House hunting — the highs and lows and Hoozahs (an update)

Deal officially fell through. I'm going to Vegas with my buddies to drown my sorrows in blackjack chips.

 

I feel for you man. House hunting (and the buying process) can be a rip your still beating heart out of your chest and stick a spoon in it repeatedly while singing Justin Bieber lyrics kind of experience.

 

Only a journalist could write it that well.

 

Here's one heck of an update:

So I've continued to look for houses and condos. Checked out 10 properties over the last few months and none have fit the bill. While driving to a friends house yesterday I noticed the old condo I nearly bought has been foreclosed on. There was a notice in the window, so I called the company that now owns the home. An agent told me it will be listed as a foreclosure soon and he will call me. The private mortgage insurance is no longer a hurdle as the loan has been sold to a new bank as part of the foreclosure process.

I want to buy the condo still. But I no longer have the same real estate agent who showed me the condo originally. Am I legally obligated to buy the home with her since she showed it to me before I fired her? Or can I enter an offer with my new real estate agent.

Any help is greatly appreciated as I know nothing about the foreclosure process. I know rules may be different by the state (I'm in Michigan if that matters).

 

You're not obligated at all. You didn't sign a contract with your agent (assuming), so you're not beholden to them. And you know what-fuck 'em for not having that property (and you) in mind when it came up in foreclosure notices.

I'm still scratching my head over someone buying a house with 0 down and having a $7500 PMI bill. If you don't have at least 20% down to buy a house, you have no business whatsoever buying one, period.

 

as long as you've got no contract with the prior agent, you should be clean and green?

how was the 'drowning your sorrows in blackjack chips' vegas trip?

 

I think that's an oversimplification.

First, depending on where you live, a journalist trying to save for 20 percent of the purchase price could take the length of a 30 year mortgage to do so.

Second, with the volatility of the housing market and the looming possibility of a double dip, why would you want to tie up all that liquidity in a home? Even if I have 20 percent to put down, I'm going to put down as little as I can and hold onto my cash, just in case.

 

It's been a while, but I'm returning with good news. Since I last posted, I dumped my real estate agent. Hired a new lady who took me to look at about 40 properties across the past 6 months.

This summer I put in an offer in on a condo, but the seller and I couldn't come to terms. Kept looking at properties and finally purchased a house a week ago (when I was on a roadtrip in Iowa). Spent most of my trip negotiating, but as most of you know, Iowa sucks, so I didn't miss much.

My mortgage has since gone through and I am just waiting for an appraisal to be completed so I can get my closing date. I should be all moved in by Christmas. Glad to have the stressful part over. The negotiating almost took the life out of me.

 

Mazel tov, Mustang.

 

Congrats, yo!

 

Been officially looking to get into my first house and been looking at Zillow and Redfin for places. According to those sites, it looks like everything that fits within my tidy price range, though, is a short sale. And judging by what Mustang went through, the short sale process totally and completely blows. My apartment lease runs out in June 2012 so I have some time, but it sounds like with how slow everything moves and the entire process prone to unforseen problems, sounds like I should get moving on this yesterday. Luckily, my bro-in-law is a financial advisor and his mortgage guy is someone he's known since they were about 10 years old. I've also got a friend who is a real estate agent, but they're not in my area, but I'll at least be able to pick their brain for stuff. Should be an interesting next few months.