Friday Rainy Day Randoms
Jan 15, 2016 9:06:48 GMT -5
Post by daisy818 on Jan 15, 2016 9:06:48 GMT -5
H's parents and grandparents want us to buy a house really bad. They want to help us buy before prices go up again. What are the first steps I should take? I know you can get pre-qualified. Is there a better bank to do this with?
Also, when some of my friends bought houses, they were approved for much more than they actually felt comfortable with. For example, one couple was approved for a whopping $400k and they felt they could could only afford $200k based on their income and typical monthly expenses.
Before even finding a loan, I'd try to establish what kind of monthly payment you could afford, and ask the mortgage rep to identify how large of a loan that could support. Get approved for only that much so that you cannot be seduced into over-spending by that amazing kitchen or master suite.
When we were shopping for a house, I got quotes from a few banks and they all basically said that the housing development fund for my state was going to be my best rate.
To starbuck27's point, over-approval is definitely a big problem. Our house is actually in my name only (DH's credit is still recovering from his divorce - turns out, you shouldn't let your spouse be completely in charge of paying the bills when the mortgage is not in her name, because she might start taking that money and giving it to her boyfriend instead...) but that meant also that our approval amount was based only on my income. Which is good right now, since DH lost his job last month - we can still get by on just my income. Just food for thought.