Has anyone here purchased a new home while relocating?

[Happyinwonerland]

The moving the Florida thread has me wondering, does everyone rent when they first move to an area? I haven't been a renter since my early 20's, and the prices I see charged for o.k. looking homes are alarming! If I relocated, I'd rather just get a mortgage.

But is this possible? Will lenders give a mortgage to someone new to the area, starting a new job? I bought before the housing crash and it was easy to get a loan back then, but would it be difficult now?

 

[sonnyjane]

The moving the Florida thread has me wondering, does everyone rent when they first move to an area? I haven't been a renter since my early 20's, and the prices I see charged for o.k. looking homes are alarming! If I relocated, I'd rather just get a mortgage.

But is this possible? Will lenders give a mortgage to someone new to the area, starting a new job? I bought before the housing crash and it was easy to get a loan back then, but would it be difficult now?

They won't care that you're new to the area, but the will want to see that you have a new income and verify that. The risk in buying right off the bat comes in not being familiar with neighborhoods, schools (if applicable), traffic/commutes, etc. Many people prefer to rent that way if they find that the area the chose is farther than they thought from work, or isn't desirable, etc., they aren't locked into anything. They other comfort is that if the new job doesn't work out, you're not really "stuck" there. If you'd done a lot of research and financially buying makes sense, it's ok to buy a home instead of rent at first, but there are a lot of factors involved. When we moved to our current town, we bought, but we had lived here for a year about 10 years ago so knew we wanted to stay, and it's a small town so no matter where we chose, we'd always be 10-15 minutes from anything.

 

[mombrontrent]

We bought when we moved to a new area but my dh was staying with the same company he worked for just a different location so he wasn’t really starting a new job just a new location.

We both had never been to the new city before. We went to the new city two weekends to house hunt. We looked at about 30 houses and ended up buying one in a very small town just outside the new city. I love it here, dh not as much and regrets the move but he had lived in our previous city his whole life and had more of a connection with the old city. I had also lived there almost twenty years but I can make myself feel at home anywhere.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

The moving the Florida thread has me wondering, does everyone rent when they first move to an area? I haven't been a renter since my early 20's, and the prices I see charged for o.k. looking homes are alarming! If I relocated, I'd rather just get a mortgage.

But is this possible? Will lenders give a mortgage to someone new to the area, starting a new job? I bought before the housing crash and it was easy to get a loan back then, but would it be difficult now?

We are renting a home while we sell our house. It does stink but it is necessary for us because we are downsizing and have other issues.

If you had a sizable down payment, I am sure you could get a mortgage broker to help you buy a home.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We bought a house when we transferred from Massachusetts to Texas because we really didn’t want to have to move twice. But we were fortunate because DH had spent lots of time on frequent business trips to the area before we moved. Unfortunately we met lots of other “transplants” in our area, and they’d all rented before buying a house. DS is renting an apartment right now outside Dallas and starting to look for a house. DGDs will most definitely be changing school districts twice in two years.

 

[elgerber]

I work in mortgage, and you can get a mortgage when you are relocating. You do have to have a non-contingent signed employment contract, and be starting within a certain period of time after closing. Depending on the program right now, it's 30-90 days.

 

[wgeo]

The moving the Florida thread has me wondering, does everyone rent when they first move to an area? I haven't been a renter since my early 20's, and the prices I see charged for o.k. looking homes are alarming! If I relocated, I'd rather just get a mortgage.

But is this possible? Will lenders give a mortgage to someone new to the area, starting a new job? I bought before the housing crash and it was easy to get a loan back then, but would it be difficult now?

When we moved to FL we tried to buy right away but the house was a foreclosure and it turns out the old owners were going to jail, so we backed out. Ended up having to rent for 2 months which was astronimically high priced in high season in FL, so every minute of every day down here was spent either helping the kids adjust or house hunting. The mortgage process sucked, but I'm guessing just as much as it would anytime you get a mortgage these days. It may have helped that husband was in the same profession that he'd been in for 15 years already and by the time the mortgage paperwork was due he had a months worth of paychecks. It was kind of a crummy couple of stressful months, but we were sooooo happy to get "settled" in our house as soon as possible that it was worth it to us.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Our last two moves, we bought before we moved. In both cases, DH had an offer in hand, and the companies had a relocation package that included both money for the move (including a house-hunting trip) and mortgage services, which gave us pre-approval for a loan. The latter is helpful in house-hunting--you know how much you can borrow, and the sellers know you're serious.

In both cases, we did extensive research online, to find the perfect house in the right neighborhood. Even before that, when DH was considering offers/areas to move, we looked closely to make sure the area/school district was appropriate. In our case, my younger two are dancers/strings players. The strings, in particular, aren't common in some parts of the country, so we crossed a few companies off our list.

There's nothing wrong with renting, but I didn't want to have to move twice, possibly switch schools within a district, etc. With 4 kids and 5 pets--good luck finding a good rental, anyway. Plus, the relocation package would only cover one move--into a house, or into a rental.

 

[mnrose]

I've relocated three times. The first I was straight out of college and no ability to buy a home, so I rented. The second, I hired a good real estate agent, took her advice on areas and bought straight out. It worked out well, and I was very happy with our area and home. The third time, I was relocated to an area I knew well, and again bought straight out. No regrets.

 

[Ginamarie]

We are trying to do this now- move from NY to PA. Our jobs are staying the same, so that's not an issue, but it is a little complicated getting everything to line up. I'm trying to avoid having to move twice (first to a rental) because moving is a giant pain and can be expensive. Now I just have to get our house sold so we can make this happen!

 

[Darcy03231]

If moving to an unfamiliar area, I would rent for a year first so I could get the "lay of the land." If it were an area I was familiar with and I found something I liked, I would buy.

 

[Klayfish]

We are trying to do this now- move from NY to PA. Our jobs are staying the same, so that's not an issue, but it is a little complicated getting everything to line up. I'm trying to avoid having to move twice (first to a rental) because moving is a giant pain and can be expensive. Now I just have to get our house sold so we can make this happen!

When we moved from PA to GA almost 4 years ago, we wanted to do the same thing. But at the end of the day, we wound up renting. We looked at existing homes in the area we were moving too and even put a low end bid in on one. But ultimately we decided we wanted to build new construction, so we rented first. We knew exactly the development we wanted to build the house in, so that was already done. But we didn't actually "buy" the house until 2 or 3 months after we had moved to GA. Moving twice was a pain, but it was what it was. The new house was only 3 miles from the rental, so that helped.

 

[neverlandsky]

Just relocated and we signed a year lease to get a lay of the land and to find out what streets are busy. The joke is on us, we rented on one of the most busiest street here in the area.

 

[Darcy03231]

Just relocated and we signed a year lease to get a lay of the land and to find out what streets are busy. The joke is on us, we rented on one of the most busiest street here in the area.

Now you know where you don't want to live!

 

[Feralpeg]

I built a new home when I moved to Florida. I think the biggest reason to rent is if you are working. Commuting in the Central Florida area is bad. Living near where you work or, at least, being able to avoid major highways, is a big deal. I was retired, so it wasn't an issue for me.

I came down prior to beginning the move process and had a real estate agent show me different areas. I was very comfortable with the area I wanted to live in before I began building. Never regretted my choice.

 

[lovin'fl]

Been married almost 22 years and have lived in 2 apartments, 2 townhomes (currently in one now) and 5 houses. We've lived in three states and almost 4. DH worked in 4th state and we had a contract on house to move there but it fell through and DH found out he could telecommute anyway. One state we lived in twice and another, current state, we've lived in three times. Earlier in the marriage the moves were closer together, many being after just 12-18 months. Then we settled in our homestate for 10 years for the kids to get through school. Last move was 10 months ago, after last graduated HS.

We, early on, one time rented before buying in new area. But, for all other moves after that, as we accumulated kids, dogs, furniture and junk we were too lazy to rent first before buying. Just didn't want the work of moving stuff more times than we needed to. Didn't want to pay for storage either, if we rented smaller place. And most of the moves, we got a relocation package from DH's job (he's switched companies quite a few times). So if we'd go in a rental and then move a year or two later, that second move would be on us.

This last move, almost a year ago, was a flipping nightmare. 10 years of junk accumulating in a big house had to be downsized to a townhouse. I told DH 'NEVER again'. My requirements would be either he pay to have packers and movers for the whole shebang...me not doing anything....or...we dump everything we own, move and refurnish the new place from scratch.

Also, when we moved to new areas, we researched. We looked at great schools .net. DH would talk to the folks he'd be working with to get advice. We look into crime rates and whatnot. And the realtor would also advise us and we'd give them an idea of what we were wanting. Even if you have no kids, you still likely want a good school district in case of future reselling. That's just one thing we always keep in mind as we look for a new home.

 

[tzolkin]

In our situation the mortgage company wanted two pay stubs at the new job before closing.

DH started his new job and rented in someone’s home near his work for about 6 weeks while completing the process. Once we closed on the new house, the kids and I moved down.

We have never lived in an apartment/rented. We purchased our first home a few months before we finished college so we would have a home when we married after graduation.

 

[StephMK]

The first time we relocated several states away, SIL was our realtor and lived there. I will pay closer attention to the actual house next time but don’t regret the area at all.

We plan to buy again next time because we have 3 dogs. We already have areas picked out and plan to visit the city this summer. I also have a friend and aunt in the area to help give advice.

I enjoy checking Zillow so hopefully we will have a good sense of what we can expect for our budget. The final location will be determined after DH finds a job. I will look in that radius since mine is secondary and has decent options as of now.

 

[Ensusieasm]

The moving the Florida thread has me wondering, does everyone rent when they first move to an area? I haven't been a renter since my early 20's, and the prices I see charged for o.k. looking homes are alarming! If I relocated, I'd rather just get a mortgage.

But is this possible? Will lenders give a mortgage to someone new to the area, starting a new job? I bought before the housing crash and it was easy to get a loan back then, but would it be difficult now?

When people who are homeowners sell and relocate to take a new job they most often buy a house. So this is not something unusual. As long as their finances are acceptable to a lender they can get a new mortgage.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We have relocated 3x and bought a home each time on a weekend trip ~45 days before the big move. We just bought the best house on the market that weekend.

For us, we moved each time for my job and so we tapped into the wealth of knowledge at each of those places for tips, location suggestions, etc. The interview weekend(s) we came down for prior always included some scouting out of areas as that's an important process of moving anyways so it was pretty easy to figure out where we wanted to live. We are not interested in renting.

Mortgage company deals with job transfers all the time. This last time, we closed on the house the day I started the new job. No biggie.