Do you have any advice on mortgage lenders, banks, etc. for first time home buyers?

2016-06-03T15:59:41-04:00

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jun 3 at 2016 4:19 PM

2016-06-03T16:19:16-04:00

First go to the VA website and get your letter of eligibility. It's pretty self-explanatory to fill out. Once you get that go to your lender or bank, I personally recommend USAA, and get your pre-approval letter. Once you get that USAA will contact you and help with every step along the way. USAA made my home buying experience extremely painless.

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Jun 3 at 2016 4:31 PM

2016-06-03T16:31:09-04:00

Buy low, sell high.

Response by MAJ Rene De La Rosa made Jun 3 at 2016 4:40 PM

2016-06-03T16:40:57-04:00

Location, location, location. Buy a small (starter) house, and let your bigger house neighbors pull your house up in value. Good school district for the children makes it a lot easier to sell in the future. Get a GREAT real estate agent, and don't fret about paying them. If they are excellent, they will have an excellent broker, who will get you the best deal. Do some serious research about where you want to be; and ensure that your spouse is on board about it as well.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2016 4:55 PM

2016-06-03T16:55:50-04:00

The VA loan guarantee may not be your best option. If you have great credit and a low debt to income ratio, a conventional loan may be your best bet. The VA COE allows for a lower credit score and a higher debt to income, however there are rules and you can not play the interest point game.

IMPORTANT>> You can mortgage shop for rates for 30 days and only have 1 credit score hit. Lending Tree and other services are good to use. However, you would want to wait to do this until you find a house you are interested in.

The VA COE requires a harder initial inspection on the house, and you may or may not have to pay for it.
The COE does stop extra fees like PMI (mortgage insurance) and that can save you near $80 a month.
Save up as much cash as you can in your main bank account.
You should know how much you are willing to spend, and stay in that range.
If you are handy, often the City you are in will have foreclosure homes, also VA Foreclosure homes can be a nice deal. Unfortunately they can often be hard to use the VA COE on.

Response by SFC Everett Oliver made Jun 3 at 2016 5:19 PM

2016-06-03T17:19:54-04:00

Do not use a bank, go to a mortgage company, someone who specializes in mortgages. Then inspect inspect inspect, Know the house before you buy it. If you have a question get an answer, and get all the answers first...

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2016 7:32 PM

2016-06-03T19:32:03-04:00

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member Have patience and do your research. Drive by potential houses at different times, to check out noise levels, activity in the neighborhood, car traffic, etc. View the house at least twice with a list of things that you want to check that are important to you. Do not be in a rush to buy a house. When you find the right house, have inspections done to make sure you do not have termites, a cracked foundation, etc..

Response by CPO Frank Coluccio made Jun 3 at 2016 7:42 PM

2016-06-03T19:42:08-04:00

When I was looking for my first house, my dad gave me this bit of advice;
1. Don't buy a home at the bottom of a hill or bottom of a downhill dead end street.
2. Don't buy a home on a cliff edge.
3. Don't buy a home below or on a critical slope.
Why?
1. If it rains a lot where you are, water runs down hill
2. Rains will caused the cliff edge to fall away and you lose property
3. If a landslide happens, your home will fall or be the resting place for the hillside.
Seeing as I live in Seattle, rain WILL happen and s do landslides.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2016 7:43 PM

2016-06-03T19:43:43-04:00

Do the homework - a lot of homework.

Response by SPC Rory J. Mattheisen made Jun 3 at 2016 8:45 PM

2016-06-03T20:45:46-04:00

Try to get your Mortgage through a local credit union, and do not buy until you are 100% sure the house is right for you and in an insurable area. I.e. flood planes catastrophic natural disasters.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 3 at 2016 9:27 PM

2016-06-03T21:27:54-04:00

Buy what YOU know you can afford. Do not buy what some real estate salesman convinces you that you can afford. Start small and work your way up. Be sure to use your VA Certificate of Eligibility, if you have one. SHOP THE MARKET for good loan numbers. The absolute best deal for you, as a military member, is check out USAA. You can't beat them for loans and for homeowners' insurance. That's where my money is and I love them!!!

Response by Capt Tom Brown made Jun 4 at 2016 10:26 AM

2016-06-04T10:26:13-04:00

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member Once again a lot of good advice in these comments on what to look out for etc. We discovered at some point that the real estate agent generally if not always represents the seller and has their interests at heart more so than you as the buyer. Not that they will deliberately cheat you (never happen), but they have to remember who is paying their commission. I imagine you are also talking to people on base who own their own homes to see how they have fared.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2016 11:11 AM

2016-06-04T11:11:10-04:00

A lot of good advice so far. Couple of more from my experiences.
-Look also at buying from Private sale(no Real Estate agent). My first house I bought I went thru a agent. I'm in process of buying my 2nd house (closing within a month), and it's a "For Sale by Owner" home. The money that we (buyer and seller) are saving is phenomenal. Make sure you have a good lawyer if you go this route. They can handle all the paperwork for minimal $'s. Def do your homework on private sales.
-My first home I used my COE. This one I'm now getting I'm using a Convential Loan. Pros and cons on both, but if you have good credit, and can afford a down payment I'd recommend Convential.
-DONT OVERBUY DONT OVERBUY. This is your first home to own. Go easy, learn from it (the process etc).
-Remember. Homes cost money for upkeep (not trying to insult anyone's intelligence). I started a specific Savings account and put money in it each month for those "oh shit" moments.
-It's a investment. If you can do upgrades it will pay off in long run. Energy Effeciency is a huge seller nowadays.

Response by Capt Brandon Charters made Jul 27 at 2016 11:12 PM

2016-07-27T23:12:47-04:00

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member I couldn't me more impressed with the advice I received from the RP community on this topic in April of this year. Thanks to this intel, I'm now officially a home owner :)
Regarding lenders, I've been a USAA member since day one on active duty and received the best loan interest rates here when I went to price out other options. I also received excellent customer support from my loan agent throughout the process. That can be a deal breaker many times.
Being that the housing market in CA is very hot, I had to really stay out in front of new homes coming up for sale. Redfin seemed to have the most accurate home information in my area. I would usually find the homes come up there even before my agent would. Once the home came up, we had to act fast and get a viewing scheduled asap. Ask many questions...don't hold back and do all the research you can on the local economy and job market. This will have a big impact on home value depending on how long you want to own the home. Example: There was a development I found that was planned in my new neighborhood and I did extensive research with the city planning committee to ensure the new construction would be adding value to the community. Overall, I learned a lot in the process and if you'd ever like to chat one-on-one about it, I'd be more than happy to share additional advice with you.
See the thread below for more great info from our members.