Need to Move and Possible Home-buying

[BookstoreEscapee]

My lease is up at the end of November. Neither Roomie nor I want to renew it. So I need to find a place to live, and I need to be able to move by Nov. 30 at the absolute latest.

Problem: I don’t know where I want to go.

It has to be a reasonable distance from work (Jamesburg, NJ, area, in case anyone is familiar and has suggestions). It needs to be something I can afford by myself (I do not want a roommate again, unless it’s a dog or a husband). I would like to be in an area where I have a chance at meeting people my age (30s) and maybe having a social life for a change. Somewhere I’m not the only young person, or totally surrounded by kids, or the only one who speaks English.

I don’t know the areas around where I work well enough to know where is a decent place to live (I pretty much know how to get there and back and a few places in the immediate area and that’s about it). I really don’t know anyone to ask, either. I really don’t have a lot of friends around here. How do I find out? I tried googling some town names but I’m not finding anything that really helps. Anyone know of any sources to try?

I’m considering looking into buying something (condo or townhouse). I essentially have 4½ months…I don’t know if that is a realistic time frame to get it done, unless I get really lucky and find a place I like right away. I have a cousin who is a real estate agent, and she said she could help (though her agency focuses on areas too far away from where I would need to be), but I haven’t been able to talk to her yet. I also talked to a mortgage guy a few months ago (my ex-boss gave me the name of the guy who did his mortgage) just to get some idea of numbers (he checked my credit, which is really good, and gave me an idea of what kind of loan he thinks I could qualify for, which is more than I’m comfortable spending but it’s good to know at least). Not sure what kind of price range I can realistically handle.

New Jersey rents are expensive; a mortgage on the right place would actually be cheaper (though throw in fees and taxes and it might even out anyway). Though I’m a little afraid of ending up stuck someplace I hate. (I’ve grown to hate where I am but at least I’m only renting.)

I feel like I’m running out of time and I’m freaking out because I haven’t done anything remotely concrete towards figuring it out. Help!

[Giggle Goose]

4.5 months is very reasonable. Bf found his condo in a month. I would like to buy a home myself in the next year or so, and we want to rent out the condo. (God help us ) Here's a few tips I am considering on my search:

1) If possible, go to the area/neighborhood you're thinking of buying in at different times of day, if possible. Our condo complex is quiet at some times, but on weekday evenings it is LOUD as fuck. We never visited at that time before moving in. The noise mostly comes from annoying children playing in the street, with ignorant parents that do not watch them as they run in front of cars like idiots

2) If you have HGTV, watch shows like "House Hunters," "Property Virgins," or "My First Place" religiously, and take notes.

3) If you are a first-time homebuyer (I think you said that, right?) go for an FHA. Interest rates are good. Like, reeeeeeeeally good.

4) Ask about condo fees...remember that while your mortgage and rate may be somewhat stable, condo fees can ALWAYS go up. Right now, they're eating us alive.

5) Speaking of condo fees, see if it's possible to look up some of the rules and regs that the condo association/HOA has, if applicable. Particularly with parking. For example, we have a 3 bedroom condo, but the association only allows 2 parking permits per unit. No exceptions. After 11pm, anyone without a permit is towed. So we can hardly ever have overnight guests, unless we want to park on them on the side street, which is a pain in the ass since it fills very quickly in the evenings due to this rule.

6) Don't let any crooked lender or real estate agent talk you into anything! If you're ever at an open house, just say you're working with a realtor (even if you're not). They'll back off.

That's all I can think of right now...but you have my Facebook, so PM me there or here if you think of anything else. Go with a realtor you can trust. Your cousin is a good start for recommendations. It sounds like you're putting a lot of thought into this, which is great. Good luck and please keep us updated!!!

[MaggieTheCat]

My husband and I took about 4 months to buy, from the time we started looking to the day we closed on our house. It might have even been less than that. I know we started looking after Christmas of 09, it was sometime in January of 2010, and we closed on April 5.

The big pre-requisite for us was location. We didn't want to be too far from his job. When we found a real estate agent (we kind of ended up just picking one at random, since we didn't know one and didn't know anyone who could refer us to one) she was able to set us up with a login on some website that had all the latest listings of houses in the city. We could narrow it down based on price, location, size, etc. I spent a long time -- many, many hours -- picking out houses that met our pre-requisite. Then I would show the list to my husband and the two of us would look at the houses together online, at the pics they had available and such. Then we'd pick out 4-6 to visit each weekend. It took us about 2 months to find the one we wanted, then a few more weeks to hash out a contract with the sellers, and a few more weeks on top of that to get all the closing stuff done.

I don't remember the name of the website she set us up on but if and when you find a real estate agent, definitely ask them about it. It was a complete list of all the houses that were listed on the market and it was updated daily, and had pretty much all the basic info you'd need to decide whether you even want to go see a house. I think it's whatever website real estate agents would normally use to put together a list of houses for their clients that meet their clients' needs, but our agent just let us pick the list ourselves (which we were happy to do since we could decide if something was a little out of our location range, or a little bigger/smaller than what our ideal size was, if it was worth bending our rules on to go see or not.)

[Amina516]

Good Luck BSE! 4.5 months is an absolutely doable time frame. I love Trulia.com for real estate searches. It allows you to look up houses by where they are on a map. Maybe once youre familiar with an area you'd like to try, give it a gander.

[Greenday]

I buy a house, you house sit while I'm in Afghanistan?

[Seshat]

Plusses for any property:

+ Near good public transport, ideally a fixed sort (light or standard rail) rather than busses (bus routes can change without notice).
+ Near a shopping complex, but not right next door to one.
+ Within easy walking distance (for a healthy person) of a convenience store, so you can grab milk & papers & whatnot.
+ If buying a family-style home, near a school gives it better resale value.
+ Near a park is convenient.
+ Safe footpaths (sidewalks?) is a major plus.
+ Keep an eye on parking options.
+ Be off the main street, and off a major back-street: aim for someplace quiet.
+ Reliable services (eg sewer, power, water, & nowadays internet)
+ A range of options for general medical services nearby, and at least one decent ER within a distance you're comfortable with.
+ Facilities such as gyms, swimming pools, libraries, and so forth nearby.

Minuses:
- Next to anything noisy.
- Next to anything polluting (including noise and light pollution).
- Poor parking.
- High shared-property fees of any sort, whether that be local council rates, condo rates, housing association fees, or whatnot.



I can't provide you with specific help, but I hope this general help has .. uh .. helped!

[Frantic Freddie]

It has to be a reasonable distance from work (Jamesburg, NJ, area, in case anyone is familiar and has suggestions). It needs to be something I can afford by myself (I do not want a roommate again, unless it’s a dog or a husband). I would like to be in an area where I have a chance at meeting people my age (30s) and maybe having a social life for a change. Somewhere I’m not the only young person, or totally surrounded by kids, or the only one who speaks English. Your agent is not allowed by law to discuss demographics,please don't put them on the spot

I don’t know the areas around where I work well enough to know where is a decent place to live (I pretty much know how to get there and back and a few places in the immediate area and that’s about it). I really don’t know anyone to ask, either. I really don’t have a lot of friends around here. How do I find out? I tried googling some town names but I’m not finding anything that really helps. Anyone know of any sources to try?

I’m considering looking into buying something (condo or townhouse). I essentially have 4½ months…I don’t know if that is a realistic time frame to get it done, unless I get really lucky and find a place I like right away. I have a cousin who is a real estate agent, and she said she could help (though her agency focuses on areas too far away from where I would need to be), but I haven’t been able to talk to her yet. I also talked to a mortgage guy a few months ago (my ex-boss gave me the name of the guy who did his mortgage) just to get some idea of numbers (he checked my credit, which is really good, and gave me an idea of what kind of loan he thinks I could qualify for, which is more than I’m comfortable spending but it’s good to know at least). Not sure what kind of price range I can realistically handle.

New Jersey rents are expensive; a mortgage on the right place would actually be cheaper (though throw in fees and taxes and it might even out anyway). Though I’m a little afraid of ending up stuck someplace I hate. (I’ve grown to hate where I am but at least I’m only renting.)

I feel like I’m running out of time and I’m freaking out because I haven’t done anything remotely concrete towards figuring it out. Help!

my bolded insert

DISCLOSURE: I hold a New Mexico Real Estate Qualifying Broker license #XXXXX

I'm glad I don't work back east

If you're not comfortable with your RE agent sister then ask her to refer you to someone,I'm sure agents there can do that there,I've referred & gotten referrals,it's easy money

Get estimates from several mortgage companies,you're not tied down to one no matter what they say.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Yeah, Seshat, right now I literally live right on the highway, very close to wear it intersects with a bigger highway. Not fun.

[AdminAssistant]

Whenever I'm apartment shopping, I try to learn as much as I can about the area. Drive through (or Google Map) the area. Look at surrounding houses, the cars parked in driveways, the stores and sidewalks and such. You're not necessarily looking for the newest or most expensive...just that things are decently maintained. If you just see a lot of junkers or seriously unkempt lawns...maybe rethink that particular neighborhood. (Pro tip: If in a college town, cruise around early Sunday morning and look for beer cans/bottles strewn about. Good indicator of a heavy student population.) Go in the nearest grocery store and do a bit of shopping...that's one way to get a look at your future neighbors. YMMV, of course.

[taxguykarl]

Don't close without an inspection and title search. Also a caveat for forclosures: they are exempt from disclosure laws in most states.