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House stuff

Posted Friday, June 29, 2007 8:20 PM

So today I picked DH up from work to meet with a finance guy to talk about mortgages.  Actually, I feel 100% better after meeting with him.  He was really laid back and explained everything to us, definately clarifying some of the questions we'd had since reading tons of articles each telling you something different Tongue Tied.  Basically, the good news is that we can definately afford a mortgage for the price ranges we're looking at (he said we could go a LOT higher, but that would be outside our comfort range).  The bad news is that we're income rich and cash poor.  We have enough saved for almost all of the closing costs and a small down payment, but not really and he said we'd likely need to get help from the seller when we buy (or get a loan from Mom and Dad at an increadibly high interest rate, hehehe). 

Has anyone bought (or sold) their house and had the seller pitch in for closing costs?  Is that common?  I would never have expected a seller to pay for these costs, but he said that many do.  Sooooo, next step is call the real estate agent and start seeing houses!  Crazy!!! Smile

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re: House stuff

DH & I just bought our first house last yr. Yes, many sellers do pick up the closing cost.  Have fun looking at houses, its extremly time consuming but so worth it once you move in and are all settled. We went from apt. hunting, to looking at town houses/condos,  and then finally started looking at houses, and then ended up just building a house so that we could get what we knew that we wanted.  Good luck and happy hunting!

Posted by amandag56    Friday, June 29, 2007 3:02 PM


re: House stuff

We just went through the house hunting ordeal in the Harrisburg area a year ago, so if you want any tips on what the "good" areas are and which ones to stay away from, I'd be happy to help you out! Also, our experience was that buying from a builder, they are more likely to help with closing costs than buying from an individual.

Also, unless you are really attached to your finance guy, there are banks who will kick in money towards closing costs as well.

Hey and since you are new to the area, welcome! Feel free to email me at sknowlden@bigstring.com if there is anything I can do for you or any questions you have. Good luck!

Posted by jeepsareforgirls    Friday, June 29, 2007 3:32 PM


re: House stuff

I guess I'm kinda late on this comment!  When DH and I bought our house we had to pay for the closing costs but it is fairly common to have the seller pitch in for those costs.  It all depends on what your contract says.  We had a blast going to open houses and driving around neighborhoods looking at what houses were for sale!  Good luck with everything, it's so exciting once you finally get to move in and it's your own!  

PS.  Your dog is SO cute!  Is he a beagle, or beagle mix?  DH and I rescued a dog from a shelter also and we think he has some beagle in him.   Feel free to email me if you have any questions, kellyconnolly22@yahoo.com   Have fun and good luck

Posted by mrsconnie05    Monday, July 02, 2007 12:17 PM


re: House stuff

Our seller paid our closing costs, but she upped the price of the house to do that.  Since we were the same as you are, income okay but not with cash available, the seller paid those costs but only if she upped the price of the house we'd have to finance for.  Which was fine since we could pay it, just not right that second.

Posted by edmo    Monday, July 02, 2007 12:36 PM


re: House stuff

Thanks for the comments guys!  It's a big help to hear about what you've all done before.  

Jeeps, we're looking in the Colonial Park area in general.  I think the other area is Paxtonia, but I'm not 100% sure on where township lines are yet :)  Do you have any other ideas of where there are nicer starter homes?  We hadn't looked at newer places yet because most of the building we've seen is townhomes and we want a detached home.  Thanks for the help!

mrsconnie, yes Dunkin is a totally cute Beagle (mix?).  Some days we think he's all beagle and other days we think he's a mix because the size of his head doesn't quite match his ears and his feet are big for his legs and such, and he's fully grown.  we totally love him, he's not really loud, and he's a big cuddle bug :)

Thanks guys!

Posted by lipp82    Monday, July 02, 2007 7:33 PM


re: House stuff

Congrats, what a fun adventure.

DH did not buy a house, but we did recently purchase 6.5 acres of land to build on next year.  After we agreed on a price for the land and got it in writing, we then requested that the seller pay half of the closing costs (which was very reasonable).  Our attorney worked everything out and we ended up saving a couple thousand in attorney's fees, filing fees etc...  We also requested (since we purcahsed the land half way through the year) that the previous owner pay half the property taxes.  Just something to think about.  Good Luck house hunting, it can be very challenging, but very rewarding in the end!

Posted by mjstraub    Tuesday, July 03, 2007 8:10 AM


re: House stuff

These types of concessions are common, especially for first time and FHA homebuyers.  I am finding this out the hard way because the offers we are making include concessions and are usually lowered by the sellers in their counter-offer.  Ah well, in Detroit area it's definitely a buyer's market, so might as well see what you can get. :-)  GL with everything!

Posted by third_place    Tuesday, July 03, 2007 3:11 PM


re: House stuff

Hi there! My DH and I just bought a house in Harrisburg last summer! As far as seller closig cost assistance goes, I think it reallllly has to do with who you are buying the house from. For example, we bought our house from a couple who was getting a divorce and were NOT in good financial standing. They walked away from our house w/ 10k each in their pockets. Which explained why when we mentioned seller assistance they pretty much laughed in our faces.

We bought our home in Susquehanna township, although we originally were looking in lower paxton (colonial park area). We love our neighborhood - actually two houses in our neighborhood have gone up for sale in the last month and sold within 1 day! We never knew it was that desireable!

As for who we worked with.. we had a realtor from remax of harrisburg.. www.hbghomes.com.. his name was rob hamilton (the son, not the father). He was young and cool so we had a good time seeing the houses with him. He worked with people who could help with every angle of the house buying process, some people may think this is a plus, however we wanted to get our own people just to ensure every opinion was totally unbiased. (e.g. mortgage broker, home inspector, and closing agent) We got our mortgage through Northwest Savings Bank (in Hershey) because it's headquartered out of my home town - they are great bank. We got a lawyer for closing because the title insurance fee is a set rate no matter who does it (so it would've cost just as much to have our real estate agent be the closing agent).

I hope that helps!

Posted by katie10b    Sunday, July 08, 2007 8:42 AM


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About lipp82

Transplant to Harrisburg, PA from Rochester, NY. Becoming a DIY diva, and rockin the renovations with my DH by my side and my darling dog Dunkin, my heartbeat at my feet.


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