I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mortgage

[kama_s]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

We just bought our home a few months ago after renting for years. A few things that were important to us:

- Make sure the house you buy has been well-maintained. Little things go a long way - if the previous owners had ownership pride, you will save a LOT in maintainence costs down the road. Little things like roof, insulation, furnace etc.
- Keep aside at least 10K a year for unexpected (minor and major) house expenses.
- Rule of thumb with mortgage amount: Your mortage should not be higher than THREE times your joint annual salary. So, if you each make 100K a year for a joint annual income of 200K, then your total mortgage should not be higher than 600K.

Kama, I'm curious about the bolded. Why do you say 3 x salary? Would you include bonus (if it's substantial) in that calculation?

To be honest, I wouldn't. My husband's bonus is around the same as my salary (even though I'm almost at 6 figures), but it's not guaranteed. Which is why we didn't include that in our calculation. But what you can do is keep that money aside and either put it in as a bigger downpayment (or your yearly big lump sum - when you can put - I believe - around 10% of your mortgage in without a penalty) or for house related expenses. We also kept aside around 100K just incase we both lose our job simultaneously and we need to money to keep making the monthly mortgage payments - so that's another possibility for your bonus income.

 

[sba771]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

Check the house out during or right after rain!

A home inspector is worthless, inspect it yourself. Think of every worst case scenario and check for it. Have a HUGE cushion of an emergency fund.

Also, depending on what you want- furniture is MAD expensive. I wish we had doubled our budget for that.

In the 9 months we have been in our home we have had to do the following:
-New roof including the boards
-Repair the boiler to the tune of over 5k
-Redo all the floors
-Fix and redo all the walls
-Install a fence around the pool
-Have a pool heater fixed
-Fix pool leak
-Oven is breaking
-Need a new toilet in hall bath

The bolded we were ready for and knew, what we were not ready for were the other items that passed inspection and should never have as the problems existed prior to our moving in. Just really be aware of the true costs of the house. Add in lawn care, add in exterminator, and add in every single thing you can think of.

Also want to add- really be aware of what things should honestly cost. Where I live there is x pricing and then there is my neighborhood pricing. Also when they see a woman home alone in a house like mine- huge assumptions are made. Because I knew how to fix everything or what terms I needed to know, I was able to either call someone out on their BSing or just get the right prices.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

[quote="NewEnglandLady|1308676055|

The ONE reason why I'm really glad that we bought is because my goal was always to pay the house off ASAP. Granted, we'll still be paying taxes, insurance and maintenance/upkeep, but that is still significantly less per year than rent for a SFH in the same neighborhood.

Buying a house large enough for our future family, in a great school district and realistically paying it off within 10 years made a lot more financial sense than renting a 3+ bedroom SFH in a great school district for at least the next 20 years.[/quote]

after paying off our mortgage in 2004 it cost us about $400 per month to live in our 2350 sq ft home,now if wife and i can live another 30 yrs then we'll come out way ahead in our home investment.

NEL,i love your plan. we think alike ...

 

[TooPatient]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

quarterly bug spray treatments are wonderful --- we use a company that doesn't use chemicals so it is safe for the dogs. They come out conce per quarter but guarantee their work so if I find anything between treatments, they come out free of charge. The whole thing comes out to less than $1/day and is WELL worth the money. We had already had someone out to get rid of a wasp(?) nest (did damage to the wall it was in) and the ONE treatment cost more than a quarterly service does.... oh... and the bees were back again in a couple of months!

Monitored security system is great! We got free installation plus nice free goodies (different monitoring devices) with a one year contract. Doesn't cost much and gets us two discounts on the house insurance. We pay something like $4 per month extra for monitored smoke detection. Between the security monitoring and the smoke monitoring, I am pretty comfortable knowing that the house will be okay when we have a long day or are gone for a couple of days!


Insurance:
Find a good insurance broker. They can get rates from lots of different companies and save you $$$$$. They are also pretty helpful when it comes to deciding how much coverage you want/need and what sort of additional coverage you should add. (like electronics, jewelry, earthquake, flood...)

 

[Clairitek]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

A lot of great advice has already been given so I won't repeat that.

Something I wish I had paid more attention to during our inspection was oddly new paint and paint in places where it might not normally be. It was really clear that the previous owners of our old house had been trying to cover up some issues. Namely, a main waste pipe that was starting to degrade (it was over 60 years old, original to the house, and starting to rot). It didn't have any major leaks when we owned it, but a very very slight rust mark was making its way down the pipe.

This ended up being an issue after the inspection for the person who bought our place. Thankfully we managed to negotiate our way out of paying for it (paid for radon mitigation system instead.... WAY cheaper than plumbing but we had been selling the house in As-IS condition until these two issues arose) but I really am pissed that we didn't notice the fact that the pipe was painted in that one section (blended in with the wall behind it) during our inspection. I was too busy measuring the rooms for furniture and window treatments and stuff like that. Of course we considered doing what the previous owners had done, but opted not to since it is really dishonest.


I guess the moral of my rambling story is to look for signs of water damage on the ceilings and floors and send up the red flag if you notice paint in a place it shouldn't normally be.

 

[charbie]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

[quote="NewEnglandLady|1308676055|

The ONE reason why I'm really glad that we bought is because my goal was always to pay the house off ASAP. Granted, we'll still be paying taxes, insurance and maintenance/upkeep, but that is still significantly less per year than rent for a SFH in the same neighborhood.

Buying a house large enough for our future family, in a great school district and realistically paying it off within 10 years made a lot more financial sense than renting a 3+ bedroom SFH in a great school district for at least the next 20 years.

after paying off our mortgage in 2004 it cost us about $400 per month to live in our 2350 sq ft home,now if wife and i can live another 30 yrs then we'll come out way ahead in our home investment.

NEL,i love your plan. we think alike ... [/quote]
DH and I have a similar plan.
We just moved into a brand new house. We built it, something we never imagined doing. Because we built and then financed through the builder's mortgage company. This actually made the sale price of the home ~$25k less than the price we would have paid for a similar home. We got more of what we wanted at a much better price. It appraised at a little more than $10k than what we paid....moreso bc they don't want a huge difference in the numbers.
Nice part of this method is we now will not need to worry about replacing a roof/replacing windows/appliances/redoing flooring/all of the above, plus everything is under warranty for a long time. And I kid you not that we really did not pay more than we would have for exising housing....this house would have cost us more had it been existing, no doubt. Don't rule out new construction...depending on the market where you live.

 

[Lanie]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

charbie -- we did the same thing. We had the pleasure of putting blue tape up for a punch list since we were the first owners. The biggest problem with this, though, is that taxes go up tremendously after construction.

 

[fieryred33143]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

I love this thread. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts I'm going to read in detail when I get home.

We are also starting the house hunting journey. Such a huge commitment to make. Right now our focus is on the areas with the best schools. What I'm finding interesting are the things we are being picky on. We've toyed around with purchasing in the past but now that we're actually going through with it, tension is high and our inner diva is pushing through I NEED a pool, can't live without one. He NEEDS an office. Divas!

Anyway thanks for starting the thread!

 

[charbie]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

charbie -- we did the same thing. We had the pleasure of putting blue tape up for a punch list since we were the first owners. The biggest problem with this, though, is that taxes go up tremendously after construction.

True. Our state has a very unique tax system, and from what I've heard, there wont be big differences from what we are accustomed to. Things are taxed by county, not city, and schools are set up that way, too.

But it is very important to take taxes into consideration when buying a new home. The numbers are estimates and put into escroe, so you hope not to owe.

 

[rainwood]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

We are very satisfied with home ownership but we've been owners for a really long time.

The first questions to ask yourself is whether home ownership is right for you and, if so, what kind of home. Some of the things to think about are:
1. how long do you plan to stay in the area?
2. how much time and ability do you have for maintenance, inside and out?
3. how much money do you have to cover down payment, closing costs, and ongoing maintenance and carrying costs?
4. what is it about home ownership that appeals to you?
5. is there a good rental market in the neighborhoods where you want to live?
6. are you okay with group living, shared walls, etc.?
7. what are the tax implications (both pro and con) for you of owning v. renting?

Depending on the answers, you can decide whether renting or owning makes sense, and if you want to buy whether it should be single family, condo, townhouse, etc.

There are also a lot of misconceptions out there. New construction isn't necessarily better. A well-built, well-maintained older home may be a much better value than new, even in terms of short-term repairs. A lot of new construction isn't very good, and can be downright shoddy.

Beware of the "flip." It's better to buy a renovated home where the renovations were done for the owner, even if those renovations are not new and up-to-date, than to buy something that's been done to sell. Flips emphasize doing things that look pretty, and often neglect needed updates to the infrastructure of the house - electrical, plumbing, HVAC, weatherproofing, waterproofing, insulation, etc.

Location, location, location is true, and neighborhoods that have been in demand for a long time tend to hold their value better in a down market than others. It also helps if the housing stock is diversified so there aren't a lot of houses identical to yours when you want to sell.

Moving further out to gain space, lower prices, newer construction, or larger lots has its own set of costs, often hidden. Longer commutes are more expensive as well as time-consuming. More space means it costs more to furnish, heat & cool, clean, maintain, and repair. Newer construction may mean lower quality construction, greater exposure to down markets because houses are similar, everybody bought around the same time so don't have built-up equity, construction costs were higher, less diverse housing stock, etc. Larger lots are also more expensive to maintain, etc. Those costs aren't in the price tag of the house, but they are real.

Everyone complains about how bad the housing market is today, but when my husband and I bought the second place we ever owned, interest rates were 14%. That's right. 14%. The place ( a condo) was right for our lifestyle then but not a great investment. The location was a bit sketchy, it was new construction so the price was higher, and condos were still kind of a new thing then (1980). We came out with very little appreciation, but we learned not to make those mistakes again and made a much wiser decision the 3rd time (where we live now). It's been a great investment for us, we live in a neighborhood where we couldn't have rented, and we've built a house that is truly our own. To us, it's worth it, but the same isn't true for everyone.

 

[amc80]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

YESSSS to Lanie!

Don't let them tell you only about your "mortgage payment", get the whole story; mortgage (principal and interest) taxes, insurance, homeowner's association fees (sometimes there is a master association and a community association!).

This. I have an HOA for my complex, another association for the general neighborhood, and still another for the drainage district. Yep, that's three associations I get to pay for.

Also, patience is key. Don't make any plans or assume you will be closed by a certain date. My place was a HUD owned property. The big benefit is that you can get it with $100 down, with an FHA loan. The bad news is it's a gigantic PITA. The company that manages these properties was out of state and not reachable by phone. They were horrible. The local title company was equally horrible and there was a HUGE delay because they sent paperwork to the wrong HOA, and then never followed up. Be on top of things and follow up. It doesn't matter if it's your realtor's job to do so, take it into your own hands. I literally got an ulcer from the process.

 

[jenmarie]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

amc80, are you me?? We are going through the same thing!! It's not ours yet because we're still going through the last steps. Is it Homesteps that's selling the property? They suck! "Our" place originally sold at sheriff sale (to the bank) in NOVEMBER. Since then, it was put on the market in Dec, we were negotiating, it was taken off the market in Jan because the title wasn't clear, put back on in April because it was supposedly taken care of, and as soon as we were under contract, it turned out the title WASN'T clear! I think these people are really bad at their jobs. It's ridiculous. I totally understand why we're in a mortgage crisis--the banks are incompetent.

 

[megumic]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

Thanks so much everyone! This is reallllly great advice.

Okay, since I have a few mins here is the back-story. My parents are divorcing, the house is being sold and the financial situation is not great. In order for my mom to be approved for a mortgage, she needs to show 12 months of alimony payments. Alimony does not start until the joint home closes, so essentially, she needs to find a place to live for 12 months. Sooo, we got to thinking about solutions and figured why don't we buy now and take mom as a tenant? (FWIW, SIL also lives with us right now. She would likely come along as a tenant as well, which certainly sweetens the pot. Even if this is only for one year, it would help a lot! (Ha - picture it -- me, DH, Mom, Mom's dog, SIL --- maybe baby on the way....holy moly someone talk me outta this right meow!)

Although we did not plan on buying a home for another year, we have realized that now may be a good time to consider it under the circumstances. Mom would help with the mortgage, while it would give her a secure and affordable place to live for a year. She'd have the luxury of finding the exact place she wanted to buy with no time pressures, while accruing the 12 months of alimony necessary. This would be a very temporary arrangement! I don't think I could live w/my Mom for many years to come, but for 12 months, to prevent anyone from having a financial crisis, I think we could all survive...

We've decided we will only do this plan if it works for us and we find a great home. Many have pointed out that renting is cheaper, which is certainly true in our area. However, the towns we want to live in with the great school districts for future (hopefully near) babies, there is not a rental market. If you don't own, your kids are not getting into the district. Even if we did rent in these towns on a fluke opportunity, the rent would be equal to or more than a mortgage payment. We plan to stay in a home for 7-8 years, maybe longer.

I appreciate the advice everyone has given regarding mortgage payments and all the additional expenses. We are pretty conservative when it comes to this stuff so it's good to see what our "home payment" should be versus the "total monthly expenses" of a home. We've decided to go ahead and get pre-approved for a mortgage based solely on DH's salary and go from there. It will be interesting to see how much we're approved for with my student debt. The good news is we just paid off more than 10% of our debt in the past few months, so hopefully that helps!

 

[tannet]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

My bf and I were burned by the housing market crash and were stuck in a crappy mortgage (partially our fault for not doing more research before hand). Long story short...we bought a condo responsibly (within our means) even though we were pre-approved for $250K more. HOA undermined the members by passing an "emergency" (meaning no vote needed) assessment fee which doubled our HOA fees for 2 years. Housing market crashed and we lost 50% value. Lender refused to talk to us....until we stopped making payments. It put a lot of stress on our relationship and we ended up doing a short sale on the home. It took 18 months to sell and 3 offers (bank turned down the first 2). Now we are renting a beautiful single family home in a nicer neighborhood for less than half the cost of our condo mortgage alone and we have no mortgage strapping us down. We can pick up and move any time with 30 days notice. We also don't have to worry about paying for repairs...we just call the landlord and it gets taken care of with no extra cost to us. And the bonus is our rent includes water, garbage and a gardener! Our credit scores are shot, but we have CASH piling up in the bank! When you have cash, there's no need to take out a loan and pay interest. You earn it instead! (I just wish I could spend some of the money on diamonds )

yeah,but how much CASH did you lose?

Hi DF--As I mentioned, we didn't do enough research beforehand so we ended up with a crappy loan (interest only, adjustable after 3 years...exactly what everyone here is telling the OP to avoid). We trusted a friend who would find us a great loan. We should have just walked into our credit union since we had great FICO scores, above 700, and a healthy joint income. When we did the calculations for how much our monthly payments would be with a 10% down vs. no down, it was very little so we decided to hold onto the cash. Considering the final result, I'm glad that's what we did. So the only cash we lost was the mortgage/HOA/insurance/tax payments we made for 4 years. It's horrible to have gone through all that for nothing, but I look at it as a learning opportunity. I will not be making the same mistakes again in the future. We are both young (still in our early 30's) so we're glad to start over now instead of finding ourselves in a hole in our 50's.

i have pay off my mortgage, but as a tax payer i'm now paying part of your defaulted loan,so keep in mind that somebody had to pick up your tab...

I am not naive and I do understand why you think this. The truth is, though, that the banks held onto the money they got from those government programs. The public was duped into thinking that the programs would go to helping homeowners. Only a portion of it was used for that. The rest went into the pockets of the CEO's.
(Sorry to the OP for the high-jack. This will be my last off-topic remark.)

 

[stephbolt]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

I thought of another thing I wish I had known...the average cost of the utilities. We moved into our home at the end of October, just in time to find out that to heat our home (oil based heat) would be nearly $500 a month during the brutally cold winter we had. Not a fun way to start off life in our new home.

Best of luck to you in your search Meg!

 

[IdLikeToBuyAVal]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

I'm not sure if this is the case in all situations but our sellers provided us with copies of the last 3 months' utility bills for our house with our disclosure statement. They were also nice enough to tell us what the averages were in winter AND summer since it can vary a lot season to season.

Another thing I thought of...you can buy a new homeowner's insurance policy for the first year you're in the house. We asked for something to be replaced (I think it was the dishwasher but I can't remember at the moment) and the sellers balked but said they would pay for the policy in case whatever it was failed in the first year. It basically covers any repairs on the house/appliances/plumbing during the first year you own it. I think ours was $300 or $400 for the year and had a $100 deductible. I don't think it covered flooding so it would've paid for a new sump pump if it failed, but if it had caused the basement to flood as a result of the failure, it wouldn't have covered that, so read the fine print

 

[TooPatient]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

Thanks so much everyone! This is reallllly great advice.

Okay, since I have a few mins here is the back-story. My parents are divorcing, the house is being sold and the financial situation is not great. In order for my mom to be approved for a mortgage, she needs to show 12 months of alimony payments. Alimony does not start until the joint home closes, so essentially, she needs to find a place to live for 12 months. Sooo, we got to thinking about solutions and figured why don't we buy now and take mom as a tenant? (FWIW, SIL also lives with us right now. She would likely come along as a tenant as well, which certainly sweetens the pot. Even if this is only for one year, it would help a lot! (Ha - picture it -- me, DH, Mom, Mom's dog, SIL --- maybe baby on the way....holy moly someone talk me outta this right meow!)

Although we did not plan on buying a home for another year, we have realized that now may be a good time to consider it under the circumstances. Mom would help with the mortgage, while it would give her a secure and affordable place to live for a year. She'd have the luxury of finding the exact place she wanted to buy with no time pressures, while accruing the 12 months of alimony necessary. This would be a very temporary arrangement! I don't think I could live w/my Mom for many years to come, but for 12 months, to prevent anyone from having a financial crisis, I think we could all survive...

We've decided we will only do this plan if it works for us and we find a great home. Many have pointed out that renting is cheaper, which is certainly true in our area. However, the towns we want to live in with the great school districts for future (hopefully near) babies, there is not a rental market. If you don't own, your kids are not getting into the district. Even if we did rent in these towns on a fluke opportunity, the rent would be equal to or more than a mortgage payment. We plan to stay in a home for 7-8 years, maybe longer.

I appreciate the advice everyone has given regarding mortgage payments and all the additional expenses. We are pretty conservative when it comes to this stuff so it's good to see what our "home payment" should be versus the "total monthly expenses" of a home. We've decided to go ahead and get pre-approved for a mortgage based solely on DH's salary and go from there. It will be interesting to see how much we're approved for with my student debt. The good news is we just paid off more than 10% of our debt in the past few months, so hopefully that helps!

Get a house with plenty of room!

It may be "only" 12 months right now, but you don't know what is going to happen down the road. Even if it is "only" 12 months, you'll be glad to have enough bedrooms later on. Kids need rooms. Guests come to visit the kids need rooms. You may also wind up with one (or both) of you working from home (or splitting work between home and office).

Yes, it costs a bit more to heat BUT you won't drive each other crazy for the next 12 months and you won't be looking to do an expensive expansion when the time comes for kids.


Nice, thick insullation is great BTW. A few rolls ($40-60 each) really made a difference in our house -- no more drafts (so heater didn't have to be running constantly) made it much more comfortable (had been cold even if heated to 73) and significantly reduced the electric/gas bills.

 

[TooPatient]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

I'm not sure if this is the case in all situations but our sellers provided us with copies of the last 3 months' utility bills for our house with our disclosure statement. They were also nice enough to tell us what the averages were in winter AND summer since it can vary a lot season to season.

Another thing I thought of...you can buy a new homeowner's insurance policy for the first year you're in the house. We asked for something to be replaced (I think it was the dishwasher but I can't remember at the moment) and the sellers balked but said they would pay for the policy in case whatever it was failed in the first year. It basically covers any repairs on the house/appliances/plumbing during the first year you own it. I think ours was $300 or $400 for the year and had a $100 deductible. I don't think it covered flooding so it would've paid for a new sump pump if it failed, but if it had caused the basement to flood as a result of the failure, it wouldn't have covered that, so read the fine print

The finer the print, the more carefully you should read it!

Watch out for the exceptions in these policies. If you aren't careful, they can put enough exceptions in that the policy is useless.


Also --- if the appliances are new (like never used -- ours even had plastic protective wrapping still on) you can sometimes negotiate a warranty with the manufacturer of the appliance starting from the closing date of the house. Our oven died and Whirlpool honored their usual warranty (2 years?) since it was only actually used starting from the closing date. I just had to send them part of the papers that were signed at closing.

 

[megumic]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

Thanks all for your tips and advice! We're working on "mortgage 101" at our house right now, trying to navigate exactly where we want to apply for a mortgage. It's so overwhelming!

Any tips on broker vs. bank mortgage??

 

[TooPatient]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

Thanks all for your tips and advice! We're working on "mortgage 101" at our house right now, trying to navigate exactly where we want to apply for a mortgage. It's so overwhelming!

Any tips on broker vs. bank mortgage??

We used a broker with Windermere. She was absolutely wonderful and really knew her stuff. There were some strange credit report things that had to be dealt with and she was awesome at suggesting which to deal with and which were best left alone. She was even able to get the changes forced through with the credit rating people in a way we may not have been able to. Another thing she did was watch the interest rates and submit the paperwork at the right moment so we got the best rate we could.
I think it was a lot less stressful for us because she was able to help us get everything ready BEFORE giving it to the people who would hold the mortgage. Dealing directly with a bank, knowing that every thing you say or don't say and every question (however irrelevent it might be to the mortgage) and conversation could actually help/hurt you in getting approved.

I've never worked with a bank directly for a mortgage, but FI has and he said it was miserable. There are a few clients with accounts out of our office who purchased homes in the last year and based on what I was digging up for them, the banks are more demanding in paperwork.

After the great experience we had and what I have seen clients dealing with, I would absolutely go with a broker again. Our mortgage did end up being with a bank and we COULD have applied directly with them, but I wouldn't do it any different if we had to do it over again.

 

[NovemberBride]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

We just bought our home a few months ago after renting for years. A few things that were important to us:

- Make sure the house you buy has been well-maintained. Little things go a long way - if the previous owners had ownership pride, you will save a LOT in maintainence costs down the road. Little things like roof, insulation, furnace etc.
- Keep aside at least 10K a year for unexpected (minor and major) house expenses.
- Rule of thumb with mortgage amount: Your mortage should not be higher than THREE times your joint annual salary. So, if you each make 100K a year for a joint annual income of 200K, then your total mortgage should not be higher than 600K.

Kama, I'm curious about the bolded. Why do you say 3 x salary? Would you include bonus (if it's substantial) in that calculation?

Sorry Kama, I had to jump in to comment on this - I think the 3x salary rule is a terrible one for a lot of people (although could have been totally reasonable in Kama's situation) and could get you into a lot of trouble. I think it only applies if you have no other substantial debt and no other large monthly expenses. You really need to make a budget of your current expenses and any planned expenses in the next few years and see what monthly payment you can afford.

Megumic, I think you are in the same position I was in a few years ago - just out of law school and thinking about kids. That means two huge expenses in the near future - loan repayments and child care. Our daycare payments (for 1 child!) plus our student loan payments are as much as our mortgage. If we had gotten a mortgage for 3x our salary we would be drowning because in actuality we'd have monthly payments that are based on 6x our salary. At the time we got our mortgage it was about 2x combined annual salary (not conting bonuses) and by the time we had DD it was about 1x annual combined salary due to raises. We are so glad we did it this way because it enables us the flexibility to think about TTC another child, travel, pay down student loans, etc.

Taking the example above, we have a joint income in excess of 200k a year and we would struggle to pay a 600k mortgage if we were to have another child (and day care payments) let alone the mortgage the 3x salary rule tells us we could afford. And we have no other debt beside mortgage and student loans (no car payments, cc debt, etc).

 

[lindacat]

Re: I wish I knew ____ before buying a home/taking on a mort

I agree with all that has been stated. I thought that I would get such a great tax refund, but that money has been quickly eaten up by things/repairs for the house. It is a huge expense to own a house; the mortgage payment is only one of many. My house isn't even all that old - built in 2005.
Plus, I would love to SELL my house and get rid of it, but the market is so bad, there is no way I could even break even on it. Values are down all over, I guess. Plus it will cost another small fortune to get it "ready" to sell - new paint, fixing anyting that isn't perfect (buyers want perfection most of the time!), etc. And I don't have the time/money to do all that. They say that selling a house will cost you about 15% of the list price as a seller - just not do-able now.
If I had to do it all over, I would NEVER own another house!!