When you bought your house? - Home Sweet Home

Heather · 03-21-2009, 01:35 PM

Do you pick the house and then get the financing or get the financing and then pick the house?

I was watching something on HGTV last night and this couple found the prefect house and then got financed. The wife was so worried the payments would be to much. I don't understand why someone would look for a house without having financing before hand. Is one way better than the other?

We had the financing before we started looking at houses. I had a set payment in mind and told the lady when she was setting up the loan. We learned the hard way not to let our loan be determined by our income. I think it also made the whole process go faster.

USCGBoxerMom · 03-21-2009, 01:35 PM

We got pre-approved THEN looked for houses.

CMPCAP · 03-21-2009, 01:37 PM

We had all of our finance backing before we even started looking. We just needed the address the property to finish filing. I also did my homework before we started any of it and figured out what our top figure would be. We knew we could afford about $50,000 more than we actually used but I wanted to keep our mortgage and escrow under the BAH for the area. It was such an easy process for all the paperwork that is involved in buying a house.

CoffeeGirl · 03-25-2009, 07:28 PM

We were preapproved first then started looking

mjsparkles2001 · 03-25-2009, 07:33 PM

we were preapproved first

piggypunkinetta · 03-25-2009, 07:35 PM

We did the loan stuff first. We needed to be sure we could afford it, plus it is kind of important detail when writing offers.

Traci · 03-26-2009, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by CoffeeGirl

We were preapproved first then started looking

Lckychrmzz · 03-26-2009, 05:47 AM

We got pre-approved before we started looking.

Pam · 03-26-2009, 07:30 AM

Loan pre-approval first, then went shopping

bacc · 03-26-2009, 07:38 AM

Pre-approval first, then we decided on a budget that WE were comfortable with (much less than the pre-approval amount) and then we started looking. I think this is where a lot of mistakes were made in recent years. A lot of people bought houses for what the bank pre-approved them for, but that were not really in their actual price range. I know for us, I thought that the amount of money that the bank pre-approved us for was way too much and I was actually surprised! Wow I think I just really went off on a tangent here. Sorry.

03-21-2009, 01:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
Heather Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: My little house on the prairie Posts: 18,581 Classifieds: (1) Activity: 39% Longevity: 66%	When you bought your house? Do you pick the house and then get the financing or get the financing and then pick the house? I was watching something on HGTV last night and this couple found the prefect house and then got financed. The wife was so worried the payments would be to much. I don't understand why someone would look for a house without having financing before hand. Is one way better than the other? We had the financing before we started looking at houses. I had a set payment in mind and told the lady when she was setting up the loan. We learned the hard way not to let our loan be determined by our income. I think it also made the whole process go faster.

03-21-2009, 01:37 PM	#3 (permalink)
CMPCAP MilitarySOS Jewel Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: NAS Whiting Field, FL Posts: 1,091 Classifieds: (0) Activity: 6% Longevity: 62%	We had all of our finance backing before we even started looking. We just needed the address the property to finish filing. I also did my homework before we started any of it and figured out what our top figure would be. We knew we could afford about $50,000 more than we actually used but I wanted to keep our mortgage and escrow under the BAH for the area. It was such an easy process for all the paperwork that is involved in buying a house. __________________ ~~Crystal Wife to Chris 5-17-97 SAHM to Riley Ann 8-19-04 Disney's Hollywood Studio-Spring Break-2009

03-25-2009, 07:28 PM	#4 (permalink)
CoffeeGirl Java Queen Extraordinaire Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Arizona Posts: 56,459 Classifieds: (0) Activity: 20% Longevity: 82%	We were preapproved first then started looking __________________ When my time comes, forget the wrong that I've done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed. Don't resent me when your feeling empty,Keep me in your memory, leave out all the rest leave out all the rest

03-25-2009, 07:33 PM	#5 (permalink)
mjsparkles2001 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 3,679 Classifieds: (1) Activity: 25% Longevity: 23%	we were preapproved first __________________

03-26-2009, 05:47 AM	#8 (permalink)
Lckychrmzz Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 17,135 Classifieds: (0) Activity: 16% Longevity: 52%	We got pre-approved before we started looking. __________________ Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Easy Calorie Counting

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03-21-2009, 01:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
USCGBoxerMom Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 11,078 Classifieds: (0) Activity: 0% Longevity: 50%	We got pre-approved THEN looked for houses.

03-25-2009, 07:35 PM	#6 (permalink)
piggypunkinetta Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coronado, CA Posts: 3,855 Classifieds: (0) Activity: 10% Longevity: 66%	We did the loan stuff first. We needed to be sure we could afford it, plus it is kind of important detail when writing offers.

03-26-2009, 07:30 AM	#9 (permalink)
Pam Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 386 Classifieds: (0) Activity: 1% Longevity: 62%	Loan pre-approval first, then went shopping

03-26-2009, 07:38 AM	#10 (permalink)
bacc Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 432 Classifieds: (0) Activity: 2% Longevity: 15%	Pre-approval first, then we decided on a budget that WE were comfortable with (much less than the pre-approval amount) and then we started looking. I think this is where a lot of mistakes were made in recent years. A lot of people bought houses for what the bank pre-approved them for, but that were not really in their actual price range. I know for us, I thought that the amount of money that the bank pre-approved us for was way too much and I was actually surprised! Wow I think I just really went off on a tangent here. Sorry.