Buying a house

[kaput]

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[Z_Fan]

If you are thinking about buying a place, and subsequently being unemployed, and then move shortly after - I think you'd be making a bad decision to buy for such a short term.

Especially if you don't have in excess of 25% of the new homes cost as your downpayment. Elsewise, you can expect a healthly CMHC fee to insure your mortage. That cost alone will likely pay the equivalent of several months (3-5) of rent...and it's just simply GONE right off the top.

I'd rent. If you happen to have %25 of the house cost and can avoid CMHC all together, then it might be worth considering a little more.

[danno]

i would stay home till your done school. save yourself tons of cash. do you have a downpayment already???? either way you would put yourself in a tight spot when your in school and paying for a house, just relax and finish school at home then search for a house. i bought my house last year and went to school for 2 months and i had trouble paying my bills.

tough call but if you have 8 months i don't think i would do it

[bol]

unless you have a solid employment history and excelllent credit you're probably not going to be able to get a mortgage any ways. they're much more picky than you'd expect. just because you can afford $1000/month in rent doesn't mean that the bank thinks you can afford a $1000/month mortgage

it's a wacky system once you really dig into it

[Weapon_R]

There are so many ways to get a mortgage, despite credit history and no downpayment finding a mortgage isn't going to be hard. Despite what you may also hear, its really no more expensive when compared to those who have good credit. If you realy dig into it, you can make tons of money selling assumable mortgages and incorporating the downpayment into the purchase price of the home to avoid making that initial large payment. The realtors on this site will know what i'm talking about, but I won't go into details here, as it is somewhat unethical to go that route.

Oh, and if you can afford a $900-1000 payment each month, GO FOR IT! The more time you have to build equity, the better. You *MUST* be able to make those payments on your own or have some type of emergency fund of 5,000 however, as tenants are unpredictable and unreliable and you may have to go it alone for a month or two every year.

Also, don't underestimate the advantages of low-priced condominiums around calgary. For 70k, Point of View was selling a very good sized condo, and your monthly payments would have amounted to approximately 600/month + condo fees = ~800/month. At that rate, its almost dumb to rent, as you could build so much equity in the next few years, sell the condo at a profit, and use what you put in on a large home once you have more stability.

[ninspeed]

CMHC fees will kill you... so save up the 25%.. then add 5% for emergencys... whats wrong with living at home? if its bad, find a cheep place to rent, and dump what ever you can in to an rsp. When your ready, you can pull the coin out of the rsp with out having to pay taxes on it under the first time home buyers thing. Then you got 15 years to pay it back.

[kaput]

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[Weapon_R]

You would both own the home, and would both be responsible for making the mortgage payments. If either of you defaults, you both go down. There is a way to draft an agreement, but none that cover both your asses as you think. Basically you would both own the home but both be responsible for the payments and such.

When you sell a place, the money from the sale goes to the payment of the mortgage, and anything over and above comes back to you. For example, if your house is worth 200k, and you've paid 20k on it and owe 180, when you sell and the new buyers get their mortgage, the 180k you get from them goes to the repayment of your mortgage, the other 20 to you and your realtors fees etc.

[danno]

i don't know how much money you have but you should try point of view, as posted above. they are cheap and start below 100k. what you could do is put your 5% down and then save the other 10% you said you could get and have that for your 8 months off?? buying a house takes time, just keep a eye out.

[JordanLotoski]

25% down for a first time home buyer is tough, when u consider the average house in calgary has hit 300k..thats 75k down payment. Id say save least 10% thats a decent downpayment and ill give u some flexibility with a mortage.

there are ways to get a 100% financed mortage ut the intrest rate is gonna kill you, like a 6.75 on a 5 year fixxed...your better off to wait and save that little bit of cash.

best of luck.

[hampstor]

if you say 400 a month is possible but double that is tight, I would advice you not to buy a home at this time.

Do not forget ontop of the mortgage there is:

property tax
home insurance (though this is going to be like $30 a month for you)
gas
utilities
cable/phone/internet
FOOD

[FiveFreshFish]

Originally posted by kaput
Something else I've considered is going into it with a trusted friend 50/50 with both our intents being to sell in 2 years. How would this work? Is there any way to draft up an agreement to cover both our asses in case something doesn't work out?

Make sure your agreement is on paper detailing every possible scenario like what happens if he dies, someone defaults on payment, you get married, end of friendship, buyout terms, someone takes a job outside of the city, etc. Priorities could change within those two years.

[Kimchee]

i just purcahsed a home and generally, it is tough for a first time home buyer to be relieved from CMHC fee's as 25% is alot of money right out of school. I did some mortgage shopping and it looked like CIBC and their "Better then Prime" mortgage deal was the best. Im putting down close to 20% and that was scraping every little penny from my savings/RRSP/Stocks savings/parents etc...

the banks are really picky with your annual income, net worth (assets/stocks/RRSP etc) and credit. If i were in your situation, being a full time student, you could possibly get a mortgage through a broker, but i wouldnt suggest it as your still young and you would have no cashflow after to have a life....haha....

also remember you'll have other legal fee's, insurance, property taxes, utilities, food, maintenance costs...

[rogue]

unless you get a 600sq ft apartment with a decent downpayment you will not have $850 mth mortgage but i am not sure how much you have to put down? Also dont forget there is a penelty to sell the house before your mortgage term is up but if you manage to get a new house in a new developement you can make a healty chunk of change reselling. I had a new house in Saddleridge 2years ago made $30000 in 2 years just research your investment make sure the community is going places and not some ghetto project. Also recommend assuming a mortgage as by the sounds of it the best way for you or look for a decent deal on a innercity fixer upper and do some work yourself lots of profit for studio homes and what not nowadays.

[kaput]

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[2000_SI]

Originally posted by kaput
Say I found a place, $120,000 and put $20,000 down (~15%), what kind of monthly payment would I be looking at?

I know someone that just bought a place in red deer, now maybe that changes things a bit, but her house was a 3 bedroom, she bought it for 140,000, and she put 8,000 down, and her monthly payments are $700, which is not including the money she gets for renting out the other rooms.

[69cougar]

Go to any bank website and they all have mortgage calculators...

try www.tdcanadatrust.com or .ca??

[kaput]

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[yohan4ws]

CMHC isn't as bad as most people make it out to be. It's a great tool to get people into a home when you can't afford 25% down.

CMHC is a 3.5% tacked onto the outstanding value of the house.

My mortgage for example,
$125,000 subtract 5% ($6250) = $118,250. * 3.5% cmhc: $122,388.75

$3800 dollars over 25 years... factor in that my house is already worth $142,000 I have 14% equity in my home ... so by the time I have 25% into my place, I won't have even paid the full CMHC value.

The hardest thing, as a student, is to get approved. if you have good credit and a decent income, walk into any banka nd see what you can get pre-approved for. Then goto a mortgage broker (I know a couple of really good ones, pm me for the #'s if you like) and they'll get you a better rate.

[yohan4ws]

CMHC isn't as bad as most people make it out to be. It's a great tool to get people into a home when you can't afford 25% down.

CMHC is a 3.5% tacked onto the outstanding value of the house.

My mortgage for example,
$125,000 subtract 5% ($6250) = $118,250. * 3.5% cmhc: $122,388.75

$3800 dollars over 25 years... factor in that my house is already worth $142,000 I have 14% equity in my home ... so by the time I have 25% into my place, I won't have even paid the full CMHC value.

The hardest thing, as a student, is to get approved. if you have good credit and a decent income, walk into any banka nd see what you can get pre-approved for. Then goto a mortgage broker (I know a couple of really good ones, pm me for the #'s if you like) and they'll get you a better rate.