Five Things I Should Know About Buying A House

Yep. Love the location.

One could perhaps sell fast...

urm...

oh, I'd best be quiet.

I think agents might do that amongst themselves, but this is probably frowned on in the general public.

I speak up at all in that I liked successive houses when I moved here, though I hadn't made offers, signed papers. Am happy with the one I snagged.

Which is the point, of course, happiness. There is something wrong with every house. I can find it for you quick. (from my points of view). But happiness is less itemizable.

I see your caution, re happiness.

On my memory of my house in LA closing, I think it was up in the air up til the last minute, when the architect and his wretched bride bought it. (Screaming fights ensued, and much more. New owners now. Ain't m'place no more.)

I always let my wife the pick the house.

Soz

Before trying to get out of the contract, why not check out the new house? It might not be the gem it appears. It might have bad vibes! (Says she, trying to be helpful)

Good luck, you've just reignited the dreadful house buying hysteria in my good self! Oh, it's an awful process!

I'm reading this with interest, as Mrs. cav and I plan to buy a house in the next year or so.

Well, start preparing now, cav! Meditation, yoga, valium, herbal teas, whatever works for you! It's a crazy up & down process. I'm still looking at house ads & I bought mine nearly 18 months ago! I have this ongoing compulsion ... Yep, I reckon it IS an illness!

Well, so far the main thing has been deciding on a location. We also have a good mortgage broker.

Got the buyer report. As expected, eh. The sum is less than the parts. I mean, it's nice, but OUR house (which probably just sighed with relief, Noddy), is much, much nicer.

Moving on...

(And be afraid, Cav, be very afraid!!)

soz, you're on the hook for the deposit, possibly more, but probably not for the entire purchase price of the original house. Check with the attorney you've hired for the closing (you did hire an attorney for the closing, yes? If so, this is a question for him or her).

And if the other place is fantastic, go see it and put off the closing at the current place, if time starts to get short. After all, closings are rescheduled all the time. Doesn't mean anything untoward is happening.

Don't pull out of house #1 until you have a contract for the sale of house #2, if that's the way it ends up going. But, I'd seriously suggest not heading to realtors.com or whatever the url is, you're only going to make yourself nuts, and adding more wrinkles to this process is not helping matters.

Remember, of course, that if you go with house #2, you'll have to redo a number of things (inspection, etc.). So you're not totally off the hook just because it's in the same location.

So the realtor doesn't like you if you do this. Who cares? No one on the block needs to know, unless the seller of house #1 says something, and even then your neighbors will probably discount anything said during the course of the sale. The whole reputation thing, or the realtors are all tight and work closely together, that's a red herring. The realtor is required to work with you. You have not closed. There is a binder for the cost of the deposit, but I doubt it's for anything more than that. Again, though, I strongly suggest you talk directly to your counsel for the closing about this, and find out exactly what you can be hit for, if you pull out of deal #1 and go for deal #2.

cav, Only one advise; if Canada's interest rates somewhat follows that of the US, I would suggest you and the Mrs buy sooner than later. Interest rates will be going up sooner than later, and a typical 30 year mortgage can cost you thousands more. Also, take out the mortgage for 30 years, because the long-term cost of your purchase will decrease from inflation, but your property should appreciate. It's a good decision. c.i.

I bet you are breathing a sigh of relief

A couple things to note though:
Laws differ state by state.....but alot of purchase agreements are fairly standard with varying contingencies. And it is a common consideration that once a purchase agreement has been signed the house is "sold" dependant upon these contingencies, even though you have not been to the closing table. This does not mean you can not break your contract. But if a contract is broken without due cause as stated in the agreement.....you not only lose your earnest money...but you can be setting yourself up in certain cases to a lawsuit by the seller if they want to be sticky about it.

I have seen purchase agreements cross my desk with addendums added stating that the "buyer" has sole discretion to approve or disapprove of stated contingencies. This leaves them an "out" that they would not normally have otherwise. The thing here is getting the seller to agree to the addendum.

And as you probably already know, you don't have that right of rescission protection covered by the Truth In Lending act that is given to borrowers that are refinancing. They can void a contract up to three days after closing.

But most any sales contract can be voided by mutal agreement of both parties. Always contact a lawyer BEFORE you walk away from a purchase agreement as they are much better at reading between the lines ....and a real estate agent will probably have their own best interests at heart.

Anyways.....I'm glad you are happy with your house again

~Brooke

PS- I am assuming you have locked in your interest rate? The feds left the discount rate alone at this weeks meeting.....but rates are still steadily climbing. The difference between rates a month ago....and rates this morning are amounting to 3 percent of the purchase price

I hear the crisis is over, whoo good. Jespah's comments read completely true to me from my bits of real estate experience in California, though I haven't had legal counsel myself on such occasions.

Yep, I locked, and boy am I happy I did.

I'm glad to see that this is just the way it worked out in the end. Do go back to realtor.com anytime if you need more reassurance

Oh, phew! What a relief, Soz! Now you should congratulate yourself on your very wise & astute choice!

:-D

My best friend is visiting and helped me process it all. (The second house is not as nice as the first house, but it's a very close second!!) We are the same way with these kinds of things, want to gather all available data in service of making the best possible decision. So she was just the person to help me sort it out. I'm back to being absolutely thrilled with "my" house, more so because there isn't a nagging "but what if...?"

Thanks for the very useful input, though. My first post was mostly just a vent, but I appreciate the advice and information it drew forth.

(Warning -- I'll probably be venting more! I'm believing the barf-before-closing thing fishin' mentioned more and more as the day draws nigh!!)

Oh, vent away, Soz! This house buying business is almost more disturbing than the madness of falling in love!

Re: Five Things I Should Know About Buying A House


I realize that i am arriving quite late to the party, but i would suggest an answer to your original question is still valid:

know your 'mind'!
know your 'heart'!
know your 'wallet'!
know your 'abilities'!
know your 'partner'!

and if there is no 'partner',
know your 'limitations'!

if any of the above are compromised by a specific 'deal',
GET OUT

lol It happens.

<doing a happy dance>

We closed! The house is ours! No barfing! (Well, there's still time for that...)