Buying A Home
sdelgado13
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Getting started
Hi, all!
My husband and I have been married for about a year and a half and moved to NYC immediately after for a "last hoorah" before home ownership and babies. It's been a fun adventure so far, but we're looking to move back to South Florida and buying a home within the next year and a half or so. In preparation (I know we may be a bit early), does anyone have any book, podcasts, or courses (at banks, or similar) that could assist with getting familiar with the process and how to get started? I feel as though it will be much less stressful if we feel prepared to make such a large investment.
Thanks in advance!
Re: Getting started
Yes, on the saving front, the rough numbers are to save 10% of the purchase price for realtor fees, and other closing costs. Depending on how good of an interest rate you want, if you can, put down at least 20% of the home purchase.
Get your and DH's credit REPORTS (not scores) from each of the three credit bureaus (Transunion, Experian, and Equifax). You are each legally entitled to one free report per year from each of the bureaus. Check them for errors.
Don't take out any new loans including opening any new credit cards, unless you absolutely need to. And, continue to pay on time on all your debts.
I don't say this to scare you. I just don't want to see you dump every dime you have into the down payment and then not have any emergency funds available. This is probably why a lot of realtors are writing home warranties into the purchase contract these days (that and I'm sure they get a kickback for it).
I definitely recommend taking a first time home buyer's class. I'm sure you can find them in your area, though you will want to make sure it is not too specific to just NYC.
I took one when I first started looking. It was lengthy...4 nights, but worth it. Each night had a lesson with 1-2 guest speakers who went over one part of the homebuying process. Topics covered were loans, realtors, home inspections, insurance, and assessments (property taxes).
The class I went to had just a few items here and there specific to my area, but 90% of it was just the home buying process, in general.