hi I'm currently in the process of buying a HAUS and have made an accepted offer currently. The whole closing process has been a bit more overwhelming than expected! So much more shit to sort out compared to leasing

Was curious if any the homeowners here have any TIPS/advice from their experience??

keep your blinds closed

Stay on their ass about the closing stuff. Banks will drag their feet if you let them.

Also hire your own inspector. Ask around, and don't just go with the first company your realtor suggests.

Make sure if you are going to escrow property taxes and insurance ALL the final paperwork indicates that. During my last refinance, one document said I was going to escrow but the controlling document that had my final monthly mortgage payment didn’t actually reflect it.

Primate is spot on with the inspection. You’d rather find too much than too little.

Happy to answer any more specific questions you may have along the way.

Primate @ 12/7/2018 20:25

Also hire your own inspector. Ask around, and don't just go with the first company your realtor suggests.

oh. oops. that's 100% what I did (:

idk I kinda trust my realtor tho. He talked me out of a couple places that I might've bought otherwise cuz he immediately identified areas of concern maintenance-wise

farlig @ 12/7/2018 20:31

Make sure if you are going to escrow property taxes and insurance ALL the final paperwork indicates that. During my last refinance, one document said I was going to escrow but the controlling document that had my final monthly mortgage payment didn’t actually reflect it. Primate is spot on with the inspection. You’d rather find too much than too little. Happy to answer any more specific questions you may have along the way.

ya question: what does this mean :(

escrow's just a separate account right? Is there an advantage of using that instead of just paying that stuff off as part of the mortgage payment?

also is it normal to have to pay like...10 months of property taxes upfront?? My lender dropped that bomb on me last night. That was so much additional added to the closing costs that I wasn't expecting at all, wtf

Escrowing property taxes and insurance means you pay a portion of them on a monthly basis as part of your overall mortgage payment and the mortgage company pays the insurance company and local tax collector on your behalf during the year when the full payment is due.

And yes, paying for the rest of the current property tax year during closing is pretty standard from what I’ve seen.

Good Luck Boc, without getting into specific things that I look at when buying a house. Stuff that a good inspector should look at anyways, so you should be good.

The one thing that I have always carried as well and it's pretty cheap and may not be necessary until you start a family, but I have always carried Mortgage Insurance, just because if I die, I don't want my wife to not have to worry about the mortgage payment. I carry this aside from our normal life insurance policies.

Ben @ 13/7/2018 6:55

The one thing that I have always carried as well and it's pretty cheap and may not be necessary until you start a family, but I have always carried Mortgage Insurance, just because if I die, I don't want my wife to not have to worry about the mortgage payment. I carry this aside from our normal life insurance policies.

Have you compared the cost of the mortgage insurance to simply upping your life insurance by the amount of your mortgage balance?

Boc @ 12/7/2018 23:11

farlig @ 12/7/2018 20:31 Make sure if you are going to escrow property taxes and insurance ALL the final paperwork indicates that. During my last refinance, one document said I was going to escrow but the controlling document that had my final monthly mortgage payment didn’t actually reflect it. Primate is spot on with the inspection. You’d rather find too much than too little. Happy to answer any more specific questions you may have along the way. ya question: what does this mean :( escrow's just a separate account right? Is there an advantage of using that instead of just paying that stuff off as part of the mortgage payment? also is it normal to have to pay like...10 months of property taxes upfront?? My lender dropped that bomb on me last night. That was so much additional added to the closing costs that I wasn't expecting at all, wtf

Unfortunately, it is pretty standard for them to fill up the escrow up front. As farlig said, the escrow account is used by the bank to pay things off for you, but to smooth things out, they try to get a bit of it filled up in advance, because the bank doesn't want to have a negative balance floating there. The key thing is it means you don't have to make separate monthly premium payments or your annual (or semi-annual, depending on the county) property tax payments, since the bank does it automatically- it is automatically incorporated into the monthly payment you make to them. So even though you pay it in your mortgage payment, it means less work you have to deal with on your own, so it works out pretty nicely.

Do you have enough money down to avoid PMI? If not, that is still deductible on your taxes (though the higher standard deduction may make that a wash now, depending on your tax situation). If you missed it in my "what do you do for work" poll response, the PMI deductibility was one fo the things my modeling helped make happen. ;)

farlig @ 13/7/2018 7:15

Ben @ 13/7/2018 6:55 The one thing that I have always carried as well and it's pretty cheap and may not be necessary until you start a family, but I have always carried Mortgage Insurance, just because if I die, I don't want my wife to not have to worry about the mortgage payment. I carry this aside from our normal life insurance policies. Have you compared the cost of the mortgage insurance to simply upping your life insurance by the amount of your mortgage balance?

Sorry grammar is fundamental. I carried it until I had life insurance. Our house is nearly paid off now anyways and we haven't carried it for years. It was important to me though until we were able to carry a decent life insurance policy.

Even though I have escrow, why does it feel like I have to constantly bug the financer to pay the shit off?

Ben @ 13/7/2018 8:32

Even though I have escrow, why does it feel like I have to constantly bug the financer to pay the shit off?

Not sure- my banks have never had an issue paying. OTOH, I always had to remind them at set up to include our side yard, which is on a separate tax parcel. Once they do that, it works golden, but they usually screw it up at first and then I have to explain that it is part of the property included in the mortgage (we're on three lots, two in one tax parcel and one in another because somewhere along the line it was purchased separately and included in the property).

vladykins @ 13/7/2018 7:42

Boc @ 12/7/2018 23:11 farlig @ 12/7/2018 20:31 Make sure if you are going to escrow property taxes and insurance ALL the final paperwork indicates that. During my last refinance, one document said I was going to escrow but the controlling document that had my final monthly mortgage payment didn’t actually reflect it. Primate is spot on with the inspection. You’d rather find too much than too little. Happy to answer any more specific questions you may have along the way. ya question: what does this mean :( escrow's just a separate account right? Is there an advantage of using that instead of just paying that stuff off as part of the mortgage payment? also is it normal to have to pay like...10 months of property taxes upfront?? My lender dropped that bomb on me last night. That was so much additional added to the closing costs that I wasn't expecting at all, wtf Unfortunately, it is pretty standard for them to fill up the escrow up front. As farlig said, the escrow account is used by the bank to pay things off for you, but to smooth things out, they try to get a bit of it filled up in advance, because the bank doesn't want to have a negative balance floating there. The key thing is it means you don't have to make separate monthly premium payments or your annual (or semi-annual, depending on the county) property tax payments, since the bank does it automatically- it is automatically incorporated into the monthly payment you make to them. So even though you pay it in your mortgage payment, it means less work you have to deal with on your own, so it works out pretty nicely. Do you have enough money down to avoid PMI? If not, that is still deductible on your taxes (though the higher standard deduction may make that a wash now, depending on your tax situation). If you missed it in my "what do you do for work" poll response, the PMI deductibility was one fo the things my modeling helped make happen. ;)

nah I'm only putting 5% down, so I'll have to pay PMI

I had my inspection done today and jesus, I never realized just how much goes into this shit. Every inch of the house is a potential liability. But fortunately this house seems p SOLID structurally at least, the biggest thing to come out of it is I'll need radon mitigation