New Home Buying Experiences

[aexchange]

Any advice to give on what to look out for when purchasing a new home?

[Mavdog]

if your new neighbors have cars on blocks in their front yard, look elsewhere.

seriously, the one thing that we didn't focus on enough when we bought oh so long ago was the schools. We didn't have kids at the time, so it was mentioned but not appreciated. We are located in a large much criticized ISD, if we had bought in a desireable ISD our home appreciation would have been much higher. left some money on the table....

the best thing we did was go with a 15 year mortgage. the overall savings are substantial.

[u2sarajevo]

My piece of advice, which will probably be ignored, is to buy an established Home. We built ours, and me being the anal person I am would go to the site every day to track progress. I would notice something being done wrong and have to wait till the Builder office opened the next day to report it and they would always tell me to just wait until it was finished, it would all be done correctly. That was true, it was when completed just as we planned it but getting to that point was extremely stressfull for me.... but maybe that's just me.

If you are building, or are buying an existing Home make sure you have plenty of storage places. That is the biggest part that we messed up on. You can never have too much storage, or closet space.... trust me.

Also, don't buy on a busy street. Especially if you ever plan, or if you already have children.

If you are considering a house, spend time to observe the neighborhood at specific times of the day.... like afternoon on a Saturday, or early evening on the weekdays.

Also, if the area you are going to build in isn't fully developed you need to find out what the area will look like in future years..... you can check that out reasonably easy with the City records and/or County records.

[aexchange]

sorry, u2, i'm building.

did any of you who bought a new home, use a private inspector?

[u2sarajevo]

Originally Posted by aexchange

sorry, u2, i'm building.

did any of you who bought a new home, use a private inspector?

Absolutely. And you MUST get a Structural Engineer to check out foundation, and get soil samples taken. Alot of Builders use alot of fill dirt. Fill dirt is bad. The Builder will always tell you that their foundation will be good..... but don't trust that, not in Texas. Insist on piers.

[Rhylan]

Are you going with a major homebuilder aex? I know guys at David Weekley and Pulte.

Word to Mavdog on the 15 year thing, as well. Staggering difference in total interest paid.

[Drbio]

I went ten years (the lender wanted 15 but I argued it out) at under 5.03% which was nice. I scored HUGE during the low interest phenomenon. Go 15 if you can and do go for a more respectable ISD if you want a better resale potential.

I was lucky. I bought a 2 year old 4/3.5/3 house in an area that was yet to boom and eventually did. I added 1000 square feet and now my little 147K total investment has bloomed into a 300K+ property. The nice thing about our house is that we have HUGE yards. All of the new homes near us are 300K plus (up to million ranges) and have these dinky zero lot line yards. One of my neighbors bought his house a month before I did at 99K (a smaller house 3/2/2) and sold it in November at 177K. Not a bad 3 year improvement. Another neighbor of mine built his house 2 years before I got there (basically the same house as mine before my additions) and he just listed his house at 329K. I hope it sells in that range.

Good luck.

[Mavdog]

u2, not all fill is the same.

"select fill" is used alot, it can be better than what is existing on site, especially if the location is in northwest Dallas County (such as north Irving and into Carrollton) where the very, very expansive soil makes building walls and sidewalks a bit...uh...in motion. not a good thing.

I definitely agree with the pier and beam comment. seems that one doesn't see much of that in new homes tho.

[aexchange]

Originally Posted by Rhylan

Are you going with a major homebuilder aex? I know guys at David Weekley and Pulte.

Word to Mavdog on the 15 year thing, as well. Staggering difference in total interest paid.

i decided to purchase a diamond/K Hovnanian home. in the mansfield ISD, i think its a pretty good choice. building my new place within walking distance of joe pool lake.

i'm pretty excited. its a beautiful area.

[ocelot_ark]

Not saying the 15 yr mortgages are good or bad, but just something to keep in mind.

Example:
150,000 home
15 yrs
rough monthly payment = 1265
interest paid = 77,800

150,000 home
30 yrs
rough monthly payment = 900
interest paid = 173,000

There are two ways to think about this. Do you want to shell out an extra 365 dollars every month and forego having cash on hand? Or do you want to spend extra to avoid paying a large amount of interest?

I'm one of those that will always do a 30 year (when that point comes). Why? I'd value having an extra $365 in savings every month. Over $4000 extra per year in savings, invested wisely, should balloon to around $70000 after 15 years. So basically, you have to pay $25000 more in interest, BUT you still get to have cash on hand in the event of an emergency, unemployment, etc...Also, correct me if I'm wrong...but isn't home mortgage interest tax deductible? There are MANY believers in going the 30 yr route...simply because, second to student loans, home loans are about the cheapest money you can get.

With that said, if your job is something you feel secure in...that you won't have problem finding new employment if you were to be laid off/quit...you have substantial income to still have enough of a savings account to shoulder unforseen emergencies...go for the 15.

[ocelot_ark]

http://www.fpanet.org/journal/articl...0498-art13.cfm
Good reading...kinda goes back to what I was trying to say.