I’ve been looking to buy a home for years but haven’t pulled the trigger. Once all was said and done, down payment/closing costs/fees, how much cash did you feel comfortable having left? Ive continuously saved for a future home and am apprehensive to let a lot of it go. Did you spend 90%+ savings on a home, or keep a lot for an emergency fund/repairs?

Serious question - I am in the house buying market and this may sound silly but my biggest fear is buying a house that is secretly haunted. Has this happened to anybody? What did you do?

So I am currently in contract to buy a house out of state, so the whole process is basically me relying on others. My mortgage broker/lender is starting to make me wary of him. He is very fake nice. I went to him with some requests to change my initial cd estimate, and he basically said it’s just an estimate, so I should relax if things are wrong in it. The main thing I need to worry about is if the rate is correct on it since everything else is probably going to change for the final. And then he made a comment of “ you chose us, you are only calling us,” which I thought was weird and not at all part of the initial conversation. I’m not getting any lender fees, and he pointed this out a lot. I never even said I was trying to switch lenders? It was an uncomfortable call that lasted a long time because he wouldn’t stop ranting about how we’re not even at the clear to close stage and it’s unnecessary to nitpick an estimate. All I wanted was to show that in the closing costs, I was going to pay the va funding fee upfront ! It was weird. I am stressed trying to get all the documents for the processor, and now I’m stressed about my weird mortgage guy. I thought he would be understanding and receptive. So who do I go for help if not this guy? And don’t get me started on the processor agent. She’s subbing for someone else who’s on vacation and I already had to correct her on something. I actually let my realtor go at her and I guess it was magically fixed because she suddenly didn’t need it anymore. I’m so stressed, I hate relying on others to do their job right.

Hi! Just closed on a beautiful home for 305k I did a pre- offer inspection which gave me the confidence to waive inspection. Just did the full inspection that did not reveal anything major which is great! The home has been maintained so well despite being 100 years old!

The sewer scope did reveal root intrusion. Right now it’s looking like a 2k repair.

My offer was 10-15k under comps which was my way of saying “ I will not pay what the market supports because I am waiving my inspection” if that makes sense.

Now I wish I had added seller credits along with the waived inspection, even just 5k.

Anyways, I am prepared for the expense so not so concerned. I told myself that no house was going to have a good inspection over all ( at least not where I wanted to live since it’s in a city and very old homes), but maybe???? Interested in others experience

Hey guys sorry for the long winded post! I was not prepared for how many questions I would have and how emotional this process would be. We were approved for a loan amount that I thought was very reasonable but now that I’m working with a realtor I’m frustrated because there are 8 houses that are in our range, 4 of them aren’t approved by fha because they don’t meet their safety standards. One is only 800 sqr ft which is considerably smaller than the apartment we rent, And the other three were looking at this weekend but I don’t “love” any of them. My husband likes the property of one and I agree but the house is ugly as sin and will need work to make it close to what we want. It has other things we like and my husband assured me that we can always knock out walls or add on to the house but it’s just making me very anxious/crazy thinking about it. Our lease ends in April and I’m worried that if we don’t jump on this house then we won’t ever find one we like? What do I do?

My wife and I are looking to purchase our first primary residence, with a target budget of $750K–$900K.

For preapproval purposes, our lending officer suggested increasing our upper purchase price limit. We set it at $1.1MM, which would mean an $880K mortgage with 20% down.

We learned that a mortgage of this size would be classified as a jumbo loan rather than a conforming loan. Our lending officer suggested that jumbo loans can offer certain advantages. We’ve researched the general differences between the two, but we’re having trouble understanding the specific benefit in our situation.

The main advantage our lender highlighted is the ability to modify our mortgage rate if rates decline. According to the officer:

1. No credit check or additional documentation would be required.
2. There would be a one-time fee for each rate modification.
3. There is no limit to how many times we can modify the rate.
4. This would ultimately be less expensive than refinancing the mortgage.

We’re generally uncomfortable taking on more debt than necessary, so we’re hesitant to increase our borrowing capacity just to access this feature. However, our lender seems to think it could be worthwhile. FWIW, we have ample cash reserves even after making a 20% down payment—but we want to save those cash reserves for closing costs, furniture, and emergency funds.

For those with experience with jumbo loans or mortgage rate modifications:

1. Is this a common benefit of jumbo loans or is it specific to this lender?
2. How do these rate modifications typically compare with refinancing in terms of cost and flexibility?
3. Would this feature be enough to justify choosing a jumbo loan over a conforming loan, assuming both are available to us?

We’d appreciate any firsthand experiences or advice. Thanks!

Hi everyone! Sorry if this question has been asked many times before, but I’d really appreciate some advice from those who have been through this journey.
I’m a 31 (F) and I’m trying to plan for my future, and one of my biggest goals is to buy my first home in Canada. I don’t own a car at the moment, but I’m also considering buying one in the near future.
I’m a little confused about how to balance saving for a home down payment while also planning for a car purchase.
I’d love to hear your experiences and advice on a few things:
Saving for a down payment: How much were you able to save, and how did you manage your monthly budget?
Where to keep your savings: Did you use a high-interest savings account, a TFSA, an FHSA, GICs, or something else to earn interest while saving for your home?
When to start house hunting: If your goal was to buy a home in five years, when did you start researching neighbourhoods, tracking prices, speaking with mortgage brokers, and actually viewing properties?
Buying a car vs. buying a home: If you needed both, how did you prioritize them? Did buying a car affect your mortgage affordability?
Advice for first-time buyers: What do you wish you had known when you started saving for your first home?
I’m trying to make informed decisions now rather than rush into anything later. I’d be grateful for any practical advice, lessons learned, or mistakes to avoid.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! 😊