Housing Help Needed!!

[twinsmom]

Hey, any minnesotanites out there... we are moving to Rochester this spring and I am starting to get a wee bit stressed over the whole houseing issue... particularly because our baby is due at the end of Feb, so I have hit the 'nesting' phase hard core. I know that things get CRAZY out there once match day hits, so I am trying to figure out how to get out there before the baby comes to house hunt and possibly get one all lined up... which leaves me only the next two weeks to be able to travel before my dr. has me locked up for my insane travel ideas (it didn't help that I tried to convince her to let me go to Guatemala over Christmas... but that's a whole different topic!!).

Do any of you know of any web sites that the school has, or the area, about homes for sale? I talked to one resident and wife who are leaving this spring and are putting their house up today. She told me about the mayo fellows list, but that one is on paper that you have mailed to you. Is the rest just word of mouth of who is leaving this spring?

Also, do any of you have any recommendations for some good mortgage companies in the area, who are familiar with the psychotic residency situation? (No, we haven't been in the job more than a year, no we don't have a huge chunk saved for down payment, yes, we do have an obscene amount of student loan debt... I can hear the conventional companies laughing already!!)

Thank you so much for your help!!

Jen B.

[SuzySunshine]

Jen, I'm going to send you a PM.

[houseelf]

Jen,

I think that buying a house in the Cities is probably quite different from Rochester, so I will defer you to Cheri. I will say that I think that you will find that Minnesota is probably more family friendly than where you are now, so hopefully this will ease some of your angst.

Welcome to the Far North.

Kelly

I don't live in the area but have far more experience moving than I would like to admit. Before we officially moved here, we came out to house hunt and talk to realtors recommended by other residents. The realtors showed us places that were totally inappropriate and 30 minutes away from the hospital. A 30 minute drive was completely unacceptable for a surgery resident. We wanted to live close enough for him to ride his bike or walk if possible.
I suggest you go out there if you can and drive around to pick the areas you like. Also, try to line up in advance appointments with a realtor to see as many homes as possible. You can call the realtors posted on the for sale signs if you dont have a recommendation in hand. Realtor companies have terrific websites loaded with pictures, stats etc. I would try to find those as well before you head out there.
His department provided some information on desirable neighborhoods, commutes, schools etc. I would recommend calling someone in the department for that info if you haven't already done so.
Moving is stressful, don't let it get to you so close to your due date.
Good luck!

Hi there!

We're in Rochester. We took our home loan through Home Federal Savings Bank. They're awesome! We bought our home 1-1/2 years ago and they were able to give us a mortgage loan that has no down payment, no points, and a 7% (I think) interest rate. We have VERY significant student debt, too, plus a car loan, and, at the time, some credit debt. Also, since your DH is a doctor, they give you a personal banker that you can email/contact 24/7 for all of your banking needs. They really cater to you. I can't say enough great things about Home Federal. It's a local bank and, personally, I think dealing with a local bank is the way to go in this city because they are completely aware of the financial situation of residents/fellows.

We went with a realtor to find our house. He's awesome, too - Mark Slattery of Remax. We only had 2 days to find a house. We told him what we wanted and our price range. We ended up having a bidding war with another family for our house. I think what really helped us win the house was the fact that we had our financial situation ready to buy a house...we had already sold our house in Pittsburgh and had a mortgage already preapproved with Home Federal. (Not to mention, we overbid on the asking price. We had to because we didn't know what the other family bid.)


-Melanie

[SuzySunshine]

Jen,
Another bank option is the Mayo Credit Union if you're going to join that. All they need is your DH's appointment letter and they'll let you open an account with like $25 and then you can apply for thier mortgage rates which are probably lowere than most.

I hope my PM helped.

Good luck!

[twinsmom]

Hey everyone - thank you so much for the advice!! My nesting hormones have kicked into high gear and I am near insanity thinking about buying a house, having a baby, packing, moving, etc. etc.

Julie - thanks for the PM - it helped a ton!! At first I thought I was going to try to buy on our own, but I think at this point I will go with a realitor to help cut down on the stress level.

One more quick question - I am wondering about the timing of going out there... I either have the next few weeks, or I will have to wait until the second week in March (even that timing is ify with the baby coming...). Would that be too late to avoid the bidding wars? Is going out now too early?? Thanks again - I know I am just a wee bit anal at this point.

Jen B.

[SuzySunshine]

Jen,
I know of one resident family that is moving here next year that already bought their house, last weekend. They close in late March. So coming out now has its pros and cons, some residents probably aren't listing theirs yet might be a con. Having to close before you want to if you get a house that is a residents' could be a con. The pros are that if you come out before the match - anytime before the match - you'll have more to choose from.

Good luck!

Jen,
The pros are that if you come out before the match - anytime before the match - you'll have more to choose from.

I agree with going out as soon as possible, if you feel up to it. The earlier you get a feel for the area and begin looking around the better. If you wait and you don't find what you want or your offer gets rejected, you will have to rent and then wait to buy. This can be good if you want more time to be sure but if you want to buy and be settled then renting won't be such a great idea. Plus you have to factor in moving once again if you rent and then buy!
The area you buy in makes a big difference as well. We had 6 offers (YES that many!) rejected here because the demand and the cost of housing skyrocketed the year we bought. Also, the house we bought had 5 offers on it the first day on the market. Needless to say we didn't have any bargaining power and paid way over the asking price.
I highly recommend searching online now. The good realtor companies had great photos and stats that helped me filter out what I did and didn't want. I could do it from the comfort of my own home and schedule an appointment if it seemed like a good fit.
Also, food for thought - if we had bought when we first started residency instead of nearly a year later, we would have saved about a $100K on a house
Keep in mind, that moving is one of the most stressful occurances of one's life. Take care of yourself and your baby and try not to worry so much about it. Boy, I can pack up a house in hours, I wish I were there to help you! :!

[Vanquisher]

Jen, I don't come from MInnesota, but I have a different perspective.

I was due with a baby in April, and couldn't really travel. I ended up having her in March, 9 days before the match. My husband and I didn't go house hunting until the beginning of May. I guess I don't know how the market is in Minnesota, but this was by far the easiest for us. Even though I had to bring the baby with us, it was great. We got a realtor and I had let her know beforehand some properties I was interested in looking at and our price range. She blocked off 3 days for us, and completely made sure we could get what we wanted. We found our home on the first day, but continued to look through the second day. We decided to make an offer on the second day. We had no money (ZERO) for a down payment.

Bank of America, in most areas, has a great physician loan program. No down payment, no PMI, no points. We got a 7 year ARM, because we know we won't be in this house for longer than that, and it dropped our interest rate. We ended up with a 4.8% interest rate. We asked the seller to pay all closing costs, and offered the asking price. All they asked for was $1000 in earnest money, to make sure we were serious bidders, I cash advanced the money, and we settled. The way our loan was, and I think most are, is that you only have a certain time period to close on the house, so we ended up closing on June 4th, which was just after my husband graduated. We paid for a moving company to move our stuff with graduation money and also our residency gives money for moving expenses. We had nearly a month here to get settled, and it was great, and we didn't need to worry about to places at once or anything like that. Anyway, it worked out well for us, and we have nearly a quarter of a million in student loan debt, and I don't work. All we had to do was show the bank a copy of his contract and have a credit report. Voila, we have a house.

Check out realtor.com and other realty sites.

Good luck!

[SuzySunshine]

Jen,

I agree with hlj25950 about the loan. We got a 7-year ARM, the sellers paid the closing costs, almost the same situation for us but the housing market in Rochester is much tighter because the largest housing turn over every year is when the residents leave and move in.

Don't get me wrong there are always houses on the market but we came the last week of February last year and lost out on 3 houses in our first day because we either got out bid (and we always bid at least list) or we didn't even get a chance to put a bid in because the house went off the market that fast. If you did wait until May you would most definitely have less bidding wars but you'd probably have less to choose from as well.

I know this is a hard decision to make for such a big buy, if you need me to do any footwork I'm happy to.

Good luck!