Real Estate Experts, A Few Questions?

[beaners]

We are still ironing out details on an offer, but it is looking like we may need to move 6 hours away in 8 weeks. I can't see any feasible way for us to rent with all of our animals, and I frankly don't want the hassle. I'm pregnant, and I've moved before while pregnant. I'd rather not do it twice in close succession during the same pregnancy.

 

We need to talk more with the mortgage broker who has FHA info on a house we are interested in, but I can't do that at this very minute. I'm not sure if we can get a second house with a mortgage, and I'd be interested to hear some perspectives.

 

With what we are looking at, the combined mortgages would be less than 2 times my husband's current annual salary. We should be adding at least 15% to that after everything is straightened out. We can come up with a 5% down payment in cash, but we would need to liquidate some investments to come up with 20%. Credit rating is between 680 and 710. We have $300 in monthly debt payments other than our current mortgage. We aren't sure what our house will appraise for, but the market here is the same as when we bought. We've made significant repairs and paid down 15% of our mortgage, but we have some things to finish before we'd like to put the house up for sale.

 

Are we being ridiculously hopeful, or does this sound like it may work? We would need an FHA on the new house because it needs a few things before it can be occupied, so we would definitely need either our mortgage here or our mortgage on the other house to be less than 75% of the appraisal.

 

So, if you made it through that, what do you think?

[beaners]

I have a feeling the lack of responses is a bad sign. :tongue_smilie: I guess I'll just have to wait patiently for the broker to get back in his office.

[Swimtaxi234]

:grouphug: I have zero to offer about your questions, but I wanted to know if you thought about your husband renting an efficiency apartment, etc. for a few months while you stay with your current house so you wouldn't have to rush to find a place to buy. You might also find a rental if you had more time.

[TranquilMind]

beaners

With what we are looking at, the combined mortgages would be less than 2 times my husband's current annual salary. We should be adding at least 15% to that after everything is straightened out. We can come up with a 5% down payment in cash, but we would need to liquidate some investments to come up with 20%. Credit rating is between 680 and 710.

 

So you are adding a mortgage to the one you have, by purchasing where you are moving? Do I understand this correctly?

 

I'd be very nervous about doing this and having holding costs for a long period of time or renting out the home you are leaving and becoming a long distance landlord. The real estate market is so slow, you don't have any guarantees you can sell anytime soon. Landlording long distance is hard (even hard short distance, as I do).

 

We have $300 in monthly debt payments other than our current mortgage. We aren't sure what our house will appraise for, but the market here is the same as when we bought. We've made significant repairs and paid down 15% of our mortgage, but we have some things to finish before we'd like to put the house up for sale.

 

That's your first step. Find out what your current house will sell for in this market. If not much more than you paid for it, or even less, you may find out you have very little equity. If so, I understand - my rental houses in nice neighborhoods are worth exactly what we paid for them TEN years ago. That wasn't supposed to happen and is changing our plans.

 

Are we being ridiculously hopeful, or does this sound like it may work? We would need an FHA on the new house because it needs a few things before it can be occupied, so we would definitely need either our mortgage here or our mortgage on the other house to be less than 75% of the appraisal.

 

You are very optimistic, but it could happen. Find out what your current house will sell for, by getting 3 active real estate agents to give you their opinions in the hope of gaining your listing. I hope it works out for you. It wasn't the case for us so we are stuck here in this "temporary" house. The market just didn't appreciate.

 

I certainly would not rush to buy in an area with which you are unfamiliar. You don't want to get stuck there.

[beaners]

Thanks for the ideas and advice!

 

My husband and I had talked about him going up by himself for a while, but I had completely forgotten that detail when I was thinking about this! His company will put him up in an extended stay type place for a while, but not indefinitely. I think that will buy us at least a couple more weeks. We have 2 large dogs (50 lbs) and 4 cats, so I'd question the sanity of anyone who would rent to us. I'm not even including all the poultry and rabbits. We're willing to sell the outside animals if we need to, but the indoor pets are non-negotiable, which is really going to limit us. Plus, the mortgages on the places we are looking at would be one quarter to half of even a small apartment.

 

We are hoping to get a second house with a mortgage before selling off this house and closing out this mortgage. We would prefer not to rent this house, but we will need to see what the financing we can get requires. We might need this home to be an investment, or we might be able to get the second house as a vacation home. (Or we might be completely out of luck!)

 

I'd be flat out astonished if we were underwater on this house. Everything I've seen selling for less either needs work before it can be mortgaged, or is in a bad part of town. I'm not counting on getting what we paid, but I think getting what we owe is reasonable and conservative. It will definitely take longer than our anticipated timeline. :glare:

 

If we can get an on-site storage container and get most of our possessions out of this house, we would be able to start showing the house before we move out. If the company isn't willing to pay for that on top of the rest of the moving expenses, there is too much here to bring anyone through. Even when it is organized and neat, the quantity makes our house look cluttered.

 

I am generally familiar with where we are looking. I used to live in the city the transfer is to, and I lived most of my life in the state. I'm not intimately familiar with the particular towns we are considering, but I have a good knowledge of the region as a whole.

 

Of course, with all this swirling around in my head, today is a holiday. I hate not knowing stuff and feeling like I'm in limbo!

 

Thanks again, this is really helping me think through everything until I can talk to someone who will be involved in the process!

[ChristyB in TN]

I think your dilemma is more emotional than financial. Would I go ahead and do it? Yep. Would I advise someone else to? Nope. I'm a risk taker, though, and financial risk tasking doesn't stress me out. You, however, have a baby coming so everything is a little topsy turvy. What you're talking about doing is a little risky as far as some are concerned, and they are right. Is it worth it? Would it make you nervous? Does it seem that you need to be stable and in a place more than anything else right now? Those are more the questions to ask yourself. Some of our best decisions are the ones no one else would make. I like to solve one problem at a time.

[blessed3x]

We are in a similar situation - dh drove yesterday to his new job and is temporary housing. We have 60 days of temporary housing, but have a mortgage here and the market is slow.

 

We were in NE PA house hunting for 10 days. Since we are unfamiliar with the area and have this mortgage we were looking to rent first. I will say that I was shocked at the limited housing that was available.

 

I would go out and look first and then make a decision. We did find one house we are interested in, but if it does not work out dh may be getting an efficiency until we can sell our house. Not ideal at all, but it is more realistic than paying two payments.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. :grouphug: