Thanks Gayla, i really REALLY will love you forever if you tell me what to ask and what answers I want to hear.

I was actually just reading some things a few days ago written by an agent in Ontario. The process seems very similar but they call things by different names (and add extra vowels, of course).

In general, the first step would be talking to a mortgage lender or bank to get preapproved for a mortgage. From what I can tell, the process there is similar to here but much more extensive. Preapprovals happen before you put an offer in on a specific property and are used to help you decided how much you want, and can afford, to spend.

The next most important step is finding an agent to work with. Personal referrals are always best but you can just call a real estate office and ask to speak to an agent. Agents that represent home buyer's are paid via the seller at closing so it doesn't cost you anything to use their services when you're buying a home. Each state, and country, has different requirements when representing clients in a real estate transaction but the basic commonality is that the agent represents you and has your best interests in mind during the transaction.

A good agent can help you find a good mortgage broker. They can explain all the ins and outs of how to buy a home, help you find a home to buy and coordinate everything all the way through closing. They will work with the other parties involved and, basically, let you know what you have to do through out the process.

So first step is really - Go find a good agent!

NY is a 'buyer beware' state. I don't think we have buyer's agents or at least not as a rule. I bought my place off craig's list from the seller.

Thanks, Gayla. I'll be doing that as soon as I find out what's going on with this overnight position that I'm after. :) I do know that one of my part-time coworkers who averages about 20 hours a week got pre-approved for 130k, and that even now as a part-timer I work more than she does so I can expect around/at least the same amount as my limit. BUT I also know that I don't want to spend nearly much - I'm aiming for under 110k.

It's fairly common, at least here, for a preapproval amount to be higher than what you actually want to spend. The mortgage person can also help you figure out a price range that will keep payments where you want them and things like that.

One question I get quite often is about preapproval letters. It's become fairly standard to ask that a preapproval letter be included with an offer to purchase and buyer's are concerned that the seller will see the total amount for which they have been approved. In reality, the finance person will write the approval letter for the amount of the offer so even if you have been approved for a larger amount, it doesn't "tip your hand" in the negotiating process.

Good to know. :)

I hate that I can't pick my Dad's ear about this, cuz that's generally pretty fun for me. But he's not good with buying houses. He can put a new roof on my house for me and renovate a bathroom - but he can't tell me what to ask or what to expect.

Fun fact - my father is OBSESSED with steel roofs. OBSESSED. Seriously. He drives around and points out houses that have them. He's made it perfectly clear to me that it does not matter how new the roof on whatever house I end up with is - in fact he'd prefer that the roof need replacing. Because he wants me to have a steel roof and he and his buddies are going to put it on for me. I don't argue.

I'm with your father on this one. :) I have a steel roof on my house and love it. My old roof used to form giant icicles (I mean like 8 or 10 feet long and as big around as a person). With the steel, all it takes is a day or two of sunshine and all the snow and ice melts and slides off so I never get the giant icicles, and I don't have to hire the snow removal guys either.

It is louder when it rains though!

My parents have a steel roof also, which my father and his pals put on. I've never noticed that it was louder in the rain - but I might just not be very observant.

They're also pretty sturdy. :) Where my parents live there are a lot of mature trees that tend to fall over or have large limbs break off. During a really bad storm the tree in the neighbors yard broke in HALF and landed on my parents roof (and on their Kia). The Kia was totalled but the roof didn't so much as scratch. Yay!

Plus they're usually made from recycled materials...which makes them green. I like stuff that's green. You just wait - I'm going to be one of those people who keeps rain barrels for watering the lawn with. I look forward to it.

Wow! I knew they were sturdy, but that's pretty wild.

Best of luck with your house hunting. I was trying to sell my house here but finally gave up. Everyone seemed to think that central NY had the same boom that Florida and Arizona did (wrong!) and wanted to offer me a ridiculously low price. I said heck with it and am renting the place out instead....hassle, but I'm not interested in giving it away.

Right now we're in the middle of short sale buyer's hell...great house, and will all come good in the end, but a big slow hassle right now.

I've been hearing a lot of that lately.

Actually, there was an article in the local newspaper here about how shitty it is for sellers right now, especially where I'm living. Houses in Sarnia are actually -cheaper- now than they were 3 years ago when I moved here. To top that off, according to the article, a few summers ago there were -maybe- 400 houses for sale in Sarnia during the month of august...this year there are 3x that and -nobody- is buying. People are getting lowballed left and right and some people are selling at a loss because they are so desperate to get out of their mortgage. I guess that's just another symptom of the bad economic situation right now.

I watch the listings pretty religiously because I really want to get out of my apartment and get into a house. And it's true - houses just aren't selling. There is one house that has been for sale since I moved here. SINCE I MOVED HERE which was just over 3 years ago. That's insane.

We had a metal roof put on the house I used to live in and I was kinda bummed that it didn't sound that much different when it rained. A bajillion years ago, I lived in a very tiny house that had a tin roof on the porch and it was wonderful in the rain. But miserable any other time!

I think this is a fixer-upper. But I would love it here!
http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/w...eehouse002.jpg

Houses I'm grooving on (this week)

Separate entrance to basement, great yard, possibly owned by a hoarder

Love the inside, hate the outside. It needs a proper porch BADLY. Big yard, though.

Oh god! It's like a dollhouse! Love! The tub is great, but something -needs- to be done about the awful toilet and vanity. Also - wood panel walls in the family room = gross but fixable.

Yep...it's crazy. Luckily I bought an inexpensive house 9 years ago, so I'm fortunate in that I don't have to sell. If I did, I'd be screwed. The only offers I've had barely cover what I paid 9 years ago and the improvements I made.

The house we're buying has been on the market a little over 3 years. I can't even imagine how that feels. Mine has been listed since February...and I'm giving up for now. Maybe in a few more years... It's a good time for you to be buying though. You should be able to get an awesome deal.

And amen to what Gayla said up there ^ about pre-approvals. My experience has been that banks have consistently approved me for amounts that I know I couldn't afford. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I've never gone anywhere near what they said I could spend...and it's saved my butt financially a couple of times. I know a lot of people who are mortgaged to the hilt...if someone gets sick or loses a job or anything, they're in trouble. That just feels too scary to me.

Yeah, I hear that. There is no freaking way I'd be willing to spend as much as the bank will tell me I can afford - the bank is clearly an idiot. I'm hoping to keep my mortgage+taxes+utilities around what I'm paying now as a renter.

I paid $11,500 for my house. Its 100 years old and nothing cosmetic has been changed in it since the 1950s. However, all new windows, plumbing and electrical work has been done. Its paid off and its nice not to have a mortage over my head. I have 1700 sq ft living space and a 2 car garage.

A house up the block from me is being auctioned off to the highest bidder. Pristeen shape. Move in condition. Everything is newer inside than my house. Its expected to sell for $5000.

I live in a nice neighborhood. I live close to not so nice neighborhoods. Its a good school district.

Oh god, that vanity. And is that one bedroom pink? :| I still like the first one best. But the porch on the doll house is cute. Do homes up there just not have fireplaces? Or did I miss them?


Here's the house the chicken pictures came from. Love everything about it except the tiny little kitchen.

The hoarder-house has a fireplace, although that might be a falsie. Most of the houses I dig are pretty specifically "war time" style homes, and they tend to not have fireplaces.

War Time House layouts

Another War Time Houses link

Wow, that's a crazy nice house you linked up there. A little big, though. (Did I mention that I like my houses TINY?) Is that painted over wood panel in the bedroom?

No, it's just painted over bead board. That's the "lower level" (we don't call it a basement!) which is currently staged as a master suite with an almost attached 3/4 bath.

I usually like small houses best, too. Since my dad was a builder, we always lived in these rambling kind of places where we had to actually go find each other if we wanted to interact. It sort of creeped me out when I was young and didn't feel really safe.