Home Buying & Real Estate Thread

[capital sb]

I work in LA but the places he's been looking at are in the San Fernando valley area.

After the 10k, nope. I need to save for that also. What's a good fallback amount?

3-6 Months of emergency funds. 

 

[water runs dry]

Sorry if this question has been asked. I just didn't find the time to peruse the thread, but I am interested in investing in real estate later on in my life. But I know next to nothing about investing in real estate.

Would I have to become a sale agent or a broker to invest in properties? My local community college offers courses for those positions and I am interested. Is that a requirement.

 

[sneaksoy]

I work in LA but the places he's been looking at are in the San Fernando valley area.

After the 10k, nope. I need to save for that also. What's a good fallback amount?

Based on your numbers, I would wait. $175k house with only $10k down means you're looking at a monthly payment of ~$800 (assuming you get a rate right at 4%) + PMI + Insurance and Taxes, so probably going to be closer to $1200 or so? Which isn't necessarily unreasonable, but $14.5k a year is going to stretch you a little thin, especially if you have any debt currently as well.

I would say you'd want to build about a $8-10k emergency fund as well which I would concentrate on first.

 

[pdino]

Sorry if this question has been asked. I just didn't find the time to peruse the thread, but I am interested in investing in real estate later on in my life. But I know next to nothing about investing in real estate.

Would I have to become a sale agent or a broker to invest in properties? My local community college offers courses for those positions and I am interested. Is that a requirement.

No, you don't have to become a sale agent or broker to invest in properties. However, getting your real estate license is pretty straight forward, and can save you lots of money down the road if you pursue that path. If you're going to be buying properties, you'll need a real estate agent, and they'll get a commission (which is usually substantial). You can pocket this commission by doing the real estate portion yourself, and educate yourself on how the process works by obtaining a license.

With that said, there are few requirements to invest in real estate. A good credit score, and debt-to-income ratio will make life easier (to acquire mortgages). If you want to be very involved in the real estate investments you can do anything from the contract work, to the real estate, to the selling and so on and so forth. If you want a more hands-off approach, there are "turn-key rental" companies available that will: flip the house, find tenants, and set you up with a property manager (The house is yours to sell or do whatever you want with). It all depends how involved you want to be.

 

[crcballer55]

 

 

1.  
   The Internal Revenue Service announced the 2015  estate and gift tax limits today, and the federal estate tax  exemption rises to $5.43 million per person, and the annual gift  exclusion amount stays at $14,000.Oct 30, 2014
   
   
   
   
    
2.  

Crazy can't even give a gift without it being taxed.

Which is ironic since this country went to war w/ Great Britain for being taxed too much.

Not really. It was being unfairly taxed with no representation in Britain.

 

What part of LA are you in that you can get a $175k condo? Seems pretty cheap to me.


Do you have an emergency fund after the $10K too?

I work in LA but the places he's been looking at are in the San Fernando valley area.

After the 10k, nope. I need to save for that also. What's a good fallback amount?

In your case, I would focus on paying off the student loans first since that should free up several hundred per month to save up for a down payment later on. Throw $9k at it to start with, keeping $1000 around for small emergencies. Then at least you'll have a guaranteed ROI.

To your question though... a good emergency fund is 3-6 months of expenses like @BeezyGotSole said, which in your case would probably be somewhere around $4500-9000. If an AC broke and you don't have an EF, you're going to put it on a credit card and get killed with the interest.

 

[crcballer55]

Just got this breakdown from one of our lenders and thought I would share

Based on 20% down, and a $1500/mo. payment, here's how much you can afford based on different rates. The first number is the loan amount, the second is the price of the home.
[table][tr][td]$1,500[/td][td]3.75%[/td][td]$323,893[/td][td]$404,867[/td][/tr][tr][td]$1,500[/td][td]4.25%[/td][td]$304,915[/td][td]$381,144[/td][/tr][tr][td]$1,500[/td][td]5.00%[/td][td]$287,551[/td][td]$279,422[/td][/tr][/table]

 

[Teknoman]

I'd like to know the actual percentage of people who are actually putting down 20% that are first time home buyers.

Google wins.

 

[pdino]

80,000$ down for 400k house...zzzzzz

 

[HankHill]

I'd like to know the actual percentage of people who are actually putting down 20% that are first time home buyers.

Google wins.

They're a lot of ways to look at it.

I think the bigger thing would be how many are singles vs couples.

A single person putting 20% down on a home is more impressive then a 2+ income household. That's why I when I hear people are able to save so much to reach a down payment, I see its a married coupled not individuals.

 

[John Wick]

feels good to have a VA loan no money down. bout to cop my first house

 

[Teknoman]

They're a lot of ways to look at it.

I think the bigger thing would be how many are singles vs couples.

A single person putting 20% down on a home is more impressive then a 2+ income household. That's why I when I hear people are able to save so much to reach a down payment, I see its a married coupled not individuals.

Hard to save when rent prices are more than mortgages unless you live in the ghetto.

I purchased my home last year on a short sale. Took like 4 months to close. Suffice to say it was a great deal. I put down a little over 5%. Sucks to pay PMI but trying to save up 20% would have taken too long especially with the rates increasing. Plus I had expenses fixing stuff, painting, etc.

 

[crcballer55]

 

I'd like to know the actual percentage of people who are actually putting down 20% that are first time home buyers.

Google wins.

They're a lot of ways to look at it.

I think the bigger thing would be how many are singles vs couples.

A single person putting 20% down on a home is more impressive then a 2+ income household. That's why I when I hear people are able to save so much to reach a down payment, I see its a married coupled not individuals.

Those green areas have a lot of cash investors too. California is flush with Chinese investors and Florida & New York have lots of European investors.

 

[anaturalwonder]

feels good to have a VA loan no money down. bout to cop my first house

Big ups to you. Definitely take advantage of that.

Out of curiosity, what was your service?

 

[capital sb]

Thats been my exact point. What young professional / first time home buyer can afford a 20% down payment on a 400K house. 

400K is on low end of houses out here in the DC area most houses are selling for 500K+.

@JayzOnMyToes  lol don't rub it in man. If I knew of the VA loan benefits I would have done reserves for 6 years then dipped.

 

[John Wick]

I was in the Army active duty.

Yea Beezy its a great benefit once you get out but it was created for a reason and that was to keep vets from being homeless like it was back in the days.

 

[dathbgboy]

I was in the Army active duty.

Yea Beezy its a great benefit once you get out but it was created for a reason and that was to keep vets from being homeless like it was back in the days.

That and tuition reimbursement was one of the reasons I was looking into the ANG.

 

[John Wick]

its even better once you get out. When i got out the Army I was going to school full time online and on campus at night and working during the day. I was collecting like 2k a month just to go to school and everything was paid for all i had to do was attend class even got paid for books if i was not working i could of gotten financial aid as well.

But life got in the way and now I'm purchasing a house and putting school on hold right now... Working with my realtor while I'm here... Will be in my new house if everything goes thru when i get back.

Im actually in the middle east right now working and all the things they say about the middle east are not true..

I recently went to Shake Shack out here check this out..

thinking about flying over to Dubai on a weekend

 

[ootherocoo]

My wife and I are looking for a home in Queens, NY now (first time home buyers).  We don't want to go over 400k which is a challenge but can be done.  It's that 20% down that a killer.  

 

[capital sb]

 
My wife and I are looking for a home in Queens, NY now (first time home buyers).  We don't want to go over 400k which is a challenge but can be done.  It's that 20% down that a killer.  

Look on the last few pages 20% down is not a requirement. 5% down minimum for Conventional.

 

[flyny]

I need to get my money up

Anyone have experience with 203k loans (renovation loans I think it's called)

I think this would be cool if you buy a house for cheap that needs significant work done, you can use the funds to customize the house how you want.

 

[mister doitnice]

its even better once you get out. When i got out the Army I was going to school full time online and on campus at night and working during the day. I was collecting like 2k a month just to go to school and everything was paid for all i had to do was attend class even got paid for books if i was not working i could of gotten financial aid as well.

But life got in the way and now I'm purchasing a house and putting school on hold right now... Working with my realtor while I'm here... Will be in my new house if everything goes thru when i get back.

Im actually in the middle east right now working and all the things they say about the middle east are not true..

I recently went to Shake Shack out here check this out..

thinking about flying over to Dubai on a weekend

That Doha life. Nice. I'm here as well. Flying back to the States next week. I'll definitely be looking into using my VA loan in about a year or two.

 

[dmbrhs]

As I'm finding out, the 20% down is the problem for most people. I sucked it up and lived at my parents' house the last few years to save it up. I still won't be ballin' out on a place, but I have the 20% for my price range. Just gotta find the right place.

 

[John Wick]

That Doha life. Nice. I'm here as well. Flying back to the States next week. I'll definitely be looking into using my VA loan in about a year or two.

I know you happy to be ready to go home man I been out here for only 2 months. Hot as hell here.

Man I probably ran into you around base somewhere.

Crazy how theres NTers in the middle east.. Small world. You must of knew it was Doha from that huge building with the lights g kind of snuck that in there to see if anybody knew what it was.

 

[mister doitnice]

Well I recognized the shake shack in the Villaggio and then I peeped the torch. Yeah man 6 months is up and I'm ready to push.

 

[pdino]

Take advantage of those VA loans! Such a good deal, I'm jelly