Any tips on buying a home?

Question

My SO & I are currently renting but we are so sick of paying for everything that goes wrong here. We pay over $1000 in rent, ALL utilities, & for almost every ￼ maintenance request we put it! At this point I'd rather buy a house that I know I'll own instead of putting money and constant work into a house when we aren't gonna be here forever! Honestly any tips will help. How much would it be to hire a real estate agent?

Answer

Just be careful. It’s a big time seller’s market. Houses are going way over value in most areas, which means there’s a high potential that you will have to dump a ton of money into repairs on something that you already pay too much for. Also, cash offers are rampant, so you’re going to have to have a super-good pre-approval if you want to compete. People are buying with waived inspections and other ridiculous things, too. On a good note, with a rental, you don’t have to pay necessary repairs on your house unless you signed a super shady contract. I don’t pay for anything necessary to the house I rent. I just maintain the yard. Anything that needs fixed is on the owner, as long as it’s not something we busted in some stupid manner.

Answer

My agent was free. The market is crazy right now though so if you don’t have much saved up for a downpayment and aren’t prepared to pay way over asking price it might be very difficult to get a house. But some agents are completely free some charge up front and some charge at the end I believe. You can ask before actually working with them what they charge/if they charge. Id ask around if anyone close to you recommends someone. Our first realtor absolutely sucked. He didn’t do anything for us and by the time he’d get back to us the house would be sold. I switched realtors and my second realtor was AMAZING. He would drop everything to do a showing because houses are FLYING off the market. We were his number one priority (at least that’s how he made it seem anyway) even though our budget wasn’t going to give him a big payout. He also has an amazing team so the whole process was so much more enjoyable then if he had a less then amazing team 😅 but that’s besides the point find someone that will help you and explain what you don’t understand.

Answer

As a buyer you don't pay the real estate agent.  The RE fees come from the commission on the sale which is paid by the seller.  
You should speak with a mortgage lender.  It's an extremely competitive market in most areas right now with listings going above asking with multiple offers within days of being listed.  Bare bones offers won't make the cut right now.

Answer

Honestly all I did was get preapproved and then started house hunting on an app when everything went through. You just talk to different mirage companies in your area and they help you with what you need and what not.

Answer

Have good credit, no super insane crazy amount of debts, enough for a down payment/inspection/realtor fees/closing costs, and steady income. Go talk to a mortgage broker and get pre qualified if you think financially you can do it and find a realtor. Realtors rarely charge anything upfront they get paid off the commission from you when buying and realtor fees vary so you can of course ask but usually around 6% is realtor fees. Make a itemized monthly run down of costs and see what you would be comfortable paying monthly including mortgage/home insurance/taxes/pmi payment if under 20% down payment/all bills and utilities as you almost always get qualified for more than you can actually afford. We were comfortable up to a home of 415K and we qualified for 585K.

Any tips on buying a home?

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