Buying a House in OC

[ucoc]

So we checked couple open houses from Irvine, Lake Forest and Yorba Linda over the last couple weeks. We will still search more until our rent is almost over, but we found Irvine to be more a friendly place to grow our family or raise children. We?ve been living in Irvine already so that could be why we are feeling this way, but from visiting the open houses experience, we felt more comfortable from Irvine than other areas?. The houses from Yorba Linda and Lake Forest had bigger yards and most of them were single story which was great, but the room layouts felt outdated and the houses needed a lot of work since they were all pretty old. The community felt safer in Irvine to be walking around and go to parks and schools also. The only drawback is the price, but we?ll see where it takes and maybe we might have to sacrifice a little bit on the lot size.

Buy what you can afford.

Agreed.

Isn?t it the loan won?t get funded for homes we can?t buy anyways? 

 

[akkord]

Isn?t it the loan won?t get funded for homes we can?t buy anyways?

Sellers won't accept an offer without a loan approval letter + bank statements for what you're willing to pay.  You won't get far enough in the process on any home you can't afford to worry about funding. 

 

[ucoc]

Isn?t it the loan won?t get funded for homes we can?t buy anyways?

Sellers won't accept an offer without a loan approval letter + bank statements for what you're willing to pay.  You won't get far enough in the process on any home you can't afford to worry about funding.

That?s what I thought. So we wouldn't even have to worry about buying homes we can?t afford. I was asking the question if there are any people or any way you can get to buy homes you can?t afford from the people left comments on.

 

[Mety]

So we checked couple open houses from Irvine, Lake Forest and Yorba Linda over the last couple weeks. We will still search more until our rent is almost over, but we found Irvine to be more a friendly place to grow our family or raise children. We?ve been living in Irvine already so that could be why we are feeling this way, but from visiting the open houses experience, we felt more comfortable from Irvine than other areas?. The houses from Yorba Linda and Lake Forest had bigger yards and most of them were single story which was great, but the room layouts felt outdated and the houses needed a lot of work since they were all pretty old. The community felt safer in Irvine to be walking around and go to parks and schools also. The only drawback is the price, but we?ll see where it takes and maybe we might have to sacrifice a little bit on the lot size.

According to many experts from TI, you should wait a bit to see where the market is going. The price is most likely going down and you will get at least 13.5% discounts from today's market price. And yes, stay in Irvine. You will thank me later.

 

[eyephone]

Isn?t it the loan won?t get funded for homes we can?t buy anyways?

Sellers won't accept an offer without a loan approval letter + bank statements for what you're willing to pay.  You won't get far enough in the process on any home you can't afford to worry about funding.

That?s what I thought. So we wouldn't even have to worry about buying homes we can?t afford. I was asking the question if there are any people or any way you can get to buy homes you can?t afford from the people left comments on.

Let me rephrase my statement. I think you should buy what you comfortably can afford or get use to eating cup of noodles.

 

[Mety]

What's wrong with eating cup of noodles?

Let me ask you, is living in Delano with fine cuisine better than living in a detached house with cup of noodles?

 

[eyephone]

What's wrong with eating cup of noodles?

Let me ask you, is living in Delano with fine cuisine better than living in a detached house with cup of noodles?

There?s nothing wrong with cup of noodles, but not everyday. (Just lacking the following: veggies, fruits, meat, dairy...)

 

[Mety]

What's wrong with eating cup of noodles?

Let me ask you, is living in Delano with fine cuisine better than living in a detached house with cup of noodles?

There?s nothing wrong with cup of noodles, but not everyday. (Just lacking the following: veggies, fruits, meat, dairy...)

There are different flavors and even seafood versions these days for noddles. 



Alright, all kidding aside, I wanted to ask if you should stretch the budget to get a better home or buy something just comfortably fit in your budget.

There are pros and cons for both options, although I would think getting a better home might get you MAXROI when you sell later on.

Any thoughts?

 

[eyephone]

Also, beaware of falling prices and be okay with it.

If you stretch too much, you might get stretched.  jk

 

[Kenkoko]

That?s what I thought. So we wouldn't even have to worry about buying homes we can?t afford.

Perhaps letting a loan company decide your max affordability isn?t the best idea. You should know your own situation better than anyone. It would be best to come up with your own affordability number and not rely on a lender?s one size fit all math formula.

I think the big price uptick in the past few years pushed many people into borrowing too much. This seems fine now because the economy is doing well, unemployment is at all-time low. But it could change and could be the next market instability.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

@Mety:

When buying a home I plan to live in, I stretch a little, esp when I was younger because I knew my earnings would increase and I was capable of finding work regardless of the economy (everyone needs someone to take out their garbage).

It was always through proper lending ratios (although an O-Arm in the 2000s was very lenient in those guidelines) and I never had a problem with affordability.

I was lucky as appreciation gave me enough leverage each move up.

But each person?s scenario is different.

 

[Irvinehomeseeker]

Its interesting to see Marigold Plan 3 in CV closing at 930K down from its 1 million List price. I am currently looking to refinance a similar detached condo in Eastwood and wondering how much it will appraise for given the price trend today

 

[Mety]

Both eyephone and IHO have good points. Irvinehomeseeker's refinance situation perfectly ties in what I wanted to get into. 

I think this time might be a falling knife time so there is a risk of the home being appraised less when you want to refinance later.

Also If you were to buy a home when the price is pretty good/low then I think it's smart to stretch a bit so that you can get more appreciated money when you sell later, MAXROI.




@Irvinehomeseeker:

For EW's detached home values, I think it would be pretty close to CV, but the appraiser might compare homes sold nearby so they might not even look at CV sold prices but more around NW, SG areas.

 

[ThirtySomethingWEquity]

Talking about affordability, I try to look at what the median salary is for my profession/exp and base my comfort level at around that.  I've done much better than the median salary for the last five or so years, so this gives me enough 'cushion' that I wouldn't feel too stretched.  In addition, I like to have at least a year of living expenses liquid in case there are unfroseen circumstances.

I was qualified for about >250k more than what i'm looking to spend by the banks...