r/FirstTimeHomeBuyers

For a lot of reasons, I don't want to fully announce to my socials that I'm buying a home. But I want someone to be excited with me! lol

I put in the offer Friday morning and it was accepted yesterday. It's an earth-contact home, 3 bed, 2 bath, about 1800 square feet, with a large garage/shop and small shed also on the property. It's a little over 5 acres in a quiet area with homes that aren't too close, but within sugar-borrowing distance. It's isolated and backs up into some woods and a small creek. It's all up-to-date and has been well-loved by a couple for 40ish years.

I'm so excited to get started making the home my own. I don't close until November 25 (day before Thanksgiving), so I have a little bit of time to plan and get everything lined up for the move. All of a sudden, things are happening! The list of things I need/want is no longer hypothetical, and it seems to be quickly expanding!

EDIT: I forgot to add the coolest parts! My parents have both passed away - my dad went this past April. As I was walking through the home, the kitchen backsplash reminded me *so much* of the flooring in my parents' house that I grew up in. And then I noticed a wall-mounted grandfather clock that looked almost exactly like the one my parents had hanging in their foyer and my mom always stressed about my brothers and I knocking it off as we ran through the house. It felt like they were both "approving" my home. 💕

I recently saw good houses with reasonable prices but I find out they do not have basements. I’m from Minnesota. Similar houses with basements are more expensive and they seem to be out of our budget. My wife prefers one with basement.

We are looking to expand to a bigger home but deciding if we are biting off more than we can chew. At what point is it too much?

Home price is 545k, most in the same district are around 580-600s. 5 bedroom, enclosed patio, over 1 acre of mostly flat land, finished basement making over 3500sq ft house, sits back on a main road.

Sellers offering 30k assist that can cover all closing costs incl buy down. Sellers also pay our agent fee.

However, the house needs a TON of work. Missing windows, missing doors, holes in doors and walls, no handrails on stairs, outlets not working, flickering lights, every room needs lights as they are missing or broken, well pressure tank is bad, HVAC not working correctly, water softener system needs replacement, roof is 18 years old, chimney crown cracked and leaks water which has pooled in basement and causes mold on basement ceiling. Stone outside has many cracks but inspectors don't suspect structure issues. Septic baffles need replacement, considerable sludge in tank, garage doors are dented with hundreds of dents, wood beams outside are rotting, no shed, dead trees need removal, considerable outdoor cleanup needs to happen.

All of this doesn't include flooring, paint, cosmetic issues everywhere.

At what point is it too much and would cause you to walk even on a fixer upper?

We’re looking at buying a home where the title is held in a trust made by husband and wife. both husband and wife are the trustees. Both are alive, however, the husband has dementia. The wife is the one who is selling the house.

We noticed in the preliminary report says title insurance excludes any trust contest or invalidation of trust. What would happen if someone were to invalidate the trust after our home sale has gone through?

Could someone then invalidate the sale of the Home? Ex. If the wife didn’t have authority to sell the home on her own.

Curious, if there is any additional documentation, we should be looking for before closing. Is it appropriate for us to ask for a copy of power of attorney? Or something else?

We’re buying a new construction home in Texas and are supposed to close in about 40 days. I’m freaking out a little and would really appreciate some advice from people who have been through something similar.
When we started this process, our realtor strongly encouraged us to use the lender he works with. We went with them because we trusted his recommendation.
However, the builder has a preferred lender that was offering us 2% toward closing costs + $2,500 in flex cash, so we started wondering if we should switch. The preferred lender also has to approve us/pre-approve us in order for us to get those incentives.
Now we’re trying to make the switch, but we’ve run into a huge issue with documentation for the mobile home we currently live in and are financing.
The mobile home is financed, but apparently the loan is not in my husband’s name on his credit report. The current lender we’re using for the new house did not include it in our debt because, from what they explained, the mobile home’s title/loan is held under the bank’s name and it never appeared on my husband’s credit.
The preferred lender is taking a completely different position. They’re saying that we must disclose/include the mobile home information, and that if we don’t, it could be considered fraud.
I’m obviously NOT trying to hide anything. We told them about the mobile home. The problem is getting the documentation they want.
They’re asking for six years of payment history. Our mobile-home park/property manager was able to give us payment history, but only back to May 2026 because they switched systems and everything before May was archived. We’ve also made most of our payments through money orders, with some checks, and unfortunately I did not keep the money-order receipts. 🤦🏻‍♀️
So now we’re stuck trying to prove six years of payments on a property we’ve been paying for since around 2020, when the records we can obtain don’t go back that far.
Here’s where I’m really anxious:
If we apply with the preferred lender and they pull our credit, and then for some reason they DON’T approve us, could that credit pull hurt our ability to close with our original lender?
Our original lender has specifically told us not to have our credit pulled again this close to closing.
We’re about 40 days from closing, so we’re terrified of messing up the loan we already have while trying to switch lenders for the builder incentives.
Has anyone dealt with:
Switching mortgage lenders ~40 days before closing?
A lender requiring documentation for a debt that doesn’t appear on credit?
A mobile home loan/title situation like this?
Not being able to provide a full 6 years of payment history?
Having a second mortgage credit pull this close to closing?
Could a failed application with the preferred lender jeopardize our existing mortgage approval?

I am buying a house, with a purchase agreement signed as of a few months ago, with M/I homes and it is set to close in December/ January. I have been quoted rates anywhere from 7.125 to 7.5. What have people used to be successful in negotiating rates and incentives by sharing the lowest rate with other lenders? I am not eligible for any incentives from M/I due to signing the purchase agreement so far in advance and not moving into a “quick build home.” Has anyone had any luck obtaining these incentives/ low rates from M/I?