buying a house

>>18030942
>mortgage

Don't buy a house until you can afford it. Paying mortgage for 50 years is a real bummer. And renting is a bad idea as well.

>>18030942
Okay champ,
First thing, make sure you are committed to living in that same place for at least 5 yrs - thats about how long it takes for a place to appreciate in value. If you move sooner, you might lose money.
Get yourself a realtor. You don't pay them, they get paid by the people selling the house. Find someone who specializes in the kind of place you're looking for (single family, condo, townhouse, whatever) and tell them what you want. They know how to do all of the paperwork shit and they'll be able to get you information on places to tour. Once you put an offer down on a place your mortgage people will send out an inspector who will go through the house and kick the baseboards and check all the outlets and whatever. Then they'll tell you what needs to be replaced/shows signs of damage, whatever. Then it's up to you (or your realtor!) to negotiate with the sellers to get stuff fixed. Then be prepared to sign literal stacks of paper

>>18030955
That's a little unrealistic, but I understand the approach -- I bought my car outright. Anyway, I'm renting right now.

Not all of us can live with our parents.

>>18030955
Buddy, you call me in 30 yrs when you can buy an entire house in cash

OP, as long as you're over the 20% mark where you don't have to pay mortgage insurance you are fine

>>18030955
Who can put hundreds of thousands of dollars down at once?

>>18030955
Who the fuck has enough money to buy a house outright? Mortgages are perfectly normal and there isn't an issue as long as you can pay them. Without them, all property would belong to a small minority of people.

>>18030969
>>18030970
>>18030979

It's possible, but not common.

Don't buy a house more expensive than 1,5-2 times your annual gross income (before taxes)
The older and more worn the house, the smaller this factor should get, so you can afford repairs

You should prefer a house where sewer, roof and windows are newish, max 15 years old.
Worn windows will cost you a fuckton in heating if you live in cold climate
New roof or sewer costs in the tens of thousands of dollars

The bigger the house, the more you have to clean. Not keeping your house clean will wear it down at triple speed.

Homeowners associations, state and municipal laws can fuck you sideways harder than a ladyboy on crack.

Development projects like new roads, new industrial zones, new commercial zones, windmills and more can tank your house value significantly

>>18030942
Make sure you look in all nooks and crannies. My father recently bought an investment property and I've been helping him fix it up. Kitchen was shit so it come out, not so much it was fucked just way out dated. After pulling the kitchen out we found that the walls had been full of cockroaches, and in the bathroom which shared a wall with the kitchen the shower was leaking which had rotted out all the studs in that wall, we ended up rebuilding the bottem half of that wall.
If you don't feel confident you can find everything that might be wrong, find someone with some knowledge in the field to help you look.
Certain trees around can be a bad sign too, like say fig trees, their roots will seek out any moisture meaning they will try find a way into your pipe work.
>TLDR; talk to a builder/carpenter and see if you can get them to help you make a decision (could end up with someone with all the right knowledge to helpbyou fix anything that may need fixing)