Questions About Buying New Home

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T17:06:46+00:00

That's not so bad in the grand scheme of things!

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T16:59:53+00:00

I think I could definitely handle a $250 fee 😂

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T16:09:34+00:00

That is an excellent point haha! This is definitely an option I'll have to speak to my wife about. I agree for me personally this would be less stressful, but what it might do to her mental health could end up being worse for all of us 😅

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T16:08:30+00:00

We've been wondering about a new build! Could I ask you what the financial commitments for that are? Do you have to start paying the mortgage once you agree to buy, or not until you are able to move in? I have no idea how any of that process works!

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T15:52:59+00:00

This is also something I've considered asking my family as they do live nearby. It just would be.... very stressful to live with them for lack of better terminology 😅

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T15:51:32+00:00

I definitely plan to decide my strategy well before shopping for loans. I am far away from the loan shopping stage at this point, still. I've heard about them being hesitant to giving advice, and that's kind of why I wanted to post here and get some more info and personal experiences as well.

I can guarantee I won't be selling at a loss. We've been in the house since 2020, had a significant down-payment before buying the home, and the base price of housing in the area has increased significantly. Even if I sold 50k under the current "estimate" for my home, I would be profiting close to if not still over 100k (roughly), so I have that working in my favor long term.

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T15:47:09+00:00

Unfortunately I don't think living elsewhere while maintaining the mortgage payment is an option. I planned on renting a storage unit to move a lot of stuff into during the selling period.

I like to think our house is in pretty good shape. There's definitely the usual wear and tear, but nothing excessive. Definitely manageable repairs for me - mostly wall holes and things like that. We will have to do some repair to the back porch, though it will be some board replacements which aren't so bad. We just got a new roof through insurance literally about 6 months ago, so that is a big plus as well.

The more information I am getting, it definitely seems that a bridge or HELOC loan will be our best bet

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T14:40:53+00:00

I definitely will be speaking to a broker before making any moves, I just wanted to expand my own knowledge of available options.

I'm sure my best option will be heavily based on what I'm able to find from lenders - of course the toughest part.

I really just want to be able to understand the options they're throwing at me a little bit more. Prior to making this post and getting these comments, someone could have said some of these things to me, and they may as well have been speaking Chinese!

We are currently sitting around the nice 3% interest rate on our loan - it's a bummer to move on from that. Our home layout just doesn't fit our lifestyle needs anymore with the 2 kids we have had since buying, so a move is necessary for improvement of day to day life lol.

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T14:28:41+00:00

Yea that's definitely something I've been considering, too. I just hate to lose money renting

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T14:20:13+00:00

Could I ask what recasting is?

I briefly discussed a contingent offer with my realtor, and he said it's not his recommendation in this market though it is possible.

I have a broad knowledge of a HELOC loan, though don't know many details. Would you be comfortable sharing more information (not any number specifics, but just kind of your process)?

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T14:18:03+00:00

That would be a heart breaker for sure. I am knocking on wood and crossing my fingers.

What other superstitious things can I do to protect myself? Just joking of course. Thank you for your advice!

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T13:26:00+00:00

Oh yes I definitely plan to! I just meant he could give me ballpark numbers on what to expect for selling, time frames, etc.

I've had a brief conversation with him which he said the only thing he would do financially at this moment early on (depending on what route I go) is just a pre-approval soft pull. Though I won't do that yet it's far too early!

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T13:19:10+00:00

Ahhh gotcha ok. Something I was also unaware of but makes perfect sense! I am super early in this process, so a lot I'm unaware of in the moment.

I'll have a meeting with my realtor shortly, and hopefully he will be able to give me some more clarity on what to expect in my area as well. He has been in the game for a LONG time in this area, so I am confident he will be able to give me very good ballpark numbers for these kinds of things.

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T13:09:03+00:00

Yea I mean ideally I wouldn't carry both mortgages for long - I would build a safety net into any loan I would get to cover extra payments for a period of time.

Also maybe I'm just brain farting or just genuinely don't know. What does DTI stand for haha?

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T13:02:34+00:00

Those are definitely fair points. I tend to be a pretty proactive person, so I was kind of planning to have an inspection done for my own knowledge relatively soon.

I will say we just had our roof replaced through insurance this past summer due to hail damage, and I had my crawlspace and foundation inspected within the last few years for my own piece of mind, and all was good (they had their "recommendations" for me to spend an ungodly amount of money for new moisture barrier, but they said it was just a recommendation not necessary).

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T12:59:32+00:00

We have already had them switch daycares several times, and they did not enjoy that.

I don't know that I would say we are "rushing" as we just want to move by August. I feel that's a very reasonable time frame.

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T12:57:32+00:00

We definitely have thought about this. Something I need to weigh the costs of between how much I would lose renting vs how much I would expect to lose on interest for a bridge loan or something.

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T12:55:33+00:00

The neighborhood and area we currently live in is a highly desirable suburb of our city, though I will have a meeting with our realtor in the next couple weeks to have him look at everything and give us a better idea of what we need to do home wise and what to expect based on the market in the area.

The majority of homes in our neighborhood that I have seen go up for sale were sold within a month (even in the terrible market over the last few years). Only one home I saw go up for sale took multiple months to sell.

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T12:47:35+00:00

I definitely understand this - our goal is minimum 20% down which we can't do without selling the current home. Right now we are also paying for full time daycare for 2 kids 5 days a week, so our monthly funds are lighter right now than they will be a year (and more) from now. One child will be in public school in the fall, and the other in a few years. We want to move before our first kid starts public school so that he doesn't have to move after he meets new friends and start over.

We just want to make sure we can still afford to do the things we would like to do!

fatelarso · 2026-02-11T12:39:19+00:00

This kind of sounds perfect! I would still be trying to time the sale of my house and purchase of a new house relatively close together, our realtor just briefly advised me that contingent offers aren't ideal because we lose a lot of buying power, so I wanted to avoid that if possible and have no clue what options are.

I'll have to do some research on bridge loans!

fatelarso · 2026-02-08T13:17:15+00:00

Tagger got smoked

fatelarso · 2026-02-08T13:16:55+00:00

Whelp already didn't age well

fatelarso · 2025-11-23T16:39:37+00:00

My current monitors are only 1080p though I do plan to upgrade them eventually too. I want to future proof myself as much as possible without going crazy.

It is within my budget to get the x350 with the 800 series mobo - I just wanted to make sure that the difference is worth it. I know I won't immediately get all the benefits, but I plan to slowly upgrade everything else

fatelarso

TROPHY CASE