there is an emergency, why would anyone think of that when it's not happening daily, but it mattered when we thought about kids and it matters to people who will potentially buy your place later. We lost a few we liked, and gained a few we liked that were listed [I]because/[I] we waited and took our time to assess a lot of options. The "market" is always doing sh!t, there is always the best time and worst time, whatever. Fitting a fixed and comfortable budget is paramount over a place having a nice kitchen and no money + added stress at the end of every day.[/QUOTE][b]strong[/b]8th post in 5 years and 3 paragraphs

[QUOTE=jeshelton post_id=1549489771]If this is your first home have you factored in the Primary Mortgage Insurance? We had that for the first year and refinanced it out a year later, but it is always a gamble that interest rates won't be higher in a year, or that your house will be worth more/less depending on the market. Better to factor the cost in and make sure you can cover it for about three years minimum.

A lot of your time spent on researching what your dollar is actually worth in your area, at the given time you are looking, given the housing available at that time, is worth its weight in gold. Never be in a hurry to make your potentially largest purchase/debt leverage. Be smart and take your time - your sig says Mech Engineer and you did a good job applying that to how much damage was present in the OP. Pressures and resentment of rushed purchases and uncovering issues leading to larger potential costs can make or break solid marriages, kids or no kids.

We made spreadsheets of SQFTs, asking prices, max percentages above asking that we would commit to and nothing above no matter what, what we liked on each particular place, what features made this location or home stand out, etc. and made it a game. Helped remove emotional attachment of the instant and clarity/logic to a 15/30 year loan commitment. When we settled on ones we really liked, I would drive there during lunch, I would walk the neighborhoods during the night, stop by on weekends and check out the local grocery stores/markets/gym locations. How close to police/fire stations if there is an emergency, why would anyone think of that when it's not happening daily, but it mattered when we thought about kids and it matters to people who will potentially buy your place later. We lost a few we liked, and gained a few we liked that were listed [I]because/[I] we waited and took our time to assess a lot of options. The "market" is always doing sh!t, there is always the best time and worst time, whatever. Fitting a fixed and comfortable budget is paramount over a place having a nice kitchen and no money + added stress at the end of every day.[/QUOTE]It is our first home; we are planning to go with a lender that will pay the PMI, but have been getting information on both borrower and lender paid PMI. We've seen that the interest rate is about 1-1.5% higher if the lender is paying the PMI but that is pretty much worth it in all scenarios so far. We would likely rush to hit 20-22% equity and refinance if the interest rates at that time are favorable.


I have been starting with google maps street view to rule out potential listings. If the house I am looking at is the nicest on the block, I pretty much pass. This can be a catch 22 though, because sometimes the google street view can be >5 years old and a neighborhood looks completely different now.

If the neighborhood looks good, my wife and I will typically go drive around and see what the infrastructure and traffic are like, what kind of people are walking around, etc etc.

For the house in the OP I went to several places around it before the viewing like the closest gas station and restaurant, both were a little sketchy but I already was figuring that.

[QUOTE=Jacobcapra post_id=1549417111]Going to view a house today, if it goes well may pull the trigger and go under contract right there on the spot if possible

[URL=https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1672-Van-Epps-St-SE_Atlanta_GA_30316_M63775-88550?ex=GA639191322]https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...ex=GA639191322[/URL]

Pros:
>Great Location
>Worst house in the neighborhood
>Way under market value
>Not maxing out my budget (max about 310K)
>basement and detached garage that weren't in the listing
>basement has stubs for bathroom #3
>great school district
>4 bedroom, was willing to go with 3


Cons:
>Kitchen will have to be completely redone
>floors don't match in kitchen/dining room
>no dishwasher
>groce carpet in two bedrooms (may be hardwood under, though)
>no fenced in yard (aka no pupper yet)
>huge vent on the living room floor
[b]>property taxes like $350 a month (srs)[/b]
>sq. footage unknown
>all fixtures are old (kitchen lights, no fans in bedrooms, etc etc)




[b]Update:[/b]

house was in absolute piss condition, was an easy pass. Back to the search, brahs.

>Water damage & bowing in the living room ceiling.
>Vents in the attic were leaking
>Terrible termite damage
>very shoddy construction of basement
>several cracks in walls & foundation
>smoked in the house
>hardwood was rekt

[b]Spoiler![/b][SPOILER][img]https://i.imgur.com/fbnNbbY.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Y667E8V.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/yq8fSiy.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/DndjN1x.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/YE1QSQN.jpg[img] --> can't really see in the photo but the ceiling has major warping/bowing

[img]https://i.imur.com/Cb0e2T6.jpg[/mg]

[/SPOILER][/QUOTE]LOL... I'm like 1150.00 a month in taxes. Thank you NJ

Created account, forgot account, life blew up outside of series of tubes internet. Miring rep power?

Are you factoring in closing costs and HOA fees into your calculations?

Figuring 2-3% closing costs, most of these places don't have HOA associations, which is why some of the houses still look like garbage from the curb as this one did.


Hadn't originally thought about closing costs when we began saving, thought we'd be doing great with 25-35K to put down then realized we'll spent like 6-10K on closing for a house of 300K or so

lol, pretty sure that's the only time i've ever seen mirin with a g

yes mirin rep power of 0 brah, good job dave man

Why are you looking in ATL though? Correct me if I'm wrong but property prices in densely populated areas are always going to be inflated. Example... 200K in Chicago isn't getting you anything close to what 200K in a surrounding suburb 45 minutes SouthWest would get you. I'd much rather get a better bang for my buck and have to commute an extra 20-30 miles a day. Just my .02 brah.

Well if you consider it an investment, then buying in the city can be a smarter investment because the properties have much higher potential to make you money. Also yeah no duh that 200K in the city gets you way less than 200K outside the city. The surrounding area is a huge factor for the value of real estate; the properties values aren't inflated, they're legitimately higher.

But to answer your question, my wife works in Atlanta and I work north-east of Atlanta. We want to stay near our parents so they can help with children, and they live west of Atlanta so we can't move out to where I work or we'd be almost 2 hours from them.