Carrie12345 Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 do you officially start shopping for a house? I stalk online listings all the time, but it's probably going to be about 6 months before we have the funds in hand to make an actual offer. Does that mean we should wait 6 months to start looking in person? Should we be starting now? Something in between? We were kind of rushed into our current house after a split second decision to cancel our rental lease, so I've never worked with this kind of lead time before! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 It certainly wouldn't hurt to start looking, at least on line at various houses in your target area and price range. That will start to give you a feel for what you can afford in which areas, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I don't think it hurts to look at online listings and I wouldn't hesitate to show up to some open houses. I wouldn't make appointments for viewing until you have the ability to write up a purchase agreement though and I wouldn't get attached to anything until you have a signed PA. Learned that the hard way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavender's green Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 It doesn't hurt to start now, to figure out what the market is like. We probably started 6 months in advance, just to see how much house we could afford, and also to research neighborhoods since we were new to the area. Just keep in mind that some of the stuff you're looking at now might be off the market or sold by the time you'll be buying. Don't fall in love yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility7 Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I agree with PPs - it can be good to look early as long as you can keep yourself from falling in love. DH and I started looking in November, even though we don't really want to buy anything until probably May or June. It has actually been *really* helpful for us. We have looked at hundreds of properties online, driven by and eliminated probably fifty (as well as entire neighborhoods and areas), and actually gone in about ten houses, and this has all greatly helped us clarify in our own minds what we think we want, where we want it to be, and ballpark idea of what it will probably cost us. Our ideas of lot size, house size, and location have really evolved since Nov, and homes we were interested in then, we have since decided really are not what we are looking for. Also, I originally had a higher price point in mind for what would work for us, but DH was hoping for a LOT lower. Looking together online, in drive bys, and occasional inside looks, has really helped both of us meet at a point in the middle. Just driving by, DH never even wanted to look inside ANY of the homes in the price range he had been hoping for, so that helped his price point move up as he realized his original expectation was unrealistic. I, on the other hand, learned to have an open mind to lower priced homes, and driving by so many, found several to look at, and a few of those would probably have been "doable" if the timing had been right. We haven't found *the* house, but we are both on the same page with the main criteria, and so for us, all of the looking we have been doing has been extremely helpful. By the way, even if you aren't ready to buy yet, I highly recommend finding a good realtor. Just tell them where you are in the process, and they won't mind showing you houses sometimes to show you examples of what your money can buy these days (which is a lot, with the fabulous interest rates!!). I originally thought we weren't ready for a realtor yet, but we ended up with a great one and it has been such a blessing to have someone to ask about all sorts of things about different properties, as well as help us get into a house every now and then. She also got us onto the online MLS Listingbook site, which is a better source for accurate info on homes for sale than many of the free sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Are you moving to a new area or buying within your current one? We ended up delaying our active looking from June to November because we found out that it would be almost impossible to qualify for a mortgage shortly after taking a new job at a different company. During this time frame I passively looked by checking Redfin and driving by homes I liked to get a feel for the neighborhoods. I was glad in the end to get this time to look because it allowed me to get to know the new area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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