Buying a house BEFORE getting married?!

[jellybella]

We bought our house when we were engaged. We actually got married just a week or so after we closed on the house. No problem getting a mortgage, but we did make sure the contract was written with joint survivorship rights (in case one of us died before we got married, the other would inherit the house) and we also made an agreement on what would be done if we didn't get married (since we had been engaged for about two years without setting a date at that point).

I agree, though, that it is a big leap to make if you're unsure about the future of the relationship.

 

[goldenkitty45]

One other tip - before you even contact a realtor - go to the bank and PRE-QUALIFY for a loan. They will give you a minimum/maximum price range - that way the realtor can't talk you into something too high or out of the price range.

In fact, when we bought our house, we did the homework - we looked on the net for houses in our price range and stuck to that. Some real estate places will let you look at houses without making a contact first. Saves you time and money as you pick out which you want to see without pressure from an agent. Ran across a few companys that wanted to "contact" you first before letting you look.

And when you are looking on the net at the house, don't bother with houses that don't show you a bunch of inside pictures (only the outside) - there is a big reason why they don't have inside pictures!

 

[laureen227]

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

One other tip - before you even contact a realtor - go to the bank and PRE-QUALIFY for a loan. They will give you a minimum/maximum price range - that way the realtor can't talk you into something too high or out of the price range.

that's what i did, too. that way you don't 'fall in love' with a house out of your price range!

 

[sharky]

my only recommendation is to put 20% down ... that way you have alot of equity already and at least her in the states you have to put on additional insurence if you dont put at least 20% doewn...

 

[lmunsie]

Wow! Thanks for all the tips everyone!! It's hard to know how it works for your first house but we're doing our best.

Sharky -- I think in Canada its 25% or better to go no insurance

That would be GREAT, and we are crossing our fingers that our parents might loan us enough to make it up to that if we really prove we've saved up for it, that is our goal, but if you put down over 10% it's not too too bad as far as extra costs.

 

[yosemite]

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

One other tip - before you even contact a realtor - go to the bank and PRE-QUALIFY for a loan. They will give you a minimum/maximum price range - that way the realtor can't talk you into something too high or out of the price range.

Your personal banker will go through all of that with you and will let you know how much you can be pre-qualified for so that of course is necessary.

You can also do some house-hunting on your own through MLS and then let your real estate person know what houses you are interested in.

 

[goldenkitty45]

We didn't have a realtor - we just used the net to find the houses were were interested in - then called the contact person. With the internet now, you can get pretty much all the realtor can get. In fact, its more fun to do it yourself.

We would look in a certain area, call up all the houses with the "requirements" we wanted - like 3 bedroom, minimum amount of square feet, etc. - then make a list of A, B, or C houses. A's were the ones we were most interested in, B's the 2nd most interested, and most times C's were a back up which were eliminated quickly

 

[lmunsie]

We've been looking on the net and it is A LOT of fun. I am really enjoying it althougH I know it's really silly because we won't be buying for a year it's nice to see whats out there, prices etc. what areas cost what. See what areas are going up in price! That kind of thing. There are a lot of cute houses in the area I live in. And I just want a small houe. Preferably 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom. Less to clean!