I am in the process of getting a house (my first). (I'm under contract.) It occupies nearly all my waking thoughts and so when I saw the post about the "view outside your door", I wondered what it might be like in other places to go through the process of getting a house. Below I've listed some of my experiences. What was it like when you had to buy your house?
In the US we:
Then the real work begins of cleaning the house, making needed repairs, painting, and moving.
Please let me know if I have left out anything.
In my parents day, you went to the seller and said I'd like to buy your house. You had your down payment, you went down to the bank with all your info, and by the end of the day you had your loan. You presented the seller with the money, signed papers to transfer ownership, and the seller handed you the keys. In my grandparents time, you paid them for the house in full or made an agreement with the seller for payment, by word of mouth and with a handshake. Now, the lawyers have gotten their hands in everything. Yes, there is a certain amount of safety in it, but trust me when I say this, the bank never loses. I think the dealing with the death of my grandmother was less stressful. On the upside, all communication has been electronically. Although, I just about have a nervous breakdown when I get any emails pertaining to the house, because the news can just as well be bad as good. It has been a ...fun... roller coaster ride of emotions so far. 
So enough about my experiences, tell me some of yours.
In the US we:
- Get a real estate agent
- Get a mortgage lender
- This involves getting pre-qualified (involves a credit check)
- Get pre-approved [which involves giving over copies of our W2's (tax deduction/wage info from our employers by which we either pay taxes at the end of the year or receive a refund) and providing completed tax forms for the past few years, record of all assets including retirement funds, last 3 paycheck stubs, and the last 2 bank statements. They also want all the places you've lived for the past few years and where you've worked. A list of all major expenses. In short, everything but your blood type.]
- Search for a house. An endless number of houses, most of which are in such bad shape you'll wonder if you'll find anything or you'll see so many good ones you have to make up your mind which one. None of them will meet your needs exactly so there will be some adjustment
- Make an offer (involves signing a contract)
- Get told the house is under contract with someone else, end up looking again (repeat this process several times and this is process is an upper and then a downer when you can't get the one you liked)
- Finally get a counter offer from the seller's agent
- Make a counter counter offer or accepting the offer (signing more contracts again)
- You should get an inspector onsite to inspect the property at this time. Oh and you only have a finite time to do this and it is at your expense)
- You have to make your good faith funds available (down payment) which has to be done via cashier's check and sent certified mail
- Sign the mortgage papers (I'm purchasing a previously foreclosed house so the seller is the government, which means twice the paperwork.)
- Your mortgage lender has to request copies of your W2's and tax forms from the government just in case you've falsified the ones you gave them, they have to verify your employment and just about everything else you've told them
- You have to wait until your lender asks for the title (If there is a lien on the property, there are things to go through there to clear the title. Fortunately, I didn't have this problem.)
- After receiving the title your mortgage company has an assessment done on the property (If the value is lower than what they're selling it for, they contact the seller and inform them that they are not granting a loan for lower than it's worth. The seller has the option to comply and lower the price or not. If they do not, yours truly will have to pay the difference at closing. If I do not, then we start looking for a house all over again. I'm still waiting on this part.)
- After that we go to close (which has to be scheduled)
- At closing we have to bring our portion of the closing money. The seller usually pays 3% of closing costs. Closing costs are basically a chain of people lined up to take your money (your agent gets paid, your lender gets paid, seller's agent gets paid, seller's bank gets their cut, the people processing the close get paid and the government gets their cut). After you pay these people, some of them basically get back in the line to get paid again. This is the fun part.
- Then you actually get to sign the final papers and they give you the keys. I'm hoping I will actually get to this part. Even though I was told to wear a brace on my hand so that I will be able to sign the 3 - 5 inch stack of papers.
Then the real work begins of cleaning the house, making needed repairs, painting, and moving.
Please let me know if I have left out anything.
In my parents day, you went to the seller and said I'd like to buy your house. You had your down payment, you went down to the bank with all your info, and by the end of the day you had your loan. You presented the seller with the money, signed papers to transfer ownership, and the seller handed you the keys. In my grandparents time, you paid them for the house in full or made an agreement with the seller for payment, by word of mouth and with a handshake. Now, the lawyers have gotten their hands in everything. Yes, there is a certain amount of safety in it, but trust me when I say this, the bank never loses. I think the dealing with the death of my grandmother was less stressful. On the upside, all communication has been electronically. Although, I just about have a nervous breakdown when I get any emails pertaining to the house, because the news can just as well be bad as good. It has been a ...fun... roller coaster ride of emotions so far. So enough about my experiences, tell me some of yours.
Comment